Fresh intel suggests that Tehran is trying to expand its influence over whatever government emerges in postelection Iraq. According to U.S. officials familiar with the latest intelligence, the Iranian government has been secretly directing its agents inside Iraq to plant themselves in influential positions throughout the Iraqi government-into agencies that handle economic affairs, like the ministries of Oil, Public Works and Finance, as well as departments like the Interior Ministry that handle national security. The Iranians also are directing their agents to infiltrate Iraqi security agencies on the "working level" by taking jobs in regional or local government offices and particularly local police forces. According to the most pessimistic U.S. analysts, the ayatollahs' ultimate goal: "Taking over the government of Iraq." A less pessimistic view is that the latest intel merely shows an ongoing campaign of "classical espionage" by Tehran against Iraq.
Well, duh!
American media is very much manipulated by the Bush Administration. Iran has been infultrating Iran before we arrive, while we've been there, and while they may well be more welcome by the new government and so stepping up their activity, they've been imbedded in the Shiite side of Iraq all along.
The Bush Administration got manipulated by a known corrupt politician, Ahmad Chalabi who convinced the naive White House crew that the Shiites will welcome the troops with open arms and join forces to defeat Sadaam's henchmen. Sadr, a Shiite militant, has probably killed more American Troops than Abu Mussab al-Zakawi. Who do you think fought the troops so hotly in the Shiite areas during the initial invasion? Perhaps there were a few of Sadaam's men around, but all the guns and people in that area belong to the Shiites. Sadr is an ally of Iran. Sistani is Iranian!
The stupidity and incompetence of this Administration is incredible. Because the mainstream press won't tell people about the systematic dysfunction, we have four more years of the idiot, this time without the one smart guy in the bunch, Powell. We get what we vote for.
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NEWSWEEK PERISCOPE: Tehran-Guess Who's Trying to Infiltrate Iraq?
The February 28 issue of Newsweek (on newsstands Monday, February 21) focuses on the early diagnosis and treatment of autism, and how scientists are hoping to identify early markers of the disease in babies as young as six months. Plus, the CIA's secret transport of terror suspects to clandestine interrogation facilities, the implications of the Pope's poor health, an interview with Laura Bush, and how Wall Street feels about privatizing social security accounts. (PRNewsFoto)[KO]
NEW YORK, NY USA 02/20/2005
http://www.newsweek.msnbc.com
NEW YORK, Feb. 20 /PRNewswire/ -- NEWSWEEK PERISCOPE item:
Fresh intel suggests that Tehran is trying to expand its influence over whatever government emerges in postelection Iraq. According to U.S. officials familiar with the latest intelligence, the Iranian government has been secretly directing its agents inside Iraq to plant themselves in influential positions throughout the Iraqi government-into agencies that handle economic affairs, like the ministries of Oil, Public Works and Finance, as well as departments like the Interior Ministry that handle national security. The Iranians also are directing their agents to infiltrate Iraqi security agencies on the "working level" by taking jobs in regional or local government offices and particularly local police forces. According to the most pessimistic U.S. analysts, the ayatollahs' ultimate goal: "Taking over the government of Iraq." A less pessimistic view is that the latest intel merely shows an ongoing campaign of "classical espionage" by Tehran against Iraq.
U.S. government sources say a significant number of intel reports have recently documented the Iranian covert-action campaign and that the reports include internal Iranian government discussions about how Tehran's agents in Iraq are being deployed. Many of the Iranian agents in question, the intel reports say, are members of the Badr Corps, a paramilitary affiliate of the Supreme Council for Islamic Revolution in Iraq (SCIRI), a political party with longtime Iranian ties that is one of the principal partners in the coalition of Shiite parties that won the largest number of seats in the new Iraqi constitutional assembly. U.S. analysts now believe the corps is riddled with agents controlled by Iranian intelligence. U.S. officials note that most of the parties and politicians who won biggest in last month's Iraqi elections have historical ties to Tehran. Both SCIRI and the Dawa Party, the other major partner in the winning Shiite coalition, were based in Tehran for years during
Saddam's rule, and maintained close relations with Iran's theocracy. So did at least one leader of the Kurdish coalition that will be kingmakers in Baghdad. Dawa chief Ibrahim Jaafari, a favorite to become Iraq's new prime minister, is known to favor an Islamic influence on any new Iraqi constitution. Some Bush administration officials are horrified that Jaafari's principal rival for the
prime minister's office appears to be Ahmad Chalabi, the secular-minded but controversial Shiite who during the Saddam era maintained a Tehran office that was financed with U.S. tax money. Once the Pentagon's prime candidate to succeed Saddam, Chalabi fell out of favor in Washington last year when intel agencies alleged he gave Iran information compromising U.S. code-breaking operations. (Chalabi denied any wrongdoing.) Despite the ominous new intelligence, nongovernment experts say it's possible nationalist-minded Iraqis can thwart Tehran's effort to take control in Iraq.
--Mark Hosenball
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6999382/site/newsweek/
(Periscope item in the February 28 issue of Newsweek, on newsstands
Monday, Feb. 21.)
SOURCE Newsweek
Web Site: http://www.newsweek.msnbc.com
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