U.S. can't prove Iran link to Iraq strife

[Joanne98]

WASHINGTON — Bush administration officials acknowledged Friday that they had yet to compile evidence strong enough to back up publicly their claims that Iran is fomenting violence against U.S. troops in Iraq.

Administration officials have long complained that Iran was supplying Shiite Muslim militants with lethal explosives and other materiel used to kill U.S. military personnel. But despite several pledges to make the evidence public, the administration has twice postponed the release — most recently, a briefing by military officials scheduled for last Tuesday in Baghdad.

"The truth is, quite frankly, we thought the briefing overstated, and we sent it back to get it narrowed and focused on the facts," national security advisor Stephen J. Hadley said Friday.

The acknowledgment comes amid shifting administration messages on Iran. After several weeks of saber rattling that included a stiff warning by President Bush and the dispatch of two aircraft carrier strike groups to the Persian Gulf, near Iran, the administration has insisted in recent days that it does not want to escalate tensions or to invade Iran.

Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates seemed to concede Friday that U.S. officials can't say for sure whether the Iranian government is involved in assisting the attacks on U.S. personnel in Iraq.

"I don't know that we know the answer to that question," Gates said.
http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/front/la-fg-iran3feb03,1,2524049.story?coll=la-headlines-frontpage&ctrack=1&cset=true

[wellst0nev0ter]

deleted

[wellst0nev0ter]

1. HA-YOOUUGE Anticipation For Week, Then Friday Night Dump Of Bad News

You could set your watch to these people :eyes:

[killbotfactory]

2. Is this a surprise to anyone?

Why would Iran need to supply Iraq with explosives? We left plenty of ammo dumps and sites with powerful explosives unguarded when we invaded, during our rush to Baghdad and the weeks after while everyone went on a looting spree.

[lumpy]

3. The 'white house' unable to back up their propaganda

stories regarding Iran and admit it!!! I feel faint.

[ChairmanAgnostic]

4. we can't be sure or precise, but we also know that

tis better to invade and regret it than not to invade at all. We call it the Bush Doctoring.

[magellan]

5. There's more credible evidence that the Saudis are funding the Iraq Sunnis

Yet BushCo remain quiet on that little matter. :shrug:


Saudi Citizens Funding Iraq Insurgents
Iraqi Officials, U.S. Panel Says Saudis Sending 'Boxes Of Cash' To Sunni Militants - CBS News - CAIRO, Egypt, Dec. 8, 2006

(AP) Private Saudi citizens are giving millions of dollars to Sunni insurgents in Iraq and much of the money is used to buy weapons, including shoulder fired anti-aircraft missiles, according to key Iraqi officials and others familiar with the flow of cash.

Saudi government officials deny that any money from their country is being sent to Iraqis fighting the government and the U.S.-led coalition.

But the U.S. Iraq Study Group report released Wednesday said Saudis are a source of funding for Sunni Arab insurgents. Several truck drivers interviewed by The Associated Press described carrying boxes of cash from Saudi Arabia into Iraq, money they said was headed for insurgents.

snip...

In one recent case, an Iraqi official said $25 million (euro18.8 million) in Saudi money went to a top Iraqi Sunni cleric and was used to buy weapons, including Strela, a Russian shoulder-fired anti-aircraft missile. The missiles were purchased from someone in Romania, apparently through the black market, he said.

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/12/08/world/main2240138.shtml

[leftchick]

11. and so do the democrats remain quiet about the Saudis

when bush barks about Iran all of the Dems nod in agreement. Disgusting.

[aaronbees]

6. Liars in action .....

Don't worry; they still have time to cook the books on this propaganda.

[rodeodance]

7. seems the WH has learned something!!

[rodeodance]

8. ... officials worried about a repetition of former Secretary of State Colin L. Powell's.......

Earlier this week, U.S. officials acknowledged that they were uncertain about the strength of their evidence and were reluctant to issue potentially questionable data in the wake of the intelligence failures and erroneous assessments that preceded the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq.

In particular, officials worried about a repetition of former Secretary of State Colin L. Powell's February 2003 U.N. appearance to present the U.S. case against Iraq. In that speech, Powell cited evidence that was later discredited.

In rejecting the case compiled against Iran, senior U.S. officials, including Hadley, Gates and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, confirmed Friday that they were concerned about possible inaccuracies.

"I and Secretary Rice and the national security advisor want to make sure that the briefing that is provided is absolutely accurate and is dominated by facts — serial numbers, technology and so on," Gates told reporters at the Pentagon.

Another reason for the delay, as is often the case when releasing intelligence, was that officials were concerned about inadvertently helping adversaries identify the agents or sources that provided the intelligence, Hadley said.

[LynnTheDem]

9. MUSHROOM CLOUDS!

Aluminum tubes!

INVADE! INVADE!

[ChairmanAgnostic]

10. plus, did you know they had MUSLIMS in Iran?

That's all the proof we need.

[Jack Rabbit]

12. Meanwhile, in the halls of a neoconservative "think" tank, we hear the floowing . . .

Proof? Proof? We don't need no stinking proof!

[censorshipsux]

13. Why am I not surprised.

Who cares. They will just manufacture false intelligence and pass it off as the real thing like they did to get us into Iraq. It's worse than a remake of Saw III.

[kitty1]

14. You see what they're doing here; pitting the Saudis against the..

Iranians. They're doing their damndest to cause a divide between the sunnis and the Shiites. They are trying to lie their way into animosity between the two so they can keep a foothold there.
They have also accused the saudi's of sending suitcases of money to finance the Sunnis over there as well, which the Saudi's adamantly deny doing. I'm sure they can see what is going on here.

[blues90]

15. Should I be confused ?

It appears to me all it will take to get the war with Iran they so much want is one small incident where the proof will take years to unfold .

I guess I have to learn all over again how to duck and cover if my bones will still allow this to happen

[USA No. 1]

16. If this adminstration said the sky was blue no one would believe it because

this adminstration has told too many lies already. Even if there was a significant threat to our security, who in their right mind would believe the president who cried (i.e., lied) wolf and cost the lives of 3,000 good American men and women and thousands of innocent Iraqis?