Tehran's Tentacles

Excellent editorial by the Tribune on the reach of Iran the terror state.

Ralph Peters, via RCP on the significance of Gaza (Iran is funding Hamas):

WONDER what Iraq would look like if we left to morrow? Take a look at Gaza today. Then imagine a situation a thousand times worse.

We need to stop making politically correct excuses. Arab civilization is in collapse. Extremes dominate, either through dictatorship or anarchy. Thanks to their dysfunctional values and antique social structures, Arab states can't govern themselves decently.

We gave them a chance in Iraq. Israel "gave back" the Gaza Strip to let the Palestinians build a model state. Arabs seized those opportunities to butcher each other.

The barbarity in Gaza has become so grotesque that not even the media's apologists for terror can ignore it (especially since Islamist fanatics began to target journalists).

Bless Sen. Joe Lieberman who has the vision and guts to recognize the threat from Iran and the threat to Israel in particular. NY Sun:

Mr. Lieberman's critics take his strong words in the most nefarious light. One can hardly discuss a military option without being labeled a "warmonger" these days. As it is, a Google search of the words "Lieberman Warmonger" turns up 43,500 links. But his opponents neglect a significant question: what is a senator of good conscience supposed to do when faced with a compelling array of evidence of Iranian adventurism from Gaza to Lebanon to Iraq to Afghanistan?

Further, few questioned his evidence: Iran's role in training fighters in Iraq, Iran's aiding Hezbollah, which is destabilizing Lebanon and threatening Israel, Hamas battling Fatah and threatening Israeli areas bordering Gaza. To these can be added recent reports that NATO forces have detected Iranians bringing explosive materials into Afghanistan. All of these actions are not equivalent to the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor yet, perhaps, but, taken together, they suggest a regional effort by Iran to destabilize the Middle East.

In contrast to the Democrat party he left, whose leader Harry Reid can't wait to surrender to terrorists in the Middle East, stating the surge has failed before all our troops are in place, and in an unprecedented contemptible statement attacks our military. The Do-Nothing Democrat-led Congress has an approval rating lower than the President's, doubtless in large part from their attempt to cut off funding for our troops in the field.

And Iran marches on.

UPDATE: BlackFive scathing on Harry Reid.