Iranian Regime Lays the Groundwork for a Crackdown

In Tehran, the Revolutionary Guards and Basij are “disappearing” journalists and prominent reformers — probably starting at the bottom and working their way up.  Like Ramin Ahmadi, I see this as a prelude to a violent crackdown.

What can we do about this?  I had given serious consideration to President Obama’s first position, which was that by supporting the opposition, we’d be playing into Ahmedinejad’s hands.  Then I read this piece by Dan Senor and Christian Whiton (former Special Assistant to Jay Lefkowitz) and it changed my mind.  These are some fairly timid proposals, and in any event, Ahmedinejad is already accusing us of meddling, which was probably inevitable anyway.  Americans tend to forget that we’re held responsible for everything:  we’re also damned if we don’t.  Just ask any Iraqi Shi’ite.

For the little it’s worth, I’d be willing to take one big step further than Senor and Whiton:  if we saw columns of Revolutionary Guards headed for Tehran, and if we knew they were going to fire on civilians, I would support sending A-10’s to attack those columns.  Hey, what are they going to do?  Infiltrate people to attack us in Iraq?  Been there.  Go nuclear?  Doing that.  Refuse to talk to us?  Check.  And just as the Revolutionary Guards have armed people who kill our soldiers, I’d be all for arming an Iranian opposition that reflects our values (which the MEK doesn’t).

But that far and no further.  I still can’t think of any circumstances under which I’d support putting ground troops in Iran.

Related:   Also well worth reading.