munaeem | 18 January, 2007 16:03
While the United States and its Coalition partners have been focusing on countering the Sunni-led insurgency, the Shiite militias have grown not only in social, political and military strength, but also in external backing. Although rumors circulated at the onset of the U.S. invasion of Iraq that Iran was aligning itself with the political parties in Kurdish and Shiite populated areas, little examination let alone counter actions were taken to validate the claims. Since then, Iran's presence in Iraq has only grown. Last week, for instance, five Iranians were arrested in the Iraqi city of Irbil for suspected ties to the Iranian Revolutionary Guard - Qods Force (IRGC-QF).
In keeping with the official U.S. policy toward Iran, the Coalition's position on the activities of the IRGC is that it has been providing funds, weapons, improvised explosive device technology and training to extremist groups attempting to destabilize the government of Iraq and attack Coalition forces. If, in fact, the reality of the growing sectarian violence in Iraq becomes a full-scale civil war, as many experts have suggested, a thorough analysis of external forces operating behind the political and personal militias, such as Moqtada al-Sadr's Mahdi Army and the Badr Brigade, must be taken for the Bush administration's new "surge" tactic to be effective.
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