Target Tehran: Washington sets stage for a new confrontation

[cal04]

The United States is moving closer to war with Iran by accusing the "highest levels" of the Iranian government of supplying sophisticated roadside bombs that have killed 170 US troops and wounded 620.

The allegations against Iran are similar in tone and credibility to those made four years ago by the US government about Iraq possessing weapons of mass destruction in order to justify the invasion of 2003.

(snip)
It is likely that Shia militias have received weapons and money from Iran and possible that the Sunni insurgents have received some aid. But most Iraqi men possess weapons. Many millions of them received military training under Saddam Hussein. His well-supplied arsenals were all looted after his fall. No specialist on Iraq believes that Iran has ever been a serious promoter of the Sunni insurgency.

The evidence against Iran is even more insubstantial than the faked or mistaken evidence for Iraqi WMDs disseminated by the US and Britain in 2002 and 2003. The allegations appear to be full of exaggerations. Few Abrams tanks have been destroyed. It implies the Shias have been at war with the US while in fact they are controlled by parties which make up the Iraqi government.

http://news.independent.co.uk/world/politics/article2261526.ece

[Briar]

1. "The evidence against Iran is even more insubstantial than the faked or mistaken evidence

...for Iraqi WMDs disseminated by the US and Britain in 2002 and 2003."

Says it all. But yesterday the initial BBC reports were treating these highly spun claims as if they were legitimate - as genuine evidence displayed, the newsreader revealed with breathless deference, by high level military personnel and so on. As long as media outlets treats government publicity performances as if they were intrinsically credible, crooked governments will get away with their devious ploys.

Another nice bit of spin:

"The insurgent groups have repeatedly denounced the democratically elected Iraqi government as pawns of Iran. It is unlikely that the Sunni guerrillas have received significant quantities of military equipment from Tehran. Some 1,190 US soldiers have been killed by so-called improvised explosive devices (IEDs) in Iraq since the overthrow of Saddam Hussein. But most of them consist of heavy artillery shells (often 120mm or 155mm) taken from the arsenals of the former regime and detonated by blasting caps wired to a small battery. The current is switched on either by a command wire or a simple device such as the remote control used for children's toys or to open garage doors.

"Such bombs were used by guerrillas during the Irish war of independence in 1919-21 against British patrols and convoys. They were commonly used in the Second World War, when "shaped charges", similar in purpose to the EFPs of which the US is now complaining, were employed by all armies. The very name - explosive formed penetrators - may have been chosen to imply that a menacing new weapon has been developed..."

The trouble is, this kind of allegation sticks with the credulous. Just yesterday, a right-leaning friend of mine was horrified to receive an email from an acquaintance telling her, in shocked terms, that Obama had terrorist leanings. (My friend may be conservative, but she is thoughtful and honest.) No matter that this disgraceful piece of Republican sliming had been totally discredited - that would be about reason, not faith, and the faithful only hear what suits them. So this performance was about getting the base on board for whatever new atrocity the administration has up its sleeve, and it will work as far as its intended audience is concerned.