Question: What is Iran's involvement in Iraq?

[joemurphy]

What exactly is being alleged in this regard and what is the evidence for the allegations?

I'm looking for information. I seem to recall General Peter Pace saying around a year ago that there was no evidence of Iranian involvement. Has this changed?

[Robbien]

1. No change in what Iran is doing

except BushCo is now saying Iran is opening a bank and doing some repair work. You know real terrorist kind of stuff.

[uppityperson]

2. I think there is no official "Iran" connection, though I am sure that some

Iranians go back and forth and may be involved. By official "Iran" I mean the gvt.

[cyberpj]

3. Iraq Signs Military Pact with Iran - July 2005 (NOT IN US DAILY NEWS)

I saw this in July 2005 and spread it around a bit, even to news outlets, but never saw any more about it. You can BET that BushCo knew about this then though.

===========================================================================
Iraq Signs Military Pact with Iran
Thu, 7 Jul 2005 22:11:20 -0700
Summary:

Here’s an update: The “democratically elected” government of Iraq, much-ballyhooed by the Bush adminstration and its toadies, has signed an agreement of military cooperation with current Bush public enemy number one, Iran.

In other news, 100 “democratically elected” members of the Iraqi parliament have signed a petition demanding that the US withdraw its forces from Iraq immediately.


By Neil MacDonald in Baghdad and Najmeh Bozorgmehr in Tehran
Republished from Financial Times

Iraq signs a pact in Tehran agreeing to accept Iranian military training and other cooperation.

Former foes Iraq and Iran announced “a new chapter” in their relations on Thursday, including cross-border military co-operation, dismissing US concerns about Iranian regional meddling.

On his first official visit to Tehran, Iraqi minister of defence Saadoun al-Dulaimi asserted his country’s sovereign right to seek help from wherever it sees fit in rebuilding its defence capabilities.

“Nobody can dictate to Iraq its relations with other countries,” Mr Dulaimi said in a joint press conference with his Iranian counterpart, Admiral Ali Shamkhani.

The two ministers said that a military co-operation agreement, now in the preparation, would include Iranian help with training and upgrading Iraq’s reconstituted armed forces, a process so far overseen by US and coalition advisers.

http://www.gnn.tv/headlines/3670/Iraq_Signs_Military_Pact_with_Iran

[BuyingThyme]

4. They'e trying to liberate Iraq from foreign invaders.

Worse yet, they're building a banking infrastructure.

[H2O Man]

5. I heard today

that Iran was building a bank in Iraq. I had thought that the Bush administration wanted foreign investment to bring stability in Iraq. Guess it has to go through one of Cheney's "former" businesses.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

6. None.

If they had any evidence whatsoever, they'd be touting all over the media.

[joemurphy]

7. Here's the article I was referring to. I hunted it down.

It's dated (March, 2006), but I haven't found much since that has any reliability. Anybody got anything more current?

"On Monday, President Bush suggested Iran was involved in making roadside bombs, known as improvised explosive devices, that are being used in Iraq. And Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld last week accused Iran of sending members of its Revolutionary Guard to conduct operations in Iraq.

Today, Pace, the top U.S. military official, was asked at a Pentagon news conference if he has proof that Iran's government is sponsoring these activities.

"I do not, sir," Pace said.

<http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/03/14/AR2006031401083.html>

[wishlist]

8. Many Iraqis fled to Iran, got training in Iran, and have now returned to Iraq-

One aspect was mentioned by a prominent reporter/expert on Iraq (Richard? with a British accent) who was interviewed on CNN last week. He said that many Shia Iraqis went to Iran before the invasion or shortly after and received high level militia training in Iran. Now many of these skilled Iraqis have returned to Iraq and are involved in violent activities in the militias and death squads against Sunnis.

[cyberpj]

9. see post #3 - a known event since July, 2005. Also, a legal pact I believe. nt

[cyberpj]

10. Here's the Yahoo news article (in case the first link isn't good)

http://au.news.yahoo.com/050707/15/v0c1.html

And here it is in Truthout:
http://www.truthout.org/cgi-bin/artman/exec/view.cgi/37/12462

[Joe for Clark]

11. I don't think it is as large scale as B*sh makes it out,

But I think there is envolvement. I don't know how much is government sanctioned, either.

But I know - sometimes when we caught guys in the north, they turned out to be Iranians.

Some might be Iranian government sanctioned, some religious, though I expect most of it to be tribal.

[TheMadMonk]

14. If it's government sanctioned...

it's like Nicaragua, Panama, etc, etc, were sanctioned. (Glass houses and all that.)

FTR: Iran, unlike Amurika ain't that stupid/arrogant. Any real Iranian involvement is so far under the table, and behind so many cutouts that demonstrating true complicity is the next best thing to impossible. Besides which: Why bust a sweat when Georgie boy and his pals are doing such a fucking good job om their behalf?

[screembloodymurder]

12. They live next door.

They're neighbors.

[cyberpj]

13. They support a Shia majority but not U.S. - as, now, do many Iraqis. nt

[MrSlayer]

15. They are giving nukes to the insurgents.

Iran has tons of nukes.

[cynatnite]

16. Iraq and Iran signed a military pact and...

there are moves Iran is making to become more actively involved economically in Iraq. Today there was a report about the cult in Iraq where a couple hundred were killed. They recovered Katyusha which historically have come out of Iran.

Iraq and Iran have been diplomatically involved with each other for some time now. It's nothing new, really.

bush is ratcheting up the rhetoric and Iran is only two happy to do the same. We're looking at two extremist leaders that have the potential to kill a lot of people because of their beliefs and rhetoric. :scared: