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Surrogates. Casey on Iran in Iraq. WP's Thomas Ricks:
Beyond the substance of the claims, what do you think is the rationale for making this statement now? As opposed to two months ago, or six months ago? It's the top news on the BBC. And if it's own sort of diplomatic message, what does it mean that it was delivered by Casey, the top US military commander in Iraq?Iranian support for extremists inside Iraq has shown a "noticeable increase" this year, with Tehran's special forces providing weapons and bomb training to anti-U.S. groups, the top U.S. commander in Iraq said yesterday.
Other U.S. officials have complained about Iranian meddling in Iraq, but the criticism of Tehran by Army Gen. George W. Casey Jr. was the most direct and explicit so far. [...]
"We are quite confident that the Iranians, through their covert special operations forces, are providing weapons, IED technology and training to Shia extremist groups in Iraq, the training being conducted in Iran and in some cases probably in Lebanon through their surrogates," Casey said... The Iranians are "using surrogates to conduct terrorist operations in Iraq, both against us and against the Iraqi people."
Update: Why now? A colleague and friend writes, "... I can think of only a couple of explanations for the timing, both related. The first is that Casey is coming under pressure from the WH to help prepare the propaganda battlefield for an air attack against Iran. The second is that the Iranians have ordered the militias under their influence in Iraq to start engaging the US as a warning of what will come if we do bomb Iran."
In this regard, Casey's mention of Lebanon interesting too. Iran surrogates, Lebanon. Is this a message to Hezbollah?
And worth reading this Gareth Porter analysis too.