Defense sources told The Examiner on Wednesday that Tehran recalled the Qods Forces out of concern that more Iranian operatives would be captured and disclose valuable information about how Iran is funding, training and arming Iraqi Shiites.
From Iranian detainees, for example, the Baghdad command has learned of bases inside Iran where Iraqi Shiites are trained how to ambush American troops.
One thing I'd like to know is how many of those "Iraqi" Shias were actually born and raised in Iran after their families fled/were expelled from Saddam's Iraq in the 1980s.
Our operations targeting Iranian assets inside Iraq have had an effect. Iran knows we've grabbed people who could spill important information about Iranian agents. Is Inayatullah one of them?
The Department of Defense announced today the transfer of a dangerous terror suspect to Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
Inayatullah, an Afghan national, was captured as a result of ongoing DoD operations in the struggle against violent extremists in Afghanistan. He has admitted that he was the Al Qaeda Emir of Zahedan, Iran, and planned and directed Al Qaeda terrorist operations. Inayatullah collaborated with numerous Al Qaeda senior leaders, to include Abu Ubaydah al-Masri and Azzam, executing their instructions and personally supporting global terrorist efforts.
Inayatullah attests to facilitating the movement of foreign fighters, significantly contributing to trans-national terrorism across multiple borders. Inayatullah met with local operatives, developed travel routes and coordinated documentation, accommodation and vehicles for smuggling unlawful combatants throughout countries including Afghanistan, Iran, Pakistan and Iraq.
What has he told us and what might he yet spill about Iranian support for al Qaeda in Iraq? Consider Zahedan, where Inayatullah was the local "emir," as one piece of a puzzle that the Persians don't want us to put together:
Top of the list of Al-Zarqawi's sponsors: the Islamic Republic of Iran and the hardliners from the group around the Al-Qods Brigades of the Revolutionary Guards, the Pasdaran... After the war in Afghanistan, Al-Zarqawi sets up new camps and safe houses in Zahedan, Isfahan, and Tehran. His European followers come to Tehran, bringing with them money and new passport identities and collecting instructions. Communication is handled through middlemen and by phone. The German BND listens in...
We seem to be putting real pressure on Iran over their support of terrorism in Iraq. And we are learning a lot as a result of this pressure. This pressure has helped push Iran back. Several years of chatting up the Iranians did nothing. Several months of killing and capturing their agents has led to an Iranian retreat.
We cannot let up this pressure since Iran's Pasdaran are still in Iraq helping our enemies kill Americans, Coalition allies, and Iraqis.
We want them to retreat, right?
