Originally posted by makeitso

Originally posted by Edn
And I thought the US was there to help Iraq, it seams they don't give a dam what the Iraqi government wants.

Well, thats strange. I dont see anything in the article you linked that says Iraq was upset about it.

Perhaps I can help you with that.

Mithal Alusi, a member of the (Iraqi) National Parliament, charged that the detainees were Iranian intelligence officers involved in terrorist activities in northern Iraq. He insisted that they did not have diplomatic status.

U.S. raids in northern Iraq nab several Iranians

Funny you should pick out that paragraph from that article, riped out on its own its paints a very different picture but lets read some other parts of the article shall we.

Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshayr Zebari called the U.S. raids "very, very embarrassing." One resulted in the arrest of legitimate Iranian diplomats and the second nearly triggered a gunfight between American and local Iraqi security forces, he said.

...

Iraqi Foreign Minister Zebari, however, told McClatchy Newspapers that the Iranian office had operated in Irbil for more than 10 years and the Iranians were in Iraq legally. "This is very, very embarrassing," he said. "The Iraqi government was aware of who was in that office."

Later Thursday, U.S. forces staged a second raid, attempting to enter Irbil airport and abduct a group of unidentified individuals, he said.

Members of a Kurdish paramilitary force known as peshmerga confronted the Americans when they refused to identify themselves, and a gun battle was narrowly averted "at the 11th hour," said Zebari.

He said U.S. Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad told him that the first raid was aimed at people who were trying to harm U.S. troops. Khalilzad said he was unaware of the operation at the airport.

I'm sorry but Bush and his troops are playing a very dangerous game, there deliberately keeping the Iraqi government out of the loop on some of there operations, not to mention Bush needs a reality check, more troops and more aggressive stratagys is no way to stabilize a country, how do I know? Britain has been fighting in Ireland for 20 years and know how this kind of situation needs to be handled, and raiding buildings and abducting people doesn't help at all.

Mithal Alusi, a member of the (Iraqi) National Parliament, charged that the detainees were Iranian intelligence officers involved in terrorist activitiesin northern Iraq. He insisted that they did not have diplomatic status.

U.S. raids in northern Iraq nab several Iranians

MULTI-NATIONAL FORCE-IRAQ
COMBINED PRESS INFORMATION CENTER
BAGHDAD, Iraq – Coalition Forces continue investigations into the activities of five Iranian nationals detained in Irbil on Jan. 11. Preliminary results revealed the five detainees are connected to the Iranian Revolutionary Guard – Qods Force (IRGC-QF), an organization known for providing funds, weapons, improvised explosive device technology and training to extremist groups attempting to destabilize the Government of Iraq and attack Coalition forces.

The facility in which the detention took place has been described by various Iraqi officials as an Iranian liaison office, but it did not enjoy the diplomatic status of a consulate according to Iraqi and U.S. officials.

Mezzanine
And even if the men who were caught were helping to train the insurgency, this country has a legal obligation to release them, no matter what.

Mezzanine
The law is the law, and it needs to be respected.

IRANIAN ARRESTED IN ERBIL IS WANTED IN AUSTRIA

Tehran, 17 Jan. (AKI) - One of the five Iranians arrested last week by the US army in the northern Iraqi city of Erbil is wanted in Austria in connection with the assassination of Kurdish leader Andol Rahman Ghassemlu in 1989. Mahommad Jaafari Sharoudi was one of five Iranian officials detained last week in the Kurdish-controlled city on charges of being connected to a faction of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard, the Pasdaran, that funds and arms insurgents in Iraq.

According to the Austrian police, the killers escaped arrest by hiding in Iran's embassy in Vienna.