Posted on 04/02/2007 6:09:45 PM PDT by Dog
January 11, 2007: A US led raid on a consular office in Irbil, Iraq leads to the capture of six Iranians including(link):
Hassan Abbassi, a strategist “close to” President Ahmedinejad and the only individual with any diplomatic credentials.
Mohammad Jaafari, an aid to National Security advisor Ali Larijani
Jalal Sharifi, a professional intelligence officer.
Brig. Gen. Mohammad Djafari Sahraroudi, a Kurdish affairs expert wanted by Interpol Mojhadi Safderi, two Revolutionary Guard officers (link).
One of the six, (Hassan?) is released. The other five remain in custody.
The Brits had to be somewhat aware of this which means that their failure to defend themselves is even more pathetic than we originally thought.
Good timeline of events at Verum Serum.
also the Times online 6 days ago:
March 27, 2007
Kidnapping could be traced back to arrests by US forces
Richard Beeston: Analysis
When US forces burst into a villa and arrested five Iranian men in the northern Iraqi city of Arbil this year, they may have set in motion a chain of events that led directly to the abduction of 15 British servicemen in the northern Gulf last week.
While the British and Iranian governments argue about whether the sailors and Marines were in Iraqi or Iranian waters at the time of their capture, privately there is acknowledgement that their fate is bound closely to that of the Iranian captives.
As part of a campaign to crack down on Iranian influence in Iraq, President Bush ordered US forces to root out Iranian agents suspected of arming and funding Iraqi Shia militias. The Iranian liaison office in the Iraqi Kurdish region was an obvious choice. When US troops stormed the building they found Iranians trying to flush fake documents down the lavatory. All five were allegedly members of the al-Quds unit of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps. The unit is responsible for promoting the Iranian revolution abroad by assisting militant groups with funding, training and arms.
snipped
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/article1572776.ece
Of course it is our fault that the British government lacks the cojones to protect its military men and women. How dare we capture Iranian terrorists operating in Iraq. /sarc
Of sad note, The Independent’s hit piece read like a DNC press release.
Mid-January, 2007: (link) Immediately after the capture of the Irbil six, “Ayatollah Khamenei hastily convened a national security damage control committee to devise new strategies for reducing Iran’s footprint in Iraq. It was staffed almost exclusively with top Rev. Guards officers, including the head of IRGC intelligence, Maj. Gen. Morteza Rezai, and former deputy IRGC commander, Brig. Gen. Mohammad Baqr Zolqadr.”
Good article posted this morning for those who may have missed it.
The Iranian Revolution in Iraq
http://www.michaeltotten.com/archives/001409.html
thanks for the link. I hope these savages are in great pain right now and are spilling everything.
So the end game to this gets a little dicey.....Ahmedinejad knows that the Ayatollah was behind the seizure and still wants to appear he is in control....the US and the Brits want the soldiers back, but don’t know who to negotiate with, the Ayatollah or Ahmedinejad. All against the backdrop of their refusal to stop their nuke plans. No wonder we have a third carrier in the gulf.
A couple of days ago the Iranians claimed they were going to put the Brits on trial....today this statement is made No need for trials
And guess who made that statement..Ali Larijani.
There is a power struggle going on....and right now the above ground Iranian government seems to have the upper hand.....over the THUGS....but.
That could change tomorrow.
Imagine the secrets he holds.
Mind blowing stuff.
With the Nimitz, we have 3 flat tops in the gulf.....this is getting interesting and a little scary.
Iran says it was assured by Iraq that the five seized in Arbil would be released by the Iranian new year – March 21. But Iran denies making any connection between the “Arbil five” and its detention of the British personnel.
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/b9422276-dd47-11db-8d42-000b5df10621.html
they were seized on March 23
The part that's damn frustrating is my moronic Senator, Rusty Feingold, wants us out of the middle east by March 08. This story alone is more than enough reason for us to stay and perhaps add troops. In Rusty's mind, he just wants troops home by 5:00 for dinner and can capitalize on the politics of it all. Puke....no wonder he never gets a Senate chairmanship. What a putz.
Put a Tomahawk in the ONLY refinery Iran has, blockade the ports so they get no gas, and bomb at will any targets of nuke opportunity that present themselves. These guys would be walking and riding bikes in a week. We could bomb for 2 years and never put a boot on the ground. The nuke thing is taken care of and the UN can keep pretending we care. The only problem would be the 15 Brits wouldn't probably make it. We've already lost 175 guys, at least, to the Iranian shaped charged IED's. I always have trouble with American blood being "cheaper" than other people's blood.
Sometimes, you just gotta do what you gotta do. We don't need a couple more years of the Rags controlling the shots. They will have the nuke by then.
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