Iraqi extremists trained in Iran: US intelligence

afp ^ | 2/27/07 | afp

[Flavius]

WASHINGTON (AFP) - The United States has evidence that Iraqi extremists are being trained inside Iran in the use of armor-piercing explosives, the head of the Defense Intelligence Agency said Tuesday.

Lieutenant General Michael Maples gave no details in his testimony before the enate Armed Services Committee, but confirmed that the United States had evidence of it in response to questions.

He also said some of the training involved Hezbollah, the Lebanese Shiite militia backed by Iran.

The new director of national intelligence, Michael McConnell, reaffirmed US charges that the Iranian Revolutionary Guards-Quds Force is supplying Iraqi extremists with weapons.

He said US intelligence did not have evidence directly linking Iran's senior leadership with the Quds Force activities in Iraq but it was "probable" that they were aware of it.

"We looked at the evidence -- Did we have a clear, direct link that we can point to? -- and high-confidence intelligence wasn't there," McConnell said.

"So the sense was we could conclude -- since these are Iranian weapons, this is an official Iranian body -- it would be unlikely that they would be coming in without senior awareness," he said.

[SandRat]

PING

[Flavius]

# US strategy change sees Iran, Syria in Iraq talks Open this result in new window
AFP via Yahoo! News - 1 hour, 33 minutes ago
In a potential policy shift, the United States said Tuesday it would join a conference with Iraq's neighbors which could see senior US officials hold direct talks with foes Iran and Syria.

crazy stuff

[elhombrelibre]

Ping

[Williams]

Of course it's not easy or desireable to go to war with Iran, but then our rhetoric is meanigless, and just like a stock market bubble hiding your head in the sand only leads to the next disaster at a time not of our choosing. We can't wish away a military threat.

[pissant]

Good. the evidence is mounting, so lets bury the mullahs

[bray]

Kinda like Hitler not knowing what Rommel was doing.

Pray for W and Our Troops

[flynmudd]

Maybe this is why Levin changed his position?

[Buckhead]

"He said US intelligence did not have evidence directly linking Iran's senior leadership with the Quds Force activities in Iraq but it was "probable" that they were aware of it."

Now that every senior administration official in defense and national security, including the Pres, the VP, the SecDef, the Chairm of the JCS, the DNI, the DCI, the DIA, etc., have all said it, how can it possibly be maintained at this point that the senior Iranian leadership might not be aware of it?

[Grampa Dave]

We get to hear from our man, Mike.

[nuconvert]

"He said US intelligence did not have evidence directly linking Iran's senior leadership with the Quds Force activities in Iraq but it was "probable" that they were aware of it."

It's impossible that they're not aware of it.

[Obie Wan]

Lord help us if the Senate Armed Services Committee needed to call in a General to inform them of this fact.They really should get out of Washington and talk to people on the street because we figured it out 3 or 4 years ago !!!

[Hoosier-Daddy]

Kind of a strange comment, dontcha think. Who else is going to fund it other than the Iranian govt or military. We should assassinate some of Iran and Syria's leaders b4 we sit down to invite them to 'talk'.

[Hoosier-Daddy]

They're wayyy past due for an engineering accident.

[BIGLOOK]

Don't take this wrong, Dave, But of course they are trained in and staged from Iran. It's the only autonomous and sovereign state with the payroll in the region to sustain the insurgency in Iraq. It simply amazes me that the General has to be hauled before a congressional committee to state the obvious. Also, Iran's manufacturing capabilities are next to nothing, so there's a supplier (or suppliers) of the munitions provided to the insurgents. This is not problematical

Testifying before a congressional committee is as productive as a conversation with a door knob.