Destability

The president's strategy for Iraq may be cobbled together out of a twist-tie, three Lego bricks, a glue stick, and memories of that one coke bender back in 1971, but my goodness isn't it going into effect quick fast in a hurry:

U.S. troops launched two raids on Iranian targets in Iraq yesterday, following through on President Bush's vow to confront and break up Tehran's networks inside Iraq. Five Iranians were detained, and vast amounts of documents and computer data were confiscated, according to U.S., Iraqi and Iranian officials.

The two raids are part of a new U.S. intelligence and military operation launched last month against Iran, U.S. officials said. The United States is trying to identify and detain top officials of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards' al-Quds Brigade operating in Iraq. The al-Quds Brigade is active in arming, training and funding militant movements, such as Lebanon's Hezbollah, throughout the Middle East.

While the public focus is on Iraq, the administration is now spending as much time on plans to contain Iran as on a strategy to end Iraq's violence, U.S. officials said.

Last month, U.S. forces seized two senior Iranians -- Brig. Gen. Mohsen Chirazi and Col. Abu Amad Davari -- in the first round of raids. Chirazi is the No. 3 official in the al-Quds Brigade and the highest ranking Iranian ever held by the United States.

Oh, and if it wasn't bad enough that we're now capturing Iranian officers, one of the raids almost led to a gunbattle between Americans and Kurdish troops - one of the few armed groups in Iraq on which the U.S. could rely.

Of course, Condoleeza Rice characterizes this is an effort to end non-Iraqis' attempts to destabilize the country. Pot, kettle...