Iranian Diplomacy

The cornerstone, if you can call it that, of Jim Webb's campaign was his brilliant strategy of involving Iran in a diplomatic solution to the war in Iraq. This is also a major theme running through the Iraq Study Group report.

A few days ago, the New York Times reported that at least four Iranians, including senior military personnel, were captured in a pair of raids aimed at people suspected of conducting attacks on Iraqi security forces. The Times reports;

Gordon D. Johndroe, the spokesman for the National Security Council, said two Iranian diplomats were among those initially detained in the raids. The two had papers showing that they were accredited to work in Iraq, and he said they were turned over to the Iraqi authorities and released. He confirmed that a group of other Iranians, including the military officials, remained in custody while an investigation continued, and he said, “We continue to work with the government of Iraq on the status of the detainees.”

It was unclear what kind of evidence American officials possessed that the Iranians were planning attacks, and the officials would not identify those being held. One official said that “a lot of material” was seized in the raid, but would not say if it included arms or documents that pointed to planning for attacks. Much of the material was still being examined, the official said.

I'm sure this must be some sort of misunderstanding. It has to be because Jim Webb and the ISG assures us that Iran wants to bring stability to the region.

UPDATE:
You will remember that Webb and the ISG both also called for a increased diplomacy from Syria as part of the Iraq solution.

D.J. blows that idea pretty much out of the water in an article that suggests just where those WMDs that every intelligence organization in the world claimed Saddam had.