http://www.geostrategy-direct.com/geostrategy-direct/secure/2010/11_10/1.asp
Iran's IRGC moving to destabilize Kurdish government of northern Iraq BAGHDAD - Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps has been working with operatives to undermine the Kurdish Regional Government. Officials said the Kurdish intelligence community has been warning that IRGC could be planning attacks in the autonomous area of northern Iraq. http://www.geostrategy-direct.com/geostrategy-direct/images/2010/kurdistanma p.jpg <http://chrisguillebeau.com/3x5/48-hours-in-northern-iraq/> Kokhaviv Publications _____ "Iran is doing its utmost to reduce the Kurdish role in the Iraqi political arena," Mahmoud Othman, a leading Kurdish politician, said. Officials said IRGC was training insurgents and saboteurs to conduct attacks in Kurdistan. They said the Kurdish Intelligence Agency has also determined that Iran was targeting leading KRG politicians, some of whom were accused of maintaining ties with Israel. "This role is a major concern for the Iranians, especially after the Kurds have become a deciding factor in the formation of the upcoming Iraqi government," Othman said. Officials said Iran was concerned that Kurds would help decide Iraq's next prime minister. They said Iran was worried that the Kurds would favor former Prime Minister Iyad Alawi over his longtime rival, the incumbent Nouri Al Maliki. "Today, Iran is exploiting the critical situation in Iraq and delaying the formation of the Iraqi government so it can continue to interfere," Romeo Hikari, a leading Kurdish politician, said. "Despite Iranian announcements that it would accept any candidate to form the forthcoming government, it is secretly working to tip the balance in favor of the Shi'ites." http://www.geostrategy-direct.com/geostrategy-direct/secure/2010/11_10/image s/rule.jpg Kurdish group's selective use of violence elevates status as Iran foe WASHINGTON - The Kurdish insurgency has been deemed the leading opponent of the Iranian regime. The Free Life Party of Iranian Kurdistan, or PJAK, was reported to have become the most effective opposition to Iran. Analysts said PJAK, a wing of the Kurdish Workers Party, has killed scores of officers from Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and could serve as a linchpin to any Western effort to destabilize the Teheran regime. "PJAK's effectiveness as a political organization and its selective use of violence in defense of the Kurdish population have prompted the Iranian regime to deem the group its main enemy," Kenneth Timmerman, president of the Foundation for Democracy in Iran, said. Timmerman said PJAK has been far more effective than the Mujahadeen Khalq in harming the Teheran regime. He cited PJAK statements that Kurdish fighters killed more than 100 Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps officers during one week in May. Many of the casualties were said to have consisted of senior IRGC officers. "PJAK guerrillas operate inside Iran in trained groups," Timmerman, who visited PJAK camps in 2007, said. "Their primary mission is political: That is, they seek to spread a message that Iranian Kurds must abandon tribalism and traditional politics if they want to aspire to democratic self-governance." PJAK was said to operate bases in the autonomous province of Kurdistan in northern Iraq. In 2009, the United States placed the Kurdish insurgency unit on the State Department list of terrorist organizations. Timmerman said PJAK focuses on Iranian military targets, particularly IRGC. In contrast, the Marxist Mujahadeen, long hosted by the former regime of Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, has sent lone agents to plant bombs in Iranian cities. "But PJAK uses violence in defense of the Kurdish population, not as an instrument of terror against civilians," Timmerman said. "In contrast to the MEK [Mujahadeen], PJAK has never planted bombs in public areas or targeted regime officials for assassination." Congress has assessed that Mujahadeen, deemed a terrorist group by the State Department in 1994, should receive U.S. support in the campaign against Teheran. In June 2010, House members drafted a resolution in support of what they termed the Iranian resistance, a reference to Mujahadeen. Timmerman, who interviewed PJAK leaders, said the Kurdish insurgency, following a nearly year-long ceasefire was revived in Iran in 2010 in wake of Teheran's execution of five Kurdish political prisoners. He said PJAK was instrumental in the protests against the re-election of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. "Removing PJAK from Treasury's list of 'specially designated nationals' would not demonstrate a double standard toward terror, as some Obama administration officials claim," Timmerman wrote in a recent column in the Washington Times. "It would strike a blow at the very heart of the Iranian regime, which has never hesitated to use terror to achieve its ends at home and abroad." [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] ------------------------------------ -------------------------- Want to discuss this topic? 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