On July 21, 2008, BBC Hardtalk with Steven Sackur had as guest Robert Baer, former CIA Senior Middle East Specialist. The topic of discussion was US policy regarding Iraq and Iran. It is not very likely that this interview and its subject matter will be aired in the United States so I am forwarding this 'front line intelligence' so America can read what transpired. Mr. Baer is a high level CIA person who is now "off the ranch" and telling it like it is. Sackur: "A former CIA analyst says that the US must recognize the power of Iran." Baer: "We simply cannot attack Iran." According to Mr. Baer, despite large volumes of advice to Bush, Cheney and the Pentagon, the US has 'broken the glue' that was holding the various Kurd, Sunni and Shiite factions together. It will not be put back together and the US and UK cannot provide that glue. The Iraqis want us out and right now. As I have suspected all along, the US and UK are not the solution to anything in Iraq, they are the problem. That glue was Saddam Hussein and the fact that he was building Iraq into a European-style nation in the Middle East to the horror of Israel and the various Arab Royal kingdoms that do not want democracy because that will mean they are 'Royally out of power'. Such nations as Saudi Arabia, Jordan, UAE, Bahrain, Qatar, etc were willing spectators to the total annihilation of Iraq and the slaughter of over 1 million so they did not have to have democracy delivered to them by gun point, by their own citizens or by the US ­ UK Faux Empire. In a past email update, 'Enemies within Our Gates', I had this quote as to why Iraq had to be destroyed and it is from a Neocon Zionist Jew named Edward Luttwak. Note the date of this quote and appreciate that the US and UK have totally destroyed a nation to stop it from embarrassing the other "Arab Allies" in the Gulf Region and steal its oil. <start insert> "If you refer back to the comment made by hardliner Pro-Israel Neocon Edward Luttwak as to why Saddam must be attacked (in 1991, not 2002), that Saddam was a threat to the Middle East status quo and then compare to Baker's comment regarding Germany being an enemy under "the war was actually only an economic preventive measure" the picture should become a little clearer on what I am trying to emphasize. "Saddam is not like the Saudi Princes who spend the bulk of their lives outside of their country, and who fritter away the Kingdom's oil profits on prostitutes and bottles of champagne in Paris. No, Saddam is building railways! Creating electrical networks! Highways and other important elements of a serious State infrastructure! After eights years of war against the Iranian regime of Khomeini, he desperately needs to demobilize his Republican Guard, which incorporates so many of this technical elite, in order to rebuild the war-devastated country. These people are his technicians, his engineers. If they are put to work in the way Saddam wishes, they will rapidly make Iraq the most advanced power in the region, and we cannot allow this to happen." <end insert> We have killed over 1 million Iraqis to steal their oil and stop them from building a vibrant nation with a real economy. It does not get 'any lower' than that. It is called genocide and war crimes. Who is 'keeping the peace' in Iraq is not the US, it is.. surprise, IRAN. That is why al Malaki has sided with Iran. They are not behind the violence and the CIA and White House have known about that for a very long time. They have been helping to keep Al Sadr from launching an all-out war to evict the trespassers: the burglar-killers US and UK. What we are dealing with here is the arrogance of George W Bush who will not admit that his plan was stupid and he has lost. He has lost the (fake) Global War on Terror, he has lost Afghanistan and he has lost and does not control Iraq. Like the murderous thug he is, the burglar controls Iraq at gunpoint. He lost the Grand Chessboard in three moves, idiot that he is. Iran is a Shiite nation of over 80 million people and they have considerable influence in the Shiite world. They have been leaning heavily on the Al Sadr factions to not rise up and take all of Iraq for themselves since the Shiite in Iraq are the definite majority. Regarding Iran, they have no nuclear weapons program according to all reputable and reliable sources. Consider the truth from CIA and yet another Bush lie for the photo ops. The bigger problem with Iran is they are indeed a "Regional Superpower" that wields huge force in the Shiite part of Islam. The Zionist Jews, the US Neocons and the UK are now about to go apoplectic because Iran is doing the exact same thing that Saddam Hussein was doing. Building a real nation, with real infrastructure and there are some who wish to crush that just like they did Iraq. They foam at the mouth like rabid dogs at the thought of crushing Iran and stealing its vast amounts of oil and natural gas as they did in Iraq. They are not yet a true regional military superpower but with over 80 million people they are not a pushover. They are definitely a rapidly growing economic superpower in that region of the world. Enough so, that both China and Russia consider them as 'national strategic interest', which is the mantra the US loves to use to justify its attacks and genocide on other nations based on falsified intelligence and outright lies. Lest anyone in the White House fails to tell you, Russia and China are both Superpowers and they are solidly behind Iran and against this planned destruction and theft of property the US, UK and Israel wish to see happen. The US is having to come to grips with the fact that Iran is indeed a regional superpower, backed up by two WORLD Superpowers. With tensions growing between Russia and Georgia, I still maintain that if Bush has three brain cells capable of firing at the same time, he had better cut a deal with Iran and fast.. take his oil pipeline SOUTH THROUGH IRAN since he will not get it through Georgia and he will not get the Turkmenistan ­ Afghanistan ­ Pakistan pipeline done, either in his administration or his lifetime. He has squandered any 'good will' with Russia, Afghanistan and Pakistan. Poor little Georgia is now feeling the heat and possible wrath of a very angry Russian Bear because they sided with the US and NATO. "Yap, yap, way to go, Condoleezza!" Useless Black Poodle. I told Jeff Rense that I clearly see this coming. Yes, Bush can cut a deal with Iran to get his butt out of the crack but, and this is a major but, that deal with be on the unyielding terms of Iran and Russia. He has no negotiating room for any "Bush conditions". When the US leaned on the EU to freeze Iranian bank accounts, since they supply a large amount of oil and natural gas to Europe, Iran withdrew $75 billion from EU banks in seconds. That created considerable cash liquidity problems in the EU where Iran had those funds to conduct 'normal energy trade'. What was the 'chess move' Iran used to go right around that US move? They have signed a mega-deal with Russia to supply oil and natural gas to Europe through Russia, which absolutely has the EU by the throat when it comes to oil and natural gas supply. No one is going to fail to pay their energy bill to Russia lest they want to have their economy put on its knees. Another interesting fact in the Baer interview is that Iran is ruled by a Proletariat and that is who has their finger on the 'alleged nuclear trigger'. Their President, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, does not have authority to launch any missiles, nuclear or otherwise, at anyone. That is not how their Islamic Republic of Iran is set up to function. He can talk all he wants, he can make any statement, but he is not the authority who can make war on any nation. Consider that fact and consider the Bush lunacy of his EU Missile Defense Shield. You might better understand why the bristles on the back of the Russian Bear are standing up because that Bush Lie is aimed at Russia. If you do not know what that means, it means DO NOT PROVOKE ANY MORE! Of course, that is a fact and it is well known to both Israel and the US, so consider the 'false rhetoric' coming out of the US and Tel Aviv. Iran is not a threat to anyone unless provoked. If provoked, Russia will respond and possibly China, too. My continuing view from over here is turning up some other interesting facts. I have been hearing about some rubs between Azerbaijan and the US but no details. I have many contacts in Armenia, both personal and professional. In finding another map of this Caspian Basin area, one in German, note the pipeline from Azerbaijan into Russia of all places. It took a while to find out what that pipeline is all about and it is yet another loss for BushCo and their dreams of dominating this area of the world and their Grand Chessboard dreams of Energy Empire that now lays in dust - and was never anything but dust, hollow rhetoric, visions of hegemony and lies. <start insert> http://rpmonitor.ru/en/en/detail.php?ID=10167 "Subsequently, the Baku specialists discovered vast amounts of gas in one of the fields regarded by the Western partners as sparse. Thus, the grounds for political tensions withTurkmenistan and Kazakhstan became irrelevant. On this background, Dmitry Medvedev, Gazprom's CEO Alexey Miller, and Tatarstan's leader Mintimer Shaimiyev undertook a tour involving Baku, Ashkhabad, and Astana, the capital of Kazakhstan. This trip was followed with nervous comments in Western media: it was clear that Moscow was going to present some proposals that the Caspian states would not reject. These rumors appeared to be true. Both in Baku and Ashkhabad, Medvedev and Miller guaranteed purchase of local oil and gas for European-level prices, i.e. for a twice larger price than before, under the conditions of transit across Russia. Simultaneously, Stroytransgaz, Gazprom's construction affiliate, affirmed the schedule of construction of the Caspian Coastline Pipe Route, while Russian Railroads Corp. joined the Turkmenistan-Iran railway project. The design, elaborated in Moscow, was a scathing blow for Steven Mann, Washington's special envoy who had spent years manipulating Caspian states against one another and Russia." <end insert> The US is getting a trickle of oil out through Georgia but they still do not, and probably will never, have the "cross Caspian Sea" link from Turkmenbaschi to Baku. The "mother lode" is on the east side of the Caspian Sea, not the Azerbaijan ­ Georgia side. Since Bush cannot read a map, I am going to do the unthinkable. Hey, Bush, you can get from Turkmenistan to the ocean due south through Iran. Russia and Afghanistan and Pakistan are already making it clear you lost those other two pipeline routes. You, Bush, might not like the terms but that is the only way you are ever going to get a pipeline out of the Caspian Basin, due to your lies, your arrogance and your stupidity. Cut the deal or go down in flames as you deserve, George W Bush. Karl