April 30, 2006

Iran Invaded Iraq

Iran sent troops across the Iraqi border three miles towards Haj Oman nine days ago, where Kurdish opposition bases itself for its efforts to unseat the mullahcracy in Teheran:

Teheran has attacked an anti-Iranian Kurdish group based in Iraq, it emerged yesterday, raising fears that instability there could spill over into the rest of the region.

Iraq's defence ministry said more than 180 artillery shells were fired and Iranian troops crossed three miles into Iraqi territory before withdrawing.

The incursion, which occurred on April 21, came after Iranian claims that a number of attacks had been conducted against Iranian army and Revolutionary Guard posts in recent weeks.

They are accused of operating from bases around Haj Oman, which was the centre of the Iranian attack. Four peopile were said to have been wounded.

Interesting. Apparently Iran does not want to make friends with Iraq as much as they want to stir up trouble. The Iraqi population recalls the war between the two nations all too well, and an Iranian attack on their people for any reason will tend to solidify their distrust of the radical mullahcracy. If the Iraqis believe that Iran presents that great of a threat, it will do more for Iraqi unity than anything else in the past three years. The mullahs may have done the US a favor.

What could the Iranians be thinking? The Pejak cannot be anything more than a nuisance at this point; they have no financing thanks to their connections to the PKK. All they have are small arms and ethnic relations with a minority inside Persian Iran. The West would find it pleasing if the Pejak could build influence inside Iran in order to destabilize the rule of the mullahs, but it seemed a rather remote possibility until Iran decided to invade Iraq over their provocatoins.

The Iranians are playing a dangerous game, and not just with the Iraqis. One has to wonder why the Iranians seem so determined to provoke a military reaction from the US. It looks like they want an excuse to launch an attack on Israel without appearing to be the aggressor. They may want to provoke an attack by Israel itself in order to launch its desired war on the Jewish state. Expect the Iranians to keep increasing their provocations.

Posted by Ed Morrissey on April 30, 2006 9:04 PM | Comments ()

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Ed Morrissey has blogged at Captain's Quarters since 2003, and has a daily radio show at BlogTalkRadio, where he serves as Political Director. Called "Captain Ed" by his readers, Ed is a father and grandfather living in the Twin Cities area of Minnesota, a native Californian who moved to the North Star State because of the weather.

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