Posted on 12/30/2006 2:16:07 PM PST by bnelson44
BAGHDAD, Dec. 29 -- Two senior Iranian operatives who were detained by U.S. forces in Iraq and were strongly suspected of planning attacks against American military forces and Iraqi targets were expelled to Iran on Friday, according to U.S. and Iraqi officials.
The decision to free the men was made by the Iraqi government and has angered U.S. military officials who say the operatives were seeking to foment instability here.
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"These are really serious people," said one U.S. defense official, speaking on condition of anonymity. "They were the target of a very focused raid based on intelligence, and it would be hard for one to believe that their activities weren't endorsed by the Iranian government. It's a situation that is obviously troubling."
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
Well, detaining them was a mistake. i mean, detaining them alive.
Next time they're captured, don't turn them over to the Iraqis.
Instead put panties on their heads.
That's putting a brave face on things. In fact, the message was that such men, far from being held accountable, will be released under the fiction that diplomatic immunity covers participation in guerilla warfare. It does not.
It is, of course, for the Iraqis to decide such matters, but these particular men were also involved in murdering U.S. troops. For the Iraqi government to place its stamp of approval on such activities by releasing these men is profoundly disturbing.
I am very frustrated and right now would vote every republican I could out of office.
It's becoming disturbingly obvious that the current Maliki government is an Iranian sock puppet, and that Ahmanutjob is slowly but surely stealing Iraq right out from under us.
When German saboteurs were captured in New York during World War II, Roosevelt insisted they be executed. The executions were intended to serve as an example of what would happen if sabotage was attempted again. We need people today who can see things with Roosevelt's clarity.
Expeling the Iranians puts paid to the fiction that the operatives were "invited" into Iraq. Either they were invited, in which they were wrongly detained, or else they were not, in which case Iran has culpability.
One trusts that these operatives are being bugged and tracked. Must be some interesting conversations going on in the Tehran debriefing room today.
"These are really serious people," said one U.S. defense official, speaking on condition of anonymity. "They were the target of a very focused raid based on intelligence, and it would be hard for one to believe that their activities weren't endorsed by the Iranian government. It's a situation that is obviously troubling."
One of the commanders, identified by officials simply as Chizari, was the third-highest-ranking official of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards' al-Quds Brigade, the unit most active in aiding, arming and training groups outside Iran, including Hezbollah and Islamic Jihad, U.S. officials said. The other commander was described as equally significant to Iran's support of foreign militaries but not as high-ranking."
"U.S. defense officials familiar with the raids said the captured Iranians had detailed weapons lists, documents pertaining to shipments of weapons into Iraq, organizational charts, telephone records and maps, among other sensitive intelligence information. Officials were particularly concerned by the fact that the Iranians had information about importing modern, specially shaped explosive charges into Iraq, weapons that have been used in roadside bombs to target U.S. military armored vehicles."
""The evidence shows that they were exactly up to the things our suspicions indicated," said one U.S. defense official.
Adding to the political sensitivity of the situation, the two men were detained while inside the compound of Abdul Aziz al-Hakim, one of the most powerful Shiite leaders in Iraq."
"U.S. officials said they now had a treasure trove of data from computers and documents and the lists of weaponry recently shipped to Iraq.
"The materials they had will factor into additional planning for operations and will likely be very helpful," said a U.S. defense official. "But with weapons and advanced IEDs [improvised explosive devices] coming into the country, we've identified a major problem."
The US is looking more and more like the Jackass of the world!
"It's a situation that is obviously troubling."
Not as troubling as seeing the US becoming the fumbing idiots they have become now in Iraq!
Perhaps Bush will go down in history as the second most idiotic president...
??
I am a bit concerned, however, at the public impression this is making and whether the Iraqi government is aware of it. To release men who have done what these men have demands a quid pro quo that is considerably more than a promise to negotiate. It had better by God be worth it because one of those quids is American blood.
The Iranians, however this turns out, badly need to be slapped down for it and I'm afraid that they won't be. My personal preference would be for "accidents" to start happening to senior members of the Revolutionary Guard, but then they already are... Our work? Ahmadinejad's? Both? Welcome to the Middle East.
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