Iran's Proxy War Continues

Deaf, Dumb and Now In US Custody:
One of Hizbullah's top terrorists was caught in Iraq after trying to play deaf and mute:

A top special operations officer with Lebanon's Hezbollah militia pretended to be deaf and mute when he was captured in Iraq earlier this year, hampering efforts to obtain his identity for weeks, U.S. intelligence officials said.


Brig. Gen. Kevin Bergner announces the capture of Ali Mussa Daqduq at a news conference in Iraq on Monday.

Ali Mussa Daqduq, who U.S. officials say played an integral role in a January attack in Karbala that killed five Americans, allegedly was helping to train Shiite militias fighting U.S.-led coalition forces, the officials said.

Daqduq was arrested in March in the southern city of Basra, and after officials learned Daqduq's identity, the alleged explosives expert began talking, officials said. Watch a report on how Daqduq was captured »

Daqduq was captured in a raid aimed at seizing another Shiite militant leader suspected of involvement in the January 20 Karbala attack, said Brig. Gen. Kevin Bergner.

Intelligence officials said that Daqduq and the Iraqi militia commanders with whom he worked have admitted working with Iran's Quds Force.

If you want to know why the situation in Iraq is still so fluid and unstable, all you have to do is realize that Iran is pouring its proxy forces into Iraq to not only maintain the chaotic situation that Iran can directly exploit, but to use mounting pressure among Congressional members to force a US withdrawal from Iraq. Such a withdrawal would have catastrophic ramifications, and Iran would fill the power vacuum and exploit the situation.

That it is using Hizbullah is notable since Hizbullah is battle tested against the Israelis and Iran learned quite a bit from last summer's war with Israel. Now that the US has Daqduq, Western intel services will learn what Hizbullah is up to not only in Iraq, but elsewhere in the region. They may also learn more about Iran's intentions and capabilities.

Indeed, it would appear that Iran was hoping to arrange new proxy forces in Iraq modeled after Hizbullah in Lebanon. Hot Air has more.

UPDATE:
For those pining for the US to take out Iranian thugs, here's a little appetizer:

US and Iraqi forces backed by helicopters killed 26 militants suspected of links to "Iranian terror networks" in raids in the Baghdad Shiite district of Sadr City yesterday, the US military said.

"Coalition forces conducted two separate raids targeting suspected secret cell terrorists during pre-dawn hours Saturday in Sadr City," the military said, adding that another 17 suspects were detained in the operations. "It is believed that the suspected terrorists have close ties to Iranian terror networks and are responsible for facilitating the flow of lethal aid into Iraq," it added.

(More here) Plus, the US and Iraqis continue to roll up al Qaeda. One US soldier was hit with pistol fire in his helmet, suffering no injury and returned fire, killing said terrorist.