Iraq border security by the Air Force?

This seems like a bad plan on so many levels.

The Air Force is preparing for an expanded role in Iraq that could include aggressive new tactics designed to deter Iranian assistance to Iraqi militants, senior Pentagon officials said.

The efforts could include more forceful patrols by Air Force and Navy fighter planes along the Iran-Iraq border to counter the smuggling of bomb supplies from Iran, a senior Pentagon official said.

This is about the least effective way to do this; Patrolling a border is definitionally a ground troop endeavor.

How many "mistakes" will there be? How does the Air Force know which trucks to hit? How many non-combatants will be killed exacerbating anti-US sentiment in Iraq?

The only logical purpose I can see for implementing this is to exacerbate tensions with Iran.

(I frequently find myself wondering how the Iraqis must feel as the US tries to play out its own Iran conflict in their sandbox. Don't they have enough to worry about without this? (Maliki quote.))

Also, how much pressure for "engaging" Iran is coming from "the Gulf states," Saudi, Kuwait, etc?)