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Facing Iran: Arabs See No Choice But War
[New York Post] Amir Taheri - A recent tour of Arab capitals shows that Arab leaders appear resigned to a military showdown with the Islamic Republic of Iran and are preparing for it. Tehran has spent vast sums of money and energy to procure clients in the Sunni Islamist Hamas movement and leftist guerrilla groups. The Islamic Republic has launched a new program under which thousands of Palestinian "volunteers for martyrdom" are trained in Iran, Lebanon, and Syria to fight both Israel and the secular faction of PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas. One reason for Tehran's "increasing cockiness" is Ahmadinejad's success in convincing the Khomeinist leadership in Iran that the U.S. is in "strategic retreat." "The American Great Satan is wounded and bleeding," says Hassan Abbasi, Ahmadinejad's strategic advisor. "If we break Bush, no other American leader would have the heart to defy Islam," he says. Tehran started beating the drums of war over a year ago. If one listens carefully, one can now hear the response from the Arab side - in the form of faint drumbeats that are bound to get louder in the months ahead.