AP, 27 August 2008 (excerpts) – A former security adviser to Iraqi President Jalal Talabani said in comments published Tuesday that he had quit his job so he can freely speak about what he called the danger Iran poses in the Middle East.

Wafiq al-Samarraie, a Sunni Arab, told the London-based Arabic newspaper Asharq al-Awsat that he wanted to expose the role in Iraq of Iran’s elite Quds Force, a branch of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard.

The U.S. military has said the Quds Force arms, equips and finances Shiite Muslim militiamen who it says are responsible for the death of hundreds of American soldiers.