US Military Ignored Evidence of Iraqi-Made EFPs

[babylonsister]

US Military Ignored Evidence of Iraqi-Made EFPs
Submitted by davidswanson on Fri, 2007-10-26 22:35. Evidence | Iran

By Gareth Porter, Inter Press Service

WASHINGTON - When the U.S. military command accused the Iranian Quds Force last January of providing the armour-piercing EFPs (explosively formed penetrators) that were killing U.S. troops, it knew that Iraqi machine shops had been producing their own EFPs for years, a review of the historical record of evidence on EFPs in Iraq shows.

The record also shows that the U.S. command had considerable evidence that the Mahdi army had gotten the technology and the training on how to use it from Hezbollah rather than Iran.

The command, operating under close White House supervision, chose to deny these facts in making the dramatic accusation that became the main rationale for the present aggressive U.S. stance toward Iran. Although the George W. Bush administration initially limited the accusation to the Quds Force, it has recently begun to assert that top officials of the Iranian regime are responsible for arms that are killing U.S. troops.

more...

http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/?q=node/28053

[Kagemusha]

1. I feel like I should thank the writer for you know, stating the obvious.

It's become that kind of weird, Orwellian world that willingness to actually write the blunt truth is shocking. ...Outside of message boards on a corner of the Internet, I mean.

[madokie]

2. I jsut hope the bush* crew heard what putin said about attacking Iran

russia could very well give us a run for our money militarily especially right now. The Iranians themselves are no slouches either

[NNN0LHI]

3. explosively formed penetrators - EFPs

http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2007/10/08/071008fa_fact_hersh?currentPage=2
Shifting Targets

by Seymour M. Hersh

<snip>Questions remain, however, about the provenance of weapons in Iraq, especially given the rampant black market in arms. David Kay, a former C.I.A. adviser and the chief weapons inspector in Iraq for the United Nations, told me that his inspection team was astonished, in the aftermath of both Iraq wars, by “the huge amounts of arms” it found circulating among civilians and military personnel throughout the country. He recalled seeing stockpiles of explosively formed penetrators, as well as charges that had been recovered from unexploded American cluster bombs. Arms had also been supplied years ago by the Iranians to their Shiite allies in southern Iraq who had been persecuted by the Baath Party.

[5X]

5. Thanks for this link, got some reading to do now. n/t

[5X]

6. Here is a very important paragraph from the linked article:

"In a recent essay in Commentary, Norman Podhoretz depicted President Ahmadinejad as a revolutionary, “like Hitler . . . whose objective is to overturn the going international system and to replace it . . . with a new order dominated by Iran. . . . he plain and brutal truth is that if Iran is to be prevented from developing a nuclear arsenal, there is no alternative to the actual use of military force.” Podhoretz concluded, “I pray with all my heart” that President Bush “will find it possible to take the only action that can stop Iran from following through on its evil intentions both toward us and toward Israel.” Podhoretz recently told politico.com that he had met with the President for about forty-five minutes to urge him to take military action against Iran, and believed that “Bush is going to hit” Iran before leaving office. (Podhoretz, one of the founders of neoconservatism, is a strong backer of Rudolph Giuliani’s Presidential campaign, and his son-in-law, Elliott Abrams, is a senior adviser to President Bush on national security.)"

[DCKit]

4. Somebody tried to get the word out a few months back....

Said that they're making parts by hand in back-alley tinsmithing operations.

However, that doesn't jibe with the message BushCo wants to put out, so it's no-sale.