Hezbollah (72 page)

But that was just the picture of one individual. The broader picture, which is all about Iran, implied a still more disturbing reality in the view of senior military and political officials. A US military spokesman put it this way:

What we’ve learned from Ali Musa Daqduq, Qais Khazali and other special groups members in our custody expands our understanding of how Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps Qods Force operatives are training, funding and arming the Iraqi special groups. It shows how Iranian operatives are using Lebanese surrogates to create Hezbollah-like capabilities and it paints a picture of the level of effort in funding and arming extremist groups in Iraq.
¹⁵⁷

More disconcerting still, Iran’s increasing willingness to target US interests did not end at the Iraqi border. In October 2011, both General Shahlai and Qods Force commander Qassem Soleimani were targeted by the Treasury Department once more for their roles in a Qods Force plot to assassinate the Saudi ambassador to Washington.
¹⁵⁸

1.
Multi-National Corps–Iraq, Public Affairs Office, “Update to Initial Findings from Karbala; Militant Attack Used Deception, US Army Type Uniforms,” release no. 20070126-21a, January 26, 2007.

2.
Rowan Scarborough, “Iraqi Insurgent Linked to Iran, Hezbollah,”
Washington Examiner
, March 22, 2007; Multi-National Corps–Iraq, “Update to Initial Findings.”

3.
Steven R. Hurst and Qassim Abdul-Zahra, “Four Troops Abducted, Killed in Iraq Attack,” Associated Press, January 27, 2007.

4.
Hurst and Abdul-Zahra, “Four Troops Abducted, Killed”; Peter Capella, “Mahdi: Iraq Could Be Caught in US-Iran Crossfire,”
Middle East Online
, January 27, 2007; “Karbala Attackers Posed as US Military Officials,”
CNN
, January 22, 2007; “Military Confirms 4 Soldiers were Abducted during Attack in Karbala,”
USA Today
, January 26, 2007.

5.
Multi-National Corps–Iraq, “Update to Initial Findings from Karbala”; Hurst and Abdul-Zahra, “Four Troops Abducted, Killed.”

6.
Hurst and Abdul-Zahra, “4 Troops Abducted, Killed.”

7.
“U.S. Accuses Hezbollah of Aiding Iran in Iraq,”
New York Times
, July 2, 2007; Associated Press, “US Alleges Iran using Lebanese Hezbollah as ‘Proxy’ in Iraq,”
Haaretz
(Tel Aviv), January 2, 2007.

8.
“U.S. Accuses Hezbollah of Aiding Iran.”

9.
US Department of Defense, Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense, “News Briefing with Gen. Petraeus from the Pentagon,” April 26, 2007.

10.
Bill Roggio, “U.S. Finds Karbala PJCC Mockup Inside Iran,”
Long War Journal
, June 9, 2007.

11.
Scarborough, “Iraqi Insurgent Linked to Iran”; James Glanz et al., “The War Logs: Secret Dispatches from the War in Iraq,”
New York Times
.

12.
US CIA, “Iranian Support for Terrorism in 1985.”

13.
US CIA, “Iranian Support for Terrorism in 1987.”

14.
US CIA, “Lebanon: ‘Islamic Jihad’ Goes Public.”

15.
US CIA, “Bahrani Hizballah Still Active?”

16.
Ibid.

17.
Clarke,
Against All Enemies
, 103.

18.
US CIA, “Shootdown of Iran Air 655.”

19.
Colin Freeman, “Iran Poised to Strike in Wealthy Gulf States,”
Telegraph
(London), March 4, 2007.

20.
Rita Daou, “UAE Accused of Expelling Lebanese Shiites,” Agence France Presse, September 30, 2009.

21.
US CIA, “Lebanon’s Hizballah.”

22.
International Crisis Group, “Shiite Politics in Iraq: Role of the Supreme Council,”
Middle East Report
no. 70, November 15, 2007; Joseph Felter and Brian Fishman, “Iranian Strategy in Iraq: Politics and ‘Other Means,’” Combating Terrorism Center at West Point, October 13, 2008, 24.

23.
Felter and Fishman, “Iranian Strategy in Iraq,” 24.

24.
US Department of the Treasury, “Treasury Designates Individual, Entity Posing Threat to Stability in Iraq,” press release, July 2, 2009.

25.
Felter and Fishman, “Iranian Strategy in Iraq,” 24.

26.
Ibid., 22.

27.
Michael Rubin, “Bad Neighbor,”
New Republic
, April 6, 2004.

28.
Author interview with former senior US government official, Washington, DC, January 26, 2012; Urban,
Task Force Black
, 111.

29.
US Congress, Senate Select Committee on Intelligence,
Current and Projected National Security Threats to the United States: Hearing before the Select Committee on Intelligence
, 109th Cong., 1st sess., February 16, 2005, Statement of Vice Adm. Lowell E. Jacoby.

30.
Michael Eisenstadt, Michael Knights, and Ahmed Ali, “Iran’s Influence in Iraq: Countering Tehran’s Whole-of-Government Approach,” Policy Focus 111, Washington Institute for Near East Policy (Washington, DC), April 2011.

31.
Sam Dagher, “In Iraq, a Very Busy Iran,”
Wall Street Journal
, November 30, 2010.

32.
US Congress, Senate Committee on Armed Services,
The Situation in Iraq and Progress by the Government of Iraq in Meeting Benchmarks and Achieving Reconciliation: Hearing before the Committee on Armed Services
, 110th Cong., 2d sess., April 8–10, 2008, Statements of Gen. David H. Petraeus and Ambassador Ryan Crocker.

33.
Vali Nasr, “Regional Implications of Shi’a Revival in Iraq,”
Washington Quarterly
27, no. 3 (Summer 2004): 7–24.

34.
“Iran General’s Remarks on South Lebanon Draw March 14 Ire,”
Daily Star
(Lebanon), January 21, 2012; Hezbollah insisted Sulaimani’s words were misunderstood. See “Hezbollah: Iran General’s Words Twisted,”
Daily Star
(Lebanon), January 26, 2012.

35.
Felter and Fishman, “Iranian Strategy in Iraq,” 26–27.

36.
Institute for the Study of War, “Interview and Moderated Q&A with General David Petraeus,” Washington, DC, January 22, 2010, 40–41.

37.
Ali Alfoneh, “Iran’s Most Dangerous General,”
Middle Eastern Outlook
, no. 4, American Enterprise Institute, July 13, 2011.

38.
Paul Von Zielbauer, “U.S. Calls Iranian Official Part of Elite Force,”
New York Times
, October 8, 2007.

39.
Felter and Fishman, “Iranian Strategy in Iraq,” 17–18, 21.

40.
Multi-National Forces–Iraq, Maj. Gen. Kevin Bergner and Brig. Gen. Michael Walsh, press conference, October 3, 2007.

41.
Felter and Fishman, “Iranian Strategy in Iraq,” 17.

42.
US Department of the Treasury, “Treasury Sanctions Five Individuals Tied to Iranian Plot to Assassinate the Saudi Arabian Ambassador to the United States,” press release, October 11, 2011.

43.
Martin Chulov, “Qassem Suleimani: The Iranian General ‘Secretly Running’ Iraq,”
Guardian
(London), July 28, 2011.

44.
Dafna Linzer, “Troops Authorized to Kill Iranian Operatives in Iraq,”
Washington Post
, January 26, 2007.

45.
Linzer, “Troops Authorized to Kill Iranian Operatives in Iraq.” See also Urban,
Task Force Black
, 205.

46.
Sabrina Tavernise, “U.S. Says Captured Iranians Can Be Linked to Attacks,”
New York Times
, December 27, 2006; James Glanz and Sabrina Tavernise, “U.S. Is Detaining Iranians Caught in Raids in Iraq,”
New York Times
, December 25, 2006.

47.
Sudarsan Raghavan and Robin Wright, “Iraq Expels 2 Iranians Detained by U.S.,”
Washington Post
, December 30, 2006.

48.
Eli Lake, “Iran’s Secret Plan for Mayhem,”
New York Sun
, January 3, 2007.

49.
Author interview with former US Government Official, Washington, DC, January 19, 2012.

50.
Raghavan and Wright, “Iraq Expels 2 Iranians.”

51.
Tavernise, “U.S. Says Captured Iranians Can Be Linked to Attacks.”

52.
“Tehran’s Secret ‘Department 9000,’”
Newsweek
, June 4, 2007.

53.
Glanz and Tavernise, “U.S. Is Detaining Iranians.”

54.
Sabrina Tavernise and James Glanz, “U.S. and Iraq Dispute Role of Iranians But Free Them,”
New York Times
, December 30, 2006; Raghavan and Wright, “Iraq Expels 2 Iranians.”

55.
“Text of President Bush’s Speech on Troop Levels,”
NPR
, January 10, 2007.

56.
James Glanz, “U.S. Says Arms Link Iranians to Iraqi Shiites,”
New York Times
, February 12, 2007; James Glanz, “G.I.’s in Iraq Raid Iranians’ Offices,”
New York Times
, January 12, 2007.

57.
Eli Lake, “U.S. Deadlocked on Whether to Free Iranian Terror Suspects,”
New York Sun
, January 19, 2007.

58.
Urban,
Task Force Black
, 209.

59.
Glanz, “Arms Link Iranians to Iraqi Shiites.”

60.
Ibid.; Tim Susman and Borzou Daragahi, “The Conflict in Iraq: Accusations of Interference; U.S. Makes Case That Iran Arms Flow into Iraq,”
Los Angeles Times
, February 12, 2007.

61.
Glanz, “Arms Link Iranians to Iraqi Shiites.”

62.
Multi-National Forces–Iraq, Maj. Gen. Kevin Bergner and Brig. Gen. Michael Walsh, press conference, October 3, 2007. Iraqi intelligence documents seized by coalition forces say Farhadi actually led the Ramazan Corps’ Nasr Command, not Zafr Command. See Felter and Fishman, “Iranian Strategy in Iraq,” 49n71.

63.
US Department of the Treasury, “Treasury Designates Individuals, Entity Fueling Iraqi Insurgency,” press release, January 9, 2008.

x
64.
David Pollack and Ahmed Ali, “Iran Gets Negative Reviews in Iraq, Even from Shiites,” Policy Watch 1653, Washington Institute for Near East Policy (Washington, DC), May 4, 2010.

65.
Kimberly Kagan, “Iran’s Proxy War against the United States and the Iraqi Government,” Institute for the Study of War and
Weekly Standard
, May 2006–August 20, 2007, 3.

66.
Michael R. Gordon and Dexter Filkins, “Hezbollah Said to Help Shiite Army in Iraq,”
New York Times
, November 28, 2006.

67.
US Congress, Senate Committee on Armed Services,
Iran’s Military Power: Hearing before the Committee on Armed Services
, 111th Cong., 2d sess., April 14, 2010, Statement of Lt. Gen. Ronald L. Burgess Jr.

68.
Felter and Fishman, “Iranian Strategy in Iraq,” 37.

69.
Eisenstadt et al., “Iran’s Influence in Iraq,” 8.

70.
US Department of the Treasury, “Treasury Designates Individuals, Entity Fueling Iraqi Insurgency,” January 9, 2008; US Department of the Treasury, “Treasury Designates Individual, Entity Posing Threat to Stability in Iraq,” July 2, 2009.

71.
Felter and Fishman, “Iranian Strategy in Iraq,” 27.

72.
US Department of the Treasury, “Treasury Designates Individual, Entity Posing Threat”; Michael Knights, “The Evolution of Iran’s Special Groups in Iraq,”
CTC Sentinel
3, no. 11–12 (November 2010): 12–16; Rafid Fadhil Ali, “Iraq’s Kata’ib Hezbollah Seek Greater Popularity through Threats to Kuwaiti Port Development,”
Terrorism Monitor
9, no. 33 (August 19, 2011), Jamestown Foundation.

73.
US Department of the Treasury, “Treasury Designates Hizballah Commander Responsible for American Deaths in Iraq,” November 19, 2012.

74.
Edward Pound, “Special Report: The Iran Connection,”
U.S. News & World Report
, November 14, 2004.

75.
Ibid.

76.
Marisa Cochrane, “The Fragmentation of the Sadrist Movement,”
Iraq Report
12 (January 2009), Institute for the Study of War.

77.
Joby Warrick, “U.S. Officials to Remove Iranian Group from Terror List, Officials Say,”
Washington Post
, September 21, 2012; Scott Peterson, “Iranian Group’s Big-Money Push to Get off US Terrorist List,”
Christian Science Monitor
, August 8, 2011; Bahman Kalbasi, “Iran Exile Group MEK Seeks US Terror De-Listing,”
BBC Persian
, September 24, 2001.

78.
Ibid.

79.
Raymond Tanter, “Iran’s Threat to Coalition Forces in Iraq,” Policywatch 827, Washington Institute for Near East Policy (Washington, DC), January 15, 2004.

80.
Pound, “Iran Connection.”

81.
James Risen, “A Region Inflamed: The Hand of Tehran; Hezbollah, in Iraq, Refrains from Attacks on Americans,”
New York Times
, November 24, 2003.

82.
“Israeli Warns of Terrorist Training,”
Washington Times
, November 14, 2003.

83.
Nathan Guttman, “U.S. Sources Claim Hezbollah Sending Combatants to Iraq,”
Haaretz
(Tel Aviv), June 20, 2004.

84.
Agence France Presse, “Lebanese Hezbollah Members Detained in Iraq: Minister,” February 9, 2005.

85.
Michael Ware, “Inside Iran’s Secret War in Iraq,”
Time
, August 15, 2005.

86.
“UK-Iraq Relations,” Joint News Conference with Prime Minister Tony Blair and President Jalal Talabani,
CSPAN
, London, October 6, 2005.

87.
Press briefing with Brig. Gen. Kevin Bergner.

88.
Cochrane, “Fragmentation of the Sadrist Movement.”

89.
Knights, “Evolution of Iran’s Special Groups in Iraq”; Andrew Exum, “Comparing and Contrasting Hizballah and Iraq’s Militias,” Policywatch 1197, Washington Institute for Near East Policy (Washington, DC), February 14, 2007.

90.
Nizar Latif and Phil Sands, “Mehdi Fighters ‘Trained by Hizbollah in Lebanon,’”
Independent
(London), August 20, 2007.