THE UNITED STATES COULD DELIVER A MILITARY STRIKE AGAINST IRAN WITHIN THE NEXT SIX MONTHS
AZG Armenian Daily #152
24/08/2007
Middle East
In an interview Tuesday the U.S. TV channel asked Robert Baer, a former
CIA field officer assigned to the Middle East, whether the U.S. was
preparing for military action against Iran, citing Baer’s column
for Time Magazine on August 18, where he suggested that Washington
officials expect an attack within the next six months.
"I’ve taken an informal poll inside the government," Baer told
Fox. "The feeling is we will hit the Islamic Revolutionary Guard
Corps [IRGC]." He said the George W. Bush administration is convinced
"that the Iranians are interfering in Iraq and the rest of the Gulf,"
but what his sources anticipate is "not exactly a war."
"We won’t see American troops cross the border," said Baer. "If this
is going to happen, it is going to happen very quickly and it is
going to surprise a lot of people."
There were recent reports that Washington would put Iran’s Islamic
Revolutionary Guard – the largest branch of Iran’s military, separate
from the rest of the army – on the terrorism list. Baer said the U.S.
military suspects that the Revolutionary Guard is the main supplier
of sophisticated improvised explosive devices (IEDs) to insurgents
killing coalition forces in Iraq and Afghanistan. He also said there is
a belief among neo-conservative elements in the Bush administration
that the Revolutionary Guard is an obstacle to democratic and a
friendly Iran