By Tim Collie of Newsmax

No matter who is elected president in November, former CIA officer Robert Baer has no doubt about what will be topping his agenda: Iran.

“Everything is coming to a head in the Middle East,” Baer tells Newsmax. “The days of messing around with Iran are over. We’ve been kicking this can down the road for 30 years, and now we’re at the end of the road.”

The former CIA covert operative asserts that the Islamic nation of 70 million people is building an empire in the Middle East, believing it should be the “citadel of Islam.”

He warns that Iran is probably months, if not weeks, away from war with Israel.

That’s the message of Baer’s new book, [1] “The Devil We Know: Dealing with the New Iranian Superpower.”

Baer came to national prominence after he left the agency in 1997 and wrote the New York Times bestseller “See No Evil,” detailing almost two decades of intrigue he saw firsthand while working for the agency. “See No Evil” and another Baer bestseller, “Sleeping with the Devil,” were the basis for the Oscar-winning film “Syriana.”

In previous books Baer had detailed the threat posed by Saddam Hussein. Now he has his finger clearly pointed at the Iranians.

With Chinese Silkworm missiles pointed toward the Strait of Hormuz, Iran has the ability to cripple the world economy in a matter of minutes by shutting down the flow of oil. That’s even before it gains a nuclear missile.

Like it or not, Baer argues in “The Devil We Know,” Iran is now a superpower with perhaps even more ability to alter America’s destiny than China or Russia. And the threat it poses has been ignored for far too long.

The next president will face three stark choices very soon, Baer says.

He can either stagger toward an eventual war with the Muslim nation or try to negotiate with a new Persian empire, much as previous administrations have done with hostile powers like the Soviet Union, Libya or North Korea.

[2] http://www.newsmax.com/newsfront/iran_war_baer_book/2008/10/05/137519.html?s=al&promo_code=6C5F-1

See related story from U. S. News and World Report…

Is the United States moving toward military action with Iran?

The resignation of the top U.S. military commander for the Middle East is setting off alarms that the Bush administration is intent on using military force to stop Iran’s moves toward gaining nuclear weapons. In announcing his sudden resignation today following a report on his views in Esquire, Adm. William Fallon didn’t directly deny that he differs with President Bush over at least some aspects of the president’s policy on Iran. For his part, Defense Secretary Robert Gates said it is “ridiculous” to think that the departure of Fallon—whose Central Command has been working on contingency plans for strikes on Iran as well as overseeing Iraq—signals that the United States is planning to go to war with Iran.

[3] http://www.usnews.com/blogs/news-desk/2008/3/11/6-                                                                signs-the-us-may-be-headed-for-war-in-iran.html

How far have preparations gone?

By Jerome Corsi 

 forces into the region, President Bush is putting into place a new political and military command team, all in preparation for an expanded war in the Middle East.[5] We have already noted that the USS John C. Stennis (CVN 74) aircraft carrier battle group is heading to the Persian Gulf to join the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower (CVN 69) aircraft carrier battle group currently on station there.

Additionally, the USS Boxer (LHD 4) amphibious assault ship, the flagship of the Boxer Expeditionary Strike Group, is on station in the Persian Gulf. On January 4, 2007, the USS Bataan (LHD 5), the command ship of the Bataan Expeditionary Strike Group, departed from Norfolk, Va., headed for forward deployment. Typically, we would expect the USS Bataan to replace the USS Boxer in normal rotation. Even if that is the destination of the USS Bataan, we would have two amphibious strike forces in the Gulf as the rotation is completed.

Along with each carrier attack group comes a [6] fleet of 12 ships, including two guided missile-cruisers, generally Ticonderoga-class, two guided missile destroyers, generally Arleigh Burke-class, and an attack submarine that is usually Los Angeles-class.

[7] U.S. Admiral William J. Fallon, head of U.S. Pacific Command is taking over as the top commander of U.S. forces in the Middle East, following the retirement of Gen. John Abizaid. The transition of command from the [8] Army to the [9] Navyshould be noted, especially with this much naval power concentrating in the Gulf. We should also note that Admiral Fallon has command experience in the 1991 Gulf War, where he commanded the Carrier Air Wing Eight on the USS Theodore Roosevelt during Operation Desert Storm. In 1995, he was the Commander of the U.S. Sixth Fleet battle force supporting NATO’s Operation Deliberate Force in Bosnia. [10] He is considered one of the Navy’s top commanders in combined forces operations and an expert in amphibious landings.

Quietly, the Bush administration is changing the entire command structure in the Middle East. [11] The U.S. top commander in Iraq, Gen. George Casey is being replaced by Gen. David Petraeus.

[12] http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=53669