Trent Franks: “Mr. Chairman, according to Secretary of Defense Gates, Iranian weapons have begun to flow into Afghanistan in recent…”

“Mr. Chairman, according to Secretary of Defense Gates, Iranian weapons have begun to flow into Afghanistan in recent months. We know this much for certain. What we do not know is if indeed this is an official sanction of the Iranian government. However, some in the intelligence community believe that this effort is on the part of a branch of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard, which are responsible for shipping these deadly weapons to the Taliban. If this is true, Mr. Chairman, the implications must be realized by this Congress, because it means that Shiite Iran is disregarding sectarian differences with Sunni Taliban in order to unite with them in an effort to undermine U.S. efforts for peace in the nascent democratic Afghanistan. Mr. Chairman, this means that the nation of Iran is determined to back non-state Muslim militants to terrorize countries who desire peace, tolerance and stability. We saw them do this last year in Lebanon through their proxy Hezbollah against the nation of Israel. We now see this happening in Iraq as well. There are two major elements, Mr. Chairman, when we consider the danger of an enemy to this Nation. We first have to assess their intention or the will of an enemy to harm the U.S. or our allies. It is clear that the Taliban, Hamas, Hezbollah and groups like them hate governments like ours that uphold the rule of law and uphold the effort to protect freedom of action, thought and religion.”