NEWS & LETTERS, April - May 2009
War is reality
In January, Israeli Air Force missiles destroyed a convoy of Iranian arms in Sudan. The arms were bound for Hamas in Gaza. This incident (which destroyed 17 trucks, and killed 39 people, according to reports) shows just how close to the brink of a larger war the region is.
It was a disturbing coda to the Israeli war on Gaza, which was in progress at the time, and a measure as well of just how seriously the war of words between the Iranian and Israeli governments should be taken. With the ascent of the right-wing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Israel the possibility of an explosion becomes even more serious.
It should be noted that in return for its cooperation with Iran, the Sudanese regime receives international support in regard to its genocide of the people of Darfur, which has killed hundreds of thousands of Black Sudanese Muslims. A delegation representing the Iranian government and its regional clients in Syria, Lebanon and Gaza recently travelled to Khartoum to express their support for leader Omar al-Bashir after an arrest warrant was issued for him by the International Criminal Court.
There is a parallel situation in Pakistan, where the U.S. has only increased its attacks upon Taliban personnel with Predator missiles. These strikes are carried out on Pakistani soil, and at the same time, the Taliban has stepped up its attacks against convoys carrying supplies bound for U.S. troops in Afghanistan. With the ceding of vast areas of the Northwest Frontier Provinces to the Taliban by Pakistan and the U.S. troop surge in Afghanistan, elements are in place for a larger war.
But in both these situations, it would be difficult to argue that war hasn't already begun.
--Gerry Emmett
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