McClatchy: U.S. says Iranians train Iraqi insurgents

[babylonsister]

U.S. says Iranians train Iraqi insurgents
By Chris Collins | McClatchy Newspapers

* Posted on Sun, August 19, 2007



BAGHDAD - For the first time, the U.S. military said on Sunday that Iranian soldiers are in Iraq training insurgents to attack American forces.

Maj. Gen. Rick Lynch, a top U.S. commander who is in charge of a large swath of Iraq south of Baghdad, believes there are about 50 members of Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps in his battlefield area, military spokeswoman Maj. Alayne Conway said.

Conway said that U.S.-led forces have not caught any of the Iranians, but she said military intelligence and recently discovered caches of weapons with Iranian markings on them indicate that the Iranians are there.

Lynch's assertion is the latest in a series of accusations leveled by military officials against Iran. They have warned that Iraq's neighbor is actively supplying Shiite insurgents - specifically, the Mahdi Army - with deadly weapons that have killed dozens of U.S. soldiers.

President Bush has said that Iran will face unspecified consequences if it continues to assist insurgents. He and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice are considering designating the Revolutionary Guard Corps, the elite military force that serves as the guardian of Iran's Islamic state, as a terrorist organization.

more...

http://www.mcclatchydc.com/homepage/story/19049.html

[scarletwoman]

1. This is getting ridiculous: "caches of weapons with Iranian markings on them indicate that...

the Iranians are there."

NO IT DOESN'T! It indicates that "weapons with Iranian markings" are there, nothing more. Unless they have some evidence showing HOW those "weapons with Iranian markings" got there, they've got NOTHING.

"Oh yes, we KNOW those nasty Iranians are around!"

"How do you know that? Have you captured any? Have you SEEN any?"

"No, we haven't actually seen any, we just KNOW they're around. Sneaky bastards, they're really good at hiding themselves!"

"But if you've never seen any, how do you know they exist?"

"Well, just look at the Iranian writing on this here gun! There you go! Proof!"

"But Iraq is full of guns from all over the place! Like lots of Kalashnikovs, for example. If you find a cache of Kalashnikov rifles do you then conclude that there are Russians training Iraqi insurgents?"

"Wait! There's Russians here too?"

:banghead:

sw

[babylonsister]

4. Yes, it is. The general has no proof, but he's spouting anyway. Kind of

like Chertoff's 'gut' feeling. Much ado about nothing...

[Up2Late]

2. Isn't it funny how these Iran boogieman stories are coming out while...

...the WH is on vacation and can't take any questions about them? :grr:

[babylonsister]

3. I want to know what their end game is here. Could they really

possibly want another war? Is that oil pipeline to Iraq just too precious to ignore?

[IDemo]

5. My take on this story from earlier today

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=1618029&mesg_id=1618029

[tabasco]

6. That nasty ring around the edge of your bath tub?

Iranians put it there.

[Webster Green]

7. Big fucking deal. So they are training "insurgents"?

Hey....dumbass war-chimp!...Stop invading and occupying countries and then
you won't have to worry about that sort of thing.