G.I.s Hunt Iran's Terrorist 'Surrogates' in Iraq
By James Gordon Meek
Is the U.S. military building a public case against Iran? No, we're not talking about nukes this time. It's Iran's meddling in Iraq, where top Army Gen. David Petraeus this week accused Tehran's ambassador to Baghdad of being a card-carrying member of the Revolutionary Guards' elite Quds Force.
U.S. officials tell me the Quds Force is arming "surrogates," Iraqi-Shia militants, with such nasty things as the Explosively-Formed Penetrator, a type of improvised explosive device (aka roadside bomb) that has killed more than 200 American troops by penetrating their vehicles' armor like a hot knife through butter with a bomb in the blade.
Petraeus' broadside wasn't an isolated incident. In recent weeks, the military command in Baghdad has stepped up its offensive -- both public and tactical -- against Iranian-backed "special groups militias" south of Baghdad, which have led to dozens being killed or captured. The military has also emphasized any seizure of "Iranian-made" weapons, such as mortars, IEDs and hand grenades, no matter how small the cache.
Where once the military complained of non-Iraqi Arabs flocking to join Al Qaeda-in-Mesopotomia, now they are complaining about Iranian influence on the battlefield. "That's their whole thing now: Special Groups. It has the same flavor as 'foreign fighters,'" observed one colleague bravely covering Iraq's Red Zone.
On Oct. 10, the military practically begged for press coverage of these operations, requesting that "anyone interested in covering a cordon and search combat operation" by the 3rd Infantry Division the next day in an area south of Baghdad and east of the Tigris River should apply for an embed to observe troops fighting to "disrupt Shia extremists." (A search of LexisNexis suggests no one may have accepted the offer.)
There's much more about the U.S. military and political offensive against the Quds Force at the New York Daily News' Mouth of the Potomac Blog, including comments by America's UN ambassador, Zalmay Khalilzad.
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