The Road To War With Iran

For three years now, I have been describing the conflict in Iraq as America's Cold War with Iran. As in the original Cold War, it is a conflict fought indirectly, through proxies—a war in which we have so far agreed not to directly confront Iran, as if it were already protected by a nuclear umbrella just like the old Soviet Union.

Here's another interesting update on that cold war. Echoing General Petraeus's testimony that commanders in Iraq now view the battle against Shiite militias in Iraq as a "proxy war" with Iran, the US is building a series of outposts on the Iranian border for the specific purpose of interdicting weapons smuggled to Iran's agents in Iraq.

"Pentagon Plans Base Near Iraq-Iran Border: Report," Reuters via Washington Post, September 10 The Pentagon is preparing to build a military base near the Iraq-Iran border to try to curtail the flow of advanced Iranian weaponry to Shiite militants across Iraq, the Wall Street Journal reported on Monday in its online edition.

Quoting Maj. Gen. Rick Lynch, the commander of the Army's 3rd Infantry Division, the Journal said the Pentagon also plans to build fortified checkpoints on major highways leading from the Iranian border to Baghdad, and install X-ray machines and explosives-detecting sensors at the only formal border crossing between the two countries.

Lynch told the paper, "We've got a major problem with Iranian munitions streaming into Iraq. This Iranian interference is troubling and we have to stop it."