The Washington Post reports that the U.S. has taken strong steps against Iran in Iraq:U.S. troops raided an Iranian consulate in northern Iraq late Wednesday night and detained several people, Iran's main news agency reported today, prompting protests from Tehran just hours after President Bush pledged to crack down on the Islamic Republic's role in Iraqi violence.
Iran released news of the raid through its Islamic Republic News Agency in a dispatch that was broadly critical of Bush's plan to deploy about 21,500 additional troops to Iraq.
The IRNA report said that U.S. forces entered the Iranian consulate in Irbil, in Iraq's Kurdish-dominated north, and seized computers, documents and other items. The report said five staff members were taken into custody.
The Iranian Foreign Ministry appealed to the Iraqi government to obtain the release of its personnel.
The fact that just days ago we found Iranian intelligence operatives in Iraq with documentation of their role in supporting both Sunni and Shia militias and that we have known for some time that Syria and Iran have been resupplying enemy forces in Iraq while acts of war had not before resulted in such strong response.
I suspect the additional troop "surge" is much more than more troops on the ground and that the President's statements respecting actions against Irani and Syrian interference were not lightly spoken.
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