According to the Bush administration, Iran has been "sending powerful bombs to Iraq and of supporting and financing Shiite militias that attack American troops." As the New York Times points out today, "they also contend that top Iranian leaders support efforts to arm Shiite fighters."
The facts: "...Whatever aid Iran provides to militias inside Iraq does not seem to extend to supplying actual combatants: Only 11 Iranians are in American detention, United States officials say."
Who's making all the trouble? Are other foreign countries involved in supplying or aiding the insurgents? The military found a cache of documents revealing the extent to which a number of nations -- including US allies -- which have been supporting the insurgency.
Saudi Arabia and Libya, both considered allies by the United States in its fight against terrorism, were the source of about 60 percent of the foreign fighters who came to Iraq in the past year to serve as suicide bombers or to facilitate other attacks, according to senior American military officials.
Syria and Lebanon are also involved in the struggle, as neighbors who provide passage into Iraq and as suppliers. Al Qaeda in Iraq has probably gotten the bulk of its aid and funding from Saudi Arabia. Keep in mind that the Saudis and Libya are both US allies. In fact what the Bush administration has done is to open up a battlefield for the Shia and the Sunnis from Morocco to Central Asia to duke it out, involving our military in a fight against some of our longtime allies.
North Africa has been a much more significant supplier of the insurgency than previously believed. Remember: some of the most devoted Al Qaedistas can be found in north African nations. Tunisia, Algeria, Morocco, and Egypt are also involved. The US military and State Department have pressured Syria to stop the flow of aid to the insurgency.
In some cases, one senior American military official said, Syrian authorities captured fighters and released them after determining they were not a threat to the Syrian government. Syria has made some recent efforts to turn back or detain suspected foreign fighters bound for Iraq, he said, adding, “The key word is ‘some.’”
Is this simply the result of a deeply flawed administration's bad planning and incompetence? Or what?
Comments