New Wikileaks Files Confirm What We Already Know:
That Iran is meddling in Iraq:
The US shot down and captured an almost-completely intact Iranian surveillance drone in Iraqi territory in early 2009, not far from a refugee camp for dissident Iranians, WikiLeaks' new Iraq logs confirm. The report, listed under "Events that may elicit political, media, or international reaction," adds credence to US claims of Iranian interference in Iraq, while also demonstrating just how ethnically and logistically messy the US's operations there have been.
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What would an unmanned Iranian camera plane want to record in that region? Plenty. COP Cobra is just a few kilometers from Iraq's Camp Ashraf, which since 1986 has been a refugee camp for persecuted members of Mujahedin-e-Khalq (MEK), an Iranian leftist group that advocates the overthrow of the Islamic government in Tehran. Liked by neither Iranian nor Iraqi officials, MEK refugees at Camp Ashraf have essentially relied on US troops for protection sice 2003, enduring a series of attacks that the MEK insists originated in Iran.
They may have a point. Other reports released in the WikiLeaks logs show Iranian elements, including the nation's crack Revolutionary Guard Corps, have provided training, assistance, and munitions to anti-US forces within Iraq. When the February 2009 shootdown was finally acknowledged by US officials, they raised the possibility that Iran's drone was "trying to scout routes to smuggle Iranian weapons into the country." (Since the UAV incident last year, Iran has unveiled a new unmanned aircraft capable of flying at longer ranges and delivering bombs on a target. Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad called the plane an "ambassador of death" for state enemies.)
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Comments :
May '10
Re: New Wikileaks Files Confirm What We Already Know:
Can we now do something about it since it is all out in the open? Bush didn't. Obama has not. Come one. Heck, we did nothing after the attacks under Reagan. Iran is a mortal enemy. We should do something.
Is there any reason we cannot send in the B2's to render Iran's military infrastructure null and void?
Aug '10
Re: New Wikileaks Files Confirm What We Already Know:
Perhaps our vast network of sources in Iran, formed and nurtured through the years before Carter still has some viability and the guys in Washington are unwilling to collaterally destroy it . Or that the leaders and others in exile maintain a strong enough lobby to determine events. As Iran tries to fit itself into a mantle of Soviet proportions to play the world's answer to the USA, we enable it on most fronts. But then we never directly responded to the Soviets after the Cuban missile crisis. Does our State Department need a bogeyman to keep the kids in line ? Is it some self-fulfilling prophecy that if we don't have enemies, we will automatically invent them ? Is it some contrived anti-Zionist manuever by the mostly anti-ZIonist State Dept.?
On the surface it is shameful that we allow people who kill our sons to build a bomb that will threaten our world. And let them walk about our cities and spit at us from our own hotels Very confusing.
And on top of that, that Wikileaks' treason is the witness to our own seeming suicide.
May '10
Re: New Wikileaks Files Confirm What We Already Know:
While I don't doubt for a second that Iran has been involved in Iraq, a surveillance drone (spy plane) means nothing. Nations spy even on their allies.
I agree with flownover that Wikileaks is a testament to the West's weakness of will.
Bryan, I hate to see the U.S. waiting around for Israel to do our dirty work for us, but I'm not sure what we should do. It reminds me of when Russia invaded Georgia. Intervening forcefully could have led to a war, but letting them get away with it might also lead to war. There are no pleasant or certain options. But it's better to commit to activity than to encourage dictators with apparent weakness or apathy. That "activity" doesn't always have to be war, but it must be forceful (more than words or sanctions).
Jun '10
Re: New Wikileaks Files Confirm What We Already Know:
FINALLY. Those of us with operational experience have been saying this for six years, now. Maybe next we can address the chemical weapons issue.
May '10
Re: New Wikileaks Files Confirm What We Already Know:
All I know, is that these people are killing our troops. There should always be a deadly response. Wiping out their military bases is not an atrocity at all. It would be killing their military. Not only would it send a message, it would mean that their ability to keep their thumbs on their own population would be reduced.
Aug '10
Re: New Wikileaks Files Confirm What We Already Know:
The best article to describe the situation in Iran, the Gulf,and Israel in a long time is right here.
http://pajamasmedia.com/michaeltotten/2010/10/26/if-iran-gets-the-bomb/
This is really pertinent to the conversation.
May '10
Re: New Wikileaks Files Confirm What We Already Know:
Edited for post in the wrong thread. That was way out place.
Edited on Oct 28, 2010 at 6:51am