Iran arming militia, says Iraqi official

Iraqi official

Iran arming militia, says Iraqi official

By Abdul Hussein al-Obeidi
ASSOCIATED PRESS


NAJAF, Iraq â?? With fighting raging for a fifth day in Najaf, Iraq's interim defense minister yesterday accused Iran of sending weapons to Shi'ite insurgents in the city.
Meanwhile, radical Shi'ite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr vowed, that he would continue the battle "until the last drop of my blood has been spilled."

The uprising by Sheik al-Sadr's militia began to affect Iraq's crucial oil industry, as pumping to the southern port of Basra was halted by threats to infrastructure, an official with the South Oil Co. said.
Clashes also intensified in Basra, where a British soldier was killed and several others wounded in fighting near Sheik al-Sadr's office, the British Defense Ministry said. Iraqi police reported three militants killed and more than 10 wounded.
Defense Minister Hazem Shaalan, who previously had described Iran as Iraq's "first enemy," made the comments about his country's eastern neighbor during an interview broadcast on the Arab-language television network Al Arabiya.
"There are Iranian-made weapons that have been found in the hands of criminals in Najaf who received these weapons from across the Iranian border," Mr. Shaalan said.
Asked whether Iran was still considered the "top enemy" of Iraq, he answered ambiguously.
"From far and near, the facts that we have say that what has happened to the Iraqi people is done by the one who is considered the top enemy," he said.
"For the first time, the Iraqis see the bodies of children, the body parts of children, the bodies of women and the body parts of women on the street. Yes. This is the truth."
Najaf Gov. Adnan al-Zurufi said last week that 80 men who fought U.S. forces at a sprawling cemetery in Najaf were Iranian. "There is Iranian support to al-Sadr's group, and this is no secret," he said on Friday.
Iran has denied interfering in Iraq. It says it does not allow fighters to cross into Iraq, but it does not rule out that such people might cross the long border illegally.
Mahdi's Army, Sheik al-Sadr's militia, has been battling U.S. troops and Iraqi security forces in Najaf since Thursday.
U.S. forces yesterday tried once more to drive the militiamen from the cemetery, and an American tank rattled up to within 400 yards of the revered Imam Ali shrine, which fighters reportedly have been using as a base.
Meanwhile, Sunni Muslim militants attacked targets around Baghdad. A suicide car bombing aimed at a deputy governor killed six persons, and a roadside bomb hit a bus, killing four passengers.
The U.S. military also said a U.S. Marine was killed in action on Sunday in the western province of Anbar. The death brought to at least 927 the number of American troops who have died in Iraq since the start of the war.
An insurgent group warned in a videotaped message that it would conduct attacks on government offices in Baghdad, telling employees to stay away. Sheik al-Sadr's militants kidnapped a top Baghdad police official and demanded that their comrades in detention be set free.
In Nasariyah, 190 miles south of Baghdad, militants raided the local office of interim Prime Minister Iyad Allawi's Iraqi National Accord party, set it on fire and warned party members to leave the city. There were no injuries in the Sunday night attack, said police Capt. Haydar Abboud.
Sheik al-Sadr's vow to keep fighting was a defiant challenge to Mr. Allawi, who called on the Shi'ite militants to stop fighting during a visit to Najaf on Sunday.
"I will continue fighting," the firebrand cleric told reporters in Najaf. "I will remain in Najaf city until the last drop of my blood has been spilled."
"Resistance will continue and increase day by day," he said. "Our demand is for the American occupation to get out of Iraq. We want an independent, democratic, free country."
Fighting remained centered on the vast cemetery near the Imam Ali shrine. The U.S. military said Mahdi's Army gunmen were staging attacks from the cemetery and then running to take refuge in the shrine compound, one of the holiest sites in Shi'ite Islam.
Mr. al-Zurufi gave U.S. forces approval to enter the shrine, a senior U.S. military official said yesterday.
"We have elected at this point not to conduct operations there, although we are prepared to do so at a moment's notice," the official said.
Such an offensive would almost certainly outrage the nation's Shi'ite majority and exacerbate the crisis.
The military official estimated that 360 insurgents had been killed between Thursday and Sunday â?? a figure the militants dispute. Five U.S. troops have been killed, and Najaf police chief Brig. Ghalib al-Jazaari said about 20 policemen had died.
Hospital officials said four persons, including three policemen, were killed yesterday and 19 others injured. In addition, 13 previously unidentified bodies had been brought to the hospital



Lets Put half a millon troops on the ground and end this shit.....

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Bong30

The U.S. military also said a U.S. Marine was killed in action on Sunday in the western province of Anbar. The death brought to at least 927 the number of American troops who have died in Iraq since the start of the war.




Lets Put half a millon troops on the ground and end this shit.....

---

Just a tiny bit dated. And where do you purpose we find 350,000 troops?

EXCLUSIVE: Iranian Weapons Arm Iraqi MilitiaHezbollah Training Also Linked to Iraq Violence

By JONATHAN KARL AND MARTIN CLANCY

WASHINGTON, Nov. 30, 2006 â?? U.S. officials say they have found smoking-gun evidence of Iranian support for terrorists in Iraq: brand-new weapons fresh from Iranian factories. According to a senior defense official, coalition forces have recently seized Iranian-made weapons and munitions that bear manufacturing dates in 2006.

This suggests, say the sources, that the material is going directly from Iranian factories to Shia militias, rather than taking a roundabout path through the black market. "There is no way this could be done without (Iranian) government approval," says a senior official.


Related: Send Your Solutions for Iraq




Iranian-made munitions found in Iraq include advanced IEDs designed to pierce armor and anti-tank weapons. U.S. intelligence believes the weapons have been supplied to Iraq's growing Shia militias from Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, which is also believed to be training Iraqi militia fighters in Iran.


Evidence is mounting, too, that the most powerful militia in Iraq, Moktada al-Sadr's Mahdi army, is receiving training support from the Iranian-backed terrorists of Hezbollah.

Two senior U.S. defense officials confirmed to ABC News earlier reports that fighters from the Mahdi army have traveled to Lebanon to receive training from Hezbollah.

While the New York Times reported that as many as 2,000 Iraqi militia fighters had received training in Lebanon, one of the senior officials said he believed the number was "closer to 1,000." Officials say a much smaller number of Hezbollah fighters have also traveled through Syria and into Iraq to provide training.

U.S. intelligence officials believe the number of Al-Sadr's Mahdi army now includes 40,000 fighters, making it an especially formidable force.




Once again.....we are fighting Iran In Iraq....lets just go into Iran and kick some ass there,.....some cluster bombs during friday prayers would be a GREAT start.....:thumbsup:

All the more reason to get out of iraq, as if more were needed.

Get out of Iraq, YES, just take a right turn and MARCH. great idea......



what about the point that Iran is arming the insurgents....?


you didnt say shit about it? wonder why?



next you will pick out a miss spelled word of mine.......

not the points again....HUH.....cause you suck

Of course they're arming them, a perfectly reasonable response to hostile troops on their border. It's called pre-emptive war, and it has the GW bush seal of approval.

You are an Idiot....

We need to go into Iran and fight the Head of the Snake....


then lets go into Syria and SA lets end this shit.......

How depressed are you going to be when Bush is gone....


you will be so stoked, you can put all your hate toward The USA and its people..

Go into iran with what army? Let me guess, you're enlisting?

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Bong30

How depressed are you going to be when Bush is gone....


you will be so stoked, you can put all your hate toward The USA and its people..

---

If I need a foolish coward to hate, I'll always have you.

I have a son that i would like to go to college, and go into the millatary as an officer.

I will send my only Son...hows that asshole

I have thought about inlisting many times....when I was young, I was the man of the house, and My Dad wasnt there. So if i had died in a war My MOM would have been left with nobody. is that oK asshole?

We could pull troops from all over the world Gemany.... Korea.....and all the other places that we are not needed any more.


Then we could do like year long air campign?????? Bomb Terahn every friday for a year...sweet right during prayers.....

Do you think you're god now? For bong so loved the world that he gave his only son? Get some counseling quick.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by andruejaysin

Do you think you're god now? For bong so loved the world that he gave his only son? Get some counseling quick.

---

LoL...good one dude :thumbsup: he'll just line up for his new revised bible b4 the muslims takeover..wasnt jesus for peace like if sum1 slaps you on one cheek give him the other cheek, what happened to that....oHHHHH i forgot 9-11 happened