| Author | Message | | Alpha | |  | | Alpha | | | | Alpha | | | | Alpha | | Posted: Mon Jan 21, 2008 4:52 am Post subject: U.S. says Iran still training Iraqi militias |
| Subject: U.S. says Iran still training Iraqi militias (additional accusation in order to set the stage for war with Iran?)
U.S. says Iran still training Iraqi militias (Reuters)
By Ross ColvinSun Jan 20, 10:45 AM ET
The U.S. military said on Sunday there had been a dramatic drop in the number of Iranian weapons being smuggled into Iraq but no let-up in Tehran's training and financing of Iraqi militias.
Washington has accused Tehran of supplying Shi'ite militias with sophisticated weapons, including deadly armor-piercing bombs known as explosively formed penetrators (EFPs), to attack American troops. Tehran denies the charge.
"We do believe that the number of signature weapons that have come from Iran ... are down dramatically. We do not think levels of training have been reduced at all. We don't believe levels of financing are reduced," U.S. military spokesman Rear Admiral Greg Smith told reporters in Baghdad.
His comments come at a time of heightened tensions between Iran and the United States after Washington said its warships were threatened by Iranian craft in the Strait of Hormuz earlier this month. The two countries are already at odds over Iran's determination to pursue a nuclear program.
U.S. officials had softened their rhetoric towards Iran in recent weeks, partly attributing a sharp drop in violence in Iraq since June to Iran stemming the flow of smuggled weapons. U.S. forces also released a number of Iranian detainees.
Smith said an upswing in the number of EFP attacks reported in the first two weeks of January had been followed by a dip in the third week of the month.
"There was an increase, we don't know why precisely ... and now they have returned to normal levels," he said. "It is uncertain what is happening inside Iran to lead to that occurrence."
U.S.-IRANIAN MEETING
U.S. and Iranian officials were scheduled to meet in mid-December for a fourth round of talks on quelling violence in Iraq, but the meeting was cancelled because of time pressure on U.S. diplomats as Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice made a hurriedly-arranged visit to Iraq.
Iraqi government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh said no new date had been set for the meeting. U.S. embassy spokeswoman Mirembe Nantongo said she had no information.
Smith said Iran continued to exert a "negative influence" in Iraq, with militia groups still being trained inside the Islamic Republic late last year, after Tehran had made a pledge to the Iraqi government to support efforts to end violence.
Many of the militiamen being trained in Iran are considered renegade members of Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr's Mehdi Army. Sadr has ordered a six-month ceasefire that expires in February so that he could reorganise his splintered militia.
The U.S. military says the Mehdi Army has been replaced by al Qaeda as the greatest threat to peace in Iraq, and has launched a major offensive against the Sunni Islamist group in four northern provinces and Baghdad's southern outskirts.
Smith said 121 militants had been killed, including 92 "high-value targets," since the operation began on January 8.
In an attack that bore the hallmarks of al Qaeda, a suicide bomber killed six people in western Anbar province on Sunday, including a member of a Sunni Arab tribe involved in fighting the militant group, officials said.
The attack was the second deadly bombing in as many days in Anbar, where violence has plunged in recent months after local tribes joined with the U.S. military to push al Qaeda out of much of the vast region. Many militants relocated to the north.
Giving an overview of al Qaeda in Iraq, Smith said documents seized in an operation suggested that 90 percent of the group's suicide bombers were foreigners, along with much of the leadership, while the rank-and-file were Iraqi.
In 2007 al Qaeda militants killed 3,870 civilians and wounded more than 17,000, in 4,500 attacks, he said.
(Additional reporting by Wisam Mohammed and Paul Tait; editing by Andrew Roche)
Last edited by Alpha on Mon Jan 21, 2008 6:56 pm; edited 1 time in total | | | | Alpha | | | | Alpha | | | | Alpha | | | | Alpha | | | | Alpha | | | | Alpha | | Posted: Tue Jan 22, 2008 2:25 am Post subject: RE: Bush Admits that He Plans to Attack Iran |
| Don Jones (who was a consultant for the CIA and Janes) responded:
Subject: RE: Bush Admits that He Plans to Attack Iran
Date: Mon, 21 Jan 2008 21:31:59 -0500
We have an army of 480,000, an army reserve of 850,000, Marines at 175,000, a navy and an Air Force that has 440 of its 700 F-15s grounded and the F-16 are showing wing cracks. The army has 70,000 in Europe and 30,000 in Korea . We have 165,000 troops in Iraq and thousands in Afghanistan . The marines have three divisions of which two are committed. There are no strategic targets in Iran . The Iranians can field an army of 6,000,000 men and women. Syria can put 2,000,000 combatants on a battle field. Iran has modern tanks, artillery, battlefield missiles, SAMs, supersonic anti-ship missiles, and 200 mph torpedos. It has some 70 F-14s and more F-4s. Iran is no pushover. It has 50,000 commandos perched on the Iraqi border ready to attack the US army if Iran is attacked. Those commandos plus 60,000 Shiites could wipe out the US army in Iraq . Our ten divisions contain some 37,000 pure riflemen. Half of the US reserves equipment is worn out. The backlog of maintenance and repair (BEMAR) is now about $100,000,000,000, which we cannot afford. The navy in the gulf could be wiped out by those anti-ship missiles and torpedos. The Air Force does not have a reliable target list. Israel can start anything they want but the US is not going to finish the job for them.
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Don,
Not only can Israel get it started (the 'A Clean Break' co-author David Wurmser who was working with Cheney directly even advised for Israel to attack Iran triggering retaliatory attacks on our troops in Iraq which would draw us into it as a very valued friend reported on such which resulted in Wurmser's resignation). Israel could also get the war started via going into Lebanon again in accordance with the rest of the 'A Clean Break' agenda which was intended to draw Syria (and Iran ) into the fight as well. Lastly, what about the Israel firsters in command of the US Air Force as well who won't have a problem having the B-2s strike the Iranian nuclear facilities using the modified brackets which will be able to carry those new 30,000 pound bunker busters):
Secret U.S. Air Force team planning Iranian strike...
http://www.wakeupfromyourslumber.com/node/3717
The Iran Threat:
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article18811.htm
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Donald Jones responded:
The draft machinery is being activated but Bush has no money to pay another 2,000,000 soldiers, equip them, and train them. Our economy is now the tail wagging the military dog. An attack on Iran could spell disaster because we get our jet fuel from the gulf. Iran could wipe out all of the refineries in the gulf in a day. It is easy. All you have to do is punch a hole in the steam plant of each refinery and the whole thing stops cold.
Bush’s conversations with the Saudis prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that he is the dumbest man to ever be president. He insults them and then asks them for more oil. He is a racist bigot and a nincompoop. And the Arabs know it.
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Sent: Tuesday, January 22, 2008 12:55 AM
To: Donald Jones
Don,
Your comments were posted to the following URL (keep in mind that Bush could instate the draft as well):
http://www.warwithoutend.co.uk/wake-up-america-your-government-is-hijacked-by-zionism/2008/01/20/war-with-iran-real-risk-according-to-former-cia-operative-page-57.php
Take a look at the Scott Ritter youtube videos linked in the comments of the following URL for how the US military might use nuclear weapons as well:
http://neoconzionistthreat.blogspot.com/2007/10/re-aipac-is-pushing-us-to-war-with-iran.html
Last edited by Alpha on Tue Jan 22, 2008 5:53 pm; edited 2 times in total | | | | | ©2002-2009 WarWithoutEnd.co.uk |
