http://www.metimes.com/storyview.php?StoryID=20070108-023711-1410r
Analysis: Iran runs Iraq terror network Claude Salhani United Press International January 9, 2007 WASHINGTON -- Newly obtained intelligence reports indicate Iran is increasing its efforts to destabilize Iraq just as US President George W. Bush is reviewing his policy options. While Bush is looking at changing key military and political personnel and is considering deploying 20,000 to 40,000 additional US troops in a last-ditch effort to try and impose security amid Iraq's chaos, new intelligence reveals Iran may have other plans. The "Al Quds [or Jerusalem] Force of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards is stepping up terrorism and encouraging sectarian violence in Iraq," says Alireza Jafarzadeh, president of Washington-based Strategic Policy Consulting, and an Iranian dissident who keeps in close contact with the Mujahideen E Khalq, also known as MeK. It was Jafarzadeh who first revealed the existence of the Islamic Republic's clandestine nuclear sites in Natanz and Arak in August 2002. "There is a sharp surge in Iran's sponsorship of terrorism and sectarian violence in the past few months," said Jafarzadeh at a conference organized by the Iran Policy Committee (IPC), a lobby group pushing to get the MeK off the State Department's terrorist list. Retired US Air Force General Thomas McInerney, an IPC member, said Jafarzadeh's presentation was "powerful evidence" that Iran has become the primary killer of US forces in Iraq. The spike in terror activities in Iraq, according to Jafarzadeh, is the work of the Al Quds Force, which the Iranian dissident calls "the deadliest force" within the Revolutionary Guards. The Al Quds Force is responsible for what they call "extra-territorial activities," which Jafarzadeh says is a euphemism for terrorism. "Nothing but terrorism," he adds. "All they do is terrorism. This deadly force has been heavily involved in Iraq." The Al Quds Force is headquartered in the building that once housed Tehran's US embassy and where American diplomats were held captive for 444 days shortly after the Islamic revolution overthrew the Shah in 1979. It is from here, according to MeK sources, that the Al Quds Force directs all its activities in Iraq. They secretly build improvised explosive devices (IEDs), and train, finance, and arm an extensive terrorist network in Iraq, says Jafarzadeh. "Iran's goal is to create insecurity in Iraq and compel the coalition forces to leave in order to establish an Islamic Republic in Iraq." This vast Iranian terrorist network is commanded by a brigadier-general called Abtahi, who formerly served in Lebanon. Abtahi is based in the Fajr Base in Ahwaz, in southwestern Iran. He is aided by a number of senior commanders, according to Jafarzadeh. "Iran has been heavily involved, to say the least, in Iraq, destabilizing the situation there, sending arms, ammunition, intelligence agents, [and] providing training since 2003 - not to mention the more than two decades of opportunity the ayatollahs had to network," he said. The Al Quds Force has established a command-control center in Iraq from where it runs its terror network. The Iraq network is under the command of Jamal Jaafar Mohammad Ali Ibrahimi, also known as Mehdi Mohandes. According to the MeK, Mohandes was responsible for planning the bombing of the US and UK embassies in Kuwait in the 1980s. The International Criminal Police Association (Interpol) placed Mohandes on its wanted list in 1984. He has not traveled outside Iran since. Ibrahimi is considered a veteran and senior officer of the Revolutionary Guards. He has completed the command curriculum of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps' Imam Hussein University, and is currently on the payroll of the Al Quds Force. The new terror network established in Iraq, according to Jafarzadeh, was named "Hezbollah," after Lebanon's own Shiite movement with which Mohandes is allegedly in contact. The network is operational in Basra in southern Iraq, and in the country's capital, Baghdad. Members of the outfit undergo military and "terrorist" training in Basra, their arms and munitions being smuggled to Basra through the Shalamche border passage. Sustaining such a large-scale terror network demands huge sums of money. According to MeK sources, Abtahi, the brigadier-general, "sends millions and millions of dollars from Ahwaz into Iraq every month." The money is transported to Iraq by a special courier who picks up the funds in Ahwaz and carries them across the Shalamche border where "affiliate" border guards whisk him through. Genereal McInerney has urged the US president to confront Iran's role directly if he wants to stabilize Iraq. "Just sending more troops to Iraq doesn't solve the problem unless you attack this problem [of Iran's involvement]," McInerney said. "And it must be attacked in a covert way in Iran. We're going against a very formidable enemy that thinks we will not respond." President Bush's intended surge in Iraq may be too little, too late in addressing a situation that requires major surgery rather than a band-aid. It is comparable to what one observer termed "the good doctor theory," when a patient is terminally ill, but the physician feels compelled to administer drugs just so as to be doing something. [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] -------------------------- Want to discuss this topic? Head on over to our discussion list, [EMAIL PROTECTED] -------------------------- Brooks Isoldi, editor [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.intellnet.org Post message: [email protected] Subscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] *** FAIR USE NOTICE. 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