<%@LANGUAGE="VBSCRIPT" CODEPAGE="1252"%> WorldTribune.com: Mobile — Petraeus blames Iran for spike in Iraq violence

Petraeus blames Iran for spike in Iraq violence

Thursday, April 10, 2008 Free Headline Alerts

WASHINGTON — The U.S. military has concluded that Iran has played a major role in the Shi'ite revolt and the surge of violence in Iraq.

Officials said Teheran has been funding, training, arming and directing Shi'ite militias in central and southern Iraq. They cited the so-called Special Groups, said to have trained in Iran to attack the U.S.-led coalition and Iraqi security forces.

"The Special Groups activities have, in fact, come out in greater relief during the violence of recent weeks," U.S. military commander in Iraq, Gen. David Petraeus, said. "It is they who have the expertise to shoot rockets more accurately, shoot mortars more accurately, and to employ some of the more advanced material — the explosively formed projectiles and the like — that have not just killed our soldiers and Iraqi soldiers, but also have been used to assassinate two southern governors in past months and two southern police chiefs."

[Shi'ite militias continued to engage U.S. and Iraqi forces in heavy fighting in Baghdad on Wednesday. At least seven people were killed in Shi'ite mortar and rocket strikes in the Iraqi capital.]

On Tuesday, Petraeus and U.S. ambassador to Iraq, Ryan Crocker, briefed the Senate Armed Services Committee on the situation in Iraq. The two men asserted that Iran's support to Shi'ite miltias threatens Iraq's drive toward democracy.

The U.S. military commander said Iran played a significant role in the Shi'ite revolt in Baghdad and Basra. Petraeus said the bulk of weapons employed by the Special Groups was supplied by Iran.

"We should all watch Iranian actions closely in the weeks and months ahead, as they will show the kind of relationship Iran wishes to have with its neighbor and the character of future Iranian involvement in Iraq," Petraeus said.

Crocker also stressed the Iranian influence over the government of Prime Minister Nouri Al Maliki as well as the Shi'ite community. The ambassador said the United States was ready to support what he termed constructive relations between Iran and Iraq.

"The extent of Iran's malign influence was dramatically demonstrated when militia elements armed and trained by Iran clashed with Iraqi government forces in Basra and Baghdad,'' Crocker said.

In his testimony, Petraeus said the U.S. military, with more than 150,000 soldiers, required at least 140,000 troops in Iraq over the next six months. He warned that the security situation was fragile and could undergo a sudden decline.

"This approach does not allow establishment of a set withdrawal timetable,'' Petraeus said. "However, it does provide the flexibility those of us on the ground need to preserve the still-fragile security gains our troopers have fought so far and sacrifice so much to achieve.''

   WorldTribune Home