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Exclusive: Western report - Iran ships arms, personnel to Syria via Iraq
Reuters ^ | Sep 19, 2012 | Louis Charbonneau

Posted on 09/19/2012 4:35:49 PM PDT by Palmetto Patriot

Iran has been using civilian aircraft to fly military personnel and large quantities of weapons across Iraqi airspace to Syria to aid President Bashar al-Assad in his attempt to crush an 18-month uprising against his government, according to a Western intelligence report seen by Reuters.

Earlier this month, U.S. officials said they were questioning Iraq about Iranian flights in Iraqi airspace suspected of ferrying arms to Assad, a staunch Iranian ally. On Wednesday, U.S. Senator John Kerry threatened to review U.S. aid to Baghdad if it does not halt such overflights.

Iraq says it does not allow the passage of any weapons through its airspace. But the intelligence report obtained by Reuters says Iranian weapons have been flowing into Syria via Iraq in large quantities. Such transfers, the report says, are organized by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.

(Excerpt) Read more at reuters.com ...


TOPICS: Foreign Affairs; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: iran; iraq; syria
Another administration Foreign Policy failure.
1 posted on 09/19/2012 4:35:55 PM PDT by Palmetto Patriot
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To: Palmetto Patriot

Syria is none of our business and we need to keep out of it. Besides, I doubt the Iranians are actually sending arms, rather, I’m sure those are all Russian planes flying into Syria from Iran with freshly painted Iranian flags on their tails.


2 posted on 09/19/2012 4:39:44 PM PDT by MeganC (The Cinemark theatre in Aurora, CO is a 'Gun Free Zone'. Spread the word.)
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To: Palmetto Patriot

This is important. If Iraq is now under full Iranian control, they have a clear path to Israel for their jets, and also for ground troops and tanks, through Iraq, through Syria, then into Israel via the Golan Heights. Not good news.

Perhaps Israel should consider the EMP method.


3 posted on 09/19/2012 4:44:24 PM PDT by Viennacon
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To: MeganC
Syria is none of our business and we need to keep out of it

If they have WMD (especially leftovers from Iraq) then it's our business.

4 posted on 09/19/2012 4:49:08 PM PDT by what's up
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To: Palmetto Patriot

Well, that answers any questions about Kuwait, Iraq won’t stop Iran.


5 posted on 09/19/2012 6:17:05 PM PDT by Irenic (The pencil sharpener and Elmer's glue is put away-- we've lost the red wheel barrow)
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To: AdmSmith; AnonymousConservative; Berosus; bigheadfred; Bockscar; ColdOne; Convert from ECUSA; ...

Thanks Palmetto Patriot.


6 posted on 09/19/2012 7:10:09 PM PDT by SunkenCiv (https://secure.freerepublic.com/donate/)
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To: Viennacon

Iraq has no way of knowing what is in aircraft overflying them.

Iraq has no air defense - anybody can fly what they want over Iraq.

That does not mean that Iran controls the ground...


7 posted on 09/20/2012 4:16:06 AM PDT by DJ Elliott (Montrose Toast Blog)
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To: what's up

“If (Syria has) WMD (especially leftovers from Iraq) then it’s our business.”

Only if they use them. Merely having chemical or biological weapons in that particular neighborhood is just a good idea given how often they’ve been used around there.

Keep in mind that Syria is next door to Turkey which sees Syria as something that they want to take back some day.


8 posted on 09/20/2012 4:19:34 PM PDT by MeganC (The Cinemark theatre in Aurora, CO is a 'Gun Free Zone'. Spread the word.)
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To: MeganC

On the contrary, I think the US needs to get involved before WMD are used, not after.


9 posted on 09/20/2012 8:32:18 PM PDT by what's up
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To: what's up

“On the contrary, I think the US needs to get involved before WMD are used, not after.”

Then we have no business in Syria when we’ve fiddled around with North Korea and Iran.


10 posted on 09/21/2012 2:34:00 PM PDT by MeganC (The Cinemark theatre in Aurora, CO is a 'Gun Free Zone'. Spread the word.)
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To: MeganC
With Iran as with Syria, we don't want to get involved only after they've used them as you suggest. Because we have not yet toppled Iran's program doesn't mean we ignore Syria's.

And we have agreements with China to keep inspections going in N. Korea.

11 posted on 09/21/2012 4:17:57 PM PDT by what's up
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