The United States government delivered two Bell 412 EP helicopters to the Government of Pakistan today to assist the Pakistan military in its counterinsurgency efforts.

U.S. Army Brig. Gen. Michael Nagata handed over the helicopters to Brig. Gen. Tippu Karim, 101 Army Aviation commander, during a signing ceremony at Qasim Army Air Base near Rawalpindi, Pakistan.

By sheer coincidence, Karen DeYoung of The Washington Post reports that CIA Director Leon Panetta and Jim Jones, President Obama’s national security adviser, are headed to Pakistan to urge Pakistan’s civilian, military and intelligence leadership to take greater action against extremists in the tribal areas in the wake of the failed Times Square car bomb attempt. National Security Council spokesman Mike Hammer explains to DeYoung, “It is time to redouble our efforts with our allies in Pakistan to close this safe haven and create an environment where we and the Pakistani people can lead safe and productive lives.”

So do with those helicopters as you will…

Frontline’s reporter Meir Javedanfar thinks the violence heralds an “Iranian intifada.”

Judging from the events of Ashura, however, they now seem to have the potential to turn into a full scale-civil disobedience campaign, not unlike the first intifada that the Palestinians initiated against Israel in 1987. This will mean continuous periods of strikes and civil disobedience, as well as more confrontations between members of the public and security forces.

The main factor contributing to the new status quo is the unrelenting policies of the Supreme Leader, which have pitted his version of the Islamic Republic against longstanding Islamic institutions.

This is a battle that he will find extremely difficult to win. In fact, if developments continue in their current form, they can, at a minimum, result in significant changes to the structure of his regime, or more drastically, lead to its total demise.

A statement released by Mike Hammer, a spokesman for the National Security Council, on the violence, reads:

We strongly condemn the violent and unjust suppression of civilians in Iran seeking to exercise their universal rights. Hope and history are on the side of those who peacefully seek their universal rights, and so is the United States. Governing through fear and violence is never just, and as President Obama said in Oslo – it is telling when governments fear the aspirations of their own people more than the power of any other nation.

“National Security Advisor General James Jones is pleased to announce an addition to our already strong National Security Staff. The addition is in the important Central Region that encompasses the Middle East, the Gulf, Afghanistan, Pakistan and South Asia. Gen. Jones is in the midst of a several day trip to this important region.

Dennis Ross will become Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director for the Central Region with overall responsibility for the region.  He will work with Don Camp, Senior Director for South Asia, Lt. Gen. Doug Lute, Special Assistant to the President and Senior Adviser and Coordinator for Afghanistan-Pakistan, Dan Shapiro, Senior Director for Near East and North Africa, and Puneet Talwar, Senior Director for the Gulf States, Iran and Iraq.”

Allow the parsing to begin. What’s the organizational chart here? What does it mean to “work with” Camp, Lute, Shapiro and Talwar? Who works for whom, exactly? And did Ian Kelly say at today’s State Department presser that Ross is still working at State?

I notice that Ross is a special assistant to Obama and not an assistant — like, say, counterterrorism chief John Brennan, who decides for himself when he can see the president.