The Qods Force and a covert occupation of Iraq
By: Reza Shafa
On December 22, 2001, in a closed meeting of the regime’s Supreme National Security Council (SNSC) and presence of supreme leader Ali Khamenei as well as then president Mohammad Khatamei, they concluded that the US attack on Iraq is imminent. In the same session, for the Islamic Republic to come on the top, it must have a strong voice in Iraq’s future government and to achieve that objective the Supreme Islamic Iraqi Council (SIIC) and its arm the Badr Brigade should be mobilized.
It was in the same meeting that Qods Force commanders asked, and received instant approval, for a $26,020,000 for equipments and supplies to the Badr Brigade.
Following the new decision, the Qods Force announced that members of the Badr Brigade were no longer allowed to go into early retirement and receive compensation, at least not for the following two years. The fact is that some Iraqi POWs had been recruited into the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) subordinate the Badr Brigade. However, at the time they did not desire to stay on the force and sought early retirement to look after their families. At the same time the IRGC began recruiting for the fatigued Badr Brigade in the mosques to revitalize it.
According to a document leaked out of the SNSC dated September 9, 2002, in a meeting held in Khamenei’s personal office in which Khatami was present, Iraq’s crisis was carefully examined. The meeting concluded that Coalition Forces’ incursion in Iraq was forthcoming. The US presence in Iraq will be long term and to protect Iran’s interest, it should relay on "the covert diplomacy by using the Iraqi dissidents."
The report clearly showed that the mullahs’ final goal in Iraq was to create a vicious cycle of violence preventing the neighboring country from realizing peace and tranquility while pushing for the establishment of a duplicate Islamic Republic and ousting the US.
In October 2002, SNSC took the next step by recognizing the Qods Force as the single authority in Iraqi affairs and the instrument to help implement its long term policies in Iraq.
To be continued
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Reza Shafa is an expert on the Iranian regime’s intelligence networks, both in Iran and abroad. He has done extensive research on VAVAK (MOIS), IRGC’s Intelligence Office, and Quds Force among others. Currently he is a contributor to NCRI website.
