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Length: 3:41
TONY HARRIS: Iran's elite
Quds Force training attackers in Iraq. You saw the
story first on CNN.
Now our Michael Ware reports Iran's involvement may
go much higher up the chain of command.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MICHAEL WARE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): These
American soldiers might not know it, but they have a
bounty on their heads, according to U.S. military
intelligence. A senior U.S. military official tells
CNN Iran's Quds Force is offering reward money to
Iraqi militia who kill G.I.s. The Quds Force is an
elite unit of Iran's Revolutionary Guard.
U.S. officials are unwilling or unable to offer
details of the bounty claims, but with Iranian-made
bombs tearing into American armor, and plots to
kidnap coalition soldiers unfolding, the threat is
being taken seriously.
Much clearer, say U.S. officials, is Iran's chain of
command. They insist Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah
Ali Khamenei, and other senior Iranians know the Quds
Force is involved in killing coalition soldiers.
(on camera): When you say senior leadership in Tehran
is aware of the Quds Forces' activity, are you
talking about Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei?
BRIG. GEN. KEVIN BERGNER, MULTINATIONAL FORCE, IRAQ
SPOKESMAN: I'll leave it at "senior leadership in
Iran."
WARE: Put it this way, do you think it's possible he
doesn't know?
BERGNER: That would be hard to imagine.
WARE (voice-over): And the Quds appear to have help.
CNN broke the story that this man, a Lebanese
Hezbollah special operations commander, was arrested
inside Iraq by U.S. forces in March. His name: Ali
Mussah Daqduq. U.S. officials say he was working with
Iranian-backed militia known as the "special groups."
The U.S. military says that interrogation of Daqduq
and the Iraqis he trained, as well as documents found
with them, have provided the most striking evidence
yet linking the Quds Force to violence in Iraq.
BERGNER: He was directed by Iranian Quds Force to
make trips in and out of Iraq and report on the
training and operations of the Iraqi "special
groups."
WARE: The U.S. military says Daqduq and the Quds
Force helped plan an attempt to kidnap five American
soldiers in Karbala on January 20th that ended with
their killings. That the Quds funded the "special
groups" militia in Iraq with up to $3 million a
month, and that the Quds ran three training camps
near Tehran, to prepare Iraqi militia recruits for
operations against coalition forces. American
officials say they have videotaped confessions as
well as electronic intelligence -- meaning
intercepted communication or satellite imagery -- to
corroborate these allegations.
None of this impresses this former consultant to
Iran's nuclear negotiating team.
KAVEH AFRASIABI, FMR. CONSULTANT TO IRAN: This latest
allegation against Iran by the U.S. military has the
potential to derail future U.S./Iran dialogue and
Iraq security. Tehran has flatly rejected these
allegations against it, and may reevaluate or
reassess its express willingness for further talks
with the U.S. on Iraq's security.
WARE: The U.S. governments may not have much
enthusiasm for such talks anyway.
SEAN MCCORMACK, STATE DEPT. CORRESPONDENT: They say
that they want to play a more helpful role in Iraq,
that they want to help stabilize Iraq. Well, these
kinds of activities serve exactly the opposite
purpose.
WARE: The role that Iran wants to play in Iraq might
not be one America decides it can live with.
Michael Ware, CNN, Baghdad.