Thursday, May 17, 2007

Iranian Complicity in the Iraqi Insurgency

The evidence continues to mount that Iran is very involved in fostering the Iraqi insurgency. All sorts of weapons are being recovered by coalition forces that have the signatures of Iran and beyond.

Richard Miniter recently spent several days in Iraq. He traveled to various remote areas of the country and interviewed several Iraqi civilians, Iraqi government leaders, insurgents being detained, and US soldiers. He reported on his stay on The Right Balance with Greg Allen this morning.

The sense that he got, because of visiting with the people and from his own observation was that outside of Baghdad, electricity and running water are in much more plentiful supply than they were during the Saddam era.

His study of terrorism and insurgencies indicates that insurgencies to do not succeed unless they have outside help. Interestingly then, several of the Iraqi people he communicated with are increasingly blaming Iran with fostering the insurgency.

Below is a video segment with a US Army Major who explains what they have been finding with increasing regularly in the Anbar province. Many rocket-propelled grenades, mortars, and explosively formed penetrators bear distinct evidence of having been manufactured in Iran. Others of these same and other weapons appear to be Chinese-made, having been repainted and renumbered, likely by Iranians.



5 comments:

rmwarnick said...

The Chairman of the JCS, General Peter Pace, does not agree that there is any evidence the Iranian government is supporting the Iraqi insurgency.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17129144/

Frank Staheli said...

From the article:

“That does not translate that the Iranian government per se, for sure, is directly involved in doing this,” Pace told reporters in the Indonesian capital, Jakarta. “What it does say is that things made in Iran are being used in Iraq to kill coalition soldiers.” (emphasis added)

You are correct in your statement, but don't you think that when it comes right down to it, you are speaking in unnecessary semantics?

rmwarnick said...

IMHO semantics are necessary because we are dealing with another Bush administration disinformation campaign.

You can also say, correctly, that American-made weapons are being used against our forces in Iraq. Does that mean the US government is supporting the insurgents?

Frank Staheli said...

I don't think the US govt is supporting the insurgents. However, are you saying that you don't think (i.e that your opinion is not that) the Iranian government is supporting the insurgents?

rmwarnick said...

I think there's no proof that the Iranian government is supporting the insurgents, as General Pace pointed out. The insurgents are mostly Sunni extremists, while one might suppose the Iranian government would prefer to arm Shia militias like SCIRI.

The problem is, the Bush administration has zero credibility when it comes to intelligence gathering and analysis. And everyone knows the neocons are itching to bomb Iran ASAP.