D7HW2 Annotated Bibliography

"Iranian Military Guide." globalsecurity.org.19 Feb. 2006. Global Security. 8 Oct. 2007 < http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/iran/ >.

I found this source using Google Search engine. It's basically a database giving a run down on the various branches of the Iranian military: Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps, Army, Airforce, Navy. It also talks about the various political ministries and chains of command for the military. There is a long list of links to various articles used as sources for the database so I get the impression it's pretty legit. I also see a number of things here that I have seen with other sources. This database will be useful for me in that it should provide the meat and potatoes of my notes on the Iranian Military though I'll need to run through some backup sources to confirm some things. A few important points you see in the database. First, since the Revolution and western military embargoes the military has greatly suffered and is recovering slowly. Second, Russia and China have been making many of the recent arms deals with Iran. Three, a great deal of the bragging of Iranian military commanders to the press is likely a bunch of crap. The information on the military seems fairly unbiased in that I see a good mix of ups and downs.

Bruno, Greg. "Intelligence on Iran Still Lacking." Council On Foreign Relations. OCT 2007: 11 Oct. 2007 < http://www.cfr.org/publication/12721/ >.

I found this article through links from CNN.com. The article is written on a predominantly Middle East affairs writer for the Council on Foreign Relations, which describes itself as a Nonpartison resource for information and analysis. As the title of the article implies the article features a fair bit of criticism on gaps in U.S. intelligence. However, it seems to have some well rounded and realistic claims. The difficulty with judging U.S. intelligence is the fact that most of it is not available to the public, with good reason. I found the article a must read due to the need to not repeat the intelligence failure which hit America so hard in Iraq.

Katel, Peter. "New Strategy in Iraq." CQ Researcher (Feb. 23 2007): 11 Oct. 2007 < http://library.cqpress.com.ezp.mc.maricopa.edu/cqresearcher/document.php?id=cqresrre2007022300&type=hitlist >.

This is an article I found on CQ Researcher by an author who I have read other articles by and have found to be reliable. As with many of the CQ Researcher articles this is a dual sided portrayal of Iraq. As I'm doing my project on Iran, not Iraq, I focused on the parts of the paper that pertained to Iran. Some of the primary points I got out of the article is that, though it is easy to find weaponry and linking it to Iran, it's harder to link the delivery of those weapons to the higher ups in the Iranian Government. Coalition officials state that Iran is supporting insurgency in Iran to keep the U.S. busy and thus less likely to use military force against Iran. Some other reasons would include keeping Iraq, who was once a powerful enemy, from growing strong enough to challenge Iran again. Also there is the Iranians government claimed intention to spread Islamic revolution and a wish to get Western powers out of the Middle East. Iranian officials claim that they have no wish for instability in Iraq because why would they want an unstable nation so close to them.