Saturday arrests in Iraq
Friday, two Shi’ite extremists surrendered to American troops, one of whom turned out to be a Hezbollah operative working for Iran to train the anti-government Mahdi Army according to the Associated Press;
Two Shiite militia leaders surrendered to American soldiers Friday, while tens of thousands of supporters of hard-line Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr streamed out of mosques to protest against an agreement which could keep U.S. troops here for years.
The arrests and demonstrations occurred on the eve of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki’s trip to Shiite-dominated Iran, his second visit there in a year.
U.S. officials allege that Iran is arming and training Shiite militiamen and encouraging a public campaign in Iraq against the proposed U.S.-Iraq security agreement, which the Iranians oppose.
Today, according to another Associated Press article in the Wall Street Journal, US troops arrested yet another pair of Iran-linked terrorists yesterday;
U.S. soldiers in Baghdad captured an Iraqi arms dealer and “assassination squad” leader responsible for trafficking Shiite extremists in and out of neighboring Iran for training, the military said Sunday.
The arrest reinforced long-standing U.S. allegations that Iran arms, trains and funds Shiite Muslim militiamen inside Iraq — charges that Tehran denies. It also coincided with a two-day visit to Iran by Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, his second such trip in a year.
The Iraqi prime minister, himself a Shiite, is struggling to keep Washington happy while reassuring Iran, the largest Shiite nation, that a proposed U.S.-Iraqi security agreement would not make his country an American launching pad for attacks on Iran.
The U.S. arrest campaign against Shiite militiamen with alleged ties to Iran was likely to be on the agenda for Mr. Maliki’s talks with Iranian officials.
U.S. soldiers, acting on intelligence from other Shiite militiamen already in custody, captured the Basra-based “special groups” leader late Saturday at a hideout in eastern Baghdad, according to a military statement. “The wanted man is alleged to be a commander of an assassination squad in Basra, an arms dealer with connections to Iran and a document counterfeiter,” the statement said. He also arranges transportation of criminals into Iran for training, and then back into Iraq, it said. One of the leader’s aides was also arrested without incident.
More of these connections to Iran will be found as long as the US and Shi’te Iraqi President Maliki remain reticent about confronting the Islamic Republic over these incursions into the sovereign state of Iraq.
The AP also reported that six al Qaeda folks were rounded up yesterday;
Meanwhile, the military said in another statement that it captured six more suspected Sunni extremists Sunday in the northern city of Mosul, including an alleged al Qaeda in Iraq leader and another man who is a wiring expert in charge of a bombing cell there.
It’s clear that Iraq will not be a safe democracy as long as Iran is allowed to operate with impunity. With elections in the US this year, we can expect these Iranian incursions to result in a big drive to influence the results.
Category: Foreign Policy, Politics, Terror War
Fee Well said!Lets withdraw as carefully as we were reckless in going in.Al-Maliki and Ahmadinejad are house swapping buddies thanks to us.Hamas and Hezbollah stronger than ever since Iraq invasion.Truly enjoyed your hippie take.Hang in there.
So “our guy” meeting with I’madinnerjacket is OK then. Just wanted to get it straight.
Just trying to keep the “evolving paradigm” or whatever dem thingie it is this week straight.
“damn thingie” Froodian slip.
“Sometimes a cigar IS just a good smoke”. 🙂
Freud “slipped” about that too?????
Jonn:
Seems your comments section has evolved, or devolved to small talk by smaller people. I’ll read the posts, nothing to read in the comments. Color me Outta here.
nuf sed
Jonn wrote: Thay can post anything they want, but that doesn’t mean it’ll stay up. But, guys, Frank is right – posting for the sake of posting is tiresome to the rest of us. If you don’t have anything to say, don’t say anything. I don’t mind healthy dialog , but when I start losing readers because of banter, I get angry.
FO,
Fee and I generally disagree pretty good about everthing. Just a little tweaking of each other and no detraction from the serious nature usual here was meant by either (I expect).
No offense meant and if any was taken, well, I hope none was anyway.
For those of you overlooking the obvious, the al-Maliki government’s current campaign against the Mahdi Army and the Iranian-backed Special Groups is clear and present evidence to the contrary of the claim that “the only thing we’re creating is an Iranian sister-state” in Iraq.
For those of you who never learned from the lessons of the weak and ineffectual policies of the Clinton Administration, it is hardly surprising to find that you remain unwilling to pull your heads out of the sand. You’re entitled to your views about the war, but I don’t consider 1) taking down an openly hostile, genocidal, terrorist-sponsoring regime that had already drawn us into a war and continuously violated the terms of its ceasefire, 2) dealing al-Qaeda a strategic military and propaganda defeat and 3) helping the Iraqi people build a free and democratic society that is a responsible member of the international community “a horrible idea from day 1”. What is a truly horrible idea is repeating the failed policies of the 1990s.