The Second Surge in Iraq
After reading this Bill Roggio posting it is clear that the US is not the only country conducting a surge operation in Iraq:
The aggressive pace of operations since January has resulted in an explosion in the prison population. There are currently 42,000 detainees in Iraqi and Multinational Forces Iraq custody. Of those detained, 2,760 are foreigner fighters as of August 8. This number includes over 800 Iranians.
Nearly 30% of the foreign prisoners in coalition jails are Iranians, yet there are people that want the public to believe that Iranian involvement in Iraq is exagerated by the Bush Administration. Others are in total and complete denial. I’m not sure what more evidence would please these people considering the EFP bombs that have been found in Iraq with some containing packaging clearly indicating they are from Iran. Than there is the six Quods Force operatives captured in Erbil and the smuggled sniper rifles clearly from Iran because their manufacturer linked their serial numbers to the rifles they sold to the Iranians. Even more damning is the senior Hezbollah operative captured in Iraq admitting to his Iranian ties. Now as US casualties from Sunni insurgents and terrorists decrease due to the "awakening" movements and military victories against Al Qaida; there is a surge in activity by the Iranian sponsored Mahdi Army to kill more US soldiers and kidnap and assassinate government officials before General Petraeus’ report to Congress next month.
With such clear Iranian involvement in Iraq what should the US do about it? I have long felt that entry to Iranians into Iraq should be closed until the security situation improves. A deadline for Iranians to leave Iraq should be given than any Iranians discovered inside of Iraq after the deadline should be arrested. Such a policy would obviously not prevent Iranians from secretly entering Iraq, but it would greatly hinder their movements and give the US military and Iraqi police the cover they need to arrest Iranians where as it is now they have to have reason to do so.
Many Iranians do legitimately travel to Iraq to see religious sights that they had long been unable to see during the Saddam Hussein regime. In order to allow these pilgrims to enter the country the Iraqi government at some point could have highly organized bus tours to control the religious pilgrims entering the country. This is a way to not alienate the actual Iranian public from having access to religious sights while also keeping tourist money from pilgrims flowing into the country.
So why doesn’t the Iraqi government and the US military implement such a policy? Probably because such a policy would directly effect the Mahdi Army, which is dependent on Iranian aid. Muqtada Al-Sadr’s political front is part of Iraqi Prime Minister’s Maliki’s political coalition that gave him the prime minister seat. Stopping the free movement of Iranians in Iraq could cause them to pull their support of Maliki thus causing him to fall from power.
The time may not be now, but at some point, hopefully in the near future, both the Iranians and Al-Sadr and his Mahdi Army will have to be dealt with. There will never be reconciliation in Iraq until Sadr and his thugs are dealt with.
More thoughts on the Mahdi Army can be read at the Captain’s Journal.
