Iran Boogeyman: The Generals Beg to Differ

by emptywheel

I pointed to the way the Administration was churning its Iran scoops the other day, this time that Iran was supplying Iraqi insurgents with improved IEDs. There was some debate whether the basis of the scoop had any merit: were the Iranians supplying such IEDs, or is this just more Iran Bogeyman?

Well, it turns out the debate has heated up a bit. Instead of Richard Clarke making the case that Iran was supplying the more dangerous IEDs, on Monday President Bush made the claim, mentioning it in the same breath as his other excuses for warmongering against Iran.

Some of the most powerful IEDs we are seeing in Iraq today includes components that came from Iran. Our director of National Intelligence, John Negroponte, told the Congress Tehran has been responsible for at least some of the increasing lethality of anti- coalition attacks by providing Shi'a militia with the capabilities to build improvised explosive devices in Iraq. Coalition forces have seized IEDs and components that were clearly produced in Iran. Such actions, along with Iran's support for terrorism and its pursuit of nuclear weapons, are increasingly isolating Iran. And America will continue to rally the world to confront these threats. (Applause.)

Well, the Generals being tasked to punish Iran for these things must have taken notice. Because yesterday, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Peter Pace admitted there was no proof against Iran.

The top U.S. military officer said on Tuesday the United States does not have proof that Iran's government is responsible for Iranians smuggling weapons and military personnel into Iraq.

President George W. Bush said on Monday components from Iran were being used in powerful roadside bombs used in Iraq, and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said last week that Iranian Revolutionary Guard personnel had been inside Iraq.

Asked whether the United States has proof that Iran's government was behind these developments, Marine Corps Gen. Peter Pace, chairman of the military's Joint Chiefs of Staff, told a Pentagon briefing, "I do not, sir."

Now I've been complaining of late that the people trying to lie us into war with Iran have not improved on their work from when they lied us into Iraq.

But perhaps, this time, it will be different. If the Generals are sufficiently concerned about a(nother) reckless war against Iran, then just maybe they'll reveal that our President is lying.

Again.

(And speaking of lying, this DKos diary on Bolton's lies about Iran's nuclear program is well worth the effort.)

Comments

[Mimikatz]

As someone pointed out today, there is a difference between saying the components are "from Iran", i.e., being sold over the border by Iranian entrepreneurs trying to make a few rials and "from Iran" i.e., the Iranian government is behind the traffic and its agents are actively helping the Iraqi resistance make the IEDs. As whoever it was also said, components are probably also "from the US" in that they are materials we either sold Saddam back in the day or scrap from our current adventure.

If there is one thing we have learned, it is that these folks parse their words very carefully so that they are, to the extent possible, technically correct. As in the meaning of "is".

[John Casper]

emptywheel, I wonder if the "Generals" have to say this stuff themselves, because the WaPo and the NYT's (per your posts) refuse to quote them as "unnamed sources (for fear of Porter Goss and the neocons)?"

[pollyusa]

Thought you'd get a kick out of this... from new court documents.

In arguing for keeping classified information away from the defense, Fitzgerald has noted in court papers that the underlying criminal activity Libby is charged with is the failure to adequately safeguard sensitive classified information.
AP 3/15/06

[Griffon]

That's worth framing, Polly.

If there is one thing we have learned, it is that these folks parse their words very carefully so that they are, to the extent possible, technically correct. As in the meaning of "is".

Well said, Mimikatz.
It can actually become quite a resource once you study their words carefully looking for the ambiguities.

[emptywheel]

polly, yeah I saw that. Fitzgerald is not a man without a sense of humor.