Proxy War

I have been pointing out for a while now that all the violent hot spots flaring up in the Middle East have a common thread. That would be Iran. In an interview given to the New York Times, the US ambassador to Iraq points that fact out. Iran is ordering increased violence in Iraq.

BAGHDAD, Iraq, Aug. 11 — Iran is pressing Shiite militias here to step up attacks against the American-led forces in retaliation for the Israeli assault on Lebanon, the American ambassador to Iraq said Friday. Iran may foment even more violence as it faces off with the United States and United Nations over its nuclear program in the coming weeks, he added.

The Iranian incitement has led to a surge in mortar and rocket attacks on the fortified Green Zone, said the ambassador, Zalmay Khalilzad.

The four-square-mile Green Zone, protected by layers of concrete blast walls and concertina wire on the west bank of the Tigris River here, encloses baroque palaces built by Saddam Hussein that now house the seat of the Iraqi government and the American Embassy.

The Shiite guerrillas behind the recent attacks are members of splinter groups of the Mahdi Army, the powerful militia created by the radical Shiite cleric Moktada al-Sadr, Mr. Khalilzad said.

The splinter groups have ties to Iran, which is governed by Shiite Persians, and to Hezbollah, the Iranian-backed Shiite Arab militia in Lebanon that has been battling Israel for a month, the ambassador added.

There is evidence that Iran is pushing for more attacks, he said, without offering any specifics. But he acknowledged that there was no proof that Iran was directing any particular operations by militias here.

Note the interesting thing here? Here we have a US ambassador making a public statement about what he believes to be happening. The NYT has to stress that the ambassador has "no proof". The New York Times doesn't require proof if it is an allegation that damages the US government, only when the allegation is against Iran. Pathetic.

In this odd little aside about proof, the NYT glosses over the fact that, diplomatically, this is a major charge. That the US ambassador is willing to go on the record about this means the US has enough proof to drop a diplomatic bomb. The troops in Iraq know exactly when a shipment of arms and explosives arrives from Iran. This is just another part of the proxy war Iran is running against the US and the West in general.