Ledeen Once Again Has His Hand on the Iranian Pulse

Michael Ledeen, who 25 months ago announced to the world that Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, had died — he got this from such an exclusive source that not even Amir Taheri, another neo-con fantasist, could confirm or deny the story — once again has his hand on the pulse of the Iranian people (and possibly a mind meld on the Supreme Leader himself). In an op-ed published by the reliably hard-core Wall Street Journal editorial page today, Ledeen, who, apparently due to apparently irreconcilable differences with Danielle Pletka, took his “Freedom Chair” at the American Enterprise Institute (AEI) to the Republican Jewish Coalition (RJC) front known as the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD), not only connects last week’s successful Iranian satellite launch with “medieval Shiite texts” heralding the return of the 12th Imam and the end of days, but also reprises his certitude (dating back many years now) that the Iranian people are ready to rise in revolt against their regime.

The argument predictably concludes that “(T)he U.S. must not make the mistake of limiting demands (on Iran) to the nuclear program. A free Iran must be the objective,” and, while the logic of the whole article is a howl — no doubt adding fodder to the Journal’s news staff’s contention that the paper doesn’t need a comics section because you can find it on the editorial pages — what is most interesting is the direct appeal to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton as the Obama official most likely to argue Ledeen’s position within the administration. So it seems as if even hard-line neo-cons like Ledeen see Clinton as the link in the new power configuration that may be most susceptible to their arguments for aggressive “democracy promotion” abroad.

Author: Jim Lobe

Visit Lobelog.com for the latest news analysis and commentary from Inter Press News Service's Washington bureau chief Jim Lobe.

27 thoughts on “Ledeen Once Again Has His Hand on the Iranian Pulse”

  1. My favorite passage is this:

    “Moreover, Iran’s considerable support for al Qaeda in Iraq was doubly defeated, first on the battlefield and last week at the ballot box. The Status of Forces Agreement between the U.S. and Iraq was also a blow, as Tehran’s mullahs, including Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, had gone all-out to block it.”

    So not only does he believe that Iran is supporting Al Qaeda (not even Joe Lieberman believes that), but that Al Qaeda were running for election.

    Then he believes that the SOFA, which essentially demands that US forces leave, is a blow to Tehran.

    The guy is a comedian.

    1. Right on Andre this guy is a joke. But what’s not funny is that people still listen to these Neo-con shills. The sheeple will fall for just about anything and that’s just sad.

      Peace!

  3. …but…disagree with him and you’re an anti-Semite…
    Follow the mind game from that point.

  4. Iran supports Al Qaeda.

    http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,664967,00.html

    http://www.globalsecurity.org/security/profiles/saif_al-adel.htm

    mportance Very High
    [Red Bullet] Location Iran
    [Green Bullet] Affiliation Al-Qaeda
    [Green Bullet] Role Security Chief
    [Green Bullet] Supervisor Osama bin Laden
    [Green Bullet] Affiliation Egyptian Islamic Jihad1
    [Green Bullet] Affiliation Al-Qaeda Military Committee5
    Full Given Name Muhammad Ibrahim Makkawi
    [Green Bullet] Nationality Egyptian
    [Green Bullet] Alias(es) Ibrahim al-Madani
    Alternate Spelling(s) Saif al-Adil, Sayf al Adl, Seif Al Adel, Sayf al-Adl, Saif al-‘Adil
    Age 45
    [Red Bullet] Date of Birth April 11, 19631
    Alternate Date of Birth April 11, 19601
    [Green Bullet] Place of Birth Egypt1
    Gender Male
    [Green Bullet] Description Hair: Dark. Eyes: Dark. Complexion: Olive.1
    Charged with Conspiracy
    Charging authority United States
    In connection with East African Embassy Bombings

    1. If I understand you correctly, you’re saying that Iran supports al Qaeda. Is this correct? If so, did you bother to read the ‘Narratives and Notes’ section in the Global Security link you, yourself provided? Also, did you take note of what a ‘red bullet’ actually means? IOW, confidence is low that this onetime al Qaeda Security Chief is even in Iran, but if he is, he’s likely being held by the Iranians under house arrest for political reasons. That doesn’t sound all that ‘supportive,’ to me.

    2. Boy, that al-Qaida, eh? In cahoots with everyone everywhere. Plotting and scheming with Saddam while we thought they were enemies to each other, while plotting and scheming with Saddam’s enemy Iran at the same time, and no one the wiser!

  5. I left a comment on Ledeen’s blog about the Iran-al Qaeda in Iraq connection, saying that it made no sense that Iran would be helping out the group that bombed the Kurds – who are Iran’s allies.

    He said that Sunni and Shia work together all the time….. and offered up AEI and CFR reports as “proof”.

    He was very polite, as was I.

    He’s clearly out to lunch. As is jonathan.

    On another note – did you see that RAGING fire at the hotel in China? And it didn’t fall down……

    1. Susan

      One question on that hotel fire in China. Did they find one of the suspects passports on top of the burning heap ? LOL

  6. The only thing thats “revolting” is Michael “The Big Pussy” Ledeen who talks big and carries a pink silk purse. When I see this pansy enlist in the army and volunteer to fight, I will begin to consider listening to him. What a yellow belly.

  7. “But the terror masters in Tehran believe the satellite has an even greater significance — another step toward the return of the Shiite messiah, or Mahdi, the long-vanished 12th Imam.”

    And what is the evidence for this? This malarkey about “medieval Shiite texts” (does anyone honestly think that Ledeen has any meaningful familiarity with classical Muslim writings?) is just a repackaging of the fairytale that Dr. Bernard Lewis told a few years back about some particular Shi’ite holiday being used by Iran to launch an attack on Israel and usher in the apocalypse (I think he get his religious fanatics mixed up; he was probably thinking about John Hagee). Anyways, Ledeen has absolutely no credibility and we all know that he is just trying to instigate more intervention in Iran and the Middle East at large. If he is so concerned about “liberating” Iran why doesn’t he go sign up with the Mujahidin-e Khaliq cult?

    On a final note, I hope and pray that the Wall Street Journal becomes another casualty of this economy, they deserves as much for continuing to print such horrible and stupid articles.

  8. I have known Iranian people off and on for 45 years. They are nice normal people. The way the neocons demonize whole nations of peoples just because they don’t want to be under Israeli nuclear domination is disgusting. They won’t rest until there is another world war.

  9. But on the bright side, now that Ledeen works for the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, he can finally openly defend the democratically elected Hamas.

  10. Joanthan

    From your link, which has since been entierly debunked.

    “http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,664967,00.html”

    “This practice dated back to October 2000, with Iranian officials issuing specific instructions to their border guards—in some cases not to put stamps in the passports of al-Qaeda personnel—and otherwise not harass them and to facilitate their travel across the frontier.”

    This is based on the fact that Iran did not stampt the passports of the AQ operatives, even though Iran has a policy of NOT stamping passports at the border. Small detail.

    “Much of the new information about Iran came from al-Qaeda detainees interrogated by the U.S. government, including captured Yemeni al-Qaeda operative Waleed Mohammed bin Attash”

    Allegded AQ operatives have been tortured to say what Washington wanted to hear. That’s how we got the BS about Iraq being involved with 911.

    1. Next we would be told that Russia had connection with 9/11 in order to get the US stuck in Afghnistan,or maybe China.

  11. Last night at President Obama’s televised press conference, venerable Helen Thomas asked Obama a two part question – the first part concerned Al Qaeda agents hiding in Pakistan and the second part was a reasonable question “Do you know of any Mid East country that has nuclear weapons?” Obama answered fully on the first part mentioning the frontier areas, etc, etc. But he never answered the second part – the simple answer which should have been, “Of course, Israel has many nuclear weapons”. Instead his Coolness glowered and he ran over Ms Thomas like an 18 wheeler when she started to whimper about his lack of an answer. Obama may still be a good President but AIPAC has his testacles in their pocket.

    1. To be fair, Obama did ramble on about not needing a nuclear arms race in the Mid East; which is establishment-speak for “the right people in the Mid East have nuclear weapons and let’s just keep it that way”

  14. “Moreover, Iran’s considerable support for al Qaeda in Iraq was doubly defeated, first on the battlefield and last week at the ballot box. The Status of Forces Agreement between the U.S. and Iraq was also a blow, as Tehran’s mullahs, including Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, had gone all-out to block it.”

    How can Iran’s support for al-Qaeda in Iraq (AQI) be defeated when such support never existed in the first place? AQI is an enemy of the Shi’ite religious parties that Iran actually does support. It was the forerunners of AQI in Iraq that killed Ayatollah Muhammad Baqir Hakim, the head of the Iranian-controlled Supreme Council for Islamic Revolution in Iraq. It is AQI that has carried out vicious attacks against Iraqi Shi’ites.

    Michael Ledeen is a crank conspiracy theorist, the neocon equivalent of Lyndon LaRouche and Alex Jones (though, in fairness to Jones, at least he is right about somethings).

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