Hezbollah Trains Iraqis in Iran, Officials Say

[Bozita]

Source: NY Times

May 5, 2008
Hezbollah Trains Iraqis in Iran, Officials Say

By MICHAEL R. GORDON
BAGHDAD — Militants from the Lebanese group Hezbollah have been training Iraqi militia fighters at a camp near Tehran, according to American interrogation reports that the United States has supplied to the Iraqi government.

An American official said the account of Hezbollah’s role was provided by four Shiite militia members who were captured in Iraq late last year and questioned separately.

The United States has long charged that the Iranians were training Iraqi militia fighters in Iran, which Iran has consistently denied, and there have been previous reports about Hezbollah operatives in Iraq.

But the Americans say the reports of Hezbollah’s role at the Iranian camp offer important details about Iranian assistance to the militias, including efforts Iran appears to be making to train the fighters in unobtrusive ways.

Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/05/world/middleeast/05iran.html?ref=world

---

Michael Gordon.

[DRoseDARs]

1. He's still at the NYT? I thought he'd have a job at the WH or at least Medal of Freedom by now. n/t

[drmeow]

2. I don't believe anything

American officials say ... ever ... especially about the Middle East.

[armodem08]

3. This is a classic example of a targeted leak...

At least we know what Cheney wants us to think. You'd think the Times would fire him for repeatedly violating the paper's ban on anonymous sources for these types of situations. It makes sense in whistleblower cases, not with high-ranking officials providing a casus beli (case for war).

[Bozita]

4. I'm sure this is frontpage material, above the fold.

America needs to be afraid.

[maddezmom]

12. and now the spokesperson confirms the leak: US: Hezbollah training Iraqi Shiite extremists in Iran

BAGHDAD - Iraqi Shiite extremists are being trained by members of the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah in camps near Tehran, a U.S. military spokesman said Monday.


Iraqis are receiving the training at camps operated by the Quds Force, an elite unit of Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps that has been accused of training and funneling weapons to Shiite extremists in Iraq, Air Force Col. Donald Bacon, a U.S. military spokesman in Baghdad, told The Associated Press.

"We have multiple detainees who state Lebanese Hezbollah are providing training to Iraqis in Iranian IRGC-QF training camps near Tehran," Bacon said.

The Quds Force is also known as the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps-Quds Force, or IRGC-QF. Al-Quds is the Arabic name for Jerusalem.

more:http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080505/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq_iran_hezbollah_1

[Penance]

5. Which group?

The Badr Corps milita is the politically closest to the Iranians and they practically are the Iraqi military at this point. Are these Iraqi milita fighters in this story allied with Nuri al-Maliki or the Supreme Islamic Council of Iraq (supported by Badr)? Would it be the Mahadi Army or the Sadrists who have been politically opposed to them, yet not adverse to deals brokered by Iranian diplomats? Does the NY Times bother to find out? Inquiring minds who know more about Iraq than just "Shi'ite" and "Sunni" want to know.

[curious one]

6. I do not believe anything that comes from

this administration or Israeli intelligence that is the source. Both lie. Show the proofs to all to see.

[NuttyFluffers]

7. and i thought my commute was bad...

:dunce:

[stanley01]

8. according to American interrogation reports

more torture, more lies- of course they were just    leading
the witness

[Marie26]

9. Wasn't this guy Judith Miller's partner in propaganda?

Why is he STILL at the NY Times?

[maddezmom]

10. here's a good piece: Who needs Dana Perino when you have the NYT's Michael Gordon?

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=103&topic_id=357171&mesg_id=357171

[ronnie624]

14. Excellent article,

containing numerous subsequent links. A must read.

Many thanks.

[Marie26]

17. Thanks

That is a good article. It looks like Russert hasn't learned anything, either.

[LynnTheDem]

11. Now who didn't see that line of bullshit coming???

Are even the freepers stupid enough to swallow this crap?

[libodem]

13. How absurd

If any of this intel came from torture it's all psyops propaganda. They know what information they want to push before the interrogations are even begun. Do they think we are all fools. The other frightening element in all this is how bad the prisons must continue to be in that hell hole of a country. I'm sure that Abu Graib is the standard model of treatment. It is just not being reported.

[onager]

15. Related report from trustworthy source, Robert Fisk

But he says Hizbollah is being trained and supplied by Iran, which is fairly common knowledge AFAIK. I'm almost finished with Fisk's incredible book The Great War For Civilisation: The Conquest of the Middle East. Fisk has lived in Beirut for more than 30 years. He's an old-time journalist and foreign correspondent, not an MSM type.

This part of the article was interesting:

Hizbollah turns to Iran for new weapons to wage war on Israel

...For months, Sayed Hassan Nasrallah, the Hizbollah leader, has been warning Israel that his organisation has a "surprise" new weapon in its armoury and there are few in Lebanon who do not suspect that this is a new Iranian-developed ground-to-air missile – rockets which may at last challenge Israel's air supremacy over Lebanon.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/fisk/hizbollah-turns-to-iran-for-new-weapons-to-wage-war-on-israel-805763.html

[HuffleClaw]

16. *snicker*

their 'interrogations' got them exactly the answers they wanted.