Comments on: EFP attacks on U.S. troops down “dramatically” since December

By: Hot Air » Blog Archive » Hostage update: British ambassador to Iran demands to see sailors; Update: U.S. commander says American sailors would have resisted

Sun, 25 Mar 2007 23:50:48 +0000

[...] Petraeus is credited with the new zero-tolerance strategy. PJM’s story jibes with today’s story in the Sunday Mirror and yesterday’s report from Asharq Al-Awsat, most notably with respect to the timeline: the Irbil raid that supposedly got the Iranians so spooked happened a little more than two months ago. If we’ve rolled up 300 guys since then (and disrupted as much EFP trafficking as has been claimed), it’s probably due in no small part to intel extracted from the Quds Force members seized in Irbil. Expect plenty more arrests, too, if that “rogue” JAM network that we busted this week is as significant as the media is claiming it is and if, in fact, the reports are true about all that brass from the Revolutionary Guard having suddenly gone missing. (Lots of ifs here, needless to say.) [...]

By: major john

major john — Sat, 24 Mar 2007 21:23:10 +0000

But he said local community leaders informed him that Iranian agents were paying local men 500 US dollars a month to carry out attacks and providing them with sophisticated modern weapons…

Boy, I know some Afghans that are going to pissed whenthey read that. HIG pays less and gives out old Russian leftovers. Heh.

I am starting to wonder what the $%#& is going in Iran – defectors, their leader can’t even make up his mind about going to the UN – didn’t he hold them blinkless last time he talked to them as the green rays eminated from his holy head? This embarrassing piracy move, their agents getting scooped up in Iraq.

Hmmm.

By: Hot Air » Blog Archive » Sailors held as bargaining chips for Iranians captured by U.S. in Irbil?

Sat, 24 Mar 2007 19:40:10 +0000

[...] The fears about transparency are plausible: just yesterday I mentioned that attacks involving EFPs (which the Quds Force is suspected of supplying to Shiite militias) are way down over the past few months, and on Thursday came the bombshell about the roll-up of that “rogue” Mahdi Army network that’s allegedly on Iran’s payroll and connected to EFP trafficking. The same network is suspected of having carried out the Karbala raid on U.S. troops in late January, which may have been Iran’s first attempt to retaliate for our Irbil operation. If these “rogue” JAM guys (who probably aren’t rogue) are as deeply involved with Iran as the news stories have alleged, then yeah, no surprise that the mullahs would be alarmed by news of their detainment. The problem is, the timing’s a little off. The first arrests of the Mahdi Army network supposedly happened on Monday, March 19, a day after the emergency meeting described here. Maybe the reports about the dates are slightly off? Or maybe Iran got tipped off the day before the arrests that they were coming? Or maybe this is all garbage? I rehash, you decide! Although it’s worth noting as we go forward that there were rumors of an Iranian plan to kidnap western personnel earlier this week — on March 18, in fact, the very same day the emergency meeting supposedly went down. Eeeenteresting. [...]

By: Tony737

Tony737 — Sat, 24 Mar 2007 08:25:25 +0000

George, Ahmadingdong wants it so bad, he thinks it’ll hasten the global victory for islam and bring back the 12th imam and the caliphate. Let’s hope and pray that the people of Iran stand up and remove him and the mad mullahs before Dingdong opens a third front in WW3.

By: georgej

georgej — Sat, 24 Mar 2007 05:19:45 +0000

Does anybody commenting here think that war with Iran is NOT inevitable?

By: Mojave Mark

Mojave Mark — Sat, 24 Mar 2007 02:29:28 +0000

You mean… we’re winning the war. The Dhemocrats will never let this stand.

By: RD

RD — Sat, 24 Mar 2007 01:56:39 +0000

Must have something to do with ~~the Democrats controlling Congress~~ global warming.

Enrique on March 23, 2007 at 5:45 PM

By: billy

billy — Sat, 24 Mar 2007 00:04:55 +0000

BTW, Apologist et.al., New blog from NRO you might want to check out.

By: RedinBlueCounty

RedinBlueCounty — Fri, 23 Mar 2007 23:59:14 +0000

The Counterterrorism Blog has an interesting post up theorizing that the capture of the British sailors might be Iran’s attempt to drive a wedge between the U.S. and UK.

I think Iran is trying to get the British people to give up on this war by using intimidation, and it may actually work. Winston Churchill’s Great Britain doesn’t seem to exist anymore. A very sad state of affairs.

By: billy

billy — Fri, 23 Mar 2007 23:51:11 +0000

Where are our Psy-Ops guys and what are they doing? BUilding stuff and providing medical care is great defensive psy-ops, but we should be doing offensive psy-ops too.

The Apologist on March 23, 2007 at 7:46 P

Yup.

By: The Apologist

The Apologist — Fri, 23 Mar 2007 23:46:31 +0000

Also, why can’t we just get photographs of Mookie in Iran? Don’t pick him up, don’t hassle him, just get date verified photos and distribute them in Sadr City and other places to prove their Brave Leader has abandoned them. Get video and post it on Jihadi websites and run it around the internet to get the word out. It shouldn’t be that hard.

Where are our Psy-Ops guys and what are they doing? BUilding stuff and providing medical care is great defensive psy-ops, but we should be doing offensive psy-ops too.

By: Ace of Spades HQ

Ace of Spades HQ — Fri, 23 Mar 2007 22:44:56 +0000

Ahmadinejad Cancels US/UN Trip…

Provocative. Because Iran recently declared it might begin kidnapping Western soldiers in retaliation for tis missing generals. And it declared it might resort to “illegal” methods of resistance if the UNSC votes against it. And of course Iran seized…

By: billy

billy — Fri, 23 Mar 2007 22:39:25 +0000

I wish I was an assignment editor at a newspaper or network. So many questions, so few answers.

The Apologist on March 23, 2007 at 6:24 PM

No kidding. It was easier to get info on the homefront during WWII, despite the official censorship.
Blogs help a lot of course, but given that most have such limited resources, it’s really difficult to simply find out what is going on.

By: The Apologist

The Apologist — Fri, 23 Mar 2007 22:24:58 +0000

So where does this fall in Pat Dollard's "11 Point Surge Plan"? Is the move toward Diyala part of the move to the Iranian border? Is the EFP flow being staunched a part of border ops using intel in the Iranian arrests in Erbil and Baghdad? Was Mookie's abandoned attempt to re-enter Iraq last week a part of the border ops? Is there anyone reporting out there at all? How many troops do we have out that way, or do we even know? Special Forces ops wouldn't be easy to know about or report on, but you'd think some journalist was watching that area. At least watching area's around major smuggling routes. I wish I was an assignment editor at a newspaper or network. So many questions, so few answers.

By: billy

billy — Fri, 23 Mar 2007 21:58:16 +0000

I agree with CT blog, this an attempt to drive wedge between the U.K. and the U.S.
Remember the Brits operate in heavily shia area of Iraq, so the sooner they withdraw the sooner the Iranians can move in.

By: aero

aero — Fri, 23 Mar 2007 21:51:09 +0000

MSM response: Crickets chirping. (Then another report about Anna Nicole Smith.)

By: ReubenJCogburn

ReubenJCogburn — Fri, 23 Mar 2007 21:51:08 +0000

Good news about the EFPs, but the terrorists know the Democrats have their backs. Me, I think Petraeus will win this thing on the ground despite the efforts of the Treason Party at home.

By: JadeNYU

JadeNYU — Fri, 23 Mar 2007 21:48:19 +0000

Must have something to do with the Democrats controlling Congress.

Enrique on March 23, 2007 at 5:45 PM

Of course! The Islamic terrorists heard about all the ‘pork’ that was put in the new defense spending bill and got worried that we were going to start fighting dirty.

By: Enrique

Enrique — Fri, 23 Mar 2007 21:45:16 +0000

Must have something to do with the Democrats controlling Congress.