Jun 18 2007
Targetting Iran’s Weapons Smuggling Trail In Iraq
Fixed the screwy HTML, so bumped it to the top
Seems not only is the UK and US taking serious steps to knock out the underground smugglers’ trail that is moving weapons from Iran into Iraq – they are having some good success:
Up to 36 people were killed in southern Iraq today as British forces conducted house to house searches aimed at weeding out Shia militants smuggling weapons from Iran.
Fierce fighting broke out in the towns of Amarah and Majar al-Kabir, 200 miles south-east of Baghdad, as Iraqi special forces backed by the British moved in on the smugglers.
Medical staff at Amarah’s hospital said 36 bodies had been brought in, although it was not clear if any of those killed were civilians. A British military spokesman said there were no troop casualties.
Iraqi police said the Mehdi Army of radical Shia cleric Moqtada al-Sadr was involved in the clashes, which took place in the Maysan province bordering Iran and lasted for about two hours before dawn. A Mehdi Army official said 17 of its members had been killed and 45 wounded.
America and Britain have frequently accused Shia Iran of fomenting violence in Iraq by supplying weapons and support to hardline Shia groups in the country.
Now we know what Sadr was doing in Iran for the last few months while the US surge was building up. And more news here:
Coalition Forces killed at least 20 terrorists, wounded six suspected terrorists and detained one suspected terrorist during operations targeting Secret Cells operating in Amarah and Majjar al-Kabirâ€, said a statement by the Multi-National Force – Iraq (MNF-I).
“The individuals detained during the raid is believed to be members of the secret cell terrorist network known for facilitating the transport of weapons and explosively formed penetrators, or EFPs, from Iran to Iraq, as well as bringing militants from Iraq to Iran for terrorist training.
Success like this means tips from locals who must be tiring at being the victims of all these weapons. Arab Muslims will not support Persian efforts to kill them, and that may be why these cells are becoming exposed.
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The latest news is that most of these weapons are originating in China. Iran is buying up the latest technology and weapons, mostly stolen, sold, or swapped for campaign contributions, to the Chicoms by Bill Clinton’s administration. Since the US is China’s No. 1 customer, we should have the clout to force China to stop selling this advanced technology to people who are using these new weapons to kill American soldiers anywhere in the world. There is no excuse for us to be forced to buy Chinese made goods, because there are no longer any domestic US manufacturers to make them, when China is using the money they get from these sales to build up a mighty military war machine , including subs armed with atomic weapons able to attack the mainland US. China has not attacked the US so far because they are dependant upon sales to the US to maintain their economy. As goes the US, so goes the world. If the Chicoms are that dependant on sales to the US, then we should be able to stop China from arming people who are determined to kill us. But, is there a candidate for President on either side which has the balls to do what has to be done? Clinton set this deal up. Bush let it ride and get worse. The next President must have the cahonnes to stand up and tell the Chicoms that the American people are mad as hell and are not going to take it any more. I believe we can get along without Chinese made goods better than China can if it loses it’s best customer.
Strata lauds desperate US strategy of arming native Sunnis
against al Qaeda but others do not:
“At the Pentagon, McClatchy reports, there is grumbling about the new policy:
At the Pentagon, at least six officers who served in Iraq shook their heads when asked about the idea of arming the Sunnis. They said they had little faith in a Sunni community that was aggressively killing their comrades just months ago.
Why did we spend all that capital disarming them last year?” asked one military officer who served in Iraq last year under former Iraq commander Gen. George Casey. “As a military man, I cannot fathom the logic of putting more weapons out there.” The officer declined to be identified because he was not authorized to speak about the matter.