Posted on 08/19/2007 8:35:47 PM PDT by West Coast Conservative
Iraqi Kurdish officials expressed deepening concern yesterday at an upsurge in fierce clashes between Kurdish guerrillas and Iranian forces in the remote border area of north-east Iraq, where Tehran has recently deployed thousands of Revolutionary Guards.
Jabar Yawar, a deputy minister in the Kurdistan regional government, said four days of intermittent shelling by Iranian forces had hit mountain villages high up on the Iraqi side of the border, wounding two women, destroying livestock and property, and displacing about 1,000 people from their homes. Mr Yawer said there had also been intense fighting on the Iraqi border between Iranian forces and guerrillas of the Kurdistan Free Life Party (PJAK), an armed Iranian Kurdish group that is stepping up its campaign for Kurdish rights against the theocratic regime in Tehran.
On Saturday the Iranian news agency Mehr said an Iranian army helicopter which crashed killing six Republican Guard members had been engaged in a military operation against PJAK. Iranian officials said the helicopter had crashed into the side of a mountain during bad weather in northern Iraq. PJAK sources said the helicopter had been destroyed after it attempted to land in a clearing mined by guerrillas. The PJAK sources claimed its guerrillas had also killed at least five other Iranian soldiers, and a local pro-regime chief, Hussein Bapir.
"If this escalates it could pose a real threat to the Kurdistan region, which is Iraq's most stable area," said Mr Yawar, who said he expected the Iraqi government and US officials in Iraq to make a formal protest to Tehran about the "blatant violation of Iraqi sovereignty".
(Excerpt) Read more at guardian.co.uk ...
We’re not bombing them back into the 5th Century because...?
So, why don't we just carpet bomb the area and kill them all?
Bout time we sent a message to Iran?
We did. The Kurds are fighting them- probably with our weapons.
Fargin War!!!
Gee. If it's the most stable, then the presence of Iran and the Revolutionary Guard must be one big coincidence.../sarcasm...
My thoughts too. Start running some Arc Light strikes.
Thanks for posting. BUMP-TO-THE-TOP!
What ever happened to Mohammed Khatami? He seemed like an moderate President...now we have Ahmmunutjob bombing civilians. How wonderful.
I keep repeating this same point. We need another Iranian revolution where the Mullahs and the President are deposed-we can probably do this without bombing them, yet.
Doesn’t an Iranian attack against Iraq - mean a state of war exists between Iran and Iraq?
Now, tell me why we haven’t already destroyed targets of opportunity on the IRANIAN side of the border???
Maybe Jihad is a one way war..
They get to kill us, and we have to die quietly.....
They’re already there?
“We’re not bombing them back into the 5th Century because...?”
Because the ground forces required are not available. We are already stretched too thin and our soldiers and marines are worn out from deployments. I do think it should be possible to do a better job of securing the border between Iraq and Iran without degrading other operations.
With the declaring of the Iranian units doing this as “terrorists”, it probably does signal that we are planning on duking it out with them on some level (both economically and militarily). However, the Russian Bear has recently shown signs that he is still a threat (Oliver North had a good editorial on that on FOX). Russia and China are supplying arms to Iran, which is supplying arms to Iraqi insurgents. This is a sticky wicket, and I hope the president gets the needed divine guidance to handle this mess.
Hopefully some fine on the ground expertise has been offered as well.
Exactly. To paraphrase Dennis Miller, we need go Roman on these ****ers.
Are we fighting to win, or what?
Of course, you’re correct. It’s complicated. You responded with reason; I responded with raw emotion. Still, I think that in the end, what I posted is going to turn out to ultimately be what we simply will have no option but to do.
This is alarming.
Checking US news sources. Haven’t seen anything yet online. Don’t watch TV. Question is will it be reported at all?
If you read this report carefully it sounds like the Kurds are feeling their oats and provoking Iran. The Kurds are also provoking Turkey.
Should we bomb Turkey back into the 5th Century, too, because the Kurds have a beef with them?
Reminds me of some archduke that got assassinated and dragged everybody into WWI due to "entangling alliances."
Go Seals and Special Ops!
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