Two Iraqi generals suspected of complicity in attack on US GIs
John Byrne Raw Story
Published: Thursday February 1, 2007
Citing Pentagon officials, Fox News Channel is reporting that two Iraqi generals are suspected of complicity in a Jan. 20 attack in Karbala, Iraq that killed five US troops.
"There are 2 senior Iraq generals that US officials say are now suspect of involvement in an attack against American forces in Karbala on Jan. 20th," a Fox News host reported on air. "A number of people were killed. These gunmen apparently stormed an Iraqi security dressed like American soldiers and driving SUVs. So again, US officials are saying that 2 senior are suspected of taking part in an insurgent attack that killed 5 American soldiers."
The fake US military convoy that kidnapped and killed 5 soldiers had previously been blamed on Iranian elements.
"We have Pentagon officials telling us this was incredibly sophisticated orchestrated attack, at troubling attack from their perspective," Fox News Reporter Mike Emanuel reports live on air. "There's a great investigation underway trying to figure out exactly how this happened and who may have been behind it. There is some suggestion due to the level of sophistication, planning, coordination, perhaps Iranian agents had been involved in some way. Now we have sources telling us that at least 2 top iraqi generals are the center of this investigation being looked at to see if whether they may not be loyal allies ot the united states, after all. Whether they may be traitors in betraying US forces serving in Iraq trying to help their country."
Originally, the US said the five soldiers had been killed during fighting, but the Associated Press revealed the US statement was a lie.
"It makes you wonder if they are able to pass themselves off as Americans and get into this place in Karbala, could they do further attacks in places like the Green Zone," Emanuel continued. "Driving up in SUVs looking like they are an American security detail or American forces going into other places, other locations and perhaps put more Americans at risk. So, there are a lot of questions at this point. Again, it's early on in the investigation. We're hearing sources whether they're looking at the possibility that Iranian elements, parts of the Iranian government may have been involved. Now, the latest, 2 Iraq generals under suspicion."
More details as they become available.
Well vetted, those Generals were.
ReplyDeleteI'm sure. By the CIA boys that will not leave the Green Zone. Their hired stringers checked 'em out, just like the AP.
Our perhaps it was US Army Intel that vetted those fellows, their hired translators missing the nuanced Mohammedan Jihadist, neoIslamist postBaathist connection.
How many US MTT troops, if any at all, were attached to the Iraqi Units that could have been involved?
Where is Saddam?
Oh, that's right, six feet under.
It's already February,
Summer's comin'
Then what, rufus?
ReplyDeleteWho we gonna call?
One Bde per month maxs out the current lift. We have 40 of them inCountry. We ain't leavin' fast, with our stuff.
ReplyDeleteSo even sayin we're leavin' is no adequate answer to the problem. How much of a rout should it look like?
Unless the Kuwaiti let US pave it for a parking lot. Surely we would not want to leave much stuff behind, nor destroy it in place.
That would be 'Nam redux, video of US pushing choppers off the decks of ships.
War to Date is around $600 Billion USD with a reported defered maintainence cost of $65 Billion or so.
ReplyDeleteAdd to that this announcement
2008 Budget for Iraq, and Afghanistan - $234 BILLION!
Almost a trillion bucks, real money. Nothing covert about it.
Iraqi Oil
ReplyDelete=
5,000,000 barrels/day
x
365 days/yr
=
1,825,000,000 barrels/yr
x
40 dollars/barrel
=
$73,000,000,000/yr
DR....8:40.
ReplyDeletebrilliant.
Peanut dough.
ReplyDeleteSame as they've always had, the infrastructure worsening without foreign investment, same as Iran.
A real interesting report at Westhawk
The DNI implies that the purpose of a continued U.S. military presence in Iraq is to drag out the arrival of a stable end-state for Iraq (either partition or a Shi’ite strongman), and by doing so, avoid a wider regional conflict.
Americans will continue to expend blood and treasure in Iraq so Saudi Arabia, Syria, Turkey, and Iran won’t have to. Is this what the DNI is saying?
If it is, this report deserves a wide readership on Capitol Hill and across America.
Who we gonna call?
One of the Iranians captured yesterday in Gaza is an Iranian general.
ReplyDelete“Rather than getting ready to bomb Iran … as lot of people, excluding me and Stratfor, seem to expect them to do … Israeli may be practicing brain surgery instead.”
“Those Iranians get around. Gaza. Lebanon. Baghdad. Very busy. But that route is a two-way street.”
The Road from Teheran, a Two-Way Street
“Senior Fatah sources reported late Thursday that its National Security Force arrested seven Iranian weapons experts working in the service of Hamas in Gaza.
According to Fatah, the arrests were made during a raid on the Islamic University in Gaza City. The Fatah forces apprehended some 1,400 firearms and missiles found at the site.”
[…]
“A Palestinian source has said that the Iranian general nabbed in Gaza by Palestinian security officers supervised the manufacturing weapons and explosives for Hamas.”
Those Iranians Sure Do Get Around
H/T TigerHawk
If we had a President with balls and brains...... never mind.
ReplyDeleteOne vote for rufus.
ReplyDeletere: brains and balls
ReplyDeleteWhat do you call a guy with neither? Oh, that's right, I forgot.
Rufus,
ReplyDeleteI agree. The way that this administration is going about this is stupidly expensive. Maybe there is a payoff that was agreed upon wit the shiia. But if it was me, I would NEVER have made that deal.
I saw the light I saw the light
ReplyDeleteno more darkness no more night
Now Im so happy no sorrow in sight
Praise the lord
I saw the light.
Just like a blind man I wandered along
Worries and fears I claimed for my own
Then like the blind man that God gave back his sight
Praise the lord I saw the light.
Iowahawk takes blogging to the next level.
ReplyDeleteEqual Time: The Arkin Controversy
“Equal Time question: ‘Should Washington Post Military Analyst William Arkin Be Beaten Like the Repulsive Sack of Shit He Is?’"
H/T LGF
DR,
ReplyDeleteAre you sure Hank done it that way?
Him & Waylon
ReplyDeleteTalking of brains and balls, what has become of teresita?
ReplyDeleteFiasco, but no finito
ReplyDeleteJust completed Thomas E. Ricks' Fiasco - a compelling read, I must say.
strange thing about teresita....if you go to any of her posts. i tried three. link to her name and voila..this is what i found three for three:
ReplyDeleteTeresita?
please tell me where I am going wrong.
re: Osamabama
ReplyDeleteYou consider Hillary the A team?
remember when habu wanted to kiss her. he was admiring her apricot shirt as i recall.
ReplyDeletethe same link comes up with woman catholic, scroll down and there is the same MO on the postings.
ReplyDeleteVery interesting.....don't you all agree?
ReplyDeleteNo where.
ReplyDeleteThe picture of the wife is Ms T.
Her purported bio fits "barry"
Everyone's a dog on the Web.
Create a series of charactors and have some fun. Better entertainment than TV, or concurrent.
scan down the page and there is her picture as the woman he wants to meet.
ReplyDeletebetter than msnbc investigates
ReplyDeletemystery to me, that and trish's scoop about the fire fight that looks as if the Iraqis called in air support on a branch davidian, how does our latvian friend say it? cluster fuck?
ReplyDeleteMost I've seen, from FOX
ReplyDeleteAt least one of the Iraqi generals under suspicion for involvement or having advance word of the attack is said to be an intelligence officer, according to U.S. officials. If that's proven to be the case, the involvement of Iraqi generals in an attack on American forces raises questions about the loyalty and trustworthiness of Iraqi military officers at the highest levels.
Those concerns would be compounded if it's determined that Iran had a hand in the attack.
Everyone else I've seen reference it.
What was the point of leaking the story of the two Iraqi generals? Who was responsible? There is much more here than meets the eye.
ReplyDeletere: teresita
ReplyDeleteAre you saying I am in love with a sock puppet!?
Sounds more like Hatfield & McCoy than branch davidian.
ReplyDeleteFeudal gang wars, more than anything else.
We get suckered into killing antiIranian Iraqi Shia?
Who you gonna trust?
Who you gonna call?
Either that or "barry", allen
ReplyDeleteI've got a quarter
Who you wanna call?
Good post and book review by Harrison . Check him out.
ReplyDeleteExpectations fulfilled
ReplyDeleteHow defeatest should one be, at a time of general awakening?
It'll get progressively worse, believe me.
Oh goodness, I feel so used, so dirty.
ReplyDeleteharisson's review of Fiasco, all rings true.
ReplyDeleteFrom the very first day the Iraqi Army should have been the primary concern of the US.
It's training and it's performance.
That mission was given low regard, instead. Farmed out to civilians
Smash, Snatch & Grab given higher priority.
Who we gonna call?
You're a virtual friend, rufus.
ReplyDeleteThey mirrored me, here and at BC.
Part of the game, reactions and response. It's just an entertaining past time, in it's anonymity, for some.
rufus,
ReplyDeleteSure Rufus, make fun, but you haven't dreamed of wet kissing a sock puppet - of non-specific gender and sexual orientation. We could have had children, built a life, retired to Pascagoula. But, now...
I heard it first watching Clint Eastwood in Hearbreak Ridge and thought is was dumb. Then one fine summer exercise I had one US Army MSGT explain the exact nuances of the phrase, and realized that "clusterfuck" has unique descriptive properties for some situations. The whole Najaf fight is hard to describe otherwise.
ReplyDeleteAha, so Karbala was an inside job. I thought that was obvious right at the beginning that they must of had folks inside (unlike us/US, they do intel the old fashioned way). Remember, considering Badrist infiltration of the Iraqi security forces figure every single shiite based IA subunit has their people inside.
But two Generals? Bad karma. Thats no longer one guy done a Kurtz. Figure a whole pyramid of guys beneath them, and a nod and a wink from folks above them.
Iraq? Now thats a REAL SERIOUS clusterfuck.
If the US knew with certainty of the culpability of two Iraqi generals in the murders at Karbala, who gains from the leaking of such explosive information? To leak an uncertainty is even more perplexing.
ReplyDeleteTo much is not enough
ReplyDeleteWho gains? Other factions inside the new Iraq. Other tribes. Other Generals. Advancement by assassination. Maybe even the Generals being investigated (better turn it into a circus and no real investigation gets done anymore).
ReplyDeleteJust like they are more than happy to call own US airstrikes on their local Branch Davidians. A purely local affair, but half the milblogs were asking "WTF with Najaf?", the other half were running around screaming "Victory!".
trish nailed it.
ReplyDeletei'm too tired to look to see where she got it, but she did.
ReplyDeleteVictory was not what Mr Bush called it, a major step forward, but not Victory.
ReplyDeleteBut that he praised the Operation to Juan Williams, means he believed the story. I can't believe HE'D fabricate the enthusiasum or the story.
Who relayed it to him?
Just who is playing whom & where?
Yes she did.
ReplyDeleteFirst to the gate with that story.
Always ahead of the curve around here.
fellow peacekeeper,
ReplyDeleteBut my question seeks to discover how it came to be known the generals were being investigated. Something that seismic SHOULD have been ultra-secret, known only to a handful of persons. So, while all the balls in play you cite are to be expected down the road, preliminarily, who gains now from blowing the lid off this investigation?
Trish knows many things.
Allen,
ReplyDeleteFox mentions the mysterious "pentagon officials", so lets go down that road a bit.
It strikes me that this is the sort of thing that can get papered over politically, cause it would look terribly bad for the whole democratic iraq project. Of course, papering over the loss of US soldiers to treachery would certainly not be acceptable to everyone. So figure Pentagonites or faction thereof who either want to get out of Iraq or don't find it acceptable to see it glossed over, or both.
Cancer Croaks Cartoon Crank
ReplyDeleteSo, will the military kiss and make up with the NYT? My money is on business as usual Monday morning.
ReplyDeleteThe NYTimes' unspeakable violation
The Pentagon and the NYT support the troops.
More dubious factoids to add to the mix of modern myths:
ReplyDeleteAmerica's Savings Rate
Does anybody really know what time it is? Try something empiric, like, looking at a watch.
Nate Posted this link to the
ReplyDeleteNational Council of Resistance of Iran .
at Westhawk.
"I would like to share with you some untold aspects of the clerical regime’s meddling in Iraq. The documents I am going to present shed light on the scope of the Iranian regime’s meddling in Iraqi affairs.
This document is the list of 32,000 agents of the mullahs’ regime in Iraq who receive monthly salaries from the Iranian regime. These people are currently in effect paid staff of the Revolutionary Guards’ Qods Force. (IRGC-QF)
The Iranian regime has stationed its agents in all the major provinces of Iraq.
This force was dispatched to Iraq in an organized way and in large groups shortly after the fall of the former Iraqi government in early 2003. They came through major border crossings under the direct command and supervision of the Qods Force, including IRGC Generals Qassem Suleimani, Iraj Masjedi, Ahmad Forouzandeh, and Hamid Taqavi.
The agents of the Iranian regime exposed in this document have an extensive presence and influence in Iraqi government agencies, in particular in the security apparatus some of which they control. They are the very same individuals who abducted two members of the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran, Hossein Pouyan and Mohammad Ali Zahedi in Baghdad in August 2005. They were taken to the Ministry of Interior and subsequently transferred to an unknown location. There has been no news about their whereabouts for the past 18 months.
Head Quarters for Reconstruction of Iraq's Holy Sites:
A major front organization used by Qods force for the delivery of arms and ammunition to Iraq is the Headquarters for Reconstruction of Iraq's Holy Sites. This agency was founded following the overthrow of the former Iraqi government as part of a campaign to provide proper cover for Iranian meddling in Iraq and also as part of the scheme to increase Iran’s leverage in Iraq. This provided an easy and legal cover for extensive activities and coming and going of commanders and agents of the Qods Force.
The Reconstruction HQ has reached agreements with local authorities who are affiliated with the Iranian regime in different Iraqi provinces so that containers of goods arriving from Iran are not inspected at the border and are delivered sealed to Najaf, Karbala and Baghdad. The Qods Force hides arms and ammunitions in these containers. By using this scheme, the Qods Force has been able to transfer weapons freely and easily and provide them to its affiliates in Iraq."
U.S. warns Iran to stop aiding Iraqi insurgents
ReplyDeleteThursday, 01 February 2007
Reuters - Iran is supplying Iraqi insurgents with weapons technology used to kill American troops, a senior U.S. diplomat said on Wednesday, sending another warning to Iran against interfering in Iraq.
"We have picked up individuals who we believe are giving very sophisticated explosive technology to Shia insurgent groups who then use that technology to target and kill American soldiers," said Undersecretary of State Nicholas Burns. "It's a very serious situation. And the message from the United States is, Iran should cease and desist."
---
Given that 30k + have been active in Iraq since '03, isn't this a bit of too little too late?
Trish, 11:30:29 PM EST:
ReplyDeleteNo wonder you hate Ledeen so!
My question is this:
Where are the indications that Iranian agents AREN'T highly active throughout Iraq?
"But those are transferred by Iranians, not to be confused with the Iranian government. "
ReplyDelete---
Please explain. Obviously not some pro-American College Students, so who, exactly?
Reports of IED's and rifles recently manufactured in Iran.
The government is not involved in shipment of Russian Missiles to Lebanon?
The government is not involved in Syria and with Hezbollah?
News to me.
Get out your checkbook and write a check for $3000, because that is what Bush is proposing to for each American family to spend on Iraq and Afghanistan over the next two years. If this does not define insanity, I don't know what does:
ReplyDeleteReport: Bush To Request $100 Billion More for Iraq, Afghanistan
By VOA News
02 February 2007
The Bush administration will ask Congress for more than $240 billion to cover the cost of military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan for the next two fiscal years.
Mr. Bush is seeking more than $90 billion for the current fiscal year, to go along with the $70 billion already approved by lawmakers. He will also ask for more than $140 billion to cover war costs for fiscal year 2008, which begins October 1. The money is separate from the $481 billion the president will request for the military's regular 2008 budget.
The administration has obtained funding for the Iraq and Afghanistan operations through emergency spending bills. Lawmakers have criticized the practice, saying the emergency bills are not subject to the same scrutiny as regular spending bills.
On to the budget, then tax increases to pay for it.
ReplyDeleteHow important is this war to Mr Bush, and US?
Just wait for the debate to start, over the "War Tax".
ReplyDeleteWho will be for the War, before they were against the tax for paying for it?
Think the Iraq debacle is unpopular now, just wait until the bill becomes current, no longer defered until "Later", like shooting back at snipers in Ramadi.