Karbala kidnapping done by Iranian agents?

I ran into alot of blogs writing about the possibility that the kidnapping and killing of 5 American soliders in Karbala last week was done by Iranian agents. Possibly in retaliation for the American raid on the Iranian "compound" in Kurdistan some time ago.

billroggio.com...

And it makes sense...

-The operation was extremely sophisticated and well rehearsed. As the attackers had fake uniforms, equipment, identification, and even spoke english and drove GMC SUVs like that of American officials and contractors. And once inside the attackers attacked only the American troops inside and did not engage anyone else.

-Inside job? They knew the American troops where there to meet with the local police. And obviously they knew about the number of troops there as well as the attackers only numbered in 12.

-Once being chased by Iraqi police they abandoned the vehicles east of Karbala possibly escaping towards Iran.

-And this is done deep deep inside the heart of Shia terrirtory. So this is highly unlikely work of Al Qaeda or Sunni insurgents.

So the sophistication, preparations they attacks had done, and good level of intelligence they had about the meeting means more likely than not it is probably work of Iranian intelligence. Because there is almost no possbility that this is done by anyone other than Shias with good connections deep into Iraqi government and police. And the Mahdi Army is a part of the political mess in Iraq so it has no reason to go to such extremes to kill a few Americans in such a complicated matter. It could simply have done so in there usual clashes, and doing this would also risk possible reprisals on it and I doubt Al Sadr would risk that. It is clear also that this is not the work of any insurgents as the $$ needed for the equipment they had to accomplish this mission could have easily been invested towards IEDs if they were insurgents and could have caused many more casualties. Imagine suicide vehicle borned IEDs with the American looking SUVs they had.

So looks like brinksmenship with Iran is going up a notch or two. I would think US intelligence will counter this by raiding all suspected Iranian intelligence agents. And it makes sense as it was recently reported that Bush authorized the killing of suspected agents.

www.washingtonpost.com...

But I'm sure this is nothing new as I believe it is completely legal by Geneva conventions to kill enemy forces who dont declare themselves as enemy combatants. Think of WWII during the Battle of the Bulge when German inflitrators speaking english and with American uniforms and dog tags crossed the lines to conduct sabotage and all of them were later immediately executed.


[edit on 29-1-2007 by pilotshinjiikaru]

It could also be a clever ploy to get America up in arms about Iran. This would play right into the hands of the PNAC and their expansionary minions. Go back and look at The Grand Chessboard.

Originally posted by polanksi
It could also be a clever ploy to get America up in arms about Iran. This would play right into the hands of the PNAC and their expansionary minions. Go back and look at The Grand Chessboard.

If it is then I would imagine its done by Iranian forces. Shias in Iraq dont want a American Iranian confrontation. And the Shias would never cooperate with Sunni forces to raid American forces especially in the restive Shia regions fearing possible reprisals by American forces. And you couldn't have done this unless you had people deep deep inside the regional government in Karbala. And like I said this was well planned in advanced and as they knew where to go, and probably how many American troops were there.

And in one report I read when asked why the Iraqi police at the compound never fought back or intervened they said they "assumed it was Americans fighting each other" very convenient for them what would be the odds of that? American throwing grenades at eachother and killing eachother and then kidnapping eachother.

[edit on 29-1-2007 by pilotshinjiikaru]

From the 'facts' I have been able to gather surrounding this event I am under the impression that it was carried out by an intelligence angency.
Which intelligence agency is the question.
Iran is definately a possibility, but I can think of a few others as well.

Judging by the degree of coordination, the equipment, the intell and the precision, I would say that the short list of candidates can be narrowed significantly.

Bravo, I'm guessing that the Mossad could be on that list. Clearly the US govt wants a reason to attack Iran. It would be preferable if they could get the people on board. The PNAC layed this all out in 1999.

Well, look it here seems Time magazine feels the same way.

www.time.com...

From Time Magazine
Some Iraqis speculate that the IRGC has already started a campaign of revenge with the killing of five American soldiers in Karbala on Jan. 20, nine days after the arrest of the IRGC members in Erbil. As the logic of the rumor goes, five American soldiers were killed for five Iranians taken; Karbala was an IRGC message to release its colleagues — or else.

Do I read that correctly?
Does it say 'as the logic of the rumor goes'?

What does that mean?

Lets look at this with atleast a rumor of logic shall we?
I try to avoid the 'logic of the rumor' if I can.

Would anybody else benefit from perpatrating this act?
Would anybody benefit from an escalation in the middle east?