Posted on 01/11/2007 2:03:26 AM PST by FairOpinion
ARBIL, Iraq, Jan 11 (Reuters) - U.S. forces raided the Iranian consulate office in the northern Iraqi city of Arbil on Thursday and arrested five employees, the official Iranian news agency IRNA said.
There was no immediate comment by the U.S. military on the raid which came hours after President George W. Bush vowed in a speech to interrupt what he called the "flow of support" from Iran and Syria for insurgent attacks on U.S. forces in Iraq.
The raid was the second such operation in the past month against Iranian interests in Iraq by U.S. forces.
"Around 5.00 a.m., after disarming the guards they (U.S. troops) broke into the office, without giving any explanation and arrested five employees," the official IRNA news agency reported, adding that documents and computers were seized.
It said Iran had sent a protest letter to the Iraqi Foreign Ministry.
Earlier Iraqiya state television reported the raid on the building in central Arbil and a Kurdish station said Kurdish security forces had taken over the building after the Americans left the area.
U.S. officials have repeatedly accused non-Arab, Shi'ite Iran of interfering in Iraq, where the long-oppressed Shi'ite majority is now in power.
In December, U.S. forces in Baghdad arrested a number of Iranians they said were suspected of planning attacks on Iraqi security forces, including diplomats who were later turned over to Iraqi authorities.
A U.S. official said that the arrests in December validated U.S. assertions about "Iranian meddling" in Iraq. (Additional reporting by Edmund Blair in Tehran) (Writing by Ibon Villelabeitia, editing by Diana Abdallah)
Be assured, they will make a big deal of it. I was thinking more of the practical fallout, not the political fallout.
Our Consulates and Embassies are routinely bombed throughout the region. I don't understand your comment "Shame on the Pentagon" and I disagree with those sentiments strongly.
David Gregory is not going to like this!
I want to see a lot more action like this.
Also, since it followed The President's speach last night it gives some reassurance that we mean business. Which... is about time.
I've been retired for about ten years now, but even pre 9-11 security in our missions abroad was being ratcheted up. No place is safe.
It seems to me that people who don't respect diplomatic immunity should not be able to claim it for themselves when the situation is reversed.
It looks like we are finally allowing the troops to take the gloves off in regards to Iran. I hope the same applies to Al Sadr (although the two are intertwined)
Why am I thinking of 444 days?
And yes, the standard has been ignored by Iran, but that doesn't mean we should reciprocate in kind. Some US diplomats in the future will pay the price 'cause we have chosen to weaken and flaunt this protocol.
I liked the slip of Greta Satan :-)
In regards to the initial raids in December, they released the diplomatic people to Iraq, which I believe is ok. As long as they do not know who is who, they can pick them up, but as soon as they present their credentials or are identified, they have to be released.
It could be that Pres. Al-Maliki was truly restricting what our troops could and could not do. I don't know the story of how our rules of engagement evolved, whether it was decided by Sec. Rumsfeld or the Iraq government, but the gloves seem to be coming off. I won't believe it until Sadr is dead and we blast some neighborhoods and return fire on a mosque. This is a good start.
Let's see... the Iranians took over our actual Embassy from November 4, 1979 until January 20, 1981. I won't calculate how many hundred days that is but they also took 66 people hostage.
I think they had already established the precedent here.
History has shown that we encourage attacks on our embassies, consulates and personnel by our INACTION in response to provocation.
Good. Hopefully, this means that we are finally taking the gloves off.
Oh sure...the Iranians won't be complaining about having their embassy occupied, will they?
Think 1979...
"One can only assume that very shortly the Democrat leadership, together with the ACLU and the MSM, will protest this invasion of soverign property."
I'll bet they are wringing their hands even now, trying to figure a way to undo it.
Recently, the host country had the responsibility for the security of the outer perimeter of the diplomatic mission; the Marine Security Guard has the responsibility of the chancery and other buildings in the compound. I can only imagine that these days each mission is a sand-bagged fortress. So much for wine and cheese on the embassy patio.
I'm sure the usual suspects will cry and wail.
Ok 'sources and methods' is not an excuse to keep this under wraps. For once, I would like to see our government show some balls and come out with what it is they fin on those computers and in those documents.
It is said that the people want change, so lets lay some huge ones on the table for all the world to see. Solid proof that Iran is committing acts of war against us in Iraq would change the entire landscape of this conflict and how the ignorant section of the American public views it.
Get some Stones W and show these fools what is really going on!!!!!!
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