The Proxy War - Iran attacks bases inside Iraq

NICOSIA — For the first time, Iran has reported shelling suspected Kurdish insurgency camps along the Iraqi border with Iran.

Exsqueeze me, but wouldn't this make it quite halal for us/Iraq to make it sauce for the gander? Wouldn't FAILURE to do just exactly that make it CONVINCING to the Hassan Abassi - Mesbah-Yazdi, Jannati -Hojatieh crowd that they are absolutely right in assuming our risk averse desires will allow them to find more and more freedom of action?

Officials said the Iranian Army and Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps have been conducting operations against the Party of Free Life of Kurdistan, or PJAK, linked to the Kurdish Workers Party.

"Some of their bases are 10 kilometers deep inside Iraqi territory, so this is part of our natural right to secure our borders," said Gen. Yahya Rahim Safavi, former IRGC chief and now military adviser to Iranian supreme leader Ali Khamenei.

This was the first time Iran has acknowledged its campaign against the Kurds in northern Iraq. Teheran has accused Britain and the United States of financing an insurgency war in northwestern Iran as part of an effort to destabilize the regime of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

Why does the word "IRONY" come to mind here?

"Of course, we issued warnings to the Iraqi government and told it to take them [PJAK] away from the border and respect its obligations," Safavi said in an interview with Iran's English-language channel Press TV on Sept. 22.

"But unfortunately the Kurdistan region, the northern part of Iraq, did not listen. So, we feel entitled to target military bases of PJAK, and they have been under our artillery fire."

George, are you listening? It's called a combat air patrol. From 10 miles away I have a feeling B-52's at 60,000 feet could glide some gifts into Iran from the Iraq side. That artillery and I bet, some IED Universities are in range. Or we have something else.

Kurdish sources said IRGC and regular Iranian Army units have conducted ground and artillery attacks on Kurdish bases and villages in northern Iraq. The sources said most of the operations were coordinated with neighboring Turkey, the key target of the PKK.

In August 2007, hundreds of Iraqi Kurds fled their villages during Iranian artillery strikes. At the time, Iran denied shelling Kurdish villages.

In the interview, Safavi outlined the PJAK military campaign against Iran. He said PJAK squads of up to five fighters crossed the Iraqi border and attacked targets in western Iran.

"They detonate bombs and create insecurity," Safavi said. "And I think it is part of our natural right to fight such rogue counter-revolutionary armed groups as they sow insecurity."

I wonder if the Iranians are listening to themselves give us every justification for reaction?

The Iranian campaign against PJAK was said to have intensified in early September in wake of the downing of an IRGC helicopter in which seven officers were killed. The casualties included a senior IRGC Army commander, sent to oversee a counter-insurgency mission against PJAK. Soon after the helicopter downing, Safavi was dismissed as commander of IRGC.

On Sept. 24, tensions escalated along the Iranian-Iraqi border as Teheran closed border installations to Kurdistan. Officials said the Iranian closure was meant to protest the U.S. military detention of a suspected IRGC officer in Suleimaniya on Sept. 20.

Iraqi President Jalal Talabani has demanded the release of the Iranian. Talabani said the Iranian was a member of a trade delegation to Kurdistan.

"That is a humiliation for the regional administration," Talabani said in a message to U.S. military commander Gen. David Petraeus said. "You ignored our authority. I ask for his immediate release in order to maintain healthy relations between Iran and Kurdistan and for the prosperity of Kurdistan."

Sure, as we wave goodbye, you graceless, arrogant, moron.