The report accuses Iran of supplying shoulder fired missiles specifically to al-Qaeda. However Abu Musab al-Zaqawi’s recent video demonstrated primitive rockets. However there are guided shoulder fire missiles in use by the insurgency there. What groups exactly are using them is hard to tell. I’m a bit gun shy of these claims lately. These missiles could come from any of a number of nations in the region. Given that Iran has in interest chaos in Iraq. We are already in a “cold war” type situation with Iran. Just who they supplied them to and where they went from there is open for debate. However the fact remains that since these devices have been in use in Iraq the danger to US choppers have increased considerably.

Iran Focus :London, May 13 – Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) had provided the insurgent group al-Qaeda in Iraq heavy weapons including anti-aircraft missiles, it emerged on Friday.

The Iraqi daily az-Zaman which is published in London and Baghdad quoted credible Iraqi sources as revealing that the IRGC had given al-Qaeda in Iraq, Strela-type SAM-7 surface-to-air missiles, modern explosives, and a large number of personnel arms including Kalashnikovs and BKC machineguns.

Al-Qaeda in Iraq is believed to be led by Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, who is on the United StatesÂ’ wanted list.

The report said that representatives of al-ZarqawiÂ’s group met in Beirut with members of the Iran-backed Lebanese group Hezbollah and through them established channels with Tehran.

Three close aides to al-Zarqawi travelled to Iran via a security checkpoint in the Iraqi border province of al-Amara from where they met with Iranian officials, the report added.

The United States and Iraqi officials have accused IranÂ’s radical Islamic government of sending agents and arms into Iraq to assist the insurgency.

CHRON : The U.S. command also said American soldiers and helicopters conducted four raids over the weekend in the Triangle of Death, killing 16 suspected al-Qaida insurgents, including one militant who allegedly had led the April 1 attack, during which two U.S. soldiers were killed when their AH-64 Apache helicopter was shot down in the Youssifiyah area.

After that attack, a new al-Qaida group claimed responsibility and posted a gruesome video on the Web showing men dragging the burning body of what appeared to be an American soldier across a field as they shouted "Allahu akbar!" or "God is great!"

al-Qaeda Video claim showing our beloved pilots body being abused. (Personal note why this man's name was read on the New Hour on PBS it touched me as I had reported on his death and abuse)

Also See Iraq the Model.

Wikipedia entry on Strela missiles which are the Russian equivalent of the American Stinger.

al-Qeada claims shootdown of civilian chopper.

Why did Zarqawi chose to show the less technical Palestinian junk in this video?

The safest is that Iran and other nations have supplied some numbers of these missiles and each “insurgent group” through horse trading have acquired them in limited numbers. Iran is the primary suspect and it’s safe to assume that al-Qaeda has a few or releases shoot down incidents done by other groups and takes credit to create the perception they are more powerful than they are. I suspect Shia militia and Sunni groups also have these and also have an interest in being sure that al-Qaeda gets all the credit/blame. You can however be absolutely sure these things are deadly dangerous to our men and women in Iraq.

Note:The recent shoot down of a British Chopper took place in Basra, a Shia controlled area. My opinion is that the hoax video was sent to the family as a terrorist act. However a comment on the Jawa Report brought up the possibility that one group is trying to make the others look bad. A possibility I discounted at first but carries a lot more weight with me now.

Truman's Law says

If you can't convince them, confuse them

Posted by: Howie at 08:33 AM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
Post contains 688 words, total size 5 kb.