O-6: No question about Iran role in violenceBy William H. McMichael - Staff writer
Posted : Tuesday May 13, 2008 21:27:27 EDT
A former adviser to the top U.S. general in Iraq said Tuesday there is absolutely no doubt that Iran is supplying arms and training for insurgents who are killing U.S. troops in Iraq and that news organizations should stop using the qualifying word “alleged” to describe it.
“In the case of what Iran is doing in Iraq, it is so damned obvious to anybody who wants to look into it,” said Army Col. H.R. McMaster, speaking at a Washington, D.C., forum at the American Enterprise Institute. Iran’s intention, he said, is to destabilize the Iraqi government despite public pronouncements of support.
“I think it’s fairly clear that what Iran has done over the last year is try to develop a considerable latent capability that it can turn on at short notice,” said McMaster, a veteran of combat command in Iraq who spent the past year as an adviser to Army Gen. David Petraeus.
McMaster also said that the Iraqi thwarting of the recent uprising in Basra, which officials have said involved significant Iranian backing, may have spoiled a larger regional destabilization effort.
It is possible, McMaster said, “that this bold, very quick action by the prime minister in Basra foiled what was to be, perhaps, a much larger and coordinated effort — maybe even coordinated with efforts in other places in the region, like what’s been happening right now in Lebanon.”
Rest of article at:
http://www.armytimes.com/news/2008/05/military_mcmaster_iran_051308/