Hard evidence of Iran's supplying weapons to enemy in Iraq

Michael Isikoff and Mark Hosenball:

Why is the Bush administration escalating its accusations that Iran is backing Shiite extremists inside Iraq? One reason: mounting intelligence indicating Tehran has been supplying insurgents with electronic sensors that trigger roadside bombs used against U.S. troops.

The devices in question—which cost as little as $1 a piece—are called "passive infrared" sensors or detectors. They are commonly used to turn on lights or burglar alarms when someone or something passes in front of them. Over the past year, U.S. forces in Iraq have repeatedly fallen victim to sophisticated homemade bombs—known as “IEDs”, or improvised explosive devices—which are often rigged with passive infrared sensors.

Recent reports from U.S. intelligence agencies show that Iranian agents or brokers have ordered the devices in bulk from manufacturers in the Far East....

The presence of the infrared sensors is not the only intelligence pointing to an Iranian role in the construction of IEDs. Some recovered bombs closely match IED designs known to have been used by the Lebanese Shiite movement Hizbollah—another group that relies heavily on Iranian arms and money. A current counter-terrorism official says that bomb-making videos believed to have been prepared in Iran have been recovered from insurgents in Iraq. Similar or identical tutorials have also been recovered from Hizbollah, the counter-terrorism official said. The video discs contain instructions on how to build homemade bombs with “shaped charges” (known in military jargon as EFPs, or "explosive formed projectiles")—particularly deadly devices capable of penetrating tank armor. These, too, are known to have been used by Hizbollah.

U.S. officials say they believe the supply of equipment and components to insurgents inside Iraq is being arranged in Iran by the Al-Quds brigades. This group is an offshoot of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, a national militia organization charged with protecting Iran’s theocratic government from counter-revolutionary forces. The Corps is believed to operate under the direct authority of Iran’s outspoken and controversial president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who himself originally rose to prominence as a member of the organization.

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... intelligence officials contacted by Newsweek insist that Iranian interference in Iraq appears significant. U.S. intelligence officials say they are aware of staging points—sometimes upgraded in unofficial accounts to "training camps"—in Iran, Syria and Lebanon that are used by insurgents traveling in and out of Iraq. Intelligence agencies believe that supplies, such as the sensors, are shipped from these locations.

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Without a hint of irony the story talks about the operation being run out of Iran's embassy in Iraq and that attacking the operation would be an act of war. Hey, isn't what they are doing an act of war? Besides, Iran has no standing for claiming diplomatic immunity when ti comes to the US. Her egregious conduct in 1979 in one of her first acts of war against the US, a war that continues to this day, forever bar her from making any legitimate claims to diplomatic immunity. If we know who these suppliers are, we need to shut down the trade with Iran. The government of Taiwan owes the US that much.

The US is promising more evidence on the Iranian connection and those operating in Iraq. Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad has decided to call the Iranians bluff. They asked for evidence and he is going to provide it. Perhaps he got a head start with the Newsweek team.