July 30, 201016 yr More scenario fodder for the new battlesets! Get cracking! From Ares Iranian Shock Troops in Venezuela? Posted by John M. Doyle at 7/29/2010 12:27 PM CDT It was a little surprising near the end of the (July 27) Senate confirmation hearing for Marine Corps Gen. James Mattis to be the new head of U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) when Sen. George LeMieux (R-Fla.) brought up Venezuela. LeMieux said he was very concerned about the connection between Iran and Venezuela including secret flights between the two countries and the presence of “Iranian shock troops in Venezuela.” LeMieux, who was appointed last year to serve out the remaining term of Mel Martinez, has fretted often about Venezuela recently, calling President Hugo Chavez's decision to break diplomatic relations with neighboring Colombia “troubling” and complaining about “the deepening deterioration of human rights and democracy in Venezuela” -- along with six other senators -- in a July 21 letter to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. Perhaps even more surprising was Mattis' answer, telling the Florida Republican “I register your concern” adding: “I have no argument with you.” CENTCOM oversees Iran, but Venezuela is the area or responsibility of U.S. Southern Command. In April, a Pentagon report to Congress about Iran's current and future military strategy noted the activities of an elite unit, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps - Qod Force. The Qod Force's role is to “clandestinely exert military, political and economic power to advance Iranian national interests abroad.” Those activities range from gathering intelligence to supplying training, arms and financial support to surrogate groups and terrorist organizations, according to the 12-page unclassified version of the report. Those groups include Hezbollah in Lebanon and Hamas in Palestine. The Qods Force is well-established in the Middle East and North Africa “and recent years have witnessed an increased presence in Latin America, particularly Venezuela,” the Pentagon report said, noting that if the U.S. gets more involved in local conflicts in those regions, contact with the Qods Force “directly, or through extremist groups it supports, will be more frequent and consequential.” Chavez has denied there are any Iranian troops in his country, calling the Pentagon report “totally false.” Iran and Venezuela have developed close links since Chavez took office in 1999, but there have been no formal military cooperation deals so far. And U.S. officials have denied Chavez's claims that the U.S. is backing a potential attack on Venezuela by neighboring Colombia. Bogotá claims Chavez is giving sanctuary to Colombian rebels (known by the acronym FARC). Chavez broke diplomatic relations with Colombia over those claims and threatened to cut off oil shipments to the U.S. if Colombia launches an American-backed attack. Chavez gets 50% of his government revenues from oil exports and the U.S. is Venezuela's biggest customer. Do the math and come to your own conclusion about the threat to Venezuela and U.S. oil supplies.
July 30, 201016 yr And also some minor evidences but continuous in time of Hezbollah penetrating in the region from some years ago (old and dubtious news reports, but also mentionated from a anti-terrorism seminar in Granada in 2006, after that, very limitated news from a limitated press freedom in Venezuela): http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1773483/posts More sources in Spanish language: http://www.elrevolucionario.org/rev.php?articulo38 http://brechner.typepad.com/jose_brechner/...ica-latina.html http://noti.hebreos.net/enlinea/2008/03/23/2620/ http://www.ceiuc.cl/index.php?opc=154&id=277
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