Meanwhile, from Propaganda Central

by emptywheel

Credit Sudarsan Raghavan with putting the skepticism right up front.

The chief U.S. military spokesman in Iraq asserted Wednesday that Iranian-made arms, manufactured as recently as last year, have reached Sunni insurgents here, which if true would mark a new development in the four-year-old conflict. [my emphasis]

Though I would just love for journalists to start calling attention to the pattern. Unknown informant shows up out of the blue. Said informant tells the US precisely what it needs to hear to justify more warmongering. US stovepipes the story to the US press. Voila, war in a box.

It's not until much later in the story until we see how similar this latest story is:

Regarding the weapons attributed to Iran, Caldwell said an Iraqi man turned up two days ago at a security outpost in the predominantly Sunni al-Jihad neighborhood and tipped off soldiers to the munitions. He directed the soldiers to a house, where they spotted a black Mercedes sedan, Caldwell said. The arms, including mortars and rockets, were inside the car and its trunk, as well as buried on the property. The house was empty, he said.

Several mortar rounds on display at the news conference had markings that read "2006," suggesting they had been manufactured -- and arrived in Iraq -- after the U.S.-led invasion in 2003. The markings on all the munitions were in English. Maj. Marty Weber, an explosives expert, said countries selling arms on the global market tend to use English lettering.

That guy, who showed up at a security outpost? He doesn't know a guy named Ahmed Chalabi, does he?

Comments

[Mauimom]

**Voila, war in a box**

My mind went immediately to the Justin Timberlake skit on SNL. But then, I'm a bad person.

[Sara]

As of this morning I think they have more to worry about than these arms. Woke up to National Public Radio reporting that the Iraqi Parliament had been attacked, apparently 2 dead, 10 injured from among the members, who had been meeting but recessed for lunch. The bomb or the suicide bomber apparently was in the members dining room.

CNN finally got some tape, showing I am not sure what, but some bloody injured people. Immediate claim is that this was al-Qaeda. (who knows??)

This of course is deep in the Green Zone. Wonder if John McCain would like to take a stroll through there today?

[emptywheel]

Deep in the green zone is the key issue. I saw that all the major media have evacuation plans in place--if there are insurgents in the green zone, I can imagine they're getting antsy. If the media pulls out, it'll be a dicey game to keep upping the troop presence.

[Neil]

Glenn Greenwald has been revisiting ABC's pre-Iraq war anthrax story where they claimed four independent anonymous sources told them the anthrax had chemical fingerprint that indicated it was Saddam's handiwork.

Mauimom: Voila! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1dmVU08zVpA

[freepatriot]

nobody cares if Iran is supplying explosives to Iraq

America has reached the point where every problem that george bush whines about is HIS OWN FUCKING FAULT

the Iranians are interfering in Iraq ???

WHY DIDN'T YOU PLAN FOR THIS OBVIOUS DEVELOPMENT

the Turks are threatening to invade the Kurdish portion of Iraq

WHY DIDN'T YOU PLAN FOR THIS OBVIOUS DEVELOPMENT

The Saudis are funding the Sunni insurgency ???

WHY DIDN'T YOU PLAN FOR THIS OBVIOUS DEVELOPMENT

there are A FEW COMMON FACTORS in all of our difficulties in Iraq

1, it was easily predictable, and predicted before the invasion

2, george bush doesn't have a plan to deal with it

3, it ain't george's fault, it's the Iraqis-Iranians-Saudis-American people's fault

anybody else notice this pattern ???

[Dismayed]

Rage on you crazy diamond. Love it! BTW - No shit. It's all over but the crying now.

[hgf]

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