Posted on 08/09/2004 6:21:16 AM PDT by Valin
NAJAF, Iraq - With fighting raging for a fifth day in Najaf, Iraq's interim defense minister on Monday accused neighboring Iran of sending weapons to Shiite insurgents here.
Defense Minister Hazem Shaalan made the comments during an interview broadcast on the Arab-language television network al-Arabiya.
"There are Iranian-made weapons that have been found in the hands of criminals in Najaf who received these weapons from across the Iranian border," Shaalan said.
Asked if Iran is still considered the "top enemy" of Iraq, he answered ambiguously.
"From far and near, the facts that we have say that what has happened to the Iraqi people is done by the one who is considered the top enemy," he said. "For the first time, the Iraqis see the bodies of children, the body parts of children, the bodies of women and the body parts of women on the street. Yes! This is the truth."
Iran has previously denied interfering in Iraq. It says it does not allow fighters to cross into Iraq but it does not rule out that such people might cross the long border illegally.
Since Thursday, U.S. troops and Iraqi security forces have battled fighters in Najaf supporting militant Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr's Mahdi militia. The U.S. military says hundreds of militants were killed in fierce battles Thursday and Friday; the militiamen have put the number far lower.
The latest violence Monday killed three people, including two policemen, and injured 19 others, said Hussein Hadi of Najaf's al-Hakim hospital said.
Najaf Gov. Adnan al-Zurufi said last week that 80 men who fought U.S. forces at a sprawling cemetery in Najaf were Iranian.
"There is Iranian support to al-Sadr's group and this is no secret," he said on Friday.
It's not just weapons they are sending over the border. See this blog written by US soldiers fighting Iranian Al Qaeda:
http://cbftw.blogspot.com/2004/08/al-qaeda.html
Friday, August 06, 2004
AL QAEDA
Those psychopaths that attacked us the other day wearing all black were all members of Al Qaeda.
Today we had a Company formation and our C.O. came out and talked to us. We told us we all did an incredible job and was proud of all of us. He said we all executed our jobs perfectly. He also informed us that the people that were wearing all black were actually insurgents from Iran, members of Al Qaeda. He said the Army estimated that there were at least 100 of them out there attacking us the other day. The C.O. also compared the ambush to what those Rangers went through in Mogadishu. Our battle lasted 9 hours, there's lasted 18. But it was kinda like the same thing. Definitely not as many attacked us as them (again, they estimated that it was only 100 Al Qaeda attacking us, those rangers had way more than that) but we did have people engaging us with AK fire and multiple RPG fire from all directions from these building that were along the street we were driving down. Kinda like what they went through. Our CO said he stopped counting the number of RPG's fired after the number 12. He also said that if there were ever going to be a movie about the Strykers, the other day would have been the perfect story for it.
and for an incredible blog of the battle:
http://cbftw.blogspot.com/2004/08/men-in-black.html
Well, duh!
CC
the militiamen have put the number far lower"
And of course they would never lie about this.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.