CIAO DATE: 11/2008
October 2008
The Combating Terrorism Center at West Point
Iranian strategy in Iraq is a subject of great importance and intense study. Many discussions of Iran concentrate on reports of lethal aid, pronouncements of Iranian leaders, or Iranian nuclear ambitions. While these data points provide part of the picture, it is vital to put each of the Iranian actions into their broader, historical context. In this light, Iran's actions are part of a deliberate, strategic policy to increase its power and influence in Iraq and throughout the region.
In this report, Colonel Joe Felter and Brian Fishman of the Combating Terrorism Center (CTC) at West Point have detailed the objectives, methods, and expansiveness of the Iranian attempts to affect policy and politics in Iraq. Having spent much of the summer 2008 in Iraq, they have identified many of the documents, reports, and interviews that explain the Iranian strategy and provide both the historical context and the strategic motivation for Iranian actions. By using first hand reports from detainee interviews, Iraqi intelligence services, and coalition forces, they have a unique, empirically‐based study that provides rich detail about Iranian action. They combine those reports with volumes of scholarly writing to provide the strategic and intellectual context for Iranian actions.
This report is significant not only for its conclusions, but because we are following the tradition of previous CTC reports and releasing all possible supporting documents on our website. We encourage other scholars to examine these documents and reach their own conclusions. Through that increased study all of us will become better educated and better education can contribute to better policy.
This report supports the CTC's mission to better understand terrorist threats, to educate leaders, and to provide policy analysis. As part of the Department of Social Sciences at the U.S. Military Academy, the CTC's faculty and staff are integral to teaching cadets and providing outreach to educate and inform current and future leaders.
Resource link: Iranian Strategy in Iraq: Politics and "Other Means" [PDF] - 1.1M