[Marxism] NY Times still not convinced of US-Iran "common interests" in "Quisling regime" in Iraq

[Fred Feldman]

July 2, 2007
U.S. Ties Iran to Deadly Iraq Attack 
By MICHAEL R. GORDON
BAGHDAD, July 2 - Iranian operatives helped plan a January raid in Karbala
in which five American soldiers were killed, an American military spokesman
in Iraq said today.

Brig. Gen. Kevin J. Bergner, the military spokesman, also said that Iran's
Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps has used operatives from the Lebanese
militia group Hezbollah as a "proxy" to train and arm Shiite militants in
Iraq.

American military officials have long asserted that the Quds Force, an elite
unit of Iran's Revolutionary Guard, has trained and equipped Shiite
militants in Iraq. The Americans have also cited extensive intelligence
indicating that Iran has supplied Shiite militants with the most lethal type
of roadside bomb in Iraq, a bomb called the explosively formed penetrator,
which is capable of piercing an armored vehicle.

Previously, Iranian officials have said that the United States is
fabricating evidence to back up its accusation that Iran is sending bombs
and weapons into Iraq. Some critics have cast doubt on the American military
statements about the penetrator bombs, saying the evidence linking them to
Iran was circumstantial and inferential. 

In remarks that were reported over the weekend, Iran's defense minister,
Mohammad Najar, denied American claims of Iran's "military interference" in
Iraq. "We have many times announced that we are ready to cooperate with the
Iraqi government so to restore security and stability to that country," Mr.
Najar was quoted as saying in a July 1 report by the Iranian student news
agency, ISNA. It did not make clear which remarks he was responding
to.Today's assertions by the American military spokesman, which were
presented at a news briefing here, marked the first time that the United
States has charged that Iranian officials have helped plan operations
against American troops in Iraq and have had advance knowledge of specific
attacks that have led to the death of American soldiers.

In effect, American officials are charging that Iran has been engaged in a
proxy war against American forces for years, though officials today sought
to confine their comments to the specific incidents covered in their
briefing.

When the Karbala attack was carried out on January 20 this year, American
and Iraqi officials said that it appeared to be meticulously planned. The
attackers carried forged identity cards and wore American-style uniforms.

One American died at the start of the raid, but the rest of the American
soldiers were abducted before they were killed. 

Some officials speculated at the time that the aim of the raid might have
been to capture a group of American soldiers who could have been exchanged
for Iranian officials that American forces detained in Iraq on suspicion of
supporting Shiite militants there. 

But while Americans officials wondered about an indirect Iranian role in the
Karbala raid, until today they stopped short of making a case that the Quds
Force may have been directly involved in planning the attack.

General Bergner declined to speculate on the Iranian motivations. But he
said that interrogations of Qais Khazali, a Shiite militant who oversaw
Iranian-supported cells in Iraq and who was captured several months ago
along with another militant, Laith Khazali, his brother, showed that Iran's
Quds force helped plan the operation.

Similar information was obtained following the capture of a senior Hezbollah
operative, Ali Musa Daqduq, General Bergner said. The capture of Mr. Daqduq
had remained secret until today.

"Both Ali Musa Daqduq and Qais Khazali state that senior leadership within
the Quds force knew of and supported planning for the eventual Karbala
attack that killed five coalition soldiers," General Bergner said.

Documents seized from Qais Khazali, General Bergner said, showed that Iran's
Quds Force provided detailed information on the activities of American
soldiers in Karbala, including shift changes and the defenses at the site.

More generally, General Bergner added, Iran's Quds Force has been using
Lebanese Hezbollah as a "proxy" or "surrogate" in training and equipping
Shiite militants in Iraq. 

The aim of the Quds force was to prepare the militant groups so they would
attack American and Iraqi government force while trying to conceal an
obvious Iranian role, he said.

There have long been reports that Hezbollah operatives have been working
with the Quds Force to train Iraqi operatives in Iran and even Lebanon. But
few details had emerged about specific Hezbollah officials.

According to General Bergner, Ali Musa Daqduq joined Hezbollah in 1983,
commanded Hezbollah units in Lebanon and was involved in coordinating the
protection of the group's leader, Secretary General Hassan Nasrallah.
Hezbollah has been armed and funded by Iran.

In 2005, the Hezbollah leadership instructed Mr. Daqduq to go to Iran and
help the Quds Force train Shiite Iraqi militants, General Bergner said. Mr.
Daqduq went to Tehran in 2006 with Yussef Hashim, another Hezbollah
operative who serves as the head of the group's operations in Iraq. They met
with the senior Quds force commanders and were directed to go to Iraq and
report on efforts to train Shiite militants there, General Bergner said.

Groups of up to 60 Iraqi militants were brought to Iran for military
instruction at three camps near Tehran and trained in using road-side bombs,
mortars, rockets, kidnapping operations and in how to operate as a sniper.
The Quds Force also provided up to $3 million in funding a month to the
Iraqi militants, the American general said.

Mr. Daqduq was captured in March in Basra. To avoid giving away his Lebanese
accent, he initially pretended that he was a deaf mute, General Bergner
said. But he eventually began to speak under interrogation.

In Washington, Bush Administration officials have generally held open the
possibility that the Quds Force activities might have been carried out
without the knowledge of Iran's senior leaders.

But military officials say that there is such a long and systematic pattern
of Quds Force activity in Iraq, as well as a 2005 confidential American
protest to Iranian leaders regarding Iran's alleged supply of road-side
bombs, that senior Iranian leaders must be aware of the Quds Force role in
Iraq.

"Our intelligence reveals that the senior leadership in Iran is aware of
this activity," he said. When he was asked if Iran's supreme leader
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei could be unaware of the activity, General Bergner
said "that would be hard to imagine."

Christine Hauser contributed reporting from New York.

Copyright 2007 The New York Times Company