Did US forces in Iraq, or their proxies, kidnap an Iranian diplomat? That’s what the Iranian government is claiming today, regarding the abduction of Jalal Sharafi, the second secretary at the Iranian embassy located in Baghdad:
BAGHDAD, Iraq – Iran accused the United States on Tuesday of being behind the abduction of an Iranian diplomat in Baghdad, but U.S. officials refused even to confirm a kidnapping had taken place as the two countries’ campaign of finger-pointing was brought up another notch.
Iranian officials said Jalal Sharafi, their embassy’s second secretary, had not been seen since gunmen dressed in Iraqi military uniforms intercepted his car Sunday as he left a branch of a state-owned Iranian bank.
“They acted under U.S. supervision,” Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Mohammad Hosseini said in Tehran. He described the incident as a “terrorist attack.” […]
Neither U.S. government nor military officials in Baghdad would state that the incident had occurred, much less been orchestrated by U.S. forces.
“We have no record of any event that looks remotely like the described abduction,” said Lt. Col. Christopher Garver, the U.S. military spokesman. The U.S. Embassy said it was “aware of the reports” and is looking into them.
I’d like to believe the American government, my government, had nothing to do with this incident. I’d like to, but unfortunately the US military already has a track record of not being completely forthcoming in their public statements about events in Iraq. And they also have a past record of using kidnapping as a “force multiplier” against “terrorist” suspects in Iraq.
(cont.)
US soldiers seized a mother and daughter from their home in Baghdad [in February, 2005] and allegedly left a note on the gate: “Be a man Muhammad Mukhlif and give yourself up and then we will release your sisters. Otherwise they will spend a long time in detention.”
And recently, American forces forcibly took five or six Iranian officials captive from the Iranian consulate in Irbil, part of the Kurdish controlled northern region of Iraq:
ARBIL, Iraq, Jan 11 (Reuters) – U.S. forces raided the Iranian consulate office in the northern Iraqi city of Arbil on Thursday and arrested five employees, the official Iranian news agency IRNA said. […]
A raid, by the way to which both local Kurdish officials and Iraq’s President voiced vehement objections.
A spokesman for Iraqi President Jalal Talabani said Talabani had invited the Iranians to the country, and the president was “unhappy” about the arrests.
So, is this another provocation by the Bush administration, attempting to spark an incident that could lead to a direct military conflict between Iran and the United States? I hope not, but I fear that the answer to my question is “yes.” Our government certainly seems intent on creating a casus belli for another war in the Middle East. A war with Iran that would allow Bush to attack the sites where Iran is conducting its nuclear program, possibly with the use of “bunker busting” low yield atomic weapons.
If the US is indeed behind the kidnapping of this Iranian diplomat it means Bush and Cheney are getting desperate. As more and more time passes, opposition to a military attack on Iran is growing rapidly, both among the American people and in Congress. They may have decided to up the stakes in their game of “chicken” with the Iranian regime. So far, Iran hasn’t taken the bait, but with each new provocation, one has to wonder how much longer before the hardliners in the Iranian regime gain the upper hand and order a retaliatory attack at American forces or interests in the region, clearing the way for Bush to launch his long desired, and extremely dangerous military strike at Iran.
Kidnapping of Iranian Diplomat
Baghdad
((Iran War Plans))
George W. Bush
