Military: Iran Supporting Iraq Militias

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Spc. Joshua Robles from Columbus, Georgia, USA, of Alpha Company, 2nd Platoon, 1-15 Infantry, 3rd...

Spc. Joshua Robles from Columbus, Georgia, USA, of Alpha Company, 2nd Platoon, 1-15 Infantry, 3rd Brigade Combat team, 3rd Infantry Division, guards as Iraqi civilians work to clean a road during a patrol at Salman Pak about 30 miles (45 kilometers), south of Baghdad, Iraq, on Tuesday, March. 4, 2008. (AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris)

(AP)

Military officials accused Iran on Tuesday of continuing to train and arm insurgents in Iraq, while U.S. lawmakers said they were disappointed that Baghdad opened up its doors to the Islamic Republic's top leader.

"I think it's offensive," said Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's two-day trip to Iraq this week.

Iraq has "got every right to invite whomever they want. They're sovereign. But we have a right to express an opinion about it," added Levin, chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee.

Levin's remarks come as the U.S. is struggling to combat Iran's growing influence in the region, and senior military commanders say it continues to provide powerful bombs to Shiite militias in Iraq.

"We have no doubt they are still supporting insurgents," said Lt. Gen. Ray Odierno, the former No. 2 military commander in Iraq, at a Pentagon press conference. Asked if that was the greatest threat to stability in Iraq, he said, "If you ask me what I worry about most, I do worry about that as a long-term threat. And I think we have to, you know, constantly watch it."

Odierno, who has been nominated for a fourth star and assignment as vice chief of staff of the Army, said it was not surprising that there were fewer attacks during Ahmadinejad's visit to Baghdad, since it is mainly Iranian-backed Shiite military members who have been conducting rocket and other attacks in the capital.

Adm. William Fallon, the top commander of troops in the Middle East, echoed these remarks in a Senate hearing at which he said Iran was fanning the flames of global terrorism.

While Ahmadinejad has denied charges of harmful meddling in Iraq, "the facts prove otherwise," Fallon told the Senate Armed Services Committee.

Ahmadinejad's visit to Iraq marked the first by an Iranian leader since the country's 1979 Islamic Revolution. During his trip, he insisted U.S. power is crippling the region and portrayed himself as the enduring partner of Baghdad's Shiite-led government.