Rebels Aided By Allies in Syria, U.S. Says

Rebels Aided By Allies in Syria, U.S. Says, according to WaPo.

The Green Zone in central Baghdad, home of the U.S. Embassy and the offices of the interim Iraqi government, is especially "overrun with agents," said one Defense Department official who recently returned from Iraq. One activity that has been noticed is that when major convoys leave the zone, Iraqi cell phone calls from the zone seem to increase, he said. An additional concern is that the insurgency seems to be using some Iraqi companies to get into U.S. bases, he said.

Jeffrey White, a former Middle Eastern analyst for the Defense Intelligence Agency, said the Syrian role is part of what many intelligence officials believe are the increasingly organized attacks on U.S. forces. "In the last two months or so, this notion that this is a Baathist insurgency has gained dominance in the [intelligence] community," he said. Coupled with that, he said, "there is an increasing view that Syria is at the center of the problem."

Former mukhabarat (state security) may also be involved, given the sophisticated levels of cover that the spies are using.

Since the US is bound and determined to remain in Iraq until the end of the insurgency, what should next steps be? I am partial to a massive clandestine effort to hunt down the culprits in Syria, then take them out. But that might be because I watch too many movies that star incredibly good-looking people who make improbable speeches at odd times while chasing one-dimensonal bad-guys and all the while effortlessly tear through mom and pop armies like a kid and his presents on Christmas morning.

It might happen, though. If only Hollywood would stop opposing the war and just start selecting our clandestine teams, the conflict might be finished between one and a half and three hours later...