Okay folks, I know you miss this so much (trying a little irony here), but I feel like I have to turn your attention to the latest update of Iranian activity in Iraq.
Just three days after the groundbreaking talks between Iranian officials and U.S. diplomats on Iraqi security, coalition forces (which is code for TF 145) and Iraqi troops nabbed a few more bad guys tied to the Iranian support network for the insurgencyand al Qaeda.
I know there are a lot of readers here who strongly dispute the Iranian connection with Iraq and see it as impossible for a Shiite government to collaborate with the Sunni AQ movement. But at the very least, when more smoking gun evidence does present itself, the U.S. cant be accused of ignoring the threat.
From MNFI:
Iraqi and Coalition Forces detained two individuals in Sadr City during the first raid. They are believed to be members of the secret cell terrorist network known for facilitating the transport of weapons and explosively formed penetrators, or EFPs, from Iran to Iraq, as well as bringing militants from Iraq to Iran for terrorist training.
Intelligence reports indicate one of the targeted individuals detained during the operation is suspected of providing facilitation and logistic support for trafficking weapons used in operations against Coalition Forces.
In a separate raid in Khanaqin, Coalition Forces captured a suspected liaison to al-Qaeda in Iraq senior leaders, who assists in the movement of information and documents from al-Qaeda in Iraq leadership in Baghdad to al-Qaeda senior leaders in Iran.
And at todays briefing with coalition commander, Gen. Ray Odierno, there was no flexibility on the claim of Iranian support of the violence:
We still see interference by Iran here in Iraqthey are shipping weapons, money and supplying training for insurgents in Iran.
But he did seem conciliatory toward Syria. While not denying the continuing flow of insurgents through Syria, Odierno is open to dialogue. Does he see an opening that the rest of us (skeptics) might be missing?
I think we need to reach out to them and to talk to them
Even if these assertions are true (and I am EXTREMELY sceptical of both the intentions and judgement of Christian), I still don’t understand why anyone should be surprised, outraged, anything. I refer you to a map of the region. Unless the tectonic plates have realigned overnight, I’m pretty sure that Iraq is adjacent to Iran, and several thousand miles away from the U.S. Unless Billy Graham just had the most successful revival tour in history, Iraqis mostly practice Shi’a Islam — just like Iran, and not much like Virginia.
It’s their neighborhood, not ours. Maybe we should tend to our own knitting before we take on others’. In case you haven’t noticed, ours has got pretty frazzled lately, and our friends are wondering why we let ourselves go, and always look so damn frumpy whenever we step outside.
It’s always surprising how one-sided looks at problems yield funny results.
So; hello people, I have news for you!
IRAN IS NEIGHBOUR OF IRAQ AND WAS (other than the USA) ALREADY ONCE INVADED BY IRAQ.
They have about thousand more and better reasons to influence Iraqi affairs than the USA.
Of course are they actively influencing what happens in Iraq. It’s so much more relevant for their own national security than for the USA that it’s ridiculous to claim they should not be there.
The nation that’s active in Iraq and has little stake in such affairs and is by almost the whole world being considered as being active in a place where it simple shouldn’t be is — surprise — the USA!
It’s quite the same funny stuff like the old accusations that Iraq had WMD’s while the USA itself is still one of two countries with enough nukes to kill mankind some dozen times (and denies frequent Russian attempts to scale the nuclear arsenals down).
It’s really astonishing. Remember the bible story about the splinter in the eye of the other, but the board in front of your own eyes?
So, basically what you all are saying is: “so what” and “we deserve it anyway”…?
Sounds like sound judgement to me guys.
“So, basically what you all are saying is: “so what” and “we deserve it anyway”…?“
I’ll put it in terms that even you can understand, Christian: Look at a map of the world. You *can* read maps, can’t you?
For your next assignment, maybe you can look into reasons why warnings from American officials about the Iranian juggernaut might be greeted with a little scepticism. It’s easy, you don’t have to go much farther back than 2002-03.
Sheesh. Why did they put *you* in a position of authority in this site?
Easy there people. I do not see the need to use swear language in a discussion of this nature. Nor do i find it okay to lash out at someone who is just reporting what he see’s.
Yes, Iran has a vested interest in Iraqi affairs as does Syria. So is it really all that far fetched that they may want to help “facilitate” the insurgency? Remove the USA and attain one of the world’s richest oil barring countries. Sounds like a pretty sound plan to me.
“Yesterdays enemy becomes today’s friend,” there is so much truth to that saying and for good reason. Iran and Syria will help because they want Iraq’s resources. Isn’t that what it always comes down to?
I think that is exactly what they want/are doing. Help AQ hurt the Americans enough so that they retreat and leave a massive power void for “Our Friends” and thus the Iraqi people will suffer even more atrocities.
Sounds to me like common sense, but then again no one knows the whole story.
–Avid Reader
P.S. Keep up the good work Christian and the rest of you guys at DT. This is some really great stuff and i enjoy the site.
A. Should this really come as a surprise? Should we not have expected Iran to get involved in Iraq from the beginning? (and perhaps taken some steps to mitigate this in the beginning?) After all, we did take down their biggest threat and enemy in Saddam
Let’s say the PR China invades Venezuela to unseat Hugo Chavez. They care most for the ministry of oil and install a puppet regime that’s supported by a couple PLA divisions in a counter insurgency campaign.
Now the USA didn’t interfere witht he invasion (big surprise) and doesn’t interdict Chinese shipping to Venezuela.
It merely sends to CIA to cause the Chinese trouble.
Would that make the USA a bad country?
Or do you think neutral people would have better reason to dislike the Chinese more?
Would it sound ridiculous when the Chinese complain about CIA interference?
Oh bill, I’m so sorry if my F-bomb or two offended you.. especially such a tough-talker like yourself… gee, how horrible that must have been for you. so sorry.
And yeah, that’s it! It’s all Clinton’s fault! LOL!
and man, spot on: it had nothing at all to do with oil! Man, if that country had NO oil, we would have still gone in there! Yeah, that’s it!
And finally, man, all those neighbors of Iran we invaded during Reagan and Eisenhower.. but they would have NEVER thought about getting involved then. NEVER! And let’s just forget about that hasty little al-qaeda emboldening cowardly retreat from Beirut for now, eh?
Let’s instead stick to half-century old allusions about noble wars that we once were in, eh!
Yeah, it’s like WW2! that’s it! just like Japan (minus the singular culture — and of course the Emperor who controlled all his people’s loyalty who told them to lay down their arms)
OH — and well, might want to leave out the Russians when using any Germany references… that just complicates things too much.
Instead, stick to blaming it all on Clinton and the Liberals! That way, you’ll not only get Bush off the hook, but you can tear apart your own country while you’re at it! Brilliant!
OH and bill,
All of those Generals and Soliders/Marines… you know, the ones who actually led their troops in combat in Iraq and all, they’re just a bunch of traitors and liberals too, man! Eaton, Batiste — oh and can’t forget that little surrender monkey, former Army Chief of Staff Eric Shineki! How dare he tell our Dear Administration that we’d need on the order of 500,00 troops to secure Iraq after the intial conflict! Traitor! He should have just clapped louder and none of this would have happened!
See, it’s all about being a tough guy, bill… as you know, of course. And NEVER EVER deal with facts or reality man, especially if it isn’t back and white and something that we can nail the liberals with!
So rock on man! Everyone who doesn’t talk as tough as you behind your keyboard is a panzy liberal traitor! Who cares if it’s the vast majority of Americans.. and Generals …and Soldiers and Marines — who say this is a mess. If our dear leader (and his mouthpieces) tell us differently, then we know better, don’t we?
Keep the faith man. God will deliver us from the liberals and crush all who oppose us. as long as we have un-questioning faith in our King and always remember — it’s all about the propaganda, man!
You stole MY Party, Max.
You — and the deluded Neo Cons
I’ve seen Hamas on tv with M-16’s. They must be supported by the USA. lol
EFP factories are found from time to time in Iraq, but this does not make it to the mainstream press. As Iran borders Iraq, it seems to me they have a much greater interest in Iraq than America.
As for Shiite Iran collaborating with the Sunni insurgency, thats thats the funniest thing I’ve heard. Serching for smoking guns with cheery pickers.
All you folks are a bunch of complainers. How about some real thoughts or soulutions to real problems. You all bitch about everyone else and have no real answers either. What would you do if you are all so wise as it appears by your comments?
Hey ME,you wrote this–
“You stole MY Party, Max.
You — and the deluded Neo Cons
It’s interesting that the rest of the world (I mean outside of US and at most UK) considers Iran as supporter of Hezbollah and practically no other terrorists. And Hezbollah is only partially terrorist (95% media coverage) and much more state-emulation and guerilla (5% media coverage).
That you, Max, mix so many events together and connect them to Iran while it’s widely acknowledged that Iran had for example nothing to do with the 1996 bombings (they’re attributed to AQ which is sunni and strongly dislikes Iran) tells alot about how serious one should take oyour arguments.
The embassy hostage thing wasn’t even an act of terrorism (if it was, the USA would be in even bigger trouble over all those unguilty people that were released after years in Guantanamo Bay).
Well, despite the utter failure of the Bush administration and all its foreign policy activities this world still seems to have too many people who still believe the Bush administration propaganda and even the propaganda that grew of such seeds.
Wartime propaganda is always a nasty thing and far from reality, in every country and at every time. People should rather listen to news from neutral countries to inform themselves — it’s possible today after all.
“Hell they can’t defend themselves anymore.“
You misunderstand defense with offense.
Europe doesn’t waste its ressources on huge offensive capabilities to enable itself to have such blunders like Vietnam and Iraq. That’s why Europe hasn’t got a balance deficit of the same size as its “defense” spending.
But there’s certainly no power on earth that could successfully invade Europe against the power of Europe. The USA are utterly incapable, the Chinese would even be incapable if they were neighbours and the Russians are no match either.
And your link tells only that there’s at least sone source refuting what thousands of other sources tell.
You’re fatuous.
JW — I’ve stated my ideas in this very thread.
Pull out of the cities and re-deploy to the border areas.
Let them fight it out (because they’re going to anyway — whether it’s one year or ten years from now.)
If we don;t like who wins, go back in and F them up again.
There are no magic button solutions at this point, but at least this way, we don’t have to be the Iraqi’s police force anymore.
MAX -
Ok, Touche. But you are wrong about the Black and White thing. I’m a vet too, and would rather we stop sniping at each other and get my friends out of this never-ending loop of re-deployment. Shit, my boys are on their 3rd and 4th tours by now — and can’t just keep re-deploying indefinitely.
Sven, you said–
“You misunderstand defense with offense.
Europe doesn’t waste its ressources on huge offensive capabilities to enable itself to have such blunders like Vietnam and Iraq. That’s why Europe hasn’t got a balance deficit of the same size as its “defense” spending.“
No Sven, Europe doesn’t waste it’s money on defense spending-It wastes AMERICA’s or rather we waste ours to defend fools in Europe. Don’t worry the USA is bloating up with social spending my friend-eventually Europe will be forced to defend itself. Noone need to invade Europe to impose their will on it anymore either.
Sven you said,
“But there’s certainly no power on earth that could successfully invade Europe against the power of Europe. The USA are utterly incapable, the Chinese would even be incapable if they were neighbours and the Russians are no match either.“
Actually Sven, the Middle East and North Africa are slowly invading Europe rather well. Try to park a nice car outside Paris this summer-you’ll see how the first wave of invaders are torching Citreons left and right.
Sven you added–
“And your link tells only that there’s at least sone source refuting what thousands of other sources tell.
You’re fatuous.“
Sven-you haven’t LINKED ANYTHING! You’ve just said everyone outside North America and the UK disagrees with the US-then you accuse me of being fatuous!
Kettle this is Sven calling-you’re black!!!!
Dude-I picked an outspoken critic of US Middle East Policies in the US-to point out that your argument didn’t hold water. Thousands of sources agree with me-thousands agree with you-the difference is I’m correct-you’re not!
Apparently most of France agrees with the US-they’re voting pro American now!
Sven-please give your brain a chance!
ME you said,
“Pull out of the cities and re-deploy to the border areas.
Let them fight it out (because they’re going to anyway — whether it’s one year or ten years from now.) “
I don’t know if I agree-I think we need to be downtown a bit-definately seal the borders though.
Check out the reports from Amariyah lately-I was there on Screaming Lady Road in 2004 and 2005 quite a bit-South of Cardinals-it appears we are growing a Sunni-Shiite coalition. Will it hold-who knows.
OMG. You really believe that the USA are so important in the world that the French base their election decision on whether a candidate dislikes US policy strongly or not? Unbelievably big-headed.
The Germans elected a female chancellor despite she was pro-Iraq war. About 90% of the Germans are contra-Iraq-war, yet they still elected her party enough to make her chancellor.
Imagine; the USA are really, really unimportant to other people in comparison to their domestic interests.
What a challenging idea, isn’t it?
I won’t provide links. Links don’t convince anyone, as long as the other side throws other links in the discussion. Furthermore, I’m too lazy to search for even a minor fraction of what links I could provide if I wasn’t.
Guys, don’t waste your posts on Max. All he does is come in and throw around the same circular arguments, regardless of the topic. He is in his own personal shame spiral cause he knows what he is shoveling is bullshit. Pity him, do not poke at him thru the bars.
Hey, people–gotta book for you to read. BECAUSE THEY HATE by Brigitte Gabriel. Read this and your illusions about peaceful Islam will vanish, as will any notions that we in the west can sit down and negotiate with these people. Brigitte is a Lebonese-American who went through the 1970’s to 1980’s Lebonese Civil War; is a highly respected journalist and former major TV news anchor. Check out her web site: americancongressfortruth.org. Well worth your time.
You’re confused.
Mining the Persian Gulf is an act of war, not terrorism.
If that was terrorism, the US assaults on lybian force in the Gulf of Syrte would be terrorism, too. By the way; do you remember what the US Navy did in WW2 against japanese shipping? The larget naval mining campaign ever. Were they terrorists?
Not to forget airstrikes on Lybia, a civilian goods factory in Sudan and a lot of other dubious actions as well. The USA and its citizens should be the last to draw the line between terrorism and no terrorism so far away from the core of terrorism.
It’s no terrorism if you try to strangle the economy of your enemy.
It’s terrorism if you commit acts of unjustified violence to instill fear to achieve a purpose without waging a regular war.
However, positions should be clarified so far and the other readers should have a firm opinion on who’s an idiot and who’s not.
I bet they’re divided.
Hatred is not a SEED. It is NO LONGER a seed, because it grew into a TREE one day, and is now a frigging FOREST! The Middle East has been a hotbed of hatred for so long, that it has eaten, consumed, and passed it through their bowels — fertilized the soils of their nation with it — and internalized their religious, political, and personal dogmas with it — HATRED. The religious side alone has festered for over 2,000 years, and now us Westerners have come over, jumped in the middle of the “hate train” like we have ownership and understanding of the dispute. NOW, we are the target of hate — so much so, that the posture of Iraq and Iran being mortal enemies has change to an alignment of two brothers fighting against one sworn enemy. We need to wake up, back up, wise up, and move the Frick out of this dispute — letting them resolve those issues. Then when the vast desert of smoke clears, sit down, talk, and otherwise negotiate with men that have a more solvent perspective about life, war, and their religious and political preferences — with a settled mind to looking forward. What we’re doing now makes no sense to any of the intelligent species on this planet. And if you take away the political aspirations and affiliations of our best political pundits and political geniuses, it is just a tool for discussing a host of associated ills — more important that the central discussion…AND~~
It makes even less sense to members of the smartest, best trained, and most dedicated military in the world. I keep hearing the troops on the ground saying “Bullshit” to most of these situations… I believe the correct term for this is “BUSH-SHIT”…
Yeah, I said it…
Jazz