[A-List] US imperialism: Iran

["Michael Keaney" <michael.keaney@xxxxxx>]

Shia group link to rocket attack against US troops
By Charles Clover in Baghdad
Financial Times: June 6 2003

US forces in Iraq said on Thursday they had arrested members of an
Iranian-backed militia group in connection with attacks on US troops, in a
development that could further strain relations between Washington and
Tehran.

A military spokesman said 20 members of the Badr Corps militia had been
detained on May 21 in connection with at least one rocket attack on US
forces.

It is the first time the US has publicly linked the Badr Corps and its
mother organisation, the Supreme Council for the Islamic revolution in Iraq
(SCIRI), to anti-American violence. Nine US soldiers have been killed in
Iraq in the past 10 days, in attacks that have been blamed mostly on former
members of Saddam Hussein's Ba'ath party and  members of the Sunni minority.

SCIRI is based in Tehran and represents elements of the Shi'a majority,
which forms 55 per cent of Iraq's population; it was part of a committee of
Iraqi opposition parties endorsed by Washington before the outbreak of war.

But US officials suspect the organisation has been used to extend Iran's
influence in postwar Iraq. The group is led by Mohammed Baqir al Hakim, a
Shi'a cleric.

Donald Rumsfeld, defence secretary, recently described Iran's role in Iraq
as "unhelpful", and warned Iran's clerical rulers that the US would
"aggressively put down" any attempt to install a theocratic regime in Iraq.

According to a spokesman from the 4th Infantry Division, those arrested were
were linked to "planning, supporting, financing and executing at least one
RPG [rocket propelled grenade] attack on US forces, and are suspected in
several others."

Hamid Bayati, SCIRI spokesman, said he had received no information from the
US army on the case and that the accusations against the men were
"completely false".

The accusation that the Badr Corps is involved in anti-US violence in Iraq
is likely to hamper US-led talks, due to start today in Baghdad, aimed at
forming an interim Iraqi administration.

SCIRI is one of seven members of a "leadership committee" of Iraqi political
parties formed before the war and is negotiating with the Coalition
Provisional Authority (CPA) to form a 25-30 member political council to
serve as the interim administration.

Paul Bremer, US CPA chief, has invited a number of Iraqi political figures
to today's meeting, along with the leadership committee representatives. Mr
Hakim said on Thursday that SCIRI was still discussing whether to attend the
meeting.

Another US soldier was killed and five injured yesterday in the
predominantly Sunni town of Fallujah, to the west of Baghdad, after their
check-point was hit by a rocket propelled grenade. The attack came the day
after 1,500 US troops moved into the area of the city in a bid to quell
continuing violence.

However, US officials continue to believe that the attacks are sporadic and
not the work of a single organised group.

Additional reporting by Guy Dinmore in Washington