Debate Erupts Among Spy Services Over Iran's Role in Battle of Iraq (Curveball part 2)

[sabra]

http://www.nysun.com/article/47446?page_no=1

Debate Erupts Among Spy Services Over Iran's Role in Battle of Iraq

WASHINGTON — As America's generals prepare for an increase in troops in Iraq, the American intelligence community has been fiercely debating the extent to which operatives directed by Iran's security services have penetrated the Iraqi government.

Several lists containing names of suspected moles have been circulating in the intelligence community since December, according to one American diplomat and two American intelligence officials who spoke on condition of anonymity. But the names of the suspected Iranian agents themselves are the focus of a heated dispute.

This debate, among others concerning Iran's influence and control of Iraqi government institutions, is one key factor holding up the publication of a consensus intelligence finding on Iraq known as a National Intelligence Estimate. The dispute over Iranian power in Iraq's Interior Ministry, national military, customs office, Health Ministry, and Defense Ministry will determine how President Bush's troop surge is implemented, one intelligence official said. "This could lead to disbanding whole units of the Iraqi military and affect how we embed our guys in their units," the official said. "If it's true, if some of this is true, it's very bad. But we don't know yet." While the intelligence community is divided over the degree of Iran's influence in the Iraqi government, the Bush administration has changed its earlier assessment of Tehran's aims in Iraq.

...

Mr. Elkhamri's conclusions are stark. "Today in Iraq, Shia militias — death squads loyal to Iran — have successfully infiltrated the new Iraqi security forces at all levels. They have also expanded their area of operations throughout Iraq. They are responsible for more civilian deaths than the Sunni and foreign insurgents who are the United States' number one enemies in Iraq. These militias — the Mahdi Army, the Badr Brigade, and others — are carrying out attacks under the authority of and in the uniforms of the Iraqi Ministry of the Interior and the Ministry of Defense."

Several analysts, asked this week for their impressions of Mr. Elkhamri's paper, expressed skepticism about some of his claims. "The paper points to a number of activities that Iran is up to in Iraq, many of which are potentially harmful to the course of reconstruction," the director for research at the Saban Center for Middle East Studies at the Brookings Institution, Kenneth Pollack, said. "However, the sourcing leaves much to be desired, and a number of statements are factually incorrect. Beyond that, many of its claims are simply interpretations that don't necessarily stand up to the evidence that is available."

[azurnoir]

1. Sweet Jeebus

Here we go - again. Hopefully this time the American people will wise up or rise up?

[saigon68]

13. Chalabi's hidden thug Army

[sinkingfeeling]

2. Here's a question. If Iraq is a sovereign country, why is it that US intelligence

agencies are so involved with trying to find the infiltrators? Shouldn't this be Iraq's problem or are we really prepared to stay there forever?

[sabra]

3. it seems like the NIE might recommend that the US suggest a redo

on the Iraqi gov't?

[Vidar]

4. Spy vs Spy; Lie vs Lie.

[PATRICK]

5. Boils down to one thing for me

How in blazes can anyone implement troop embedding among the Iraqis with this intelligence murky and under these circumstances? Trust to luck? But with the confused or in denial officers selected by Bush they might just do the crazy thing instead of the rational one of delaying and downscaling implementation
of this unnecessary risk.

the one intelligence question one MIGHT be able to answer is: how degraded is US military command on the ground that they would go along with a crazy order from Bush speedily and totally with no regard to the probable danger and failure? In the past, whole battles went awry simply because field officers ignored orders that didn't seem to make sense. Others made up their own and charged ahead. Is this the type of chaos that now afflicts our army and dooms troops who from the horrified perspective of the most amateur distant observers can watch the Light Brigade on the move? This time with actual orders WE KNOW from the CIC to go uselessly into the Valley of Death? Or will this mess be averted by second thoughts and delay?

Or was it meant to all along merely to get troops for pure defense during the Iranian war backlash? And is that clever interpretation seeing a reason where there is only madness?

[teryang]

6. The US idea of intel ops is creating and training death squads

Sounds like more blowback to me. Our intelligence agencies are incapable of discerning how and to what extent agents of Iran have penetrated or are spying on Iraqi government and military operations.

I'm sure they are a lot better at it than we are.

[loveandlight]

7. maybe like the generals some of the intel people are holding out for reality

Instead of just caving into a false intelligence assessment that is clearly aimed at getting us into an expanded war with Iran, maybe some of the analysts are refusing to go along and holding up the process. The way things are going it looks like the only way that this increase in the war is going to be stopped is if the people on the inside who know what lies are being perpetrated and who understand the insanity of what B*sh and his pals are up to just refuse to put their names to it. If the intelligence agencies won't do it, maybe that will give the impetus to military leaders to refuse to do it as well. I can only hope, only hope, because what I see ahead is a scary scary world war and nuclear disaster looming.

[RedEarth]

8. Interesting........thanks for posting

[antiimperialist]

9. The US illegally sent 150,000 troops. Iran sent 8. And look who's whining

Go figure.

[antiimperialist]

10. A repeat of the 2002 atrocious NIE?

So it turns out that Bush wants the NIE to say with or without evidence that Iran is meddling in Iraqi affairs.
The world is watching this time.

[rodeodance]

11. "This could lead to disbanding whole units of the Iraqi military .."--- and

we will have to train more........and more and more.

[rodeodance]

12. we will see if there are any "lessons learned" ???????????? doubt it----as the Decider has decided.