The Karbala Attack and the IRGC [Iranian Fingerprints]

The Fourth Rail ^ | 1/27/06

[bnelson44]

The Iranians may be responsible the conducting the attack that resulted in the murder of five American soldiers in Karbala

On January 20th, a team of twelve men disguised as U.S. soldiers entered the Provincial Joint Coordination Center in Karbala, where U.S. soldiers conducted a meeting with local officials, and attacked and killed five soldiers, and wounded another three. The initial reports indicated the five were killed in the Karbala JCC, however the U.S. military has reported that four of those killed were actually removed from the center, handcuffed, and murdered.

The American Forces Information Service provides the details of the attack in Karbala. Based on the sophisticated nature of the raid, as well as the response, or cryptic non-responses, from multiple military and intelligence sources, this raid appears to have been directed and executed by the Qods Force branch of the Iranian Republican Guard Corps. My sources agreed this is far to sophisticated an operation for the Mahdi Army or Badr Corps, while al-Qaeda in Iraq would have a difficult time mounting such an operation in the Shia south. "The Karbala Government Center raid the other day was a little too professional for JAM [Jaish al-Mahdi, or the Mahdi Army]," according to a military source.

[bnelson44]

This raid required specific intelligence, in depth training for the agents to pass as American troops, resources to provide for weapons, vehicles, uniforms, identification, radios and other items needed to successfully carry out the mission. Hezbollah’s Imad Mugniyah executed a similar attack against Israeli forces on the Lebanese border, which initiated the Hezbollah-Israeli war during the summer of 2006.

[wastedyears]

Act of war

Commence bombing

[ScaniaBoy]

Sounds very plausible. Good post.

[bnelson44]

ping

[romanesq]

knew it
make them pay
30,000 Iranian agents, get some.

[elhombrelibre]

This seems very plausible. It would have taken a lot of money and extended surveillance or insider knowledge to pull this off. Iran's terrorists are the likely facilitators at a minimum.

[Natural Law]

This raid appears to have been directed and executed by the Qods Force branch of the Iranian Republican Guard Corps. Experts agreed this is far too sophisticated an operation for the Mahdi Army or Badr Corps. Al-Qaeda in Iraq would have a difficult time mounting such an operation in the Shia south.

[Hoosier-Daddy]

If true, time to respond... with extreme prejudice.

[blasater1960]

Hurry up Stennis.................

The Ronald Reagan is Surge Deploying....

[livius]

I have been following this on another thread, and it seems to me to be one of the most ominous events yet. That is, it was bad in itself that five of ours were killed; but the method and the actions indicate an entirely different level from that of SAM firing Iraqis, or even Iraqis going around setting up IEDs and ambushes.

It's conceivable that Iraqis were involved, of course, after having been trained by somebody else. I didn't know that the Hezbollah attack at the Lebanese border last year was similar.

One possibility, btw, is that at least some of the people posing as Americans actually were or had been Americans, now under the control of the Iranians. I can't believe five cars carrying people wearing the US uniform (probably with botched insignia) and speaking accented English would have fooled a checkpoint, unless at least one of them was good enough or real enough to pass for the real thing.

Another thing that puzzles me is the objective of this raid. They didn't come just to destroy. They wanted something or someone. But it doesn't look as if they got it, unless it was on the supposedly "unsecure" computer they took. In any case, whoever they were, they have an inside source of information.

[kinghorse]

So where the hell is Bush on all of this?!

[bnelson44]

He has given the order to attack anyone in Iraq who is attacking US forces.

[kinghorse]

It was a political act. These 22 year old soldiers were involved in the security arrangements for the upcoming 'cut yourself in the face festival'. It's the biggest shindig of the year for Shias. This operation was designed to say "you don't take your directions from these Americans". I can't believe we were caught so thinly guarded and young. Everyone of these soldiers were really young. It's so sad. We are too 'Christian' to be able to defend ourselves properly against a completely foreign and barbaric people. I guess Malkin is working on this at least I hope so.

[kinghorse]

You know what I mean. He's a lousy communicator. He has great vision and foresight, terrible communication skills. It's too bad. As far as the government spending issues, a lot was by design to avert a depression after the tech crash and 9-11 and a lot was in response to 9-11. Both out of his control. The economy definitely recovered after the tax cuts. My Christian comment applies to Bush as well. He's too Christian to be able to properly defend himself but that's what makes him endearing to me, the fact he can get crapped on and really never lose his cool.

[kinghorse]

Our military is in a terrible spot right here. You have this issue of distance, it's not like the HizbAllah abductions of the Israeli soldiers. Israel is right there. Here this incident is barely making a ripple. People aren't interested. It has to be an attack on American civilians to get people concerned. This could flesh out to be the smoking gun on Iran and I wonder if the President has the political cover to do anything about it. Man our civilian leadership stinks in times of war.

[livius]

These 22 year old soldiers were involved in the security arrangements for the upcoming 'cut yourself in the face festival'.

I didn't know that, but it's certainly possible that this was the motive. I still can't see such an action having the kind of propaganda value that driving in and, say, setting off five car-bombs and completely wiping out the post would have had. (Although apparently they did destroy the Humvees before they left, so they couldn't be pursued.)

That said, it's true that the Iranians don't usually seem to indulge in suicide attacks, unfortunately, thereby living to attack another day. So perhaps it was just a publicity stunt. But it doesn't seem quite impressive enough for all the work that must have gone into planning it.

And I don't think they'd want to send that message to us, unless their target was something they really wanted and was worth risking a lot to get. I say this because you can bet they are never going to get a chance to pull off a stunt like that again; I suspect that this is going to be the last thinly guarded post they'll find.

[La Enchiladita]

I agree with you re this new M.O.. One of my first thoughts on this that it bodes ill, and is a "message" in response to our troop buildup, among other developments.

[La Enchiladita]

Here is what caught my attention from Malkin's blog:

I can’t find any current information about the political leadership in Babel, but the fact that the Sadrists are pointing the finger at the governor and the Sunnis aren’t pointing the finger back at the Sadrists makes me think it’s probably a rival Shiite party like SCIRI. Why SCIRI, whose leader met with Bush at the White House in December, would want to antagonize the U.S. with the surge set to begin makes less than zero sense to me.

I did not have a good feeling about this meeting, this al-Hakim. They thirst for American G.I. blood the same as the other jihadists.

[La Enchiladita]

http://hotair.com/archives/2007/01/26/report-karbala-ambushers-kidnapped-us-troops-killed-them-miles-away/