An excellent short history of Iranian intervention against Operation iraqi Freedom ,the coalition forces ,and the new Iraqi government has been authored by Kimberly Kagans at Weekly Standard .

http://www.weeklystandard.com/weblog...Report06.2.pdf

She accurately illustrates how Iran began to plan and deploy into Iraq before the invasion ;as early as December 2002. She also shows clearly that Iran has had a tactical alliance with al-Qaeda and for a time Sunni insurgents ;as well as the clear links to Shia militias .

To illustrate the problem ,Earth times reported that both and Iranian Intelligence officer and an Al-Qaeda leader will killed by US forces in the same raid in Samarra.

Iran intelligence officer among militants killed in Iraq - Summary : Middle East World

Gen Petraeus and Ambassador Crocker both cited evidence of Iranian involvement in attacks on US troops during their testimony this week . They testified that Iran was attempting to create a "Hezbollah-like force" in Iraq.

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In an interview yesterday with Washington Post editors and reporters, Crocker said Tehran now has a "fairly aggressive strategy" on the ground in Iraq. Its stepped-up support of extremist militias contributed to the near unraveling of Iraq last year, he said. Tehran is now trying to create a force like Hezbollah, the Iranian-backed Shiite force in Lebanon, to advance its long-term interests in Iraq, Crocker added.

In his new dialogue with his Iranian counterpart in Baghdad, Crocker said his main message was: "We know what you're doing in Iraq. It needs to stop." Continuing U.S. investigations into the scope of Iran's supplying of weapons and the training of extremists were boosted by the capture this year of two Shiite militant leaders and a top Hezbollah official, who all confessed to ties with Iran, Crocker said.

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washingtonpost.com - nation, world, technology and Washington area news and headlines

Yesterday the military revealed they have proof that rockets that are being fired at our troops are made in Iran. The missile was fired from an area of Baghdad controlled by Moqtada al Sadr a client goon of Iran .
http://www.abcnews.go.com/Politics/s...3593296&page=1

Will this latest attack produce any call to bring Iran to account for its interference? Clearly the General made it clear that Iranian intervention was an impediment to progress in Iraq. The question is : What are we going to do about it. The road out of Iraq leads through Tehran.

Hello tom:

Hmmm... I don't know. Iran shouldn't be messing with Iraq. But, they DO have an interest in who their neighbors are. Actually, they have MORE of an interest in the region than WE do. Aren't WE the interlopers in the neighborhood?? Isn't this latest round a result of OUR being there in the first place?? What if we didn't invade Iraq? Would Iran be messing around with Iraq?? I don't think so.

Besides, don't we mess with our neighbors - like ALL THE TIME??

Like Iraq, this is a problem of our own making... So, I don't understand how we have the balls to sound so righteous about it?

Sounds eerily familiar to the drumbeat for war we've heard before. That drumbeat included the left leaning press too.

excon

They attack and kill us because we are there. I guess that then justifies the repeated attacks on Americans by the Mullocracy of Iran since 1979.

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Originally Posted by tomder55

They attack and kill us because we are there. I guess that then justifies the repeated attacks on Americans by the Mullocracy of Iran since 1979.

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Hello again, tom:

They were attacking us long before Iraq. So, I'm no friend to Iran - never have been. They NEED to be dealt with PRO-actively, and that hasn't happened.

The problem with Iraq, and the coming war with Iran, is that they are being fought RE-actively. We become mired down. We're not calling the shots - the enemy is. I don't think we can win a war like that. We certainly haven't shown that we can.

Israel, however, can indeed. Let THEM do the dirty work - and they'll love it.

excon

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Originally Posted by tomder55

An excellent short history of Iranian intervention against Operation iraqi Freedom ,the coalition forces ,and the new Iraqi government has been authored by Kimberly Kagans at Weekly Standard .

http://www.weeklystandard.com/weblog...Report06.2.pdf

She accurately illustrates how Iran began to plan and deploy into Iraq before the invasion ;as early as December 2002. She also shows clearly that Iran has had a tactical alliance with al-Qaeda and for a time Sunni insurgents ;as well as the clear links to Shia militias .

To illustrate the problem ,Earth times reported that both and Iranian Intelligence officer and an Al-Qaeda leader will killed by US forces in the same raid in Samarra.

Iran intelligence officer among militants killed in Iraq - Summary : Middle East World

Gen Petraeus and Ambassador Crocker both cited evidence of Iranian involvement in attacks on US troops during their testimony this week . They testified that Iran was attempting to create a "Hezbollah-like force" in Iraq.

washingtonpost.com - nation, world, technology and Washington area news and headlines

Yesterday the military revealed they have proof that rockets that are being fired at our troops are made in Iran. The missile was fired from an area of Baghdad controlled by Moqtada al Sadr a client goon of Iran .
http://www.abcnews.go.com/Politics/s...3593296&page=1

Will this latest attack produce any call to bring Iran to account for its interference? Clearly the General made it clear that Iranian intervention was an impediment to progress in Iraq. The question is : What are we going to do about it. The road out of Iraq leads through Tehran.

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Hi Tom

I expect we will do what we have most often done; financed, equipped, trained armies of agents and then abandoned them. For instance, the Cubans in Miami, the Khambas in Tibet, the Sumatran colonels Indonesia, the meos in Laos, the Montagnards in Vietnam, the Hungarians, the Kurds in Iraq…Oh yes we will abandon them again. The American public will demand it unless…unless there is a devastating attack on American soil. I believe however that the higher echelons of our adversaries know this and that is not in their statragic plan. My guess is that in the end Iraq will become a divided nation along the lines of Vietnam, so that in the end there will be a measure of success.

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My guess is that in the end Iraq will become a divided nation along the lines of Vietnam,

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Do you mean Korea DC ?

Anyway a political solution appears to be happening bottom up ;tribe by tribe ,region by region. I do not see division but a decentralized Iraq similar to the Bosnia solution . By the way... we are still there monitoring progress and ensuring the success of the nation .Why are we not considered the occupier worthy of attack there ? Why did we not leave that civil war and let them fight it out ?

I hope you are wrong about Kurdistan but I cannot deny that history is on your side. I see thousands of boat people ,fools who took us at our word.

Iran will be dealt with . Either we accept their hegemony and Bush or his successor does a 'Nixon in China' act .This would result in a nuclear arms race in a region with a short fuse, that the world still unfortunately relies on to fuel it's economy.

Or they are dealt with other ways . I do not necessarily think that military action should be the first option . I would like to test the theory being pushed by Michael Ledeen that continued pressure combined with a growing pro-democracy movement in the youth of Iran would topple the mullocracy .

But a rubicon is close to being crossed. It is unacceptable for Iran to have nuclear weapons ;and it is equally unacceptable to allow them to continue a 30 year proxy war against the US. Theyare responsible for most of the recent American deaths in Iraq.

Excon ;
I'd be more than happy for Israeli intervention. They certainly would be justified. The rocket attack I linked used the same rockets that are being supplied to Hezbollah

Tom

Our battle, at the moment anyway, with Iran is in Lebanon; Lebanon is the place Iran must be stopped before it can be stopped in Iraq. Given that Iran has more influence both places than the US; I propose that at this very moment the CIA and other US intelligence agencies are funding anti-Hezbollah groups there.