Iran-Iraq Link

This article is from the Wall Street Journal online.

It is becoming increasingly apparent that Iran is the motivating force behind the insurgent activity in Iraq. Had there not been this rash of insurgent led violence then I think the national view of Mr. Bush's Iraqi policy would be different. My question is why are the Iranians doing this? The conclusion I am led to draw points to radical Islamic dogma, which is very bad for the rest of us. Radical Islam says that eventually everyone in the world will be either Muslim or dead.

What happens when the U.S. retreats from Iraq? I am certain there are people who feel that Iraq will mimic Vietnam when U.S. presence goes away (that is to say they close their borders and come to some quiescient political state of equilibrium) but I am not so sure. I think radical Islamic terrorist across the world will be embolden by this and intensify their attacks on Jewish/Christian/Hindu/Budhist religious persons. And no, radical Islam is not just concerned with right-wing religious fundamentalist in the west, much to the chagrin of left-wing liberal pundits.




Iran's Smoking Guns
Now Austrian sniper rifles show up in Iraq.

Friday, February 16, 2007 12:01 a.m. EST

Following the weekend intelligence disclosures about Iranian-supplied weapons killing GIs in Iraq, we predicted Tuesday

So here is the state of our public discourse: American military officials present prima facie evidence of Iranian weapons implicated in killing 170 U.S. soldiers and wounding 600 more, and Washington's main concern is not for the GIs but in refighting the last intelligence war.

Well, here's an item that doesn't seem to have been manufactured by Dick Cheney. According to a report in Britain's Daily Telegraph, U.S. forces in Baghdad have recently discovered 100 high-powered sniper rifles made by Austrian gun-maker Steyr-Mannlicher. The .50-caliber Steyr can accurately fire an armor-piercing round at a range of 1,500 meters. The weapon is good against Humvees, helicopters and body armor.

In 2004, Iran purchased some 800 Steyrs, allegedly for use against drug traffickers. At the time, both U.S. and British officials urged the Austrian government to bar the $15 million sale, fearing the weapons would fall into enemy hands. Former Austrian Chancellor Wolfang Schüssel thought otherwise, and let the deal go forward. To better grease the skids, then-Steyr-Mannlicher CEO Wolfgang Fürlinger made the case that the weapons were basically harmless and that Tehran had signed "end-user certificates" guaranteeing they would not be re-sold, according to the German newsweekly Der Spiegel.

Today, the Austrian government pleads that the sale had been "checked very thoroughly," and that "what happened to the weapons . . . is the responsibility of the Iranians"--which prompts the question of why the Austrians would have bothered with the end-user certificates. The Bush Administration took a less cavalier view and in 2005 banned Steyr-Mannlicher from bidding for U.S. government contracts.

It remains to be confirmed whether the serial numbers on the Steyrs found in Iraq match those from the 2004 sale--if they do, it ought to prompt a top-to-bottom review of all Austrian military contracts. Meantime, is it too much to expect American journalists and Members of Congress to devote as much skepticism to Iran's motives and behavior as they do to Mr. Bush's?