Team Infidel
Forum Spin Doctor
USA Today
May 6, 2008
Pg. 7
By Associated Press
BAGHDAD — The U.S. military said Monday that many Shiite extremists whom Iraqi and U.S. troops are trying to defeat in Baghdad and elsewhere in Iraq are being trained by members of the militant group Hezbollah in camps in Iran.
"We have multiple detainees who state Lebanese Hezbollah are providing training to Iraqis in Iranian … training camps near Tehran," Air Force Col. Donald Bacon, a U.S. military spokesman in Baghdad, told the Associated Press.
Hundreds of Shiite extremists have been killed and captured in recent weeks in an operation in Sadr City, where U.S. and Iraqi forces are battling the followers of radical anti-American cleric Muqtada al-Sadr.
On Monday, the U.S. Air Force strafed Shiite extremists who attacked U.S. soldiers in Baghdad. The military said it killed at least nine militants in clashes the past two days in the capital.
Many of the recent attacks against U.S. forces have used armor-piercing bombs, known as explosively formed penetrators, that the Pentagon says are partially manufactured in Iran.
Iraq has said it will set up a committee to investigate U.S. allegations of Iranian involvement, but it has sought to keep a balance between the two countries.
Bacon said the Iraqi militants are receiving training from Hezbollah at camps operated by the Quds Force, an elite unit of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.
The United States designates Hezbollah a terrorist group responsible for the murder of hundreds of civilians, including Americans.
A five-member Iraqi delegation went to Tehran last week to discuss the U.S. allegations.
Their meetings included Gen. Ghassem Soleimani, commander of the Quds Force.
Iran's Foreign Ministry spokesman Mohammad Ali Hosseini said, "Tehran has always said that it supports the Iraqi government and legal action against illegal armed groups who commit crimes there."
The first reports of Hezbollah training emerged in March 2007, when U.S. military forces captured Qais Khazali, a senior Iraqi Shiite militia leader, and Ali Mussa Daqduq, a Lebanese Hezbollah commander.
Lebanese trainers would likely speak Arabic and be able to better communicate with their fellow Arabs from Iraq. Most Iranians speak Farsi and are Persian.
"Ali Mussa Daqduq confirmed Lebanese Hezbollah were providing training to Iraqi 'special group' members in Iran and that his role was to assess the quality of training and make recommendations on how the training could be improved. In this role, he traveled to Iraq on four occasions and was captured on his fourth trip," Bacon told the AP in an e-mail.
Since then, Bacon said, "we have captured other Iraqis who have discussed their training in Iran and who state many of their instructors were Lebanese Hezbollah."
May 6, 2008
Pg. 7
By Associated Press
BAGHDAD — The U.S. military said Monday that many Shiite extremists whom Iraqi and U.S. troops are trying to defeat in Baghdad and elsewhere in Iraq are being trained by members of the militant group Hezbollah in camps in Iran.
"We have multiple detainees who state Lebanese Hezbollah are providing training to Iraqis in Iranian … training camps near Tehran," Air Force Col. Donald Bacon, a U.S. military spokesman in Baghdad, told the Associated Press.
Hundreds of Shiite extremists have been killed and captured in recent weeks in an operation in Sadr City, where U.S. and Iraqi forces are battling the followers of radical anti-American cleric Muqtada al-Sadr.
On Monday, the U.S. Air Force strafed Shiite extremists who attacked U.S. soldiers in Baghdad. The military said it killed at least nine militants in clashes the past two days in the capital.
Many of the recent attacks against U.S. forces have used armor-piercing bombs, known as explosively formed penetrators, that the Pentagon says are partially manufactured in Iran.
Iraq has said it will set up a committee to investigate U.S. allegations of Iranian involvement, but it has sought to keep a balance between the two countries.
Bacon said the Iraqi militants are receiving training from Hezbollah at camps operated by the Quds Force, an elite unit of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.
The United States designates Hezbollah a terrorist group responsible for the murder of hundreds of civilians, including Americans.
A five-member Iraqi delegation went to Tehran last week to discuss the U.S. allegations.
Their meetings included Gen. Ghassem Soleimani, commander of the Quds Force.
Iran's Foreign Ministry spokesman Mohammad Ali Hosseini said, "Tehran has always said that it supports the Iraqi government and legal action against illegal armed groups who commit crimes there."
The first reports of Hezbollah training emerged in March 2007, when U.S. military forces captured Qais Khazali, a senior Iraqi Shiite militia leader, and Ali Mussa Daqduq, a Lebanese Hezbollah commander.
Lebanese trainers would likely speak Arabic and be able to better communicate with their fellow Arabs from Iraq. Most Iranians speak Farsi and are Persian.
"Ali Mussa Daqduq confirmed Lebanese Hezbollah were providing training to Iraqi 'special group' members in Iran and that his role was to assess the quality of training and make recommendations on how the training could be improved. In this role, he traveled to Iraq on four occasions and was captured on his fourth trip," Bacon told the AP in an e-mail.
Since then, Bacon said, "we have captured other Iraqis who have discussed their training in Iran and who state many of their instructors were Lebanese Hezbollah."