Iran’s secret plans for Iraq

Eeeenteresting:

WASHINGTON — Iran is supporting both Sunni and Shiite terrorists in the Iraqi civil war, according to secret Iranian documents captured by Americans in Iraq.

Let’s pause here for a second to note that among our political elites, it has lately become received wisdom that Iran has no interest in seeing or sowing chaos in Iraq. The sentence above makes hash of the conventional wisdom. Iran has no interest in seeing a strong, democratic Iraq. It has every interest in creating chaos, to weaken us and its old enemy at the same time. Any fool outside the beltway can see this.

The news that American forces had captured Iranians in Iraq was widely reported last month, but less well known is that the Iranians were carrying documents that offered Americans insight into Iranian activities in Iraq.

An American intelligence official said the new material, which has been authenticated within the intelligence community, confirms “that Iran is working closely with both the Shiite militias and Sunni Jihadist groups.” The source was careful to stress that the Iranian plans do not extend to cooperation with Baathist groups fighting the government in Baghdad, and said the documents rather show how the Quds Force — the arm of Iran’s revolutionary guard that supports Shiite Hezbollah, Sunni Hamas, and Shiite death squads — is working with individuals affiliated with Al Qaeda in Iraq and Ansar al-Sunna.

Another bit of Washington holy writ, detonated: They can work across sectarian lines in that part of the world. They can, they will, and they do.

Another American official who has seen the summaries of the reporting affiliated with the arrests said it comprised a “smoking gun.” “We found plans for attacks, phone numbers affiliated with Sunni bad guys, a lot of things that filled in the blanks on what these guys are up to,” the official said.

In other words, the captured documents detailed future acts of war the Iranians are taking against the Iraqis and against us. That sound you hear is the sound of silence, as the vaunted international community shrugs collectively.

One of the documents captured in the raids, according to two American officials and one Iraqi official, is an assessment of the Iraq civil war and new strategy from the Quds Force. According to the Iraqi source, that assessment is the equivalent of ” Iran’s Iraq Study Group,” a reference to the bipartisan American commission that released war strategy recommendations after the November 7 elections. The document concludes, according to these sources, that Iraq’s Sunni neighbors will step up their efforts to aid insurgent groups and that it is imperative for Iran to redouble efforts to retain influence with them, as well as with Shiite militias.

Well, give the Iranians credit–their version of the Iraq Study Group stuck to likely scenarios and didn’t base its recommendations on fantasies. The Iranian ISG actually wants to win the war. Imagine that.

Read the rest of the story. It’s fascinating. Its ending should have been taken into account a long time ago by the Baker group and any liberal who ever opines on the war.

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