« Right-Wing "24" Harming the Military | Main | Hogwash for the Faithful »

February 11, 2007

Groundhog Day. Or how we learned to love WMDs.

Weapons of Mass Destruction, part deux:

The most lethal weapon directed against American troops in Iraq is an explosive-packed cylinder that United States intelligence asserts is being supplied by Iran.

The assertion of an Iranian role in supplying the device to Shiite militias reflects broad agreement among American intelligence agencies, although officials acknowledge that the picture is not entirely complete.

In interviews, civilian and military officials from a broad range of government agencies provided specific details to support what until now has been a more generally worded claim, in a new National Intelligence Estimate, that Iran is providing “lethal support” to Shiite militants in Iraq.

A "broad range of government agencies"? Which agencies, exactly? Which of these agencies spoke to the press? Are they Bush Administration appointees--the American zampoliti, charged with making sure that agencies follow Bush's political policies?

Juan Cole is especially skeptical:

Over all, only a fourth of US troops had been killed Baghdad (713 or 23.7 percent of about 3000) through the end of 2006. But US troops aren't fighting Shiites anyplace else-- Ninevah, Diyala, Salahuddin--these are all Sunni areas. For a fourth of US troops to be being killed or wounded by Shiite EFPs, all of the Baghdad deaths would have to be at the hands of Shiites!

The US military often does not announce exactly where in Baghdad a GI is killed and so I found it impossible to do a count of Sunni versus Shiite neighborhoods. But we know that Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki was running interference for the Mahdi Army last fall, and it seems unlikely to me that very many US troops died fighting Shiites in Baghdad. The math of Gordon's article does not add up at all if this were Shiite uses of Iran-provided EFPs.

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!

Is Judith Miller back at the Times?

One would think that the paper of record, having been slammed back and humiliated after the Miller scandal, would be more circumspect with such reporting. But apparently Michael Gordon is the eager beaver intent on taking her place.

There can be no motive to attack Iran other than to screw with oil prices and make money for Republican cronies. It certainly doesn't help them politically--the country has begun to move past the saber rattling that consistently comes down from the White House. Very few people are buying it.

Which leaves Republicans in the unteneable position of allowing our military to be wasted in an effort to line the pockets of their campaign contributors and family members. Or perhaps to appease a dying ideology that threatens to spiral the Middle East completely out of control.

Posted by Carla at February 11, 2007 10:59 AM