Let us finally end the foolish talk about how it is in Iran's interests to have a stable and prosperous Iraq for a neighbor. Iran is supporting both Sunni and Shia fanatics in Iraq:
An American intelligence official said the new material, which has been authenticated within the intelligence community, confirms "that Iran is working closely with both the Shiite militias and Sunni Jihadist groups." The source was careful to stress that the Iranian plans do not extend to cooperation with Baathist groups fighting the government in Baghdad, and said the documents rather show how the Quds Force — the arm of Iran's revolutionary guard that supports Shiite Hezbollah, Sunni Hamas, and Shiite death squads — is working with individuals affiliated with Al Qaeda in
Iraq and Ansar al-Sunna.
Another American official who has seen the summaries of the reporting affiliated with the arrests said it comprised a "smoking gun." "We found plans for attacks, phone numbers affiliated with Sunni bad guys, a lot of things that filled in the blanks on what these guys are up to," the official said.
This is far more involved than I thought, even though I recognized that Iran and Syria were allied to keep the Shias and Sunnis killing each other.
And the Iranians had a hand in the February 2006 Golden Mosque bombing according to documents we seized when we captured some Iranians inside Iraq last month:
The news that Iran's elite Quds Force would be in contact, and clandestinely cooperating, with Sunni Jihadists who attacked the Golden Mosque in Samarra (one of the holiest shrines in Shiism) on February 22, could shake the alliance Iraq's ruling Shiites have forged in recent years with Tehran. Many Iraq analysts believe the bombing vaulted Iraq into the current stage of its civil war.
Iran supports Shia and Sunni extremists because if you want chaos it is safer to arm the fanatics on both sides rather than just hope the other side fights back viciously. And I did question the conventional wisdom back in February and suggested that Iran seemed the most likely culprit at some level for the Samarra Golden Mosque bombing.
Please inform the Baker Commission that Iran does not, in fact, value a stable and successful Iraq as much as some people seem to think.
