The Botched US Raid That Led To The UK's Hostage Crisis With Iran
The Independent is reporting that a botched U.S. raid led to the UK's Hostage Crisis with Iran.
The article takes a long time to access, but it is worth reading, if you can get it to download. The article suggests that a January 11th raid inside Iraq and embarked upon without informing local Kurdish authorities has devolved into the current crisis. Led by US forces to capture five "relatively junior Iranian officials whom the US accuse of being intelligence agents and still holds" - the article indicates that this event, which was much more serious than world media has portrayed, was the "starting pistol" for the new crisis.
In effect, the capture of vulnerable British forces were in retaliation for this US action. The US had attempted to capture two high-ranking Iranian security officers who were to openly meet with Iraqi leaders. The paper suggests that this would have been the same circumstance as Iran trying to capture the heads of the CIA and MI6 while they were on an official visit to a country neighboring Iran, such as Pakistan or Afghanistan.
In addition, it was indicated that US justifications for the attempted capture of these officials made no sense. The US alleged that the officials were "suspected of being closely tied to activities targeting Iraq and coalition forces," yet no member of the US-led coalition had been killed in the region (Arbil) and there were no Sunni-Arab insurgents or Shia militiamen there. The raid had been attempted just hours before President Bush made a speech attacking Iran for "providing material support for attacks on American troops." According to one of the targeted Iranian officials, Mohammed Jafari, the powerful deputy head of the Iranian National Security Council, "Almost all who [are] involved in the suicide attacks are from Arab countries." His point was, that there had only been one Iranian amongst all suicide bombers in Iraq, meaning that he thought that Iran could not be providing material support for the attacks.
The Independent's article suggests that this botched attempted abduction of Iranian officials in Iraq on official business and meeting, on the record, with Iraqi officials, was a far more "seirous and aggressive act . . . not carried out by proxies but by US forces directly." This raid "provoked a dangerous escalation in the confrontation between the US and Iran which ultimately led to the capture of the 15 British sailors and Marines - apparently considered a more vulnerable coalition target than their American comrades."
The article takes a long time to access, but it is worth reading, if you can get it to download. The article suggests that a January 11th raid inside Iraq and embarked upon without informing local Kurdish authorities has devolved into the current crisis. Led by US forces to capture five "relatively junior Iranian officials whom the US accuse of being intelligence agents and still holds" - the article indicates that this event, which was much more serious than world media has portrayed, was the "starting pistol" for the new crisis.
In effect, the capture of vulnerable British forces were in retaliation for this US action. The US had attempted to capture two high-ranking Iranian security officers who were to openly meet with Iraqi leaders. The paper suggests that this would have been the same circumstance as Iran trying to capture the heads of the CIA and MI6 while they were on an official visit to a country neighboring Iran, such as Pakistan or Afghanistan.
In addition, it was indicated that US justifications for the attempted capture of these officials made no sense. The US alleged that the officials were "suspected of being closely tied to activities targeting Iraq and coalition forces," yet no member of the US-led coalition had been killed in the region (Arbil) and there were no Sunni-Arab insurgents or Shia militiamen there. The raid had been attempted just hours before President Bush made a speech attacking Iran for "providing material support for attacks on American troops." According to one of the targeted Iranian officials, Mohammed Jafari, the powerful deputy head of the Iranian National Security Council, "Almost all who [are] involved in the suicide attacks are from Arab countries." His point was, that there had only been one Iranian amongst all suicide bombers in Iraq, meaning that he thought that Iran could not be providing material support for the attacks.
The Independent's article suggests that this botched attempted abduction of Iranian officials in Iraq on official business and meeting, on the record, with Iraqi officials, was a far more "seirous and aggressive act . . . not carried out by proxies but by US forces directly." This raid "provoked a dangerous escalation in the confrontation between the US and Iran which ultimately led to the capture of the 15 British sailors and Marines - apparently considered a more vulnerable coalition target than their American comrades."
posted by polemistry at 10:07 PM
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