tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5873160920540394292.post8157221893980122540..comments2023-10-31T00:30:11.189+11:00Comments on The Bureau of Counterpropaganda: 'Let slip the wolves'Ernie Halfdramhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06463362099448607727noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5873160920540394292.post-21649404081381612062007-02-13T20:56:00.000+11:002007-02-13T20:56:00.000+11:00Juan Cole (http://www.informationclearinghouse.inf...Juan Cole (http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article17036.htm)<BR/><BR/>'So the unnamed sources at the Pentagon are reduced to implying that Iran is giving sophisticated bombs to its sworn enemies and the very groups that are killing its Shiite Iraqi allies every day. Get real!<BR/><BR/>'Moreover, there is no evidence of Iranian intentions to kill US troops. If Iran was giving EFPs to anyone, it was to the Supreme Council for Islamic Revolution in Iraq and its Badr Corps paramilitary, for future use. SCIRI is the main US ally in Iraq aside from the Kurds. I don't know of US troops killed by Badr, certainly not any time recently.<BR/><BR/>'It is far more likely that corrupt arms merchants are selling and smuggling these things than that there is direct government- to- militia transfer. It is possible that small Badr Corps stockpiles were shared or sold. That wouldn't have been Iran's fault.<BR/><BR/>'Some large proportion of US troops being killed in Iraq are being killed with bullets and weapons supplied by Washington to the Iraqi army…'Ernie Halfdramhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06463362099448607727noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5873160920540394292.post-89132596310996371452007-02-13T20:54:00.000+11:002007-02-13T20:54:00.000+11:00Today’s NY Times editorial makes the welcome admis...Today’s NY Times editorial makes the welcome admission that<BR/><BR/>'…the officials offered no evidence to support their charge that “the highest levels of the Iranian government” had authorized smuggling these weapons into Iraq for use against American forces. Nor could they adequately explain why they had been sitting on this urgent evidence since 2004. The only thing that was not surprising was the refusal of any of the briefers to allow their names to be published. Mr. Powell is probably wondering why he didn’t insist on the same deal.'<BR/><BR/>However, <BR/><BR/>'Unlike Colin Powell’s infamous prewar presentation on Iraq at the United Nations, this briefing had actual weapons to look at. And perhaps in time, the administration will be able to prove conclusively that the weapons came from arms factories in Iran.<BR/><BR/>'We have no doubt about Iran’s malign intent… <BR/><BR/>'If Mr. Bush is truly worried about Shiite militias killing Americans in Iraq — and he should be — he needs to start showing this evidence to Iraq’s prime minister, Nuri Kamal al-Maliki. He needs to demand that Mr. Maliki stop protecting the militias and make it clear that there will be serious consequences if he continues to refuse.'<BR/><BR/>Yeah, like withdrawing US troops. I can’t wait.<BR/><BR/>'If Mr. Bush is truly worried about Iran fanning Iraq’s ever more bloody civil war — and he should be — he needs to stop fantasizing about regime change and start trying to find a way to persuade Iran’s leaders to help rein in the chaos in Iraq.'<BR/><BR/>Who’s fanning flames?Ernie Halfdramhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06463362099448607727noreply@blogger.com