Iraq battles its leaking borders | csmonitor.com: "Senior Iraqi and American officials are quick to blame Syria and Iran for tacitly supporting car bombings and other attacks that have killed and wounded hundreds of people in the past month, including scores of Iraqi security forces and civilians. On Monday, Iraqi officials said they arrested two Iranians attempting to detonate a car bomb in eastern Baghdad.
'Now Iraq is open for all terrorists,' admits Osama Kashmoula, governor of Iraq's northern Nineveh Province, which shares a 155-mile boundary with Syria. 'We've arrested Iranians, Jordanians, Palestinians, Algerians - I don't know the number,' he said.
US commanders agree. 'I don't think there's any difficulty pushing weapons or fighters across the border,' says Army Col. Michael Rounds, who commands the main US ground unit in northern Iraq, a 5,000-strong Stryker brigade task force.
In May, Washington imposed $200 million worth of economic sanctions on Syria, charging that the country supported terrorism and was undermining US efforts to stabilize Iraq, in part by failing to curb the transit of terrorists across its borders.
'Neither of those countries [Syria and Iran] want to see success in Iraq. They're in many ways terrified of it,' said Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz. 'The Iranians and Syrians could do a lot to control the borders if ... we compelled them to think it was in their interest,' he told a congressional hearing two weeks ago.
The high-level charges by Iraqi and US officials of terrorist complicity by Syria and Iran is a message intended in part to rally the Iraqi public against foreign fighters, who coalition officials acknowledge could not operate here without homegrown support. They contend that recent attacks instigated in part by foreign fighters on Iraqi officials and security forces in Mosul, Baqubah, and other major cities have backfired.
In Baqubah in late June, for example, Iraqi citizens spontaneously grabbed weapons and took to the streets to fight outside insurgents, both foreign and from elsewhere in Iraq, US military officials say. 'People of Baqubah realize these are foreigners - Syrians, Egyptians, and Afghanis,' says Maj. Kreg Schnell, the intelligence officer for the 1st Infantry Division's 3rd Brigade in Baqubah.
US forces in Baqubah had to adjust their rules of engagement to avoid killing Iraqi civilians engaged in battling insurgents, says brigade commander Col. Dana Pittard."
'Now Iraq is open for all terrorists,' admits Osama Kashmoula, governor of Iraq's northern Nineveh Province, which shares a 155-mile boundary with Syria. 'We've arrested Iranians, Jordanians, Palestinians, Algerians - I don't know the number,' he said.
US commanders agree. 'I don't think there's any difficulty pushing weapons or fighters across the border,' says Army Col. Michael Rounds, who commands the main US ground unit in northern Iraq, a 5,000-strong Stryker brigade task force.
In May, Washington imposed $200 million worth of economic sanctions on Syria, charging that the country supported terrorism and was undermining US efforts to stabilize Iraq, in part by failing to curb the transit of terrorists across its borders.
'Neither of those countries [Syria and Iran] want to see success in Iraq. They're in many ways terrified of it,' said Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz. 'The Iranians and Syrians could do a lot to control the borders if ... we compelled them to think it was in their interest,' he told a congressional hearing two weeks ago.
The high-level charges by Iraqi and US officials of terrorist complicity by Syria and Iran is a message intended in part to rally the Iraqi public against foreign fighters, who coalition officials acknowledge could not operate here without homegrown support. They contend that recent attacks instigated in part by foreign fighters on Iraqi officials and security forces in Mosul, Baqubah, and other major cities have backfired.
In Baqubah in late June, for example, Iraqi citizens spontaneously grabbed weapons and took to the streets to fight outside insurgents, both foreign and from elsewhere in Iraq, US military officials say. 'People of Baqubah realize these are foreigners - Syrians, Egyptians, and Afghanis,' says Maj. Kreg Schnell, the intelligence officer for the 1st Infantry Division's 3rd Brigade in Baqubah.
US forces in Baqubah had to adjust their rules of engagement to avoid killing Iraqi civilians engaged in battling insurgents, says brigade commander Col. Dana Pittard."
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