The top U.S. military spokesman in Iraq, Major General William Caldwell, refuted today an early assertion by the U.S. Ambassador to this country, Zalmay Khalilzad, that Iran is stirring trouble in Iraq.
Caldwell said today
There is nothing that we definitively have found to say that there are any Iranians operating within the country of Iraq.
Last week Khalilzad told the press that...
(Follow me after the fold)...
Iran has got Hizbollah in Lebanon. Iran has got some forces here. There is the possibility they might encourage those forces to create increased instability here
General Caldwell acknowledges that
...some Shi'ite elements have been in Iran receiving training.
But he also indicates that
...the degree to which this is known and endorsed by the government of Iran is uncertain.
As is being discussed here following Sy Hersh's article in The New Yorker, there are fears that Cheney will take on Iran regardless of Rumsfeld's reservations and despite strong opposition from within the military.
Khalilzad may well become the local Iraq point man in the desinformation campaign that Cheney will likely conduct to justify going after Iran.
Is there now a campaign by the military to push back against Cheney and his people now that Hersh has brought the confrontation out to the open?