Wednesday, March 14, 2007

Iraq - the Iranian Military Drain?

Ynet News carries this report:
Three weeks ago the Iranian armed forces command in Teheran lost contact with a senior officer who had been serving in Iraq with the al-Quds unit of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps, according to a senior Iranian official cited in the Wednesday edition of the London-based Arabic daily al-Sharq al-Awsat.

The Iranian source said that it is still unclear why contact with the officer, Colonel Amir Muhammad Shirazi, was lost. "It is possible that the American forces in Iraq arrested him along with a group of 13 Iranian military and intelligence officials," he said, adding that this is just one of the scenarios being investigated by Tehran.
(…)
Al-Sharq al-Awsat reported that a Tehran military court sentenced to death a colonel in Iranian military intelligence who recently returned from service in Iraq. The officer was accused of collaborating with American forces and providing them with details on the deployment and activities of the al-Quds unit and Iranian military intelligence operatives. He was also accused of providing the Americans with classified documents, photographs and maps related to Iran's nuclear program and armed forces.

The newspaper reported that over the past three years, dozens of members of Iran's Revolutionary Guards and military intelligence units have defected to the American forces in Iraq.
Sounds like staying the course has had a few fringe benefits after all.

3 comments:

Michael said...

It would be interesting to see Iraq become the proxy battlefield against Iran...

K. Shoshana said...

I don't know if I would call it interesting - part of the problem of Iraq is that the whole country is one giant ammo dump. Not my first choice where I'd choose to make a line in the sand against the Iranians. I'd rather see Iran boxed in and the USMC making faces on three sides.

Michael said...

Well, Kate, that's the price we pay for letting W think he could run a war.

As it is, Iran can face US forces to the east and west, plus the US Navy/Marines on the coast. Personally, I think the coast is the place to attack them; they can't fight the Navy (their own navy and air force are 3rd rate, at best), and the US power in the Gulf can strangle the Iranian oil trade quite easily.

Since Iran imports most of its gasoline, that would quickly hobble any fight they might choose to make.