Iran in Iraq - US Intelligence report ..Hyped or Hurt?

Internal struggle in U.S. intelligence community delays report on Iran's role in Iraq

The Bush administration will roll out its evidence for Iranian interference in Iraq, including details on intelligence operations and weapons and explosives support to Shi'ite insurgents and foreign terrorists.

The report was held up until after the release of the new National Intelligence Estimate on Iraq’s future, which paints a dire picture of the situation in Iraq.

The evidence to be presented included details of the most deadly Iranian support for the insurgents: The use of shaped-charged directed explosives in improvised explosive devices. These IEDs increase the lethality of bombs used to kill both Iraqi and U.S. forces by directing the energy of the explosives so that it can more easily penetrate armored vehicles or other transports.

The intelligence also includes documents revealing Iranian Ministry of Intelligence and Security (MOIS) ties to the insurgents. In December, U.S. forces raided a compound in Baghdad and found two Iranian leaders of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps’ al Quds Brigades, Teheran’s foreign terrorist support cadre. Documents captured at the time outline the support by Iran for terrorists and insurgents, including attacks against U.S. forces.

AND THEN THE FARCE ......

The problem for the Bush administration is that the evidence uncovered so far includes links between current Iraqi government officials and the Iranians, and there are fears that exposing the connections will further weaken the Iraqi government.

Some U.S. officials claim liberals within the intelligence community also are trying to block the release of the intelligence, fearing it would be used as a basis for taking military action against Iran.

They point to the liberals’ influence in a section of the NIE on the influence of Iraq’s neighbors. The document states: “The involvement of these outside actors is not likely to be a major driver of violence or the prospects for stability because of the self-sustaining character of Iraq’s internal sectarian dynamics.”

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