Defense officials: Weapons sent to Iraq from 'highest level' of Iran's government

[seafan]

That was the title of this piece at 5:13 pm ET.

It is now, at 8:22 pm ET, entitled Military: Iran ships weapons to Shiite extremists, and the content is now quite different. At the end of this quoted section of the revised article, I will include some of the material from the original piece, (I had printed a copy out) which was quite interesting. Wonder why it was revised so quickly....



Updated 2/11/2007 8:22 PM ET
By Jim Michaels, USA TODAY

BAGHDAD — The U.S. military said Sunday that armor-piercing roadside bombs sent by Iran to Shiite extremists have killed 170 American and coalition troops in Iraq.

U.S. military officials, who declined requests to be identified, said shipments of weapons and ammunition to Iraq's Shiite militias were being directed at the highest levels of the Iranian government.

In a briefing, U.S. officials showed reporters part of a device they described as a sophisticated roadside bomb, along with mortar shells and rocket-propelled grenades they said were made in Iran. Later, one of the officials, an intelligence analyst, said it would be impossible to find a "smoking gun" conclusively proving Iranian government involvement.

Sunday's briefing by the three military officials was the most detailed attempt to show that Iran supports militants in Iraq. It followed similar remarks Friday by U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates.

Gates said serial numbers and markings found on explosives provide "pretty good" evidence that Iran is supplying either weapons or expertise to extremists in Iraq.

U.S. and coalition forces have not captured any Iranian agents in possession of the armor-piercing roadside bombs. The U.S. officials at the briefing said Iraqis are usually used to transport the explosives from Iran.

.....

U.S. commanders have been increasingly vocal about allegations of Iranian support for Shiite militias and extremists in Iraq. Lt. Gen. Raymond Odierno, the No. 2 ranking U.S. commander in Iraq, said recently that Iran was providing training, weapons, ammunition and money to militants in Iraq.

The military said sophisticated weapons from Iran give militants an edge in their fight against American and Iraqi forces.

The Iranian Embassy in Baghdad could not be reached for comment, but Tehran has denied the allegations in recent statements.

From the same article link, at 5:13 pm ET (No longer linked, but I think this information should not fall down the memory hole..). By the way, no author was listed at 5:13 pm ET:

....The presentation of evidence was the result of weeks of preparation and revisions as U. S. officials put together a package of material to support the Bush administration's claims of Iranian intercession of behalf of militant Iraqis fighting American forces.
....Senior U. S. military officials in Baghdad said the display of evidence was prompted by the military's concern for "force protection", which, they said, was guaranteed under the United Nations resolution that authorizes American soldiers to be in Iraq.


Three senior military officials who explained the evidence said that "machining process" used in the construction of the deadly bombs had been traced back to Iran.
The experts, who spoke to a large gathering of reporters on condition that they not be further identified, said the supply trail began with Iran's Revolutionary Guards Quds Force, which also is accused of arming the Hezbollah guerrilla army in Lebanon. The officials said the EFP weapon was first tested there.
The officials said the Revolutionary Guard and its Quds force report directly to Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.


The so-called Iran dossier, a small portion of which was revealed in Baghdad on Sunday, was revised heavily after officials decided it was not ready for release as planned last month. U. S. military officials in Baghdad had even scheduled a briefing for reporters only to cancel it a day later.
Senior U. S. officials in Washington--gun shy after the drubbing the administration took for the faulty intelligence leading to the 2003 Iraq invasion--had held back because they were unhappy with the original presentation.
The display of evidence appeared to be part of the White House drive that has empowered U. S. forces in Iraq to use all means to curb Iranian influence in the country, including killing Iranian agents.
It included a power-point slide program and a handful of mortar shells and rocket-propelled grenades which the military officials said were made in Iran.


The centerpiece of the evidentiary display, however, was a gray metal pipe about 10 inches long and 6 inches in diameter, the exterior casing of what the military said was an EFP, the roadside bomb that shoots out fist-sized wads of nearly molten copper that can penetrate the armor on an Abrams tank.
The EFP's, as well as Iranian-made mortar shells and rocket-propelled grenades, have been supplied to what the military officials termed "rogue elements" of the Mahdi Army militia of anti-American Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr. He is a key backer of Shiite Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki.


The U. S. officials glossed over armaments having reached the other major Shiite organization, the Badr Brigade. It is the military wing of Iraq's most powerful Shiite political organization, the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq, whose leaders also have close ties to the U. S.
Many key government figures and members of the Shiite political establishment have deep ties to Iran, having spent decades there in exile during Saddam Hussein's rule. The Badr Brigade was formed and trained by Iran's Revolutionary Guard.
The U. S. officials said there was no evidence of Iranian made EFPs having fallen into the hands of Sunni insurgents who operate mainly in Anbar province in the west of Iraq, Baghdad and regions surrounding the capital.


"We know more that we can show," said one of the senior official, when pressed for more evidence that the EFPs were made in Iran.


An intelligence analyst in the group said Iran was working through "multiple surrogates"--mainly in the Mahdi Army--to smuggle the EFPs into Iraq. He said most of the components are entering the country at crossing points near Amarah, the Iranian border city of Meran and the Basra area of southern Iraq.
The analyst said Iraq's Shiite-led government had been briefed on Iran's involvement and Iraqi officials had asked the Iranians to stop.

.....


U. S. officials have alleged for years that weapons were entering the country from Iran but had until Sunday stopped short of alleging involvement by top Iranian leaders.
During the briefing, a senior defense official said that one of the six Iranians detained in January in the northern city of Irbil was the operational commander of the Quds Force.
He was identified as Mohsin Chizari, who was apprehended after slipping back into Iraq after a 10-month absence, the officer said.
The Iranians were caught trying to flush documents down the toilet, he said. They had also tried to change their appearance by shaving their heads. Bags of hair were found during the raid, he said.

.....

GASP! Bags of hair!

Wonder who from *on high* may not have been *happy* with the 5:13 pm version of this piece....


Our leadership is lying to us.

[Imagevision]

1. so go get a nuke, we're tired of hearing your crap!!