American forces backed by helicopters raided the Iranian consulate in the mainly Kurdish city of Erbil in northern Iraq before dawn today, detaining at least five Iranian employees in the building and seizing some property, according to Iraqi and Iranian officials and witnesses.
Kurdish forces were in control of the consulate building when a reporter went there after the raid. There was broken glass on the pavement outside the building, and no sign of the Iranian flag.
A statement from the United States military today did not mention the Iranian consulate specifically, saying only that six people were taken into custody in “routine security operations” in the Erbil area. Other than saying they were “suspected of being closely tied to activities targeting Iraqi and Coalition forces on Jan. 11,” the statement did not say who the people were.
But the American statement did warn that “the Coalition will continue to work with the Government of Iraq to prevent interference by hostile actors in Iraq’s internal security affairs.”
Statements by the Iranian government were more explicit. A Foreign Ministry spokesman, Mohammad Ali Hosseini, said that United States forces arrested five Iranian staff members at the consulate early this morning, and confiscated computers and documents.
The Iranian embassy in Baghdad has sent a letter of protest to the Iraqi Foreign Ministry, Mr. Hosseini told the IRNA news agency.
The United States has just attacked Iran. One question I will pose here--is it a coincidence that U.S. attacked an Iranian consulate just one day after President Bush made this remark in his surge speech:
Succeeding in Iraq also requires defending its territorial integrity and stabilizing the region in the face of extremist challenge. This begins with addressing Iran and Syria. These two regimes are allowing terrorists and insurgents to use their territory to move in and out of Iraq. Iran is providing material support for attacks on American troops. We will disrupt the attacks on our forces. We will interrupt the flow of support from Iran and Syria. And we will seek out and destroy the networks providing advanced weaponry and training to our enemies in Iraq.
This was a blatantly bold American intelligence-gathering mission to find any evidence of Iran providing support to either al Qaeda terrorists or insurgents in Iraq. This Washington Post article has some interesting details on the raid:
The [Islamic Republic News Agency] IRNA report said that U.S. forces entered the Iranian consulate in Irbil, in Iraq's Kurdish-dominated north, and seized computers, documents and other items. The report said five staff members were taken into custody.
[....]
U.S. officials have not confirmed the raid but did say in a press release that they had taken six people into custody in Irbil during the course of "routine security operations." The release said the individuals were "suspected of being closely tied" to attacks on Iraqi and U.S. forces.
The U.S. government is not confirming or denying that they attacked the Iranian consulate office. Instead, the U.S. government is saying that six people were taken into custody during "routine security operations," which will now be considered "enemy combatants. If these individuals were a part of the Iranian diplomatic staff, then they are going to disappear for a long time, while American intelligence officials will torture and question them. Documents and computers were taken to examine, and probably use as "proof" that Iran was aiding Iraqi insurgents and terrorists.
Both the New York Times and WaPost stories provide witnesses who saw the attack. According to the NY Times:
Muhamad Ahmad, a designer who lives near the consulate in Erbil, said he was awakened by the sound of gunfire and helicopters, which is unusual in the relatively calm Kurdish areas of Iraq.
And the WaPost story:
Although U.S. officials have not confirmed that an Iranian diplomatic building was involved in today's raid, a man who lives next to the consulate, Sardar Hassan Mohammed, 34, said he saw what he believed to be U.S. forces surrounding the building with their vehicles before entering it. Mohammed said at least five people were taken.
An official with the Kurdistan Democratic Party, who declined to give his name, said the U.S. troops confiscated belongings inside the consulate in addition to arresting people inside.
Interestingly, there may be two sources here regarding the confiscation of belongings in the Iranian consulate. The IRNA specifies that documents and computers were taken from the consulate. I don't know who the IRNA source is for this detail. But we have this official from the Kurdistan Democratic Party who also confirms the IRNA press release that the U.S. forces "confiscated belongings inside the consulate." President Bush announced in his surge speech that he will "interrupt the flow of support from Iran and Syria," and seek out and destroy the networks providing advanced weaponry and training to our enemies in Iraq." This was just the opening salvo in what could be a "secret" Bush administration war against Iran. There is just one problem with this--I don't think Iran will take this lightly. This escalation can get hot very quickly, and the United States will find itself in wars on three different fronts--Afghanistan, Iraq, and Iran.
We can not win this three-front war.
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