U.S. Says New Find Shows Iran Still Sends Arms to Iraq
April 25, 2008 - The Wall Street Journal - Yochi J. Dreazen
The U.S. military says it has found caches of newly made Iranian weapons in Iraq, leading senior officials to conclude Tehran is continuing to funnel armaments into Iraq despite its pledges to the contrary.Officials in Washington and Baghdad said the purported Iranian mortars, rockets and explosives had date stamps indicating they were manufactured in the past two months. The U.S. plans to publicize the weapons caches in coming days. A pair of senior commanders said a presentation was tentatively planned for Monday.The allegations, which couldn't be independently verified, mark a further hardening of U.S. rhetoric on Iran, which senior American officials now describe as the greatest long-term threat to Iraq.This month, Adm. Michael Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said Iranian support for Shiite extremist groups had grown. Defense Secretary Robert Gates said for the first time that he believed Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad knew about the shipments.
Iran has long denied that its government knowingly funneled weapons into Iraq or trained Shiite militants there. It has derided the U.S. claims as propaganda. Several senior U.S. military officials said the weapons caches would undercut the Iranian denials and provide new evidence of continuing Iranian support for Shiite militants across Iraq."You can see the manufacturing dates right on the armaments themselves," one senior commander in Baghdad said. "These are very clearly weapons that were made in the last month or so."Rear Adm. Gregory Smith, the top American military spokesman in Baghdad, said U.S. officials were "working on a briefing that we hope to be able to deliver in the next week or so." He said he would not be "disclosing the substance of the brief."Last fall, U.S. and Iraqi officials said Mr. Ahmadinejad had told the government of Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki that Tehran would take steps to curb shipments of Iranian weaponry into Iraq.The weapons of deepest concern to U.S. officials were explosively formed penetrators, or EFPs, which U.S. officials accuse Iran of manufacturing and shipping to Shiite militants. EFPs, which are capable of punching through even the strongest U.S. armor, have been responsible for hundreds of American deaths.The number of EFP attacks began to sharply decline after the Iranian assurances, resulting in a significant reduction in U.S. military casualties. That led several senior State Department officials to conclude that Tehran was honoring its commitments.At the Pentagon, Mr. Gates and other top military officials have been skeptical, arguing it was too soon to draw that conclusion.The number of EFP attacks against U.S. forces has rebounded this year. American commanders accuse Iran of providing the rockets that rained down on the heavily fortified Green Zone in Baghdad recently, killing several Americans. U.S. officials said Iran provided the weaponry that Shiite militants used in block-by-block fighting with Iraqi government security forces in the southern port city of Basra this month.Gen. David Petraeus, the top U.S. commander in Iraq, focused his recent congressional testimony almost exclusively on Iran, which he said was playing a "destructive role" by funneling advanced weaponry to Shiite militants in Iraq.
Within the State Department, views about Iran have also been hardening. Ryan Crocker, the U.S. ambassador to Iraq, told reporters last year that there were signs Tehran was "using some influence to bring down violence from extremist Shia militias." Earlier this month, by contrast, he said Iran was playing a "highly dangerous" role in Iraq, and directly accused Tehran of providing the deadly rockets that slammed into the U.S. Embassy compound where he lives and works.Mr. Crocker also said that recent talks between U.S., Iraqi and Iranian officials had made little progress and failed to persuade Iran to change its behavior in Iraq.Still, U.S. officials have until recently acknowledged uncertainty when the Iranian armaments used in Iraq were manufactured. If the rockets and explosives were made before Iran's vow to curb weapons shipments, it was possible Tehran was abiding by its commitment.In light of the new discovery, U.S. officials say they feel confident Iran is continuing to produce weapons and ship them to Iraqi militants. Some of the newly found weapons had manufacturing dates stamped on the weapons themselves, while others were in sealed containers that had similar manufacturing information, the officials said.
Joint Chiefs Chairman Assails Iran's Role in Iraq
WASHINGTON -- The government of Iran continues to supply weapons and other support to extremists in Iraq, despite repeated promises to the contrary, and is increasingly complicit in the death of American soldiers, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff said Friday in a stark new assessment of Iranian influence. more
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به گزارش خبرگزاری فرانسه از واشنگتن، یک مقام وزارت دفاع آمریکا امروز اعلام کرد یک کشتی متعلق به نیروی دریايی آمریکا بسوی دو قایق تندروی سپاه پاسداران در آبهای خلیج فارس بمنظور هشدار شلیک کرده است. این حادثه روز گذشته روی داد.
مقام وزارت دفاع آمریکا که نخواست نامش فاش شود، گفت ملوانان کشتی Westward Venture هنگامی که دو قایق تندروی سپاه پاسداران به سمت کشتی نزدیک می شدند، بمنظور هشدار بسوی آنها شلیک کردند که در پی اخطار ملوانان آمریکايی، قایق ها از محل دور شدند.
این سومین حادثه از این دست طی هفته های اخیر در آبهای خلیج فارس است.
در تهران به گزارش تلویزیون عرب زبان جمهوری اسلامی "العالم"، نیروی دریايی سپاه پاسداران هرگونه رویارويی با کشتی های آمریکايی در خلیج فارس را تکذیب کرده است.
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Ross Issues Urgent Warning on Iran - April 23, 2008 Newsmax.com Newsmax
The U.S. and its allies probably have no more than a year to take action against Iran before that nation acquires nuclear weapons, warns Dennis Ross, an architect of the Mideast peace process.
" There are clear signs that the Bush administration will not wait that long and military action is imminent."
The U.S. and its allies probably have no more than a year to take action against Iran before that nation acquires nuclear weapons, warns Dennis Ross, an architect of the Mideast peace process.By 2009, Iran “could be a nuclear power, if not a nuclear weapon state, said Ross, who served as the director for policy planning in the State Department under President George H.W. Bush and special Middle East envoy under President Bill Clinton.If not stopped by next year, Iran will have “crossed the threshold of stockpiling fissionable material,” Ross said in remarks to Toronto’s Shaarei Shomayim Congregation that were reported by the Canadian Jewish News.“Once they cross that threshold, we’re going to be in a different ball game. We have to approach this with a high degree or urgency. We’re running out of time.”Not only did Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad vow to “wipe Israel off the map,” but former Iranian President Mohammed Khatami has stated that it would “take only one bomb” to annihilate Israel, Ross told the gathering.“Is that their intention?” he asked. “Can you ignore what they say?”Ross helped the Israelis and Palestinians reach the 1995 Interim Agreement on the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, facilitated the peace treaty between Israel and Jordan, and also worked on talks between Israel and Syria.Regarding Iran, he said the country is vulnerable to economic pressure because it derives 85 percent of its export revenue from oil, and squeezing Iran’s oil revenue can push the “not very popular” regime into abandoning its nuclear weapons efforts, according to the Jewish News.
But there are clear signs that the Bush administration will not wait that long and military action is imminent. As Newsmax reported in mid-April, a leading member of America’s Jewish community disclosed that a military strike on Iran was likely, and said Vice President Dick Cheney’s recent trip through the Middle East should be seen as preparation for the U.S. attack.The source also told Newsmax that Israel “is preparing for heavy casualties,” expecting to be the target of Iranian retribution following a U.S. strike.And Saudi Arabia is reportedly taking emergency steps in preparing to counter any radioactive hazards that may result from an American attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities.
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Divestment from enterprises in countries beset with politically noxious regimes is a well-regarded and popular impulse. Such proposals always draw upon the experience of American campus activism pushing for divestment from apartheid South Africa in the 1980s. But not all divestment ideas are created equal, nor have equal merit. A bill to divest from Iran, now before the Massachusetts Legislature, is an empty gesture and likely to be counterproductive.
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.On Iran - Also Try Diplomacy
As George W. Bush prepares to leave town, one of the many pieces of unfinished business is his vow to thwart Iran's nuclear ambitions. Instead, Teheran is far closer today to having a nuclear weapon than when he came to office
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Syrian leader confirms Israeli peace offer
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CIA reveals 'Syria reactor' files
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Top US General in Iraq to Head Regional Command
By Al Pessin Pentagon23 April 2008 - Pessin report - Download (MP3) - Pessin report - Listen (MP3)
U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates has named the top U.S. commander in Iraq, General David Petraeus, to lead the U.S. Central Command, which oversees the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as U.S. military operations and security cooperation throughout the Middle East and in Central Asia and East Africa. VOA's Al Pessin reports from the Pentagon.
Robert Gates at a Pentagon news conference, 23 Apr 2008 The move was not a surprise, but it confirmed Secretary Gates' desire for continuity in Iraq strategy, and the expansion to Afghanistan of the kind of success the administration says General Petraeus has had in Iraq.
"The kind of conflicts that we're dealing with not just in Iraq, but in Afghanistan, and some of the challenges that we face elsewhere in the region, in the Central Command area, are very much characterized by asymmetric [guerilla] warfare," said Secretary Gates. "And I don't know anybody in the United States military better qualified to lead that effort."Secretary Gates also announced that General Petraeus' former deputy in Iraq, Lieutenant General Raymond Odierno, will replace him, even though Odierno has only been home from Iraq for two months, much shorter than the minimum one year. Gates was asked whether that reflects a 'stay the course' strategy, an approach that hurt President Bush's Republican Party in the 2006 election. The secretary indicated things have changed since General Petraeus was put in place early last year, including a surge of U.S. forces and a new counterinsurgency strategy. "The course, certainly, that General Petraeus has set has been a successful course," he said. "So, frankly I think staying that course is not a bad idea. I would say it's a good idea." General David Petraeus prepares to testify before Senate Armed Forces Committee, 08 Apr 2008The secretary said he expects General Petraeus to stay in Iraq for several more months while the process of Senate approval of his nomination proceeds. He says that, and the fact that the general will still supervise the Iraq war from his new post, means he will be intimately involved in the assessment that U.S. commanders will make in August and September, after the last of the surge forces leave Iraq. That assessment will determine when additional U.S. forces will be withdrawn, and how many. During testimony before U.S. congressional committees this month, General Petraeus called for a 45-day period of assessment and he cautioned against withdrawing U.S. forces too quickly. "We haven't turned any corners," he said. "We haven't seen any lights at the end of a tunnel. The champagne bottle has been pushed to the back of the refrigerator. And the progress, while real, is fragile and is reversible." At Central Command, General Petraeus will replace Admiral William Fallon, who announced his retirement six weeks ago. An article published in Esquire magazine last month portrayed Admiral Fallon as standing against many people in the Bush administration who, the magazine said, wanted to go to war with Iran. Officials deny there were any substantive differences. On Wednesday, Secretary Gates said all American commanders involved in Iraq, including Petraeus and Fallon, have the same view of Iran. "It is a hard position because what the Iranians are doing is killing American servicemen and women inside Iraq," he said. U.S. officials say the Iranian Quds Force, an elite unit of the country's Revolutionary Guard Corps, supports Iraqi Shi'ite insurgents, giving them funding, training and technology for high-powered roadside bombs. Wednesday's announcements also included the withdrawal of General Odierno's nomination to be vice chief of staff of the army. That nomination goes instead to another former Iraq deputy commander, Lieutenant General Peter Chiarelli, who has been Secretary Gates' chief military aide.
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