U.S. In Pursuit Of “About 50″ Iranian Revolutionary Guardsmen
BAGHDAD (AP) - American forces are tracking about 50 members of an elite Iranian force who have crossed the border into southern Iraq to train Shiite militia fighters, a top U.S. general said Sunday.
Maj. Gen. Rick Lynch, whose command includes the volatile southern rim of Baghdad and districts to the south, said his troops are tracking about 50 members of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps in their area.
“We know they’re here and we target them as well,” he said, citing intelligence reports as evidence of their presence.
“We’ve got about 50 of those,” he said, referring to the Iranian forces. “They go back and forth. There’s a porous border.”
The military has stepped up allegations against Iran in recent weeks, saying it supplies militants with arms and training to attack U.S. forces.
Iran denies the allegations and says it supports efforts to stop the violence.
The Bush administration is moving toward blacklisting Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps as a “terrorist” organization, subjecting at least part of the entity to financial sanctions, U.S. officials said this week.
A decision has been made in principle to name elements of the corps a “specially designated global terrorist” group, but internal discussions continue over whether it should cover the entire unit or only the Guard’s Al-Quds force, the most elite and covert of Iran’s military branches, which has equipped and trained Muslim fighters outside Iran’s borders.
Lynch, whose mission is to block the flow of weapons and fighters into the Baghdad area, said Sunni and Shiite extremists have become increasingly aggressive this month, trying to influence the debate in Washington before a pivotal progress report on Iraq.
He singled out the Shiite extremists as being behind rising attacks using armor-piercing explosively formed penetrators, or EFPs, which he said were largely assembled in Iraq from parts smuggled in from Iran. He also noted a marked increase in Iranian-rockets that have been increasingly effective against U.S. bases.
There has been an overall decrease in attacks against U.S. and Iraqi forces, as well as civilians, south of Baghdad, but 46 percent of those were being carried out by Shiite extremists, Lynch said.
“The real difference now is we’ve got to spend as much time fighting the Shia extremists as Sunni extremists,” he said.
In Khalis, 50 miles north of Baghdad, police said more than 1,500 people including sheiks and dignitaries had gathered near city hall to launch the counteroffensive against al-Qaida fighters who have been regularly firing mortars into the town and kidnapping residents at illegal checkpoints. Police said five townspeople were killed in the early hours of the fighting.
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labels labels,, the only label for them is “dead”
August 19th, 2007 at 9:15 amAnd with the knowledge of the 50 quds in iraq, they still haven’t done anything to stop them?
August 19th, 2007 at 9:18 amThere ought to be a smoking hole where the 50 once were!
Well we wont be attacking Iran until after the September report, thats my guess at least. But I am glad we are killing Iranian troops where ever we find them in Iraq..happy hunting
August 19th, 2007 at 9:51 amIts Iranian Season
Rabbit Season
Iranian Season
Rabbit Season
Rabbit Season
Iranian Season - BANG!
August 19th, 2007 at 10:06 am
Be very very quiet! I am hunting Wranians heh heh heh heh!
August 19th, 2007 at 10:28 amIt’d be nice to capture the 50 Iranians to sport on the MSM…well the Cable Networks anyhow. With camera rolling and calls for Death to America, death to Iraq or death everybody in general, would be a real PR thorn for the lefties here. And, another file to put in the Casus Belli file against Iran.
August 19th, 2007 at 10:45 amThe orther day Iranians were threating to “punch” Americans.
August 19th, 2007 at 10:57 amI guess Joe Palooka lives in Iran now?
tanacid,
the Iraniacs and their MSM accomplices would state what they have already said in regards to other captured Qods forces, that they are legitimate diplomats in Iraq on legit diplomatic business. We need to do the same with some JDAMs…
lets make them ambassadors and send them to Iran to start negotiations!
August 20th, 2007 at 10:55 am