Iran-Backed Groups Using Secret Arms Stores

[TheSarge]

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - The U.S. military said on Sunday it had evidence Iranian-backed Shi'ite militias in Iraq were increasingly using secret weapons stores to attack U.S. and Iraqi forces.

The accusation comes days after Tehran postponed talks with the United States on improving security in Iraq for "technical reasons", a move that prompted rebukes from U.S. officials.

"In just the past week, Iraqi and coalition forces captured 212 weapons caches across Iraq, two of those inside Baghdad, (which have) growing links to Iranian-backed special groups," military spokesman Real Admiral Gregory Smith told reporters.

The military uses the term "special groups" to describe rogue elements in the Mehdi Army militia of Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr. It says these militants get weapons, funding and training from neighboring Iran.

Smith was speaking at a news conference in which he lauded recent security gains in Iraq, adding that on some days attacks had dropped to below 40 a day, the lowest level since 2004.

http://www.reuters.com/article/topNews/idUSL1880448320080217?feedType=RSS&feedName=topNews&rpc=22&sp=true

[SSG Snuggle Bunny]

My 2nd major beef* with Bush over the war is his lack of holding true to his promise to hold the states who support terrorists with American blood on their hands to the same accountability as the terrorists themselves.

* The 1st being his delay in appointing Petraeus; but all's well that ends well.