USA Today is Reporting:

WASHINGTON — The United States blocked an Iranian cargo plane’s flight to Syria last month after intelligence analysts concluded it was carrying sophisticated missiles and launchers to resupply Hezbollah in southern Lebanon, two U.S. intelligence officials say.

Eight days after Hezbollah’s war with Israel began, U.S. diplomats persuaded Turkey and Iraq to deny the plane permission to cross their territory to Damascus, a transfer point for arms to Hezbollah, the officials said.

The episode was detailed by one U.S. intelligence official who saw a report on the incident. It was confirmed by a U.S. official from a second intelligence agency and by a diplomat with a foreign government. They did not want their names used because they were not authorized to discuss the incident.

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•July 15: Three days after the war began, a source tipped off U.S. intelligence about an imminent shipment of missiles from Iran to Hezbollah.

•July 19: A spy satellite photographed Iranian crews loading three missile launchers and eight crates, each normally used to carry a Chinese-designed C-802 Noor missile, aboard a transport plane at Mehrabad air base near Tehran. Israel says Hezbollah fired a C-802, a precision-guided anti-ship cruise missile, at an Israeli warship off Lebanon’s coast on July 14.

•July 20: The Ilyushin Il-76 transport plane left for Damascus, but Iraqi air-traffic controllers denied it permission to enter Iraq’s airspace. The Iranian flight crew then requested permission to fly over Turkey. Turkish controllers granted permission — but only if the plane would land for an inspection. The plane returned to Tehran, where the military cargo was unloaded.

•July 22: The plane flew humanitarian aid to Damascus after stopping for inspection in Turkey.

Though the missiles were not visible in the satellite photos, the launchers and specialized crates with distinctive shapes allowed U.S. analysts to identify the missile type, the intelligence officials said.

Asked about the account during an interview Tuesday, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said, “We work on these kinds of things all the time.” But she added, “I can’t comment on specific cases.” 

So here is my question: why the cloak and dagger routine?  Can someone please name me one strategic advantage in the secrecy?

No, there is no advantage.  This is the State Department trying to fight our wars for us, and until and unless we unshackle the armed forces of our country and finally go public with who we are fighting and what the real enemy is, this is still a secret war conducted for secret reasons by secret people at the State Department.

When this information was gleaned by our intelligence services, Bush should have marched out in front of the press corps in Washington, announced that Iran was trying to resupply Hezbollah, and said that the U.S. will blast the plane out of the sky if it didn’t turn around; and then videotape it and put in on the news if the plane actually tried to land and we had to shoot it out of the air.  In the background (double frame) of this videotape we should have had the brass at CENTCOM watching and cheering as the plane went down in flames.

We’ve absolutely got to get serious about this international war.  Finally, Michelle Malkin (actually, Bryan Preston over at Hotair.com) has a vent on “Flower Power Never Won a War.”