No Matter the election result, Iran has its own agenda, and Iraq is STILL ON IT

Iran pressing covert war in Iraq despite new softline U.S. strategy

The new commander of U.S. forces in Iraq warned last week that Iran is continuing to back insurgents and terrorists in Iraq, despite gains made in stabilizing the country by U.S., Iraqi and allied forces.

Army Gen. Ray Odierno said "Iran continues to meddle inside of Iraq."

Despite the evidence of continued Iranian support for terrorism in Iraq, the Bush administration has failed to take action against Iran for the lethal assistance, although the Pentagon claims its special operations forces have been working covertly against the Iranian aid networks.

Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates has adopted softline policies toward Iran and favors a strategy of engagement with the regime in Tehran.

U.S. Gen. Ray Odierno. AFP/File/Nicholas Kamm

"Clearly they have a tremendous information campaign going on against the strategic agreement between the United States and Iraq," Odierno told ABC News on Oct. 10. "They're openly criticizing it. So they want to influence the outcome of that."

The four-star general said the military is also continuing to see the influx of "lethal aid" from Iran. "We're still discovering Iranian-made weapons and munitions that are still inside of Iraq," he said. "Although it's a bit less, we're still discovering it."

Odierno also said the military in Iraq had detected a change in tactics by the Iranians operating inside Iraq. "We believe they are starting to train some of these special groups who have broken off from Jaish al-Mahdi once they've started to reconcile, and we believe they're forming ... organizations that they want to insert into Iraq for a long term potential to create instability."

Odierno said the Iranians are posing a threat to the stability of Iraq. "They, in my mind, are creating more instability in Iraq," he said.

Asked about the Iranian government role in the covert operations, Odierno said: "The Quds Force is the one that's running the operations here. People have differing opinions on what the relationship is with the government. But I would say the Quds Force is clearly involved in what's going on here in Iraq."

The general's comments followed a recent report by the Czech government that Iranian intelligence activities are increasing inside Iraq, as Tehran seeks to expand its influence and intelligence-gathering operations.

Iranian secret services are attempting to operate against coalition units in Afghanistan and Iraq, where Czech soldiers are also deployed, according to the 2007 annual report by the Czech military counter-intelligence (VZ) made public Sept. 29. The report said that "particularly in Iraq, a wide range of activities was registered, such as infiltration of persons active for the benefit of Iran in the Iraqi administration, the training of agents and insurgents, supplies of weapons, and penetration of Iranian agents to the coalition troop's bases."