Team Infidel
Forum Spin Doctor
Wall Street Journal
April 29, 2008
Pg. 3
Contacts in Iraq Condemn Violence; Credibility Unclear
By Yochi J. Dreazen
WASHINGTON -- Senior U.S. officials in Baghdad received back-channel messages from Iran condemning the recent bloodshed in the Iraqi city of Basra and denying that Tehran was responsible, according to people familiar with the matter.
The messages, which haven't been publicly disclosed, come amid rising tensions between Washington and Tehran and debate about Iran's intentions in Baghdad. Many U.S. officials have accused Iran of fomenting violence in Iraq and have begun describing Iran as the biggest threat to Iraq's long-term stability. Iranian officials deny the claims and accuse the U.S. of fabricating a threat to justify the military occupation of Iraq.
Multiple American military and civilian officials said the back-channel communications last month involved top officials from Iran's Quds Force, an elite division of Iran's paramilitary Revolutionary Guards.
The messages were conveyed to Gen. David Petraeus, the top American commander in Iraq, and Ryan Crocker, the U.S. ambassador to Baghdad, through Iraqi intermediaries, the U.S. officials said.
The officials declined to identify the Iraqi go-betweens, but Iran previously has sent messages to the U.S. through Iraqi President Jalal Talabani, a Kurd, and Abdul-Aziz al-Hakim, who heads Iraq's largest Shiite political party.
People familiar with the communications said the Iranian officials expressed alarm at the bloody fighting last month between Iraqi government forces and Shiite militants loyal to nationalist cleric Moqtada al-Sadr.
The Iranians also told the U.S. they weren't in control of the Shiite fighters, these people said.
"The general theme was that they were afraid the violence would get out of hand," said one military official in Baghdad. "They also told us that they weren't directing the fighting."
U.S. officials said they were unsure how much credence to give the messages.
A senior military commander said the conciliatory tone of the communications was hard to square with indications that Iran's support for Shiite militants inside Iraq has been increasing, leading to a sharp rise in violence there.
Other U.S. officials said Iran has a formal mechanism for communicating with the U.S. -- continuing talks in Baghdad about Iraq's security situation -- and questioned why Iran instead chose to send back-channel messages.
"If the Iranians have something to say to us, they can do so directly," one senior civilian official said, adding that the messages "go into the mix of trying to figure out Iran, and therefore should not be overinterpreted."
Still, U.S. officials acknowledged that Iran helped broker the truce that eventually ended the fighting in Basra.
The Iranians had summoned Iraqi government officials and aides to Mr. Sadr to the Iranian holy city of Qom for the talks that resulted in the shaky cease-fire, according to both U.S. and Iraqi officials.
The disclosure of the back-channel Iranian outreach to the U.S. comes amid American accusations about Iranian interference in Iraq.
Senior U.S. military officials said they have found caches of Iranian-made mortars, rockets and explosives bearing date stamps indicating the weapons were manufactured within the past two months, long after Tehran promised to curb the flow of Iranian weaponry into Iraq.
On Friday, Adm. Michael Mullen, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said Iran's support for Shiite militants inside Iraq has been steadily increasing and warned that the U.S. military maintained the power to strike Iran if given the order.
British officials have begun echoing the U.S. accusations. British Defense Minister Des Browne told United Kingdom lawmakers Monday that a "significant proportion" of the weaponry used by insurgents in Iraq was "of Iranian origin or has been transited through Iran."
Mohammed Mir Ali Mohammadi, a spokesman for the Iranian mission to the United Nations, said he had no information about the back-channel messages to the U.S. but noted that Iran has previously said it supported the Iraqi government's crackdown on armed groups such as Mr. Sadr's militia.
"Iran wants to see a stable Iraq," he said. "The government in Iraq has a very healthy and friendly relationship with Iran...so there is no reason for Iran to undermine this government."
Mr. Mohammadi said Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, a Shiite, would soon be making a state visit to Iran.
James Dobbins, an analyst at the Rand Corp. who served as the Bush administration's first envoy to Afghanistan, said U.S. officials would benefit from substantive discussions with Iran.
Mr. Dobbins held talks with Iranian representatives in Bonn after U.S. forces took control of Afghanistan in 2001. He said the Iranians helped the U.S. hammer out an interim Afghan constitution and put in place a new government in Kabul. Tehran offered to help train Afghan security forces, but was rebuffed by the Bush administration, he said.
"The Iranians are doing some unhelpful things in Iraq, but they're also doing some helpful ones," he said. "How they fit together is impossible to determine without the kind of meaningful dialogue we had in 2001 and have failed to have ever since."
April 29, 2008
Pg. 3
Contacts in Iraq Condemn Violence; Credibility Unclear
By Yochi J. Dreazen
WASHINGTON -- Senior U.S. officials in Baghdad received back-channel messages from Iran condemning the recent bloodshed in the Iraqi city of Basra and denying that Tehran was responsible, according to people familiar with the matter.
The messages, which haven't been publicly disclosed, come amid rising tensions between Washington and Tehran and debate about Iran's intentions in Baghdad. Many U.S. officials have accused Iran of fomenting violence in Iraq and have begun describing Iran as the biggest threat to Iraq's long-term stability. Iranian officials deny the claims and accuse the U.S. of fabricating a threat to justify the military occupation of Iraq.
Multiple American military and civilian officials said the back-channel communications last month involved top officials from Iran's Quds Force, an elite division of Iran's paramilitary Revolutionary Guards.
The messages were conveyed to Gen. David Petraeus, the top American commander in Iraq, and Ryan Crocker, the U.S. ambassador to Baghdad, through Iraqi intermediaries, the U.S. officials said.
The officials declined to identify the Iraqi go-betweens, but Iran previously has sent messages to the U.S. through Iraqi President Jalal Talabani, a Kurd, and Abdul-Aziz al-Hakim, who heads Iraq's largest Shiite political party.
People familiar with the communications said the Iranian officials expressed alarm at the bloody fighting last month between Iraqi government forces and Shiite militants loyal to nationalist cleric Moqtada al-Sadr.
The Iranians also told the U.S. they weren't in control of the Shiite fighters, these people said.
"The general theme was that they were afraid the violence would get out of hand," said one military official in Baghdad. "They also told us that they weren't directing the fighting."
U.S. officials said they were unsure how much credence to give the messages.
A senior military commander said the conciliatory tone of the communications was hard to square with indications that Iran's support for Shiite militants inside Iraq has been increasing, leading to a sharp rise in violence there.
Other U.S. officials said Iran has a formal mechanism for communicating with the U.S. -- continuing talks in Baghdad about Iraq's security situation -- and questioned why Iran instead chose to send back-channel messages.
"If the Iranians have something to say to us, they can do so directly," one senior civilian official said, adding that the messages "go into the mix of trying to figure out Iran, and therefore should not be overinterpreted."
Still, U.S. officials acknowledged that Iran helped broker the truce that eventually ended the fighting in Basra.
The Iranians had summoned Iraqi government officials and aides to Mr. Sadr to the Iranian holy city of Qom for the talks that resulted in the shaky cease-fire, according to both U.S. and Iraqi officials.
The disclosure of the back-channel Iranian outreach to the U.S. comes amid American accusations about Iranian interference in Iraq.
Senior U.S. military officials said they have found caches of Iranian-made mortars, rockets and explosives bearing date stamps indicating the weapons were manufactured within the past two months, long after Tehran promised to curb the flow of Iranian weaponry into Iraq.
On Friday, Adm. Michael Mullen, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said Iran's support for Shiite militants inside Iraq has been steadily increasing and warned that the U.S. military maintained the power to strike Iran if given the order.
British officials have begun echoing the U.S. accusations. British Defense Minister Des Browne told United Kingdom lawmakers Monday that a "significant proportion" of the weaponry used by insurgents in Iraq was "of Iranian origin or has been transited through Iran."
Mohammed Mir Ali Mohammadi, a spokesman for the Iranian mission to the United Nations, said he had no information about the back-channel messages to the U.S. but noted that Iran has previously said it supported the Iraqi government's crackdown on armed groups such as Mr. Sadr's militia.
"Iran wants to see a stable Iraq," he said. "The government in Iraq has a very healthy and friendly relationship with Iran...so there is no reason for Iran to undermine this government."
Mr. Mohammadi said Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, a Shiite, would soon be making a state visit to Iran.
James Dobbins, an analyst at the Rand Corp. who served as the Bush administration's first envoy to Afghanistan, said U.S. officials would benefit from substantive discussions with Iran.
Mr. Dobbins held talks with Iranian representatives in Bonn after U.S. forces took control of Afghanistan in 2001. He said the Iranians helped the U.S. hammer out an interim Afghan constitution and put in place a new government in Kabul. Tehran offered to help train Afghan security forces, but was rebuffed by the Bush administration, he said.
"The Iranians are doing some unhelpful things in Iraq, but they're also doing some helpful ones," he said. "How they fit together is impossible to determine without the kind of meaningful dialogue we had in 2001 and have failed to have ever since."