Posted on 06/27/2007 12:37:13 PM PDT by NormsRevenge
BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Iranian operatives are training fighters in Iraq and helping to plan attacks there despite diplomatic pressure on Tehran to halt such interference, U.S. officials said on Wednesday.
The latest accusation leveled against Iran by the U.S. military followed rare diplomatic talks in Baghdad last month between the two old adversaries to discuss Washington's concerns in Iraq.
"There absolutely is evidence of Iranian operatives holding weapons, training fighters, providing resources, helping plan operations, resourcing secret cells that is destabilizing Iraq," said military spokesman Brigadier-General Kevin Bergner.
"We would like very much to see some action on their part to reduce the level of effort and to help contribute to Iraq's security. We have not seen it yet," he told a news conference, he said, referring to the Iranian government.
In fresh violence across Iraq, car bombs and other violence killed nearly 50 people, police said.
The United States, already seeking wider sanctions against Tehran over the Islamic republic's nuclear program, blames Iranians for supplying a type of roadside bomb which cuts through armor and has killed many U.S. soldiers.
Tehran said last week it would study a request from Iraq for a new U.S.-Iran meeting, but warned a decision may take time.
Daniel Speckhard, the number two U.S. diplomat in Iraq, said there was still no word back from Iran.
Tensions between the two long-time foes are especially high after U.S. troops seized five Iranians in January in northern Iraq, accusing them of helping insurgents.
Iran, which says the five are diplomats, is holding three U.S.-Iranian citizens on security-related charges.
Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, said his country backed the Iraqi government and accused the United States of seeking to undermine Tehran's ties with Baghdad, the Iranian student news agency ISNA reported on Wednesday.
Diplomatic sparring between the two nations is further complicated by Western demands for Iran to open up its nuclear program to international scrutiny. Tehran says it is peaceful, but the West fears that it will produce nuclear bombs.
TURKISH AL QAEDA MILITANTS KILLED
Among the attacks in Iraq on Wednesday, police said a car bomb killed seven people and wounded 14 in the Shi'ite district of Kadhimiya in Baghdad.
In Samarra, 100 km (62 miles) north of Baghdad, police said seven people including five police commandos were killed by a roadside bomb.
Police also found the bodies of 21 people in Baghdad on Wednesday. Most had been shot.
Thousands of U.S. and Iraqi troops are targeting Sunni Islamist and al Qaeda militants blamed for most of the car bombs in the city in operations around Baghdad's beltways.
Bergner said U.S. commanders were pleased with their progress, but warned that "change will not come overnight."
U.S. soldiers killed two senior Turkish al Qaeda operatives in northern Iraq, the military also said.
It said Mehmet Yilmaz and Mehmet Resit Isik were killed on June 23 in a firefight with U.S. forces near the town of Hawija, which lies to the south of the city of Kirkuk.
Military officials say foreign militants, mainly from Arab countries, are the brains behind al Qaeda in Iraq.
The statement said Yilmaz, also known as Khalid al-Turki, was a senior leader in al-Qaeda who operated a cell that brought foreign fighters into Iraq. Isik was a close associate of Yilmaz and other senior al Qaeda leaders, the statement said.
(Additional reporting by Dean Yates)
Here’s hoping the people of Iran rise up and toss all the SOBs behind all this madness and mayhem around the world out of power.
But if we just talked to them nicely and try to understand there concerns we wouldn’t have to worry about them........
We will fight our enemies at the times and places of our choosing......
I’m highly encouraged that they are fighting amongst themselves for now, that says there may at least be hope yet. jmo.
Iraqi President Jalal Talebani (C) and his Iranian counterpart Mahmoud Ahmadinejad (L) meet with Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in Tehran June 26, 2007. Iran is training fighters in Iraq and helping to plan attacks there despite diplomatic pressure for change, U.S. officials said on Wednesday, while violence around the Arab state killed at least 19 people. (Stringer/Reuters)
We need to declare war on Iran
get it over with
This cancer will not go away by itself.
It requires surgery
SARCASM ALERT!
Not that simple. You don't go to war haphazardly. Our warriors are in a war in Iraq (regardless of the Iranian influence.....Though they have caused problems without question).....But we will go to war (overtly) at the times and places of our choosing.
Having the IA up and running adequately is of great importance and support prior to an open shooting war with Iran (best option that is).....The IA is improving and expanding each and every week/month.
Setting the stage for such a conflict takes time, takes logistics, logistics, logistics, Intel, Intel, Intel (gathered at great risk).
Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei's picture is seen in a highway in Tehran, Iran Wednesday June, 27, 2007. Angry Iranians attacked several gas stations in protest after the government suddenly began long-threatened fuel rationing, while many others rushed to fill their tanks. (AP photo/Hasan Sarbakhshian)
An Iranian technician works at the Balal offshore oil platform in the Gulf waters, in 2004. US legislation aiming to punish foreign energy companies that do business with Iran took a step forward Tuesday as lawmakers attacked the Islamic republic's nuclear drive and "terrorism."(AFP/File/Behrouz Mehri)
Lots of US troops and equipment around the area...
Let's roll.
That looks like UltraMan!
Actually, it's probably more accurate to say: less than zilch. By whining instead of doing, we demonstrate to the Iranians that we are weak. (Whether this is true or not.) And if we are weak, they may as well put the pressure on.
This is the perverse result of a pacificistic/"anti-war"/only-diplomacy attitude: it envites only belligerence from our enemies.
Personally, the only thing I want to hear is a nuclear response from the Admin if Iran doesn’t cease and desist.
Right. Just like Viet Nam? Logistics and intel doesn't mean diddly-squat if you screw it up so badly that the voters want out and defeat is snatched from the jaws of victory.
Thats the RATS point of view and if we adopt it, it will be our undoing. Its the same approach Europe used with Germany during Hitlers rise to power - we all know what happend then
How is this not an act of war?
Ping.
Looks like a scene from Road Warrior.
I didn’t think I needed a “/S” tag at the end, but, alas, it is not so...............
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