Tough moves on Iranians and Syrians in Iraq planned

[Barrett808]

Tough moves on Iranians and Syrians in Iraq planned
By Paul Richter, Times Staff Writer
January 11, 2007

WASHINGTON — U.S. forces will step up their offensive against Iranians and Syrians in Iraq as part of President Bush's new plan for the country, American officials said Wednesday, in a step likely to further inflame Washington's relationship with Tehran.

U.S. officials contend that Iran and Syria have been allowing militants to enter Iraq from their territory, and accuse Tehran of providing arms, money and training to Shiite Muslim militias. In his speech laying out the plan, Bush bluntly warned the two countries that American forces would "disrupt" their activities and said he was sending U.S. warships to the region.

"We will interrupt the flow of support from Iran and Syria," Bush said. "And we will seek out and destroy the networks providing advanced weaponry and training to our enemies in Iraq."

Bush administration documents describing the plan say Iran "has been cultivating influence in Iraq through all means at its disposal." The documents describe the aggressive new administration policy as a "key operational shift" for the U.S.

The papers say Syrian actions pose "less of a strategic threat to Iraq than the Iranian actions" but compound the challenges faced by the fledgling Iraqi government.

(more)

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-usiran11jan11,0,7478370.story?coll=la-home-nation

[underpants]

1. Does this include the airport Iran built near Najaf?

:shrug:

[Kagemusha]

2. What advanced weaponry?...

IED's are brutally simple.

[Cessna Invesco Palin]

3. Right.

That's gonna make everything better.

[maryallen]

4. "Little Napoleon" isn't satisfied with one Waterloo ...

[kineneb]

5. thinking this may be more like Stalingrad... n/t