U.S. Forces Raid Iranian Consulate in Iraq, Detain 5

Aren't consulates considered as if they were "soil"? By invading the Iranian consulate, are we in effect invading Iran?

Immunities and privileges for consuls and accredited staff of consulates under the relevant international conventions are generally limited to actions undertaken in their official capacity and, with respect to the consulate itself, to those required for official duties.

Article 31
Inviolability of the consular premises
1.Consular premises shall be inviolable to the extent provided in this article.
2.The authorities of the receiving State shall not enter that part of the consular premises which is
used exclusively for the purpose of the work of the consular post except with the consent of the head of
the consular post or of his designee or of the head of the diplomatic mission of the sending State. The
consent of the head of the consular post may, however, be assumed in case of fire or other disaster
requiring prompt protective action.
3.Subject to the provisions of paragraph 2 of this article, the receiving State is under a special
duty to take all appropriate steps to protect the consular premises against any intrusion or damage and to
prevent any disturbance of the peace of the consular post or impairment of its dignity.
4.The consular premises, their furnishings, the property of the consular post and its means of
transport shall be immune from any form of requisition for purposes of national defence or public utility.
If expropriation is necessary for such purposes, all possible steps shall be taken to avoid impeding the
performance of consular functions, and prompt, adequate and effective compensation shall be paid to the
sending State.

Or to gather evidence that Iran is helping to fund the Shia insurgency.

2.The authorities of the receiving State shall not enter that part of the consular premises which is
used exclusively for the purpose of the work of the consular post except with the consent of the head of
the consular post or of his designee or of the head of the diplomatic mission of the sending State.

The consulate raid, meanwhile, seems to have alienated some of America's best friends. Members of the Kurdistan Regional Government maintain that the Americans did not contact them about this operation beforehand, and Kurdish leaders protested the raid. Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari, who is of Kurdish heritage, said on the Al-Arabiyah satellite television channel, "What happened ... was very annoying because there has been an Iranian liaison office there for years and it provides services to the citizens."

The U.S. definitely failed to coordinate the raid with Kurdish security forces. When American troops went to the airport, the Kurdish peshmerga who were guarding it, alarmed at the approach of unauthorized foreign troops, came very close to firing on them. Whether or not the raid was intended to provoke Iran, it almost turned into yet another Bush gambit with unforeseen, disastrous consequences. The fallout from a big firefight between U.S. soldiers and the Kurdistan paramilitary could have been serious, since Kurds are among the few strongly pro-American populations left in Iraq.

Didn't those rules say something about permission? I'm sure we tortured that out of them, along with a few dozen innocent bystanders, on our way to eat some babies, all for the sole purpose of destroying mankind as we know it...