Chief of Iran’s Quds Force claims Iraq, south Lebanon under his control

[kirkuki]

Chief of Iran’s Quds Force claims Iraq, south Lebanon under his control
Commander of Iran’s Quds Force, Brig. Gen. Qasem Soleimani has said that the Islamic Republic controls “one way or another” over Iraq and south Lebanon and that Tehran is capable of influencing the advent of Islamist governments in order to fight “arrogant” powers, ISNA student agency reported on Thursday.

“The enemies are trying to besiege the Islamic Republic of Iran, but this symposium is an opportunity for thousands of youth who play an influential role in the Islamic awareness to travel Iran and shed sensitivities of Iran-phobia by observing the an Islamic government founded on religious principles in Iran,” Gen. Soleimani, who reports directly to Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, said.

Speaking about Iran and Lebanon, Gen. Soleimani said: “These regions are one way or another subject to the control of the Islamic Republic of Iran and its ideas.”

Gen. Soleimani was speaking during a student symposium titled “The Youth and Islamic Awareness.”

The Quds Force, established during the Iran-Iraq war, is in charge of external security operations aimed at exporting the Islamic Revolution.

In January 2012, UK’s The Guardian reported that the head of Iran’s Quds force had conveyed a message to U.S. CIA director David Petraeus telling him that he was in charge of Iran’s policy in the region.

“General Petraeus, you should know that Qassem Suleimani controls the policy for Iran with respect to Iraq, Lebanon, Gaza, and Afghanistan. And indeed, the ambassador in Baghdad is a Quds Force member. The individual who’s going to replace him is a Quds Force member,” The Guardian reported.

Petraeus had admitted that most of U.S. diplomatic efforts in Iraq and elsewhere in the Middle East were undermined by the work of Suleimani, according to the Guardian.

Mowaffak al-Rubaie, Iraq’s former national security minister, told the London-based asharq al-Awsat newspaper in July 2010, “He (Suleimani) is the most powerful man in Iraq without question,” “Nothing gets done without him.”


so does US still want to sell them F16s ???

 

[Jos]

Whats your source ?

 

[JStone]

Any Iranian Nobel Prize Laureates? Nope.
Any important Iranian medical discoveries? Nope
Any groundbreaking Iranian scientific research? Nope
Any significant Iranian inventions? Nope

Winston Churchill...

How dreadful are the curses which Mohammedanism lays on its votaries! Besides the fanatical frenzy, which is as dangerous in a man as hydrophobia in a dog, there is this fearful fatalistic apathy.

The effects are apparent in many countries. Improvident habits, slovenly systems of agriculture, sluggish methods of commerce, and insecurity of property exist wherever the followers of the Prophet rule or live.

A degraded sensualism deprives this life of its grace and refinement; the next of its dignity and sanctity. The fact that in Mohammedan law every woman must belong to some man as his absolute property, either as a child, a wife, or a concubine, must delay the final extinction of slavery until the faith of Islam has ceased to be a great power among men.

Individual Moslems may show splendid qualities, but the influence of the religion paralyses the social development of those who follow it.

No stronger retrograde force exists in the world. Far from being moribund, Mohammedanism is a militant and proselytizing faith. It has already spread throughout Central Africa, raising fearless warriors at every step; and were it not that Christianity is sheltered in the strong arms of science, the science against which it had vainly struggled, the civilization of modern Europe might fall, as fell the civilization of ancient Rome.

Amazon.com: The River War (9781598184259): Sir Winston S. Churchill: Books

 

[kirkuki]

Whats your source ?

Chief of Iran

 

[JStone]

Whats your source ?

Chief of Iran

Another iranian braintrust.

 

[RoccoR]

kirkuki, et al,

While this is "claim;" I don't think that it is totally true.

Chief of Iran’s Quds Force claims Iraq, south Lebanon under his control
Commander of Iran’s Quds Force, Brig. Gen. Qasem Soleimani has said that the Islamic Republic controls “one way or another” over Iraq and south Lebanon and that Tehran is capable of influencing the advent of Islamist governments in order to fight “arrogant” powers, ISNA student agency reported on Thursday.

(COMMENT)

BG Soleimani is suggesting that the IRGC-QF has control over Hezbollah. I don't think that Sheik Hassan Nasrallah (Defacto Leader and General-Secretary of Hezbollah) sees it quite that way. There is no question that Hezbollah has found a benefactor in Iran (via QF), and an ally in Iran; that is much different from exercising "command and /or control." In as much as they are allies, Iran does have some influence and contacts in Hezbollah, but, Sheik Nasrallah is independent thinker and not a puppet of Iran.

Viewed as an extremist by Israel and the West, Nasrallah is a prominent figure in Lebanese politics. Charismatic, highly intelligent, and deeply religious, his face appears on billboards, key chains, and screensavers; excerpts of his speeches are even used as cell phone ringtones.

... ... ...

Nasrallah does not hold official office in Lebanon. "He's seen as a messianic figure, much higher than any official in Lebanon" says Walid Phares, a Lebanese-born terrorism expert. Nevertheless, Nasrallah presides over Hezbollah as it is becoming increasingly politically active with representation in both the Lebanese parliament and cabinet. Hezbollah's goal is to establish an independent Islamic state in Lebanon with Nasrallah as its leader, Phares says.

SOURCE: Profile: Hassan Nasrallah - Council on Foreign Relations

Hezbollah is the fulcrum on which Lebanese Power rests; the balance between factions. And Sheik Hassan Nasrallah is becoming more influential in the government. Sheik Nasrallah does not want to trade that for a place as a puppet of a different foreign power. Nasrallah doesn't even want to give the appearance that he is controlled by the Iranians. The Lebanese want a leader to follow that will choose its destiny; not hand it away.

Most Respectfully,
R

 

[kirkuki]

it is true Iraq is leaning towards iran , Iraq has let Iran use its air space to transfer weapons to Assad .
Iraq excludes ExxonMobil from 4th round bidding and replaces him with a Syrian oil company.

 

[JStone]

The Lebanese want a leader to follow that will choose its destiny; not hand it away.

Lebanon used to be a beautiful country when populated mostly by Maronite Christians until the muhammadan invaded and fucked the country up as the muhammadan fucks up every country.

The ancient Phoenicians invented the alphabet. The muhammadan invented terrorism

 

[waltky]

Mebbe we left too soon...

Al-Qaida making comeback in Iraq, officials say
Oct 9,`12 -- Al-Qaida is rebuilding in Iraq and has set up training camps for insurgents in the nation's western deserts as the extremist group seizes on regional instability and government security failures to regain strength, officials say.

Iraq has seen a jump in al-Qaida attacks over the last 10 weeks, and officials believe most of the fighters are former prisoners who have either escaped from jail or were released by Iraqi authorities for lack of evidence after the U.S. military withdrawal last December. Many are said to be Saudi or from Sunni-dominated Gulf states. During the war and its aftermath, U.S. forces, joined by allied Sunni groups and later by Iraqi counterterror forces, managed to beat back al-Qaida's Iraqi branch.

But now, Iraqi and U.S. officials say, the insurgent group has more than doubled in numbers from a year ago - from about 1,000 to 2,500 fighters. And it is carrying out an average of 140 attacks each week across Iraq, up from 75 attacks each week earlier this year, according to Pentagon data. "AQI is coming back," U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham, a Republican from South Carolina, declared in an interview last month while visiting Baghdad. The new growth of al-Qaida in Iraq, also known as the Islamic State of Iraq, is not entirely unexpected. Last November, the top U.S. military official in Iraq, Army Gen. Lloyd Austin, predicted "turbulence" ahead for Iraq's security forces. But he doubted Iraq would return to the days of widespread fighting between Shiite militias and Sunni insurgents, including al-Qaida, that brought the Islamic country to the brink of civil war.

While there's no sign of Iraq headed back toward sectarian warfare - mostly because Shiite militias are not retaliating to their deadly attacks - al-Qaida's revival is terrifying to ordinary Iraqis. Generally, the militant group does not does not launch attacks or otherwise operate beyond Iraq's borders. For years, it has targeted Shiite pilgrims, security forces, officials in the Shiite-led government and - until it left - the U.S. military. On Tuesday, a series of bombings and drive-by shootings killed six people, including three soldiers and a judge, in Baghdad and the former al-Qaida strongholds of Mosul and Tal Afar in northern Iraq.

Each round of bombings and shootings the terror group unleashes across the country, sometimes killing dozens on a single day, fuels simmering public resentment toward the government, which has unable to curb the violence. And the rise of Sunni extremists who aim to overthrow a Shiite-linked government in neighboring Syria has brought a new level of anxiety to Iraqis who fear the same thing could happen in Baghdad. "Nobody here believes the government's claims that al-Qaida is weak and living its last days in Iraq," said Fuad Ali, 41, a Shiite who works for the government. "Al-Qaida is much stronger than what the Iraqi officials are imagining," Ali said. "The terrorist group is able to launch big attacks and free its members from Iraqi prisons, and this indicates that al-Qaida is stronger than our security forces. The government has failed to stop the increasing number of victims who were killed since the start of this year."

MORE

 

[waltky]

Granny says, "Dat's right - dey oughta be buyin' dey's weapons from us...

Iraq reconsiders $4 billion Russian arms plans
Nov 10,`12 -- Iraq is reconsidering plans to buy more than $4 billion in arms from Russia, officials said Saturday, throwing the proposed purchase into question just weeks after it was announced.

The turnaround follows the ouster of Russia's defense minister earlier this week, and allegations by Iraqi lawmakers and local media that the pending deal is tainted by graft. Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki traveled to Moscow in October and outlined plans to buy the weapons, including helicopter gunships and air defense missiles. The deal would have strengthened Russia's ties to oil-rich Iraq at a time when the ruling regime of longtime Mideast ally Syria risks falling in the country's civil war.

It now appears unlikely the sale will go through as previously planned. "When the prime minister returned from his trip to Russia, he started reviewing the deal as a whole," the prime minister's spokesman, Ali al-Moussawi, said Saturday. "The deal now is under investigation. So far, nothing has been proven. A new committee has been formed to avoid any suspicions." The comments came a day after Russian President Vladimir Putin reshuffled the nation's top military brass following the removal of Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov earlier in the week.

Putin tied Serdyukov's removal to an inquiry into alleged military corruption, though many in Russia believe he was fired because of a brewing battle over the distribution of hundreds of billions of dollars' worth of defense spending over the coming years. Officials from Russia's defense ministry and Rosoboronexport, the country's arms export company, were not available for comment Saturday. Iraqi media reports, including one that aired this week on the private al-Sharqiya TV channel, have suggested impropriety such as kickbacks by people involved in brokering the deal.

Lawmaker Hakim al-Zamili, who sits on parliament's security and defense committee and is affiliated with anti-American cleric Muqtada al-Sadr's political bloc, said al-Maliki expects to negotiate a new deal with Russia that would seek additional equipment and new prices. "There was clear corruption," he said.

MORE

See also:

Iraq cancels $4.2bn Russian arms deal over 'corruption'
10 November 2012 - Iraq is rebuilding its armed forces

Iraq has cancelled a $4.2bn (£2.6bn) deal to buy arms from Russia because of concerns about "corruption", an Iraqi government advisor has said. Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Maliki has suspicions about corruption within his own team, his spokesman told the BBC. The purchase - said to include attack helicopters and missiles - was only signed off in October. Iraq has been rebuilding its armed forces since the end of US-led combat operations against insurgents. One Russian military expert has suggested that the Iraqi authorities scuppered the Russian arms deal under pressure from Washington.

'Arms monopoly'

Announcing the cancellation of the purchase on Saturday, a spokesman for Prime Minister Nouri Maliki told AFP news agency that "when Maliki returned from his trip to Russia, he had some suspicions of corruption, so he decided to review the whole deal". "There is an investigation going on, on this," he added. The sale would have made Moscow - the main supplier of arms to Iraq under Saddam Hussein - the country's second-biggest arms supplier after the US. There has been no word from Russia about the cancellations. In early October, Mr Maliki said in a speech that he did not want Iraq to be "part of someone else's (arms) monopoly." But he faced criticism from political opponents who questioned buying from Russia, when multiple deals with the US had been signed.

One Iraqi MP suggested that counterterrorism operations - the stated aim of the purchase - required improved intelligence, and not the 30 Mi-28 attack helicopters that were reported to be part of the deal. The contracts were announced to some fanfare on 9 October after talks between the two countries' prime ministers near Moscow. Mr Maliki - who said he was seeking "quick contracts to fight terrorism" - warned even before he left that anything he signed might be scuttled by parliament. And at the time the deal was agreed, analysts suggested that while it was clear Iraq wanted to diversify its weapons purchases, buying from Russia would only encourage the sense in Washington that the US was somehow "losing Iraq".

Igor Korotchenko, head of the Moscow-based Centre for Analysis of World Arms Trade, told the BBC the cancellation was "absolutely unprecedented in the history of the Russian arms trade". "As soon as the deal was announced a month ago I said that the US would not allow Iraq to buy such huge quantities of weapons from Russia. I believe Washington regarded this as an absolutely unacceptable scenario," he said. "As far as talk about corruption is concerned, I think it's a smokescreen," he said, adding: "I can't see any scope for corruption in the Iraq deal. I believe this is just a pretext and the true reason is Washington applying pressure on Baghdad."

BBC News - Iraq cancels $4.2bn Russian arms deal over 'corruption'