Posted on 01/26/2007 5:51:39 AM PST by dnmore
The Bush administration has authorized the U.S. military to kill or capture Iranian operatives inside Iraq as part of an aggressive new strategy to weaken Tehran's influence across the Middle East and compel it to give up its nuclear program, according to government and counterterrorism officials with direct knowledge of the effort.
For more than a year, U.S. forces in Iraq have secretly detained dozens of suspected Iranian agents, holding them for three to four days at a time. The "catch and release" policy was designed to avoid escalating tensions with Iran and yet intimidate its emissaries. U.S. forces collected DNA samples from some of the Iranians without their knowledge, subjected others to retina scans, and fingerprinted and photographed all of them before letting them go.
Last summer, however, senior administration officials decided that a more confrontational approach was necessary, as Iran's regional influence grew and U.S. efforts to isolate Tehran appeared to be failing. The country's nuclear work was advancing, U.S. allies were resisting robust sanctions against the Tehran government, and Iran was aggravating sectarian violence in Iraq.
(Excerpt) Read more at msnbc.msn.com ...
Thanks, again, for providing a serious answer to a serious question.
When I was in Germany in 1967* I travelled around with a Jewish girl from New Jersey. She was taken aback by the way German students asked her, "Are you Persian?" .
*the days of anti-Shah student uprisings in Germany
Benno Ohnesorg (October 15, 1940 - June 2, 1967) was a German university student killed by a police officer on June 2, 1967, during a demonstration in Berlin against the visit of the Shah of Iran, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, to Germany. It was the first political demonstration that the married student (of Romance and German literature and culture studies) attended as part of the German student movement.His death served as a rallying point for the radical left wing, and the Movement 2 June group was named after the day of his death. The left-wing student movement of the late 1960s that swelled after Benno Ohnesorg's death influenced a large number of German politicians who were in their teens and twenties at the time. It has been viewed by many as the second-most influential and important event in Germany during the period of East and West Germany, second only to the construction of the Berlin Wall. ...
We will agree to disagree. I lived two years in Iran and five years in Saudi Arabia plus I have travelled extensively throughout the area. If I put Khomeini in a thobe and gutra, you would swear he was an Arab.
LOL.
The "catch and release" policy was designed to avoid escalating tensions with Iran and yet intimidate its emissaries.
What we've being doing is playing the PC BS game. The reason we are in the present situation is we've tied our guys hands and it may be too late to turn it around.
Actually, the term originated with our policy on our Southern border. "Catch and release" was a policy for non-Mexicans who were caught illegally entering the country.
Unless they were Mexican terrorists, then I'm standing by my statement.
The certainly don't deserve any "diplmatic courtesy" since they have no diplomatic status. Whatever the rationale, it had nothing to do with diplomacy. The idea that we abide by rules of evidence makes it very difficult to stop what is going on. I hope that Bush is really changing the ROE.
The rules of evidence are for the Iraqi courts. We can tell them "This man is a terrorist facilitator with AQI." but they want to know how we know that. Since we don't share intelligence products with Iraqi courts, we tell them to take our word on it and put them in jail. They shrug, process the guy, and then let him out in a few weeks due to lack of evidence.
The only ones that get held are those that either have incriminating evidence on their person or property while captured, or those that have sworn affidavits signed by several witnesses stating that he is a terrorist. As you can imagine, few terrorists sign such statements. All they have to do is keep their mouths shut, and AQI will care for their families during their incaracation. If they rat out their friends, then their families will be 'cared for' in a different way.
LOL
And you would be wrong. The "catch and release" policy on the Mexican border originated long before 9/11 and our invasion of Iraq. The term did not begin with AQI.
Time needed to end alien 'catch-and-release' debated
Let this Policy Go “Catch and release” should stay with the fishes.
Only if they are lightly scented.
I declare Sayyed Muqtada al-Sadr an Iranian.
You didn't even read the headline, did you?
Then, of course, there's the much underestimated impact of Zoroastrianism in Iran (formerly Persia).
And you would be wrong. The "catch and release" policy on the Mexican border originated long before 9/11 and our invasion of Iraq. The term did not begin with AQI.
No, I'm not. I'm talking about terrorists in Iraq. Not Other-than-Mexican illegal immigrants on our southern border. Not fishing. Terrorists. I'm aware that the term "catch and release" has origins that predates the Iraq invasion, which is why I specifically caveated it with the phrase "for terrorists". I'll caveat it further to "for Sunni terrorists in Iraq following the U.S. invasion", for added clarity.
Nor am I entirely blaming the system for what turned into "catch and release". We don't have enough interrogators, prison space, or legal infrastructure to process the amount of detainees we wind up with. Often you see large numbers of Iraqi men pushed down the line, hoping that the next stop will have the resources to process them.
By the time they wind up at Abu G or elsewhere, they're far removed from the capturing agent, and it's unclear their role in whatever raid they were captured on. Many are just in the wrong place at the wrong time. Some are mistaken identities. The Iraqis are well aware that we can't tell them apart, and tend to say "better safe than sorry, detain them all" when left to our own devices. That leads to a lot of quiet releases and bulk amnesties granted. The Iraqis can't be blamed for being sympathetic to their own people, if they really think they were detained on accident.
They're also considerably more aware than we are about the risks of detaining innocent men. They go in innocent, and come out muj. Then they go home with legitimate tales of grievence, and mujahideen sympathies and contacts. That turns communities against us. Abu G is called "Muj University" for a reason.
At any rate, I don't mean to ramble. It's a damned frustrating problem, and a source of endless frustration.
The "catch and release" program at our Southern border could have allowed terrorists to enter the country, which is why it was finally changed. We just released OTM's hoping that they would show up for their court dates. There have been terrorists entering through our Southern border.
FBI's Mueller: Hezbollah Busted in Mexican Smuggling Operation
Illegals from terrorist nations are crossing the border into Arizona.
At any rate, I don't mean to ramble. It's a damned frustrating problem, and a source of endless frustration.
Whenever you get involved in an insurgency and don't have an easy way to identify the enemy from the local population, it is difficult. You need the support of the people and the host government. We had similar problems in Vietnam.
More evidence that a Politically Correct war cannot be won. WE ARE JUST NOW ALLOWED TO KILL IRANIANS??????????????
**The Bush administration has authorized the U.S. military to kill or capture Iranian operatives inside Iraq *****
I read the first sentence too it says Kill or Capture.
Forget the capture part.
These people are there to stir up trouble and kill Americans. They dont need capturing. They need killing. Does that answer your question?
Dead men can't talk. Capturing can be more useful than killing.
You learned that at Gitmo I guess.Those captives there have caused us enough trouble.
Dead men cant kill again.
Dead men cant be used to trade and terrorists cant demand they be released.
You dont have to pay to feed prisoners.Nor do those prisoners spit on you crave native foods, have the toilets turned the right way and try to kill you if you turn your back.
Step Away From The Keyboard, Mr. Kommando.
LOL: I will slide my chair back, but just for a moment.
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