Saudi report -- Iranian infiltration of Iraq

[TexasLawyer]

The report was handed to, err..., uncovered by the Moonie Times.


MONDAY, DECEMBER 18, 2006
10:17 MECCA TIME, 7:17 GMT

NEWS MIDDLE EAST

Report: Iran arming groups in Iraq

A report commissioned by the Saudi Arabian government says that Iran has created a Shia "state within a state" in Iraq, providing support to armed groups and funds for social programmes.

The 40-page report says Iran is providing Shia fighters with weapons and training and that Tehran actively supports pro-Iranian Iraqi politicians. The Washington Times, which uncovered the private report, said it was submitted to the Saudi government in March.

"Where the Americans have failed, the Iranians have stepped in," said the security report, commissioned by the National Security Assessment Project, a consultancy based in Riyadh.

The report said that Iran is infiltrating Iraq through it al-Quds forces, a special command section of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).

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http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/BC3D8512-A876-43FC-8B15-39C31CDF346B.htm

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Saudis report Shi'ite 'state' inside of Iraq

By Sharon Behn
THE WASHINGTON TIMES
December 18, 2006
http://www.washtimes.com/world/20061218-121346-2567r.htm

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RAND Corp. senior defense analyst Ed O'Connell said the Iranian intelligence was trying to counter Saddam Hussein's former formidable spy network, Iraqi Intelligence Service (IIS), or the Mukhabarat. Under Saddam's regime, he said, roughly one of every six Iraqi adults was a paid or unpaid informant -- a network that did not disappear with the arrival of the U.S.-led coalition.

"The real story in Iraq is this below-the-surface 'unconventional war' between the old IIS, which could become a more overt Saudi proxy -- and the al Quds special directorate intelligence- counterintelligence," Mr. O'Connell said.

The Saudi security report was directed by Nawaf Obaid -- who recently was fired for writing an article in The Washington Post warning that Saudi Arabia would not stand idly by and allow Iraq's Shi'ites to destroy its Sunni population.

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