http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/keyword?k=iran
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http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1817739/posts
Claims of training insurgents inside Iran
San Francisco Chronicle ^ | 4/15/7 | Phil Sands
Posted on 04/15/2007 9:17:37 AM PDT by SmithL
Baghdad — Iraqi Shiites are being trained in advanced guerrilla warfare tactics at a secret camp inside Iran, according to two militants who say they have spent time there.
Seasoned guerrilla fighters said large numbers of Mahdi Army volunteers have gone to a base near Tehran for instruction in how to shoot down helicopters and destroy armored vehicles.
The Mahdi Army, the militia loyal to anti-American Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, has frequently battled against U.S. and British forces in Iraq, most recently in Diwaniya. The militia, estimated to range up to 20,000 men, has also been linked to death-squad killings of Sunnis and political assassinations.
The fighters’ assertions could not be independently verified. But Peter Harling, an Iraq analyst at the International Crisis Group, an influential Brussels-based research organization, and a leading authority on al-Sadr, said Mahdi Army fighters were now being trained in Iran.
“I have had confirmation that some of the Mahdi Army’s ‘historic’ commanders have sought refuge in Iran, where, according to their family members and friends, they are currently receiving military training” in preparation for further fighting inside Iraq, Harling said.
Harling said this “in no way implied” the operation was sponsored by the Iranian authorities, although he suggested they were aware of it and chose to turn a blind eye.
The Bush administration and its top ally, Britain, have repeatedly charged that Iran is supplying arms, training and intelligence to Iraqi Shiite militants to use against the U.S.-led coalition, although the United States has not presented incontrovertible proof of its contentions. Iran vehemently denies arming or aiding the militants.
(Excerpt) Read more at sfgate.com ...
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http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1817786/posts
Drug Cartel Hires Texas Teens as Hitmen
Houston Chronicle ^ | 4/15/2007 | Sharon Steinman
Posted on 04/15/2007 10:56:06 AM PDT by wildbill
LAREDO — If the teenage hitman had stayed locked up in his concrete cell after the first murder, maybe Moises Garcia would still sing goofy Spanish songs to his son.
Maybe Noe Lopez, a 27-year-old father of four, wouldn’t be buried under a sapling in the city cemetery.
Maybe.
If a judge hadn’t reduced Gabriel Cardona’s bail after the second murder charge, perhaps Mariano Resendez would be close to finishing his junior year of high school.
If the justice of the peace hadn’t decreased Cardona’s bail on another murder charge and a charge of engaging in organized crime from a total of $3 million to $200,000, maybe Jesus Maria Resendez would still take his nephew Mariano fishing.
Maybe.
But the judge, the justice of the peace and to a degree the Webb County District Attorney’s Office didn’t keep Cardona, a Martin High School dropout, locked up in Webb County Jail.
Instead, court records show, Cardona, who already was in jail on murder and kidnapping charges, made bail twice, allowing him to get out and go on two killing sprees on the orders of a leader of the Gulf drug-smuggling cartel in Nuevo Laredo.
(Excerpt) Read more at chron.com ...