Iran's proxy war against the United States and the Iraqi government.

• Author: Abrahamson, James L.

Military historian Kimberly Kagan, an affiliate of Harvard's Olin Institute for Strategic Studies, has taught at the U. S. Military Academy and Yale, Georgetown, and American universities. This is her sixth report covering the recent surge in U. S. operations in Iraq. Each has rested on careful research, access to key figures, and thorough documentation. This report reveals that as the United States and the UN debated whether to invade Iraq, the Iranian government began planning for that eventuality. Shortly after the 2003 invasion, forces supported by Iran claimed control of several cities in central Iraq, and Iran soon thereafter began sending weapons and funding to groups committed to resisting the Coalition. Even before Saddam Hussein's capture, Iran's proxies began resisting Coalition forces, and in the years that followed they also engaged Iraqi forces and attacked Iraqi government officials and facilities from Kurdistan to Basrah. More recently Iran has used both Hizbollah and the Qods Force to train not only members of Shia militia--even those in competition with one another--but also the Sunni insurgents, to include al Qaeda. By mid-2007, Iranian-backed...