Posted on 01/30/2007 8:33:46 PM PST by Ernest_at_the_Beach
IRGC's Qods Force is the prime suspect in the Karbala attack which killed 5 soldiers
On Friday, we reported that the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps' Qods Force was very likely behind the attack on the Provincial Joint Coordination Center in Karbala, which resulted in the kidnapping and execution of four U.S. soldiers. Five soldiers total were killed in the operation, and three others wounded. We noted, based on multiple sources in the military and intelligence community, that the attack was far too sophisticated for Shia militias (particularly the Mahdi Army) and al-Qaeda in Iraq was unlikely to have carried out the operation. We also noted the attack and kidnapping may have been revenge for the Baghdad and Irbil raids on Iranian diplomatic missions. Today, CNN is reporting the Pentagon is seriously investigating Iran's involvement in the attack, and the Irbil raid was likely a motive for the Qods Force operation:
The Pentagon is investigating whether a recent attack on a military compound in Karbala was carried out by Iranians or Iranian-trained operatives, two officials from separate U.S. government agencies said.
"People are looking at it seriously," one of the officials said. That official added the Iranian connection was a leading theory in the investigation into the January 20 attack that killed five soldiers. The second official said: "We believe it's possible the executors of the attack were Iranian or Iranian-trained."
...
Both officials stressed the Iranian-involvement theory is a preliminary view, and there is no final conclusion. They agreed this possibility is being looked at because of the sophistication of the attack and the level of coordination. "This was beyond what we have seen militias or foreign fighters do," the second official said.
...
Some Iraqis speculate that the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps carried out the attack in retaliation for the capture by U.S. forces of five of its members in Irbil, Iraq, on January 11, according to a Time.com article published Tuesday.
The United States had planned to detail Iran's involvement in supporting the Shia death squads, as well as the Sunni insurgency, al-Qaeda in Iraq and Ansar al-Sunnah during a press briefing with Major General Bill Caldwell on Wednesday at 7:00 am Eastern. The briefing was purported to have detailed "specifics including shipping documents, serial numbers, maps and other evidence which officials say would irrefutably link Iran to weapons shipments to Iraq."
The Bush administration has decided to put the briefing "on hold for several reasons, including concerns over the reaction from Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad — as well as inevitable follow-up questions that would be raised over what the U.S. should do about it," according to FOX News.
Check key word Karbala for threads....
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Rick notes our forces were handcuffed, marched away and executed. This is a clear act of war by Iran. This was not defensive. And I really do not want to hear about how US policy forced Iran to attack us because there was nothing forcing them to do this. The Democrats better prepare the wells of the Senate and House - because it is time for them to make their stand. Are they going to avenge the unprovoked attack on our military? Our people were there to keep the peace and try and stop the bloodshed. But Iranians came across and pretended to be Americans.
We are at war with Iran. It is now only a question of how long Congress and America take to wake up to this fact. Think of what they could have done with a small nuclear device? Time is up for the Mad Mullahs and Ahmedinejad the “Final Saviour”.
So at what point does Iran actively engaging our troops on non Iranian soil become an act of war ?
It almost doesn't matter if the Iranians did this... Our own gov't won't do a thing, not one thing, to punish the Iranian government for it. The OIranians could have left an Iranian flag at the scene, it wouldn't matter. We have a hands off policy with these people.
We've known, for at least 2 years, that Iran has been sending weapons, money, explosives, trained bomb makers and assassins into Iraq... all of it from the Iranian government. Many of our boys have paid the price.
Our response? ...
Our government doesn't have the will, the courage or the guts to do a single thing about it. Our fighting men and women do... but our politicians are like a bunch of little girls cowering from the PC Police. We've let Iran piss on us for 2 years and I see nothing in either the White House or Congress that is going to change that.
Iraq insurgents’ bombmaking gets more lethal
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Advanced explosives outpace military’s efforts to boost troop, vehicle armor
BAGHDAD, Iraq - Of the many dangers lying in wait for American soldiers in Iraq, the U.S. military increasingly fears one thing: the new, advanced roadside bombs planted by insurgents.
“There are very few things we fear,” says Col. Douglass Heckman. “When a simple roadside bomb goes off, it’s not going to kill us most of the time. A sniper can’t penetrate — we keep the gunners down — small arms can’t penetrate. ... In fact, a vehicle-borne suicide bomber typically isn’t going to hurt us. The thing that scares us is the advanced roadside bombs.”
Heckman’s teams of military trainers embedded with the 9th Iraqi Army Division have reason to be wary.
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“We were hit by an EFP — an advanced roadside bomb penetrated it and one of my captains was mortally wounded,” Heckman said, describing holding the dying man’s hand as they rushed him to a surgical hospital.
Unlike regular roadside bombs, EFP’s — explosive-formed penetrators — remain intact as they explode. The steel tubes with curved metal seals form a kind of super bullet that can go directly through a tank's armor.
The explosion turns the caps into molten jets of metal. An Iraqi translator with U.S. forces survived an attack recently that hit him in the chest with a lump of molten copper as the bomb ripped through the vehicle, officers said.
Senators warn against war with Iran (Obama, Hagel, Voinovich, Biden "frustrated" over Bush policy)
If this was an Iranian attack, it was an act of war.
See link at #7.
As long as that crowd is frustrated we must be doing something right.
As was capturing our embassy some number of years back which the Iranians "fearless leader" was also a part of.
At what point do we take the Iranian poohbah out ?
(Wait I know we are waiting until he and Kerry are onstage together announcing the new Iranian nuclear development program in Tehran).
Exactly.
I guarantee you... as long as Democrats have any power surrender is on the way. Stupidity and suicidal pacifism will have to run its course before a single eye opens in Washington. By that time the US civilian population will literally be kicking the doors of politicians off of their hinges.
Its important to keep this all in perspective. Despite our current perceptions there has never been unity of though in any armed conflict from the revolutionary war, through the views within either side of the civil war, through either world wars.
After Germany fell Time was running stories about how we didn't have a good plan for managing post war Germany.
That there are sizeable and vocal minority views in the house/senate/press/population is nothing new.
I just want to know do we have to wait for Europe to fall to the Barbiarians before we capture it back or can we just sieze it now and make our job easier ?
Agreed. Iran should have a laugh, keep building their nukes, and give us the finger. We've earned their contempt.
My perspective is this: For 5 years I've watched our government force our military to fight with one hand tied behind its back in order to appease pacifist Europe and domestic Nanny State PC police... in other words, to appease 2 groups who haven't lifted a finger to help. And this as we fight the most bloodthirsty savages seen since the Nazi Party.
Mere civil disagreement is expected... but sacrificing the lives of our people to appease ANYONE is another matter entirely and is utterly without concience.
If Iran is responsible for this attack we should punish them for it. But we won't. We are too weak. Too stupid. Too suicidal.
I do not disagree with you at all.
The PC crowd, appeasement / weakness crowd will not prevail. Either we shall subdue them or what comes after our republic will subdue them.
Personally I believe that it will take another attack equal or greater than what we saw in 2001 before we actively persue this matter as a nation again.
Its not what I wish, want or think is right. Its just how I see the current state of affairs.
"Personally I believe that it will take another attack equal or greater than what we saw in 2001 before we actively persue this matter as a nation again. "
You're right about that. But 2 things will be necessary. First, the attack will have to be MASSIVE. Many, many, many people will have to die before most Americans so much as switch on the news, mainly just out of curiosity. Second, the relative of a politician will have to be one of the casualties. Outside of these 2 conditions being met, all I can confidently predict is the John Kerry Diplomatic Mission to the country that murdered our citizens.
ROFL!
The press is the propaganda arm of the American left and they have an agenda...see this:
I wrote Michelle Malkin last week asking her to keep this story alive. Now I read the US Brass have decided to blow off presenting evidence because they don't want to draw more attention. What the hell?
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