Iran's Special Groups In Iraq Now The Major Concern

In terms of who we are fighting in Iraq, the war against al Qaeda is going very successfully, the war against Sunni insurgents is over for the moment, but the Shia groups operating with Iranian support are now center stage as the most significant threat to U.S. soldiers in Iraq. The question of course is when is our federal government going to make Iran pay a price for their acts of war?



The Iranian theocracy, according to a senior State Department official speaking less then two months ago, "has decided 'at the most senior levels' to rein in the violent Shiite militias it supports in Iraq." That surreal statement was apparently not forwarded to Iran's Supreme Guide. At this point in Iraq, the Iranian backed Shia "special groups" are "the most worrisome, according to the commander and senior staff of the U.S. Army division patrolling Baghdad." This from the Washington Post.

The U.S. government believes that the special groups are heavily supported by Iran. The groups have been especially effective in using explosively formed projectiles, or EFPs, sophisticated bombs designed to destroy armored vehicles. "It's high-end technology," said Rainey, the division's operations chief. "It's not four dudes making them in a basement."

Attacks using those bombs were a near-daily occurrence in mid-2007 as the groups reacted to the U.S. military counteroffensive known as "the surge." From April through October, detonations of the powerful weapons happened nearly every day, on average, with a peak of 36 in July.

The U.S. military's ability to find the bombs has not notably improved. In January 2007, before the surge began, 31 such bombs were planted. U.S. troops found 14 before they were detonated; the other 17 went off. Last month's numbers were similar: The same number were planted, and U.S. troops detected 16, with 15 exploding.

The continuing success of those attacks is forcing U.S. troops to attempt to look two ways at once. Al-Qaeda in Iraq's car bomb attacks against civilians "are the biggest threat to our mission," which is to protect the population, Rainey said. But, he added, "the biggest threat to our soldiers is the EFPs." . . .

Read the entire article. How long will we go on with what amounts to no response against acts of aggression by a foreign enemy. Indeed, Iran's deadly meddling in Iraq is pervasive:

"The Iranians, in fact, have taken over all of south Iraq," said a senior tribal leader from the south who spoke on condition of anonymity because he feared for his life. "Their influence is everywhere."

Seriously bad things need to be happening inside Iran to mad Mullahs, the IRGC commanders, and Iranian infrastructure. Pacifism does nothing to stop the mad Mullahs. We do not need to talk to, nor should we be talking to an enemy responsible for killing our soldiers and fomenting violence, nor to one competing to turn southern Iraq into an Iraqi Hezbollah beholden to Iran. We need to be sending covert or overt messages that are impossible to ignore.