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.
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. 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."
I am really ticked off right now. If we cant make 2 Iranian terrorist advisors disappear then we have incompetence from the top down.