Iraqis: Hezbollah Trained Shiite Militants

2 Lawmakers, Army Officer Say Iran Backing Group Training Fighters To Gain Influence

(AP)  Hezbollah instructors trained Shiite militiamen at remote camps in southern Iraq until three months ago when they slipped across the border to Iran - presumably to continue instruction on Iranian soil, according to two Shiite lawmakers and a top army officer.

The three Iraqis claim the Lebanese Shiites were also involved in planning some of the most brazen attacks against U.S.-led forces, including the January 2007 raid on a provincial government compound in Karbala in which five Americans died.

The allegations, made in separate interviews with The Associated Press, point not only to an Iranian hand in the Iraq war, but also to Hezbollah's willingness to expand beyond its Lebanese base and assume a broader role in the struggle against U.S. influence in the Middle East.

All this suggests that Shiite-dominated Iran is waging a proxy war against the United States to secure a dominant role in majority-Shiite Iraq, which has supplanted Lebanon as Tehran's top priority in the Middle East.

"The stakes are much higher in Iraq, where there is a Shiite majority, oil, the shrine cities and borders with Saudi Arabia," said analyst Farid al-Khazen, a Christian Lebanese lawmaker whose party is allied with Hezbollah.

"The big story is Iraq, and the Americans unwittingly opened it up for the Iranians" by their invasion in 2003, al-Khazen said.

The allegations come as the United States and Iran are engaged in a showdown over Tehran's nuclear program and each country's role in Iraq.

Iran, Hezbollah's mentor, denies giving any support to Shiite extremists in Iraq.

But the three Iraqis who spoke to the AP said the Iranians prefer to use Hezbollah instructors because as Arabs, they can communicate better with the Iraqi Shiites and maintain a lower profile than Farsi-speakers from Iran.

For Hezbollah, a high-risk role in Iraq could give the Lebanese movement leverage with the United States and broaden its appeal within the Arab world where anti-American sentiment remains strong.

Iraqi officials have said little about a Hezbollah role in this country. However, President Jalal Talabani told U.S.-funded Alhurra television this week that "there have been several occasions" when Hezbollah members or those who "claim to belong to Hezbollah" have been detained in Iraq.

He gave no further details.

But the two Iraqi lawmakers and the military officer said Hezbollah instructors work only with members of the Iraqi Shiite "special groups," the U.S. military's name for splinter factions of anti-American cleric Muqtada al-Sadr's Mahdi Army militia. The U.S. believes that Iran's elite Quds Force, a branch of Iran's Revolutionary Guard, supports the special groups.

All three Iraqis spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not supposed to release the information.

The lawmakers belong to al-Sadr's movement and were involved in the creation of the Mahdi Army in 2003. The military officer's job gives him access to highly classified intelligence information.

They said Hezbollah began training Shiite militiamen in the second half of 2006 at two camps - Deir and Kutaiban - east of Basra near the Iranian border. They fled across the border in late March or early April this year after U.S.-backed Iraqi forces launched a crackdown against militias in Basra, Iraq's second-largest city.

In Iran, training resumed in camps once used by Iraqi exiles who fought with Iranian forces during the 1980s war between the two countries, the lawmakers said. Instruction includes explosives, ambushes and use of rockets and mortars.

Citing testimony from special groups members in custody, the officer said the Hezbollah instructors never numbered more than 10 at any one time, kept a low profile and moved back and forth over the Iranian border.

Indications that Hezbollah was playing a role in Iraq first surfaced last July when the U.S. military announced the arrest of Ali Musa Daqduq, a Lebanese-born Hezbollah operative allegedly training Iraqi Shiite militiamen.

At least one other Hezbollah operative, identified only as Faris, was detained in Basra during fighting there in April and was handed over to the Americans, the Iraqi military officer said.

The U.S. military has said little publicly about Hezbollah's involvement here since announcing Daqduq's arrest, though it has frequently alleged an Iranian role in arming, equipping and training Shiite extremists.

"At this point in time, we do not have any new, releasable information regarding Hezbollah's involvement with special groups in Iran and Iraq," a military spokesman, Capt. Charles Calio, said in an e-mail to the AP.

A Hezbollah spokesman in Beirut, Lebanon, refused to comment on any role for his organization.

However, Ibrahim al-Ameen, a Lebanese newspaper editor close to Hezbollah, said in a recent interview in Beirut that Hezbollah's leader, Sheik Hassan Nasrallah, spends several hours daily dealing with "the situation in Iraq."

Nasrallah, who studied Shiite theology in Iraq, spoke at length about Iraqi "resistance" during a speech last May that analysts believed was aimed at bolstering his image as a godfather of Arab opposition to the United States and Israel throughout the Middle East.

Beside its alleged role in Iraq, Hezbollah is known to have ties to the Palestinian militant Hamas group. The charismatic Nasrallah has become a sort of folk hero in the mostly Sunni Arab world after his guerrillas fought Israeli forces to a standstill in a 34-day war in 2006.

A senior Western diplomat based in the Middle East said his government has information suggesting a growing Hezbollah interest in events in Iraq. However, the diplomat would say no more and insisted on anonymity because the subject is so sensitive.

Hezbollah's possible role in direct attacks against U.S.-led forces is murkier and more explosive.

The two Iraqi lawmakers said Hezbollah operatives planned and supervised both the Karbala attack and the brazen daylight kidnapping of five British nationals from a Finance Ministry compound in Baghdad in May 2007. The Britons are still being held.

In the Karbala attack, English-speaking militants wearing American uniforms and carrying American weapons stormed the compound, killing one U.S. soldier and abducting four. The four were later found dead.

A senior Mahdi Army commander in Baghdad, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the information, said Hezbollah's operations in Iraq had been supervised by Imad Mughniyeh, a top commander of the guerrilla group killed in a car bomb in Syria last February.

The shadowy figure was suspected of a role in the 1983 bombing of the U.S. Marine barracks in Beirut and the 1992 attack on the Israeli Embassy in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

[neo267-2009]

The Liberals and the News Media handed Iraq to Iran by undermining "the war" THE LIBERATION OF IRAQ from the very beginning. The real enemies are here.

[bluestardad]

MORE BUSHIT

WANT SOME KOOL AID?

[reptilian96]

BRIT HUME, HOST: It has been more than 16 years since a civilian working for the Navy was charged with passing secrets to Israel. Jonathan Pollard pled guilty to conspiracy to commit espionage and is serving a life sentence. At first, Israeli leaders claimed Pollard was part of a rogue operation, but later took responsibility for his work.



Now Fox News has learned some U.S. investigators believe that there are Israelis again very much engaged in spying in and on the U.S., who may have known things they didn''t tell us before September 11. Fox News correspondent Carl Cameron has details in the first of a four-part series

[mcvet]

The Liberals and the News Media handed Iraq to Iran by undermining "the war" THE LIBERATION OF IRAQ from the very beginning. The real enemies are here.

Posted by Neo267 at 06:10 AM : Jul 02, 2008
+ report abuse

ROFLMAO You PATHETIC BOOTLICKERS are UNBELIEVABLE!! ROFLMAO Sparky the "war" with Iraq was SO screwed up and the management of if SO INCOMPETENT it was LOST long before anyone turned against it... long before the FIRST LIE was revealed! You Pathetic LOSERS HAVE to have someone to blame, certainly can''t blame that rediculous piece of HUMAN TRASH you call a President now can you?? We INVADED a Nation for NO REASON.. ABSOLUTELY NONE, being told by EVERY friend we had in the WORLD that THIS would happen and these rediculous belly crawling Nazi''s blame... the "MEDIA"?? It''s AMAZING!! Sieg Heil Bush. Sparky you are NOT the sharpest tool in the old shed.. NOT EVEN CLOSE!!

[mcvet]

The Liberals and the News Media handed Iraq to Iran by undermining "the war" THE LIBERATION OF IRAQ from the very beginning. The real enemies are here.

Posted by Neo267 at 06:10 AM : Jul 02, 2008
+ report abuse

ROFLMAO You PATHETIC BOOTLICKERS are UNBELIEVABLE!! ROFLMAO Sparky the "war" with Iraq was SO screwed up and the management of if SO INCOMPETENT it was LOST long before anyone turned against it... long before the FIRST LIE was revealed! You Pathetic LOSERS HAVE to have someone to blame, certainly can''t blame that rediculous piece of HUMAN TRASH you call a President now can you?? We INVADED a Nation for NO REASON.. ABSOLUTELY NONE, being told by EVERY friend we had in the WORLD that THIS would happen and these rediculous belly crawling Nazi''s blame... the "MEDIA"?? It''s AMAZING!! Sieg Heil Bush. Sparky you are NOT the sharpest tool in the old shed.. NOT EVEN CLOSE!!

[petro49l]

Why should Al Qada fight and die for Bin Laden? He sits sated by Saudi money and his thirst for Al Qada blood. They fight a war for their land, but repaid in treachery. Osama wants a high death toll as proof of their martyrdom. His goal is international sympathy and to proclaim himself a god. Bin Laden takes advantage of this war for his own good. He seeks only political power and financial strength.

[docpeter-2009]

Posted by anon00 at 06:07 AM : Jul 02, 2008, "Doesn''''t the news lately--training Shiite militiamen on Iranian soil, Iranian nuclear "weapons of mass destruction", etc.--feel like the same brainwashing that led up to the Iraqi invasion?"

Yes, but you left out the part from the first sentence in the above story, "Hezbollah instructors trained Shiite militiamen at remote camps in southern Iraq until three months ago..."

Remember folks, this was occurring under the watchful eye of the invading army(ies).

Yeppers, we are winning the war in Iraq. Now onto Iran, especially if McCain is elected.

[babooph]

How about we hire Hezbala to train the Iraqi puppet forces-they seem to be so much more effective than the trillions the US middle class will pay in future taxes-the US propaganda system can use its usual lies to call it something else.

[mbcsmith]

LIBS just don''t get it! Amazing and disgusting what support the Iranian terrorists have among the American LIBS.

[mcvet]

LIBS just don''''t get it! Amazing and disgusting what support the Iranian terrorists have among the American LIBS.

Posted by mbcsmith at 08:45 AM : Jul 02, 2008
+ report abuse

You POOR stupid Bootlickers... YOU have NO excuses for the INCOMPETENCE of George W. Bush! You have NO ONE to blame when you look at the Massive amount of LIES told to the American People when CREATING this quagmire so what do you do?? YOU fall back on Old Joe McCarthy!! If you like I can pull up the speeches, the WARNINGS from ALL our friends to Sir Lies-A-Lot about this... Would that do a ground hugging bootlicker like yourself... Not likely but they are there!! What do we do now Bootlicker?? The REAL enemy, the Taliban and AL Queda, Sunni Arabs, have completely rebuilt and we''re in the middle of a fight between to factions of the Shiite in Iraq. Yeah you freaks are great a these things aren''t you?? NOT!! Now stand... let Shooter and the Gestapo know you''ll follow the Fuhrer to the Bunker!! ROFLMAO Sieg Heil Bush! Dumb as DIRT folks.....

[mcvet]

Why should Al Qada fight and die for Bin Laden? He sits sated by Saudi money and his thirst for Al Qada blood. They fight a war for their land, but repaid in treachery. Osama wants a high death toll as proof of their martyrdom. His goal is international sympathy and to proclaim himself a god. Bin Laden takes advantage of this war for his own good. He seeks only political power and financial strength.

Posted by Petro49L at 07:58 AM : Jul 02, 2008
+ report abuse

Wow! Sure sounds a lot like the FRAUD we call a President doesn''t he?? SIEG HEIL BUSH!!

[mbcsmith]

Posted by MCVet at 08:54 AM : Jul 02, 2008

Like I said, amazing and disgusting.

[singingrick]

Bush either ignored or fired everyone who told him that invading Iraq would unleash civil war and empower Iran.

His own father stayed out of Baghdad for this very reason.

[barocalto]

SIEG HEIL!!
Posted by MCVet

MCVet you are a closet Nazi. I notice out of respect you always capitalize all your 3rd Reich statements.

Come on MCVet come on out of the closet you''ll feel better and most everyone already knows it.

[barocalto]

"We''ve got to make sure that people who have more money help the people who have less money."

Barack Hussein Obama

[floydzepp2]

Sounds like more Bush Propaganda to me. I don''t believe it.

[floydzepp2]

"We''ve got to make sure that people who have more money help the people who have less money."

President Shrub, when he passed out welfare stimulus checks about a month ago.

[barocalto]

I don''''t believe it.
Posted by FloydZepp
..............................

You don''t believe what that one Arab group will teach another Arab group how to kill Jews... Where have you been the last several thousand years. It won''t matter if Israel was only 100 sq yards the Arab''s would still try and drive the Jews out. So I don''t know what you don''t believe.

[barocalto]

Barack Obama was born of Communist activists, mentored by a communist writer and activist, spent his college days hanging around radical activists, worked as a radical community organizer learning the radical tactics of Alinsky, kept contact with radicals through the years, attends a radical church, and today lends his political skill to the international goals of radical activists, and has radicals working on for his campaign.

[barocalto]

stimulus checks about a month ago.
Posted by FloydZepp2

,,,,,,
The only check you''ll get from Obama is.....

"check out his 401K and see how much we can take for Reparations."

[docpeter-2009]

Posted by anon00 at 09:01 AM : Jul 02, 2008, "(Before you comment, think about this possibility. Should we trust our "leaders" [i.e. Bush & Co.]? No? Then, maybe Islamic people shouldn''''t trust their "leaders" either.)"

The problem with your logic is that it is flawed. Some here do NOT trust GWB or DC, but the terrorists do trust OBL one their "religious guides" that the will enter heaven and get their 72 virgins. Really, how many virgins are left there?

[docpeter-2009]

Posted by Barocalto at 09:55 AM : Jul 02, 2008, "MCVet you are a closet Nazi. I notice out of respect you always capitalize all your 3rd Reich statements."
____________________________

3rd Reich is a proper name and needs to be capitalized.

[von_marko]

Nancy Pelosi October 10, 2002
"Yes, he has chemical weapons. Yes, he has biological weapons. He is trying to get nuclear weapons."

[von_marko]

Bill Clinton February 17, 1998
"We have to defend our future from these predators of the 21st Century.... They will be all the more lethal if we allow them to build arsenals of nuclear, chemical, and biological weapons and the missiles to deliver them. We simply cannot allow that to happen. There is no more clear example of this threat than Saddam Hussein."

[von_marko]

Johnny Edwards February 6, 2003
"The question is whether we''re going to allow this man who''s been developing weapons of mass destruction continue to develop weapons of mass destruction, get nuclear capability and get to the place where -- if we''re going to stop him if he invades a country around him -- it''ll cost millions of lives as opposed to thousands of lives."

[latrocinor-2009]

By Lara Sukhtian, Associated Press | September 14, 2005

NEVE DEKALIM, Gaza Strip -- Palestinians looted dozens of greenhouses yesterday, walking off with irrigation hoses, water pumps, and plastic sheeting in a blow to fledgling efforts to reconstruct the Gaza Strip.

American Jewish donors had bought more than 3,000 greenhouses from Israeli settlers in Gaza for $14 million last month and transferred them to the Palestinian Authority. Former World Bank President James Wolfensohn, who brokered the deal, put up $500,000 of his own money.

Palestinian police watched yesterday as looters carried materials

[ajaxtheleast]

And now at the end of his illustrious

presidency with the astounding revelation

that some group is actually in Iraq training

those of the population''s "majority" that even

Dumbo must realize that not everyone jumps out

of the way of a well (oil well) intended

Super Canonball Express War Crime.

[ajmarine111]

a

[antoniof123]

Posted by von_marko at 10:57 AM : Jul 02, 2008

These have all admited they were wrong and mislead but the others oh yes the Republicans refuse to admit they were wrong.

Pride before the fall.

[feelfree4u]

Re: "Hezbollah instructors trained Shiite militiamen at remote camps in southern Iraq until three months ago when they slipped across the border to Iran - presumably to continue instruction on Iranian soil, according to two Shiite lawmakers and a top army officer."

Sounds like more nonsense.

If they "knew" that this was going on, then why didn''t they shut down these alleged camps? Why didn''t they stop them from "slipping" across the border?

Nope. Sounds like more excuses for why we are losing in Iraq, and trying to blame Iran for that failure, in an effort to justify another war of aggression against that country.

The current Iraqi "officials" are no more representative of the people of Iraq than Ahmad Chalabi was in the run-up to the illegal invasion.

These officials lack legitimacy, lack sovereignty, and lack popular support of the people of Iraq. They are collaborators, for the most part, with the brutal, shameful, and criminal invasion of Iraq, and when the U.S. is finally kicked out, their future is grim.

Besides, the people of Iraq have every right to defend themselves against the illegal invasion of their country, and if they choose to enlist the help of their neighbors in their defense, that is perfectly within their rights.

Good luck to them.

[floydzepp2]

I agree but this current batch of neo-cons(Bush/McCain) are about as far from core Republican ideals as you can get.

The neo-cons have hijacked the Republican party.

Posted by fedupwithit1 at 12:49 PM : Jul 02, 2008
----------

Exactly.

[latrocinor-2009]

Religious fanatics training other religious fanatics to fight for the "correct" interpretation and political implementaion of the correct religion.

Not a particularly new story.

[yongamerica]

Considering this information comes from Iraqis themselves gives more credibility to Iran''s proxy war against the US in Iraq. Weapons and shape charges with made in Iran, with current manufacture dates have been found repeatedly in country. The sudden sophistication of the insurgent attacks is an obvious indication that they have been trained in urban warfare.

It''s time to bring this war into the bedroom of Iranian political, religious and military leaders.

[feelfree4u]

Re: "Considering this information comes from Iraqis themselves gives more credibility to Iran''''s proxy war against the US in Iraq."

The people of Iraq want U.S.-led forces out of their country, and have for a long time. They are not nearly as concerned about the Iranians. why would they be?

Nothing that the Iraqi stooge collaborators claim carries any weight at all.

The illegal invasion of Iraq itself is what guaranteed that Iran would be more closely aligned with Iraq. Nobody should be surprised by this.

[randynason]

The U.S. has been involved in covert ops for decades and now, all of a sudden, we''re supposed to believe there is virtue in taking "the high road?" Get real and pis* off-

[deacon20081]

All three Iraqis spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not supposed to release the information....................

The propagana machine spins more tales and excuses.
Interesting the Iraqi sources are " anonymous "

[guadalcanal3]

Never did like the Shiites...Anybody who beats themselves with chains until they are bleeding profusly could be considered quite psycho..They were the ones who took our embassy people hostage in Iran...Now we know why Saddam kept them down...Not only were they a danger to his government but they are spiritually allied with Saddams arch-enemy Iran...By taking Saddam out of power and putting the Shiites in power we basically insured that Iran would move into the power vacume...Iran is a more lethal enemy to America than Iraq ever was. (the Iraqis never took our embassy people hostage.)The next time that Hezbollah attacks Israel we should do both Lebanon and Israel as well as ourselves a favor..WIPE THEM OUT.

[feelfree4u]

Re: "By taking Saddam out of power and putting the Shiites in power we basically insured that Iran would move into the power vacume.."

Posted by guadalcanal3

Agreed.

[feelfree4u]

%u201CWhy we stand for immediate withdrawal of all US troops from Iraq%u201D

%u201CTHE U.S. occupation of Iraq has not liberated the Iraqi people, but has made life worse for most Iraqis.%u201D

%u201CTens of thousands of U.S. service people have been killed or maimed, and hundreds of thousands of innocent Iraqis have lost their lives as a result of the U.S. invasion in 2003, the ongoing occupation, and the violence unleashed by them.%u201D

%u201CIraq''s infrastructure has been destroyed, and U.S. plans for reconstruction abandoned. There is less electricity, less clean drinking water, and more unemployment today than before the U.S. invasion.%u201D

%u201CAll of the justifications initially provided by the U.S. for waging war on Iraq have been exposed as lies; the real reasons for the invasion %u2014 to control Iraq''s oil reserves and to increase U.S. strategic influence in the region %u2014 now stand revealed.%u201D

%u201CThe Bush administration has insisted again and again that stability, democracy, and prosperity are around the next bend in the road%u2026But the U.S. has deliberately stoked sectarian divisions in its ongoing attempt to install a U.S.-friendly regime, thus driving Iraq towards civil war.%u201D

%u201CWe call on the U.S. to get out of Iraq %u2014 not in six months, not in a year, but now.%u201D

www.ipetitions.com/petition/OutNow

[latrocinor-2009]

%u201CWhy we stand for immediate withdrawal of all US troops from Iraq%u201D

Posted by FeelFree4U
...............

Who is this unspoken "WE" you refer to?

For all we know you are an agent of Al Queda, and since you fully bless the killing of US soldiers you probably are.

[noloyalisti]

I hope no one seriously believes this political propanganda presented by puppets of the American imperial operation.

[noloyalisti]

By the way, the We includes me and almost everyone I know who recognized this Iraq debacle as the biggest human tragedy of our lifetime. Mission Accomplished for the neo con men!

[alphaa10-2009]

With Bush oil buddies are ready to move in with contracts with the al Malaki government, Bush wants another alibi to attack Iran.

Although Iranian influence in Shia areas is inevitable, the story of the three Iraqis is most suspiciously timed.

Has anyone researched the background and connections of the three? The puzzle remains-- why should Shia figures testify against Iran?

As both Iran and Bush jockey for position with the al Malaki regime, Bush will grab for any pretext he can find. Even incredible ones.

[latrocinor-2009]

I hope no one seriously believes this political propanganda presented by puppets of the American imperial operation.

Posted by noloyalisti
....................

It sounds better than anything you have to offer. LOL!!

[latrocinor-2009]

By the way, the We includes me and almost everyone I know who recognized this Iraq debacle as the biggest human tragedy of our lifetime. Mission Accomplished for the neo con men!

Posted by noloyalisti
........................

Uh, like you got elected to be their spokeswoman or something?

[latrocinor-2009]

Stories obtained from anonymous sources strain credibility....
Posted by BajaJohn1
..............

And any manure that is spoken about The President or VP is lapped up like a pig in gravy.

LOL!!! Forked tongue devil you!!

[feelfree4u]

Re: "For all we know you are an agent of Al Queda, and since you fully bless the killing of US soldiers you probably are."

Posted by Latrocinor

For all we know, you are a victim of the brain-wasting disease known as Zionism. Your appetite for fascism, endless false statements, and apologist efforts for mass-murder, criminal war of aggression, torture, and other morally bankrupt foolishness.

The people who supported sacrificing the lives of U.S. soldiers simply to prop up a lie-based crusade of greed, are the ones who are responsible for their deaths.

This seems to include you.

Blaming others for their own failures and crimes is a signature tactic of the neo-fascists and their apologists.

[feelfree4u]

Re: "Uh, like you got elected to be their spokeswoman or something?"

Posted by Latrocinor


This person is a member of the group that they are speaking about.

If you were to ever state your opinion of a group that you are among- the neo-fascists or the dead-brained Zionists, for example- then you would have some standing to do so.

Again, we note that you have nothing relevant to add to the discussion, so you attempt to change the subject.

Completely predictable and pathetic.

[babooph]

It costs the US middle class billions to fail in training Iraqi puppets-lets hire Hezballah on the cheap if their so effective-it may delay the death of the poor middle class by a little bit.

[bagdadshere2]

Blaming others for their own failures and crimes is a signature tactic of the neo-fascists and their apologists.

Posted by FeelFree4U at 04:55 PM : Jul 02, 2008

FallFree,,Are you still a Muslim girl proud of being raped,stoned,lashed & discriminated? Why dont you convert to Catholicism?