The Irbil Five

Quite a tug of war is going on within the Bush administration over what to do with a clutch of Iranian saboteurs seized in the Iraqi theater. The Iranians were seized only hours after President Bush, in his nationally televised address on his plan to reinforce our troops in Iraq, declared that we would interdict the efforts of our enemies to support the insurgency from redoubts in Iran and Syria. In a dramatic raid on the morning of January 10 in Irbil, American forces entered an Iranian building and took into custody five members of an Iranian group known as Quds Force. This group is the unit of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard, named for the Arabic word for Jerusalem, responsible for supporting anti-American and anti-Jewish terrorism. The raid appeared to be vindication for hard-liners who have wanted the administration not only to focus on the problem of the Iranians and Syrians, but also to do something about it.

It turns out, however, that the capture of the Iranians ignited a feud within the administration, and this is the moment for Mr. Bush to decide whether he wants to win a war or a news cycle. Because he will surely lose both if these killers are returned to Iran. Yet, as our Eli Lake reports today, some administration officials are floating a scenario whereby the Irbil five would be made to sweat it out for a few weeks and then when fewer people are watching, and be sent back to the terror capital of the world. The bureauratic battle lines, as Mr. Lake has reported, break down, as they often do. On one side are the Central Intelligence Agency, which has flubbed nearly every assignment it's had in this war, and the State Department, whose very DNA seems to make it incapable of supporting a hard line. These agencies are arguing that the Iranians will escalate their war against us if the captives are not returned.

On the other side are the Marines, special operations forces, and the Army, all arguing that the risk is too great if these men are at large. This is apparently a decision — like the decision to conduct the raid that led to their arrest — that is going to have to be made by the commander in chief. It should be an easy call for a war president. Those who argue that the Iranians could escalate the terror war in Iraq if we held their terrorists can be directed to the last 10 months of news coverage from that desperate country. While it is true that funding and training for mass murder in Iraq comes from many sources, it is also true that Iran appears to be working to corner that market. The United Nations has documented the Iranian role in supporting Sharia killers in Mogadishu, the Israelis have documented their role in the West Bank, and many Lebanese complain about the Iranian hand in Beirut. The fact that Iran is also operating inside Iraq seems only to elude our diplomats and spies.