The reported plan by Iran to assassinate a Saudi Ambassador named Adel al-Jubeir is both shocking and confusing. The Obama Administration has uncovered the alleged scheme and arrested two men: an American-Iranian, Manssor Arbabsiar, and Gholam Shakuri, an Iranian.
Both were fingered in the so-called “murder-for-hire” plot that involved paying a Mexican drug cartel to help kill Adel al-Jubeir as he dined in a Washington restaurant. They also planned to blow up the Saudi and Israeli embassies in Washington.
Now think about that.
If the “Washington restaurant” is a place like Charlie Trotter’s not far from Capitol Hill and where this blogger dined during the 2008 Inauguration of President Obama, then the planners were clearly out to get not just the Saudi Ambassador, but any number of DC power-brokers who frequent a place like that. (As a note, Charlie Trotter’s was not the restaurant noted, and the name of the establishment has not been released.)
What would Iran have to gain by allowing such a terrible, horrible event to take place? Whatever the idea, The Guardian UK reports that over a hundred people would have been killed or injured.
What, other than expressing some kind of dislike for Saudi – American relations, would Iran have to gain? Whatever the details, the Obama Administration asserts the action was state-sponsored.
But I wonder if the Iran effort was some kind of test. A test to see how vulnerable the U.S. anti-terrorism system is, and if this worked, perhaps Iran would try for other U.S. officials? Attorney General Eric Holder says the plot was “directed and approved by elements of the Iranian government,” and pointed to the alleged involvement of members of Iran’s special operations called Quds Force.
Iran Should Come Clean
Iran’s response to this news is disturbing. The Iran president has not as of this blog post issued a statement officially condemning the action. But what if the whole plan was part of a plot to cause America to target Iran?
Something is wrong here.
Bill Carroll