From Tyler Durden at zerohedge.com:
One of the interesting things about Russia’s move to bolster the Assad regime by launching hundreds of airstrikes from Moscow’s new air base at Latakia is that it allowed Iran to be more transparent about the role it plays in Syria. To be sure, Tehran has long supported the regime both militarily and financially, but by June, IRGC commanders had apparently become fed up with SAA incompetence, which prompted Qassem Soleimani to visit Putin and explain that if Russia didn’t intervene quickly, Damascus would be lost to rebels backed by the West and its regional allies.
Putin, sensing an opportunity to supplant Washington as Mid-East puppet master, agreed to intervene and having thus procured the superpower stamp of approval, Iran suddenly ceased trying to hide its overt military support for Assad. First, reports of an increased Iranian troop presence began to surface. Next, the entire world woke up to what it meant that Hezbollah is fighting alongside Assad (i.e. the public suddenly came to understand that Hezbollah = Iran). Finally, on the eve of the assault on Aleppo, Soleimani was on the frontlines taking selfies with Shiite militiamen he called up from Iraq. In other words, Iran is no longer making any secret of its efforts to fight Sunni extremism in Syria in support of Assad.
The interesting thing about this is that Iran was prepared to play a similar role in Iraq and Afghanistan in the wake of 9/11 only instead of aiding Russia, Tehran was prepared to support the US in the battle against the Taliban and subsequently against Saddam. Predictably, American incompetence screwed the pooch when George Bush, presumably unaware of the realities on the ground, named Iran as a member of his infamous “Axis Of Evil.” Consider the following account from The New Yorker:
In the chaotic days after the attacks of September 11th, Ryan Crocker, then a senior State Department official, flew discreetly to Geneva to meet a group of Iranian diplomats. “I’d fly out on a Friday and then back on Sunday, so nobody in the office knew where I’d been,” Crocker told me. “We’d stay up all night in those meetings.” It seemed clear to Crocker that the Iranians were answering to Suleimani, whom they referred to as “Haji Qassem,” and that they were eager to help the United States destroy their mutual enemy, the Taliban.
Before the bombing began, Crocker sensed that the Iranians were growing impatient with the Bush Administration, thinking that it was taking too long to attack the Taliban. At a meeting in early October, 2001, the lead Iranian negotiator stood up and slammed a sheaf of papers on the table. “If you guys don’t stop building these fairy-tale governments in the sky, and actually start doing some shooting on the ground, none of this is ever going to happen!” he shouted. “When you’re ready to talk about serious fighting, you know where to find me.”
The coöperation between the two countries lasted through the initial phase of the war. At one point, the lead negotiator handed Crocker a map detailing the disposition of Taliban forces. “Here’s our advice: hit them here first, and then hit them over here. And here’s the logic.” Stunned, Crocker asked, “Can I take notes?” The negotiator replied, “You can keep the map.”
The good will didn’t last. In January, 2002, Crocker, who was by then the deputy chief of the American Embassy in Kabul, was awakened one night by aides, who told him that President George W. Bush, in his State of the Union Address, had named Iran as part of an “Axis of Evil.” Like many senior diplomats, Crocker was caught off guard. He saw the negotiator the next day at the U.N. compound in Kabul, and he was furious. “You completely damaged me,” Crocker recalled him saying. “Suleimani is in a tearing rage. He feels compromised.” The negotiator told Crocker that, at great political risk, Suleimani had been contemplating a complete reëvaluation of the United States, saying, “Maybe it’s time to rethink our relationship with the Americans.” The Axis of Evil speech brought the meetings to an end. Reformers inside the government, who had advocated a rapprochement with the United States, were put on the defensive. Recalling that time, Crocker shook his head. “We were just that close,” he said. “One word in one speech changed history.”
Apparently, that assessment is shared by CIA Director John Brennan, who you’ll recall had his e-mail hacked this month by a 13-year old belonging to a group called “Crackas With Attitude.”
To continue reading: CIA Director Says US Screwed Up On Iran After 9/11
