The swap for the Brits

Belmont Club:

Pat Dollard claims that Mohammed Javad Sharaf-Zadeh, aka the Iranian "diplomat" Jalal Sharafi, and the top Iranian terror-master in Iraq, was traded for the 15 British sailors. Eli Lake of the NY Sun, describes who his sources say Jalal Sharafi was:

The decision to release Jalal Sharafi on Tuesday was made at the White House, according to an administration official who asked to be anonymous because of the sensitivity of the information. The release took place over the objections of some commanders in the field. Mr. Sharafi, the second secretary of the Iranian Embassy in Baghdad, is believed by American military intelligence also to be a member of the lethal Quds Force, the terrorist-supporting organization whose members have been fair game for American soldiers and Iraqi allies since a change in the rules of engagement was issued in December.

Former Spook, who predicted that a swap was going down, noted Eli Lake's article generally confirmed his thesis. The NY Sun article continues:

At the same time, many Iranians remain in American custody, including the five men alleged to be members of the Quds Force. They were captured January 10 during a raid of an Iranian outpost in Irbil. Yesterday, Iran's press reported that Washington had agreed to allow emissaries from Tehran to visit the five Iranians being held. Prime Minister Maliki has also called for their release.

Pentagon and White House spokesmen on Tuesday and Wednesday insisted publicly that the release of Mr. Sharafi was solely an Iraqi decision. Indeed, when Mr. Sharafi was kidnapped in February, Pentagon spokesman said that his abduction was not the work of any members of multi-national forces in Iraq. The Iranians, through diplomatic channels, formally accused America of having ordered the abduction.

The administration official yesterday said that Mr. Sharafi's capture was not ordered by American forces, but he was interrogated in a facility overseen by both Iraqi and American commanders.

The official statements seem like a singularly unconvincing denial that the US had bent the rules and taken an enemy combatant who may or may not have had diplomatic immunity and squeezed him dry. The Iranians came back with a pretty operation to obtain their release though apparently their trading cards weren't good enough to win more than a partial swap.

...

Wretchard sees this as the beginning of the retreat. It may be for the Brits, but the US retreat will have to await the rest of the surge this summer. I think Labor Day will be the decision day for that event.

In fact, the swap actually indicates the success of the recent US targeting of Iranian mischief makers in Iraq and elsewhere. It is probably a little harder to get "volunteers" for covert operations in Iraq today than it was before the Bush surge against Iranian mischief makers in Iraq. The capturing of the Iranian operatives has shown a vulnerability of their form of warfare that has not previously been exploited. I expect that we will continue to exploit it.