Israelis

Israelis in Iraq:

This is a pure bleg. Yesterday Gen. Karpinski stated that she had encountered Israelis in Abu Ghraib. This has been a persistent rumor, but one I had thought we'd pinned as originating from Turkey. As you know, the Turks have an interest in derailing a "Kurdistan" in Northern Iraq. You probably remember that we've caught their special ops teams in Iraq on two occasions. They've also been running an IO campaign, and so far the "Israelis in Iraq" claims have been tracking back to them. It appears that they've been planting these stories and then, when the stories are reported in the Arab press, using them as a pretext for a host of measures. I've run a few of these rumors to ground myself, and I'd thought we had done with this story line.

But now we've got a US officer saying it, so I'm curious. If anybody's heard anything about Israelis operating in Iraq--rumors, personal experience, or otherwise--would you send it my way? I'm trying to sort this business out in my head, and Karpinski's statements have muddied the picture a lot. I'll write something on it for Grim's Hall when I've got a better sense of what's up, but for now I don't know just what to say.

I'll respect anyone's confidentiality if they ask.