-Caveat Lector-
Begin forwarded message:
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Date: April 11, 2007 10:28:28 PM PDT
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Cc: [EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: Iran Arming BOTH Sides of Iraqi Civil War That U.S. Must
Win, Says General
Iran Giving Arms To Iraq's Sunnis, U.S. Military Says
Such Aid Would Mark Shift by Tehran
By Sudarsan Raghavan
Washington Post Foreign Service
Thursday, April 12, 2007; A22
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/11/
AR2007041102121.html
BAGHDAD, April 11 -- The chief U.S. military spokesman in Iraq
asserted Wednesday that Iranian-made arms, manufactured as recently
as last year, have reached Sunni insurgents here, which if true
would mark a new development in the four-year-old conflict.
Citing testimony from detainees in U.S. custody, Maj. Gen. William
B. Caldwell said Iranian intelligence operatives were backing the
Sunni militants inside Iraq while at the same time training Shiite
extremists in Iran.
"We have, in fact, found some cases recently where Iranian
intelligence services have provided to some Sunni insurgent groups
some support," Caldwell told reporters, adding that he was aware of
only Shiite extremists being trained inside Iran. Caldwell cited a
collection of munitions on a nearby table that he said were made in
Iran and found two days ago in a majority-Sunni neighborhood in
Baghdad.
Khalil Sadati, media adviser for the Iranian Embassy in Baghdad,
denied his government was backing militant groups inside Iraq.
"There's no such thing." Sadati said. "Why don't you ask the
Americans why they continue to make accusations without any evidence?"
For months, U.S. officials have alleged that Iranian entities have
provided Shiite militias with weapons, including potent roadside
bombs the military calls EFPs, or explosively formed penetrators,
that have killed dozens of U.S. soldiers. Wednesday marked the
first time that U.S. officials have asserted that Sunni insurgents
were also receiving arms from Iran.
It was unclear what motivation Iran, a Shiite theocracy, would have
for backing Sunni insurgents, many of whom are staunchly anti-
Iranian and fear the rise of Shiite power in the region.
Critics have dismissed the U.S. assertions, saying that evidence
provided so far gives no solid proof that Iran has supplied weapons
to Iraqi militants.
Wednesday's allegations arrive at a particularly tense period for
U.S-Iranian relations. The U.S. military has in custody five
Iranian nationals -- Iran calls them diplomats -- who U.S.
officials say entered Iraq to foment violence against U.S. soldiers
and Iraqis. And an Iranian diplomat who was released from captivity
inside Iraq last week asserts that he was tortured by the Central
Intelligence Agency. He was abducted by unknown gunmen Feb. 4 on a
downtown Baghdad street.
"The CIA had no role in this individual's release or capture. And
allegations that he was tortured by the agency are ludicrous,"
spokesman Mark Mansfield said Wednesday from CIA headquarters in
Langley, Va.
Caldwell also painted a mixed picture of the violence in Iraq eight
weeks into a security plan intended to quell turmoil in the
capital. From January to March, civilian deaths dropped 26 percent
in Baghdad, he said. But violence surged in many areas outside the
capital, resulting in a rise in civilian deaths across Iraq over
the same period. Most of the victims were killed by car bombs or
suicide bombers, he said.
From February, when the security plan was launched, to March, the
total number of deaths -- civilians, Iraqi security forces and U.S.
troops -- rose by 10 percent, he said.
"What does this mean? It means that we still have a lot of work to
do," Caldwell said.
"The goal of these murderers is to ignite a cycle of violence. They
want to murder people of one sect to try to provoke revenge
killings, so that this country will be divided and weak," he added.
Also Wednesday, the International Committee of the Red Cross called
for "urgent action" to better protect Iraqi civilians from the
violence. The call came as the group released a report on the
"deteriorating humanitarian situation in Iraq."
Regarding the weapons attributed to Iran, Caldwell said an Iraqi
man turned up two days ago at a security outpost in the
predominantly Sunni al-Jihad neighborhood and tipped off soldiers
to the munitions. He directed the soldiers to a house, where they
spotted a black Mercedes sedan, Caldwell said. The arms, including
mortars and rockets, were inside the car and its trunk, as well as
buried on the property. The house was empty, he said.
Several mortar rounds on display at the news conference had
markings that read "2006," suggesting they had been manufactured --
and arrived in Iraq -- after the U.S.-led invasion in 2003. The
markings on all the munitions were in English. Maj. Marty Weber, an
explosives expert, said countries selling arms on the global market
tend to use English lettering.
"The death and violence in Iraq are bad enough without this outside
interference," Caldwell said. "Iran and all of Iraq's neighbors
really need to respect Iraq's sovereignty and allow the people of
this country the time and the space to choose their own future."
Staff writer Robin Wright in Washington contributed to this report.
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