Charlie Rose Show, February 16 – In this propaganda war we can’t be at the center of it. Because we don’t have any credibility in that part of the world. A big part of the message has to be about Islam. What it is about and what it is not about. We have no credibility in talking about that.
Ultimately the leading clerics in the mosques over there have to take it on.
Rick Morell on military response to ISIS
Ultimately you have to take their territory away. If you don’t take their territory away they will continue to have safe haven which is extremely valuable to a terrorist group. And what they will ultimately use to attack us. They have said that.
As long as they have territory they are going to continue to get money. They can produce and sell oil. They are going to continue to get recruits. To get weapons. Taking that territory away is vitally important.
Ultimately there is only one way you’re going to do that. You have to do it on the ground. You have to take it away from them with ground troops.
Iran’s Footprint on the Middle East
Iran today has great influence in Iraq, Syria, Lebanon because of Hezbollah. And Yemen. Huge influence in those countries, the most powerful from an outside source.
It is part of the struggle that is going on.
So let me tell you what is bothering us about Iran. Their desire to be the most powerful country in the Middle East. Not in our interest.
It is Iranian policy for Israel to no longer be on the face of the earth. The Supreme Leader is the most powerful person in Iran. Calls the shots on national security. Their president Hassan Rouhani does not have influence on foreign policy. All foreign policy decisions are made by the Supreme Leader.
He has called Zionists a cancer that needs to be cut out. Calls Israel animals and calls for Israel’s annihilation. Just last fall the Supreme Leader put out a 9 point plan that would result in Israel being removed from the map. To be fair to him it would not be by force.
Iran’s Supreme Leader’s 9 point plan
It would be by a vote. But his 9 point plan would be stacked in a way that that outcome would be guaranteed. And he says in the meantime we need to continue to provide weapons to Israel’s opponents. And so the Iranians want to destroy our most important ally in the Middle East.
That’s two. Hegemony get rid of Israel. The Iranians are a state sponsored terrorism. Iran is essentially one of only countries in the world that does that.
What do you mean by that Michael?
The Iranian Revolutionary Guard Force which is independent of the Iranian military has a force called the Quds Force. Who hangs out in Damascus. In Baghdad. And Tehran. Managing different wars. And reports only to the Ayatollah. Doesn’t even report to the head of the IRTG. So, Quds Force practices terrorism and conducts terrorism around the world.
Iran’s Quds Force operations
It was the Quds Force that was planning to assasinate the Saudi Arabia ambassador in a restaurant in Georgetown. They were planning an attack on the Saudi Arabian embassy. The Israeli embassy. That was a Quds Force operation. No doubt about it. No doubt it went to the highest levels of the Iranian government. This was not some rogue operation. So that’s one type of state sponsored terrorism.
The other type is support to internationally recognized state sponsored terrorism groups. Attacking Israel. Hezbollah. Hezbollah could not exist without the support it receives from Iran. Hamas historically. Not not so much now. Because they don’t like what the Iranians are doing in terms of supporting Assad. So a little bit of a rift between.
Historically Hizbollah before 9/11 had killed more Americans than any other terrorist group on the planet. Most people don’t know that. They did the embassy bombing in Beirut among other things.
Hezbollah’s goal is to destroy Israel
The stated purpose of Hezbollah’s existence is to destroy Israel. And the Iranians provide it with money and weapons. They conduct terrorist attacks around the world against Israel.
The attacks would not be possible without the Iranians
Next you’ve got Iranian support to these Shia militia groups. In some ways that’s helpful to use today. In Iraq because they’re fighting ISIS. But those same Shia groups killed American soldiers in Iraq by the dozens and dozens and dozens.
Then you’ve got Iranian support to regional insurgent groups. So you’ve got Iranian support to the Hutsis in Yemen. And you saw the result of that, right. They swept south and took over the capital, took over the government.
You’ve got Iranian support to the Shia opposition in Bahrain. Iranian support to Shia opposition in the eastern provinces of Saudi Arabia. All that support is designed to support the overthrow of those regimes. And put in regimes like you have in Syria who are close to Iran.
Change the regimes or change the policies?
The Supreme Leader believes it’s our policy to get rid of him and the clerical regime that sits atop the Iranian government. There is not a policy. He’s wrong about that. Just like Putin is wrong that the CIA was responsible for what happened in the streets of Kjev. It’s nonsense. He really does believe that. And the Supreme Leader thinks the same thing about the CIA and his regime.
Gulf State populations don’t like U.S.
Here’s the thing about Iran. And we’ve talked about this privately:
In those Arab Gulf States that are friends of ours. The leaders of those countries love us. The populations don’t. In fact the polling there shows just the opposite. They don’t like us at all.
Why? They think that we’ve propped up regimes that have no popular will and except for us the regimes would not be in power.
I think they blame us for their problems. They blame us for Israel. Then you go to Iran where the Ayatollah despises us, sees us as the devil but the people of Iran love us. Culturally love us – Western music Western films. 45 percent of the population is 25 and younger and there is where the positive feelings are about us.
You see it come up when there is a contested election when it came up. And then people are slapped down – arrested – put in jail.
Iran long term
Some people see hope here in the long term. There are some people who hope that a nuclear deal would allow the beginning of a conversation with the Iranians that would lead to less distrust on both sides and to better relations on both sides.
I am skeptical of that for two reasons. One is you’re talking I think about a very long time as this current leadership is entrenched.
The demographics are such that that generation in Iran that fought in the Iran Iraq war they believed we were on the side of Sadam Hussein – we were! They got that one right! – That generation despises us. That generation is going to be in power some time. That was the Ahmadinejad generation. This change if it comes is going to be very very slow.
Iran’s youth will turn conservative
The other is: Even in our own society people get more conservative as they age. It just happens. So these people who like us today may just grow out of this as they move on their life and get jobs that require them to have a different view. It happens to all of us.
So I’m worried for how long it will take to get there. And what could happen in the meantime.
