Iran using Hezballah proxies in Iraq

AP/NY Times:

Iran's elite Quds force helped militants carry out a January attack in Karbala that killed five Americans, a U.S. general said Monday.

U.S. military spokesman Brig. Gen. Kevin J. Bergner also accused Tehran of using the Lebanese Shiite militia Hezbollah as a ''proxy'' to arm Shiite militants in Iraq.

The claims were an escalation in U.S. accusations that Iran is fueling Iraq's violence, which Tehran has denied, and were the first time the U.S. military has said Hezbollah has a direct role.

A senior Lebanese Hezbollah operative, Ali Mussa Dakdouk, was captured March 20 in southern Iraq, Bergner said. Dakdouk served for 24 years in Hezbollah and was ''working in Iraq as a surrogate for the Iranian Quds Force,'' Bergner said.

The general also said that Dakdouk was a liaison between the Iranians and a breakaway Shiite group led by Qais al-Kazaali, a former spokesman for cleric Muqtada al-Sadr. Bergner said al-Kazaali's group carried out the January attack against a provincial government building in Karbala and that the Iranians assisted in preparations. Al-Khazaali and his brother Ali al-Khazaali were captured with Dakdouk.

Dakdouk told U.S. interrogators that the Karbala attackers ''could not have conducted this complex operation without the support and direction of the Quds force,'' Bergner said.

Documents captured with al-Khazaali showed that the Quds Force had developed detailed information on the U.S. position at the government building, ''regarding our soldiers' activities, shift changes and defenses, and this information was shared with the attackers,'' Bergner said.

The Karbala attack was one of the boldest and most sophisticated against U.S. forces in four years of fighting in Iraq, and U.S. officials at the time suggested Iran may have had a role in it.

In the assault, up to a dozen gunmen posed as an American security team, with U.S. military combat fatigues, allowing them to pass checkpoints into the government compound, where they launched the attack. One U.S. soldier was killed in the initial assault, and the militants abducted four others who were later found shot to death.

...

Bergner said Iraqi extremists were taken to Iran in groups of 20 to 60 for training in three camps ''not too far from Tehran.'' When they returned to Iraq, they formed units called ''special groups'' to carry out attacks, bombings and kidnappings.

''Our intelligence reveals that the senior leadership in Iran is aware of this activity,'' he said. Asked if Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei could be unaware of the activity, Bergner said, ''That would be hard to imagine.''

...

Dakdouk was captured with documents instructing the special groups on techniques, including how to attack a convoy, and a with a personal diary detailing meetings with Iraqi militants. Al-Khazaali also had documents with details on 11 separate attacks on U.S. force, Bergner said.

A total of 18 ''higher-level operatives'' from the Iranian-backed special groups have been arrested and three others killed since February, Bergner said.

It looks like we are getting close to having the smoking gun evidence that Iran is at war with us. Then question then becomes will we continue to ignore that fact or will we fight back. You know the Dems and the anti war left will use it as another excuse for retreat and defeat.

I think we should confront them publicly and do what we can to humiliate them into backing off.

Gateway Pundit has much more on the revelations about the Hezballah-Iran connection in Iraq. Bill Roggio also talks about Iran's "secret cell" network in Iraq and its Hezballah Helpers. The MNFI story on the "secret cells" and the Iranian connection is also worthwhile. The Belmont Club comments on the Iranian connection.

This story by Michael Gordon in the NY Times about the Iranian cell and its use of Hezballah is also interesting. Reviewing these links the picture becomes clearer as to why Iran has been acting so antsy about the capture of these guys and why they have made a few abortive attempts to capture hostages to exchange for them.