In a obviously planted story the Wall Street Journal gives a preview of how the U.S. wants to control Iraq after the U.S. military officially will have left at the end of this year:
U.S. Eyes Covert Plan to Counter Iran in Iraq
Military commanders and intelligence officers are pushing for greater authority to conduct covert operations to thwart Iranian influence in neighboring Iraq, according to U.S. officials.
There is a request for a presidential finding that would allow unrestricted CIA and military Special Operations in Iraq after the U.S. left. But the article makes it clear that the original initiative for this is coming from the White House. The finding therefore will be, or probably has already been, granted.
The excuse is the alleged Iranian influence in Iraq. As there is never evidence of such beyond the relatively friendly normal Iraq-Iran relations between neighbors this will be conveniently used to continue to unleash U.S. death squads on Iraq.
After December, the job of ensuring that Tehran can’t mount attacks in Iraq, arm militia groups or destabilize the government in Baghdad will fall more heavily on U.S. intelligence.
Why? Why would Iran mount attacks in Iraq? And if there were such would it not be the genuine task of the Iraqi government to prevent such? Why is that supposed to be U.S. business? The piece gives no answers to these obvious questions.
The CIA isn’t expected to draw down in Iraq as quickly as the military after December.
…
If the presidential finding for an expansion of covert action is approved—and if some special operations forces remain in Iraq—they could be assigned to operate temporarily under CIA authority. The agency, under the National Security Act, is the only U.S. entity that can conduct covert operations.Special operations forces would have the ability to carry out risky capture-or-kill missions that the CIA may not be able to conduct on its own.
Next to the piece the WSJ shows a photo of explosively formed penetrators” (EFPs) with the caption: “The U.S. says Iran smuggles bomb parts like these to Iraqi insurgents.” Here is where the propaganda becomes ridiculous. It was the WSJ’s Yochi Dreazen who reported, as did other media, that these EFPs were made in Iraq.
But it proves that the Iran-meddling accusations are just an excuse. The U.S. will keep a large secret intelligence force in Iraq and it will have a military component for “capture-or-kill” operations.
That is, of course, only if the Iraqis will allow such to take place.