No surprise here. America has to face the inevitability that we are going to have to take down Iran in order to have a stable world. My Persian friends, who often travel back and forth between the US and Iran, tell me that the Iranian people are overwhelmingly in support of getting rid of the mullahs and Ahmadinejad. Further, they strongly support the US, especially the younger people.

I expect that Israel will knock out Iran’s nuclear facilities before the US election — and possibly before the nominations. Israel knows that the next US president is not likely to support Israel. Bush has not been the perfect president, but among his many good qualities, he supports Israel. There were rumors that Israel had US support in the September 6th operation that took down Syria’s nuclear installation. It’s quite likely that Israel will have US support in taking down Iran’s nuclear facilities.

From ABC News, who wimped down their initial story and re-titled it to read US Captures Alleged Shiite Militia Chief;

U.S. soldiers captured a suspected Shiite militia commander and one other suspect Monday, the latest of several days of raids in Shiite holy cities south of Baghdad.

The arrests came a day after car bombs and gunmen struck new U.S. allies, police and civilians in northern Iraq, killing as many as 53 people in a spasm of violence that coincided with a visit by U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates to Baghdad.

The main suspect detained Monday is believed to be in charge of criminal operations for “special groups” in the Iraqi provinces of Wasit, Babil and Najaf, the U.S. military said in a statement. He was allegedly involved in coordinating weapons shipments and planning attacks on U.S. and Iraqi forces, it said. It did not characterize the second suspect.

But Iraqi police said the men were bodyguards for a Sadrist lawmaker, Ahmed al-Masaoudi. He was not immediately available to comment on the arrests, which took place in Hillah, about 60 miles south of the capital.

“Special groups” is language the military uses to describe Shiite Muslim militias allegedly backed by Iran. The U.S. says the groups have broken ranks with Muqtada al-Sadr’s Mahdi Army. The radical cleric in August called a six-month cease-fire, which is due to expire later this month.

The U.S. has been careful not to accuse al-Sadr himself of any role in ongoing attacks, and instead has blamed rogue militiamen of violating his cease-fire order. Nevertheless, U.S. and Iraqi officials have been cracking down on al-Sadr’s followers, especially in militia strongholds south of the capital.