Iran: Land of Opportunity

An article in the Sunday Times has some unsettling news:

Iran has formed battalions of suicide bombers to strike at British and American targets if the nation’s nuclear sites are attacked. According to Iranian officials, 40,000 trained suicide bombers are ready for action.

The main force, named the Special Unit of Martyr Seekers in the Revolutionary Guards, was first seen last month when members marched in a military parade, dressed in olive-green uniforms with explosive packs around their waists and detonators held high.

Dr Hassan Abbasi, head of the Centre for Doctrinal Strategic Studies in the Revolutionary Guards, said in a speech that 29 western targets had been identified: "We are ready to attack American and British sensitive points if they attack Iran’s nuclear facilities." He added that some of them were "quite close" to the Iranian border in Iraq.

In a tape recording heard by The Sunday Times, Abbasi warned the would-be martyrs to "pay close attention to wily England" and vowed that "Britain’s demise is on our agenda".

At a recruiting station in Tehran recently, volunteers for the force had to show their birth certificates, give proof of their address and tick a box stating whether they would prefer to attack American targets in Iraq or Israeli targets.

It is a sign of how entrenched this death cult mentality has become in the Muslim world that the act of murder can become a bureaucratic routine of checking options on a form.

However, I'd hang on tightly to my wallet before spending a lot of money on that number. Forty thousand suicide bombers sounds a little like the other "miracle weapons" Iran displayed in the Persian Gulf, namely the stealthy missiles and super-fast torpedos.

Iran's chief goal here may just be to rattle the West a bit. But, we shouldn't be so dense as to assume Iran doesn't have any suicide bombers. WND said this of Iranian President Ahmadinejad last year:

And, as mayor of Tehran, [Ahmadinejad] was one of the principal forces behind a campaign to recruit and train suicide bombers throughout the country.
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Last summer, the weekly publication of the Iranian Ansar-e Hizballah published an extensive report on a meeting of the General Staff for Glorification of Martyrs of the Global Islamic Campaign to recruit "martyrdom seekers" – or suicide bombers.

Over the last year, the group boasts of recruiting and training 40,000 "shahids" to attack U.S., Israeli and United Kingdom targets.

And Ahmadinejad has made no secret of his role in fostering and sponsoring suicide bombers in his own country. He made at least two television appearances in Iran after his election victory in which he spoke in praise of "the art of martyrdom."

There are those who would be willing to simply resign and let this Iranian complete its nuclear weapons program, assuming that we can live with a nuclear Iran. But this is merely wishful thinking, not a strategy.