Washington DC is all abuzz over an
Iranian drone strike on a dissident in McClean Virginia yesterday. The target was an Iranian by the name
of Shapour Bakhtiar who the Iranians classify as a “terrorist.”
Mr. Bakhtiar was attending a wedding
when a missile exploded, killing him and several other guests. The total number of those injured is
not yet known, but several people were blinded and at least three
paralyzed by the blast that seemed to come out of nowhere. One of
those killed was Bakhtiar's 16 year-old son who had no involvement in
terrorism.
The Obama Administration has called it
an act of war and has demanded an immediate meeting of the UN
Security Council to condemn the attack as a breach of international
law and an act of pure barbarism.
Iranian spokesman Mohammed Mosaddegh
told Mendax correspondent M. R. Pahlavi that the attack was
completely justified and within the accepted practice of the United
States. Tehran sources tell Mendax that Bakhtiar was wanted for
making false and inflammatory statements against the legitimate
government of Iran and aiding terrorists.
A State Department press release called
the murder of Bakhtiar “The act of a criminal, lawless, rogue state
that does not recognize national borders nor limits on its
authority.” Iran has tried to justify its villainy by claiming a
moral equivalence with U.S. attacks on genuine terrorists in
Pakistan, Yemen, Afghanistan, Somalia, Libya, Iraq, Egypt and perhaps
other places undisclosed.
Defense Department and CIA personnel
were taken by surprise that Iran had the capability to build drones
until it was learned that Russian and Chinese engineers have been
working with the Iranians to build a fleet of drones similar to the
Lockheed RQ-170 that they captured on December 4, 2011.
Tehran has claimed that all those
killed and injured were terrorists or were providing aid to
terrorists. United States Ambassador to the United
Nations, Samantha Power issued a statement saying, "My
government emphasizes that this blatant and unprovoked air violation
by the Iranian government is tantamount to an act of hostility
against the United States in clear contravention of international
law, in particular, the basic tenets of the United Nations Charter."
Tehran has responded that Iran had
issued warrants against Bakhtiar, but that the United States was
harboring him and refused requests to return him to Iran. The Justice
Department acknowledged that Tehran had made an extradition request,
but the U.S. has no extradition agreement with Iran.
White House sources said that President
Obama, a former community organizer, was disappointed that Iran had
resorted to unacceptable behavior and that it bore the earmarks of a
KGB operation, thus casting suspicion on Vladimir Putin, a former KGB
Colonel. Veteran State Department officers expressed apprehension –
confidentially – about a community organizer trying to match wits
with a KGB Colonel.
Iran expressed regret over the collateral damage, but has remained defiant and
threatened more drone strikes on Iranian dissidents in New York City,
Los Angeles and Chicago. Russian President Vladimir Putin has denied
any connection to the Iranian policy and has called for a moratorium
on the use of drones. Washington has rejected any cessation of drone
usage, but said that rogue states must not be allowed to have them.
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