NYT: U.S. Says Raid in Iraq Supports Claim on Iran

[RamboLiberal]

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/26/world/middleeast/26weapons.html?_r=1&hp&oref=slogin

A raid on a Shiite weapons cache in the southern city of Hilla one week ago is providing what American officials call the best evidence yet that the deadliest roadside bombs in Iraq are manufactured in Iran, but critics contend that the forensic case remains circumstantial and inferential.

The new evidence includes infrared sensors, electronic triggering devices and information about plastic explosives used in bombs that the Americans say lead back to Iran. The explosive material, triggering devices, other components and the method of assembly all produce weapons with an Iranian signature that has never been found outside Iraq or southern Lebanon, where Hezbollah is believed to have used weapons supplied by Iran, the Americans say.

But critics assert that nearly all the bomb components could have been produced in Iraq or somewhere else in the region. Even if the evidence were to establish that Iran is the source, they add, that does not necessarily mean that the Iranian leadership is responsible.

The raid by American and Iraqi forces discovered a fake boulder made of polyurethane and containing three of the deadliest kind of roadside bombs in Iraq. Smeared with dirt and pebbles to give it the color and texture of a rock, the polyurethane blob was resting in the back seat of a Toyota, apparently in preparation for a roadside attack, American officials said in lengthy briefings with two New York Times reporters last week.

[rusty charly]

1. "but critics contend"

they've REALLY GOT TO STOP THIS!

of course critics are anti. that's a given.

hey: NYTimes: WHO are the critics? what are their credentials? are they more valid than the bush administration? GIVE US SOME CONTEXT PLEASE!

done ranting....

[kurth]

2. Yep, whatever "American officials" said must be true

NOT.

[Straight Shooter]

3. A high-ranking Shiite official has already declared that Iran has "stopped meddling."

Hey, how about those Saudis arming the Sunnis? What's the latest evidence on that, bush? Hello? bush? Hello?

[maddezmom]

4. deja vu....Major weapons cache seized in Iraq

Details of the find were expected to be announced Monday at a news conference in Baghdad.

But military officials told The Associated Press that the arsenal is one of the biggest found north of the Iraqi capital and contains components for so-called EFPs — explosively formed projectiles that fire a slug of molten metal that can penetrate armored vehicles.

The U.S. military has said elite Iranian corps are funneling EFPs to Shiite militias in Iraq for use against American troops. The area where the cache was found is dominated by Sunni insurgents but also includes pockets of Shiites.

Earlier this month, U.S. officials showed reporters in Baghdad pieces of EFPs they said were directly traceable to Iran.

more:http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070226/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq_weapons

Feb.14, 2007~ U.S. military not confirming claims that Iran's gov't was involved in production of powerful explosives

U.S. military not confirming claims that Iran's government was involved in production of powerful explosive found in Iraq
BAGHDAD (CNN) -- A U.S. military official pressed by reporters wouldn't confirm Wednesday recent American military statements that Iran's leadership is directing the production of an armor-piercing explosive said to be supplied to extremists in Iraq.

This comes a day after the top U.S. military official cast doubt that the Iranian government itself was involved in the production and smuggling of explosively formed penetrators, known as EFPs.

"I think people want to make an inference. I think people want to hype this up. What we're saying is that in Iran these EFPs are being manufactured. Within Iran munitions are being manufactured that are ending up in Iraq. We are asking the Iranian government for that to stop. It all boils down to that," Maj. Gen. William Caldwell told reporters at a briefing on Wednesday.

Wednesday's briefing comes a few days after unnamed military officials told journalists about EFPs and said that the munitions were being provided to Shiite groups in Iraq by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard's Quds force, which answers directly to Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

more: http://edition.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/europe/02/14/wednesda...

AFP: US military confirms Iran weapons allegations
~snip~
Caldwell said the initial briefing had been intended to publicly pressure -- "since we've been unsuccessful through other political means thus far" -- the Iranian government to cut off the supply of weapons.

"We're asking the Iranian government to assist in stopping that occurring. The reason why we have gone public is because it is a force protection issue... because of the devastating effect the EFP produces," he said.

Caldwell said the numbers of EFPs turning up on the Iraqi battlefield had increased by 150 percent between January and December 2006 and the weapon has been blamed for killing 170 US and allied soldiers and wounding 650.

The general backtracked, however, from a claim made at the anonymous briefing that weapons smuggling was initiated at "the highest level" of the Iranian government, branding that allegation as analysts' "inference."

more:http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20070214/pl_afp/iraqunresti...

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x2730632

[maddezmom]

5. at the news conference: Military declined to link it to any Gov't or name which militant group...but

"I don't think there is any way for us to know if it is tied to any government," Major Jeremy Siegrist said of the cache.

Siegrist declined to link the weapons to any particular militant group in Iraq. He said they were found near a village where gunmen of the Mehdi Army militia of anti-American Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr are strong.

"We know there are JAM members in the village," he said, using the English language acronym of the group.

Washington calls the Mehdi Army the biggest threat to security in Iraq, where thousands of extra U.S. forces have been deployed, mostly in Baghdad, to quell sectarian violence that is threatening to plunge the country into all-out civil war.

more:http://mobile.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/IBO636775.htm