Recall the Moonie Times': "Iran no longer aids Iraq militants"?

[Emit]

I saw this Times article posted last week here at DU and, considering the source, it made me curious. I can't even begin to fathom what the Times' motive was in taking this approach, it being contrary to Bush & Co.'s drumbeat for getting their war on with Iran.

Iran no longer aids Iraq militants
By Sara A. Carter
January 3, 2008

Iran's leaders are no longer supplying weapons or training to Islamic militants in Iraq, the spokesman for the top U.S. commander in Iraq told The Washington Times.

Gen. David H. Petraeus, commander of U.S. forces in Iraq, sees Iran as following through on assurances it made to Iraqi and U.S. officials last fall not to assist extremists in Iraq, spokesman Col. Steven Boylan said, adding that other U.S. officials have noted declines in Iranian weapons and funds to Iraqi insurgents.

"We are ready to confirm the excellence of the senior Iranian leadership in their pledge to stop the funding, training, equipment and resourcing of the militia special groups," Col. Boylan said. "We have seen a downward trend in the signature-type attacks using weapons provided by Iran."

In October, U.S. military officials began noticing a decrease in the supply of Iranian weapons and assistance, Col. Boylan added.

~snip~

http://www.washingtontimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080103/NATION/498097125/1001




And, it makes me curious why Fox would initially repeat the story. Whatever either's intentions, Fox News yanked it the next day.

FOXNews.com yanks Iran story, replaces with Petraeus denial
Reported by Chrish - January 5, 2008 - 55 comments

Yesterday morning 1/3/08 FOXNews.com ran a story that referred and linked back to a Washington Times piece that said Iran is no longer supplying weapons or training to insurgents in Iraq and had in fact stopped the practice in October 2007 - three months before the "surge." Last night the story changed to one where General Petraeus denied the Washington Times story. FOX did not issue a retraction or correction, they simply disappeareed the earlier story and replaced it with General Petraeus' denial.

The hyperlink http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,319969,00.html, originally went to the story headlined "Report: Iran is Not aiding Iraq Militants."

http://www.newshounds.us/2008/01/05/foxnewscom_yanks_iran_story_replaces_with_petraeus_denial.php

*Ooops!*

[Emit]

1. And the Times sez the next day that the Petraeus quote was misinterpreted

Think this reporter's been canned yet?

Military cautious on Iran aid to militants
By Sara A. Carter
January 4, 2008
The spokesman for Gen. David H. Petraeus said that a quote he e-mailed to The Washington Times for the article in yesterday's paper headlined "Iran no longer aids Iraq militants" was not clear and therefore misinterpreted.



Col. Steven Boylan said, "It is not clear if Iran's leaders stopped supplying weapons or training to extremist elements in Iraq. We hope that they have, but until we can confirm it, we are in the wait and see mode."



The colonel sent a list of answers to questions sent by The Times regarding the situation in Iraq and Iran's involvement in the Islamist insurgency there.


~snip~



The answer from Col. Boylan stated that "we are ready to confirm the excellence of the senior Iranian leadership in their pledge to stop the funding, training, equipment and resourcing of the militia special groups."



In a phone call from Iraq yesterday, Col. Boylan said his quote didn't mean that the U.S. military was "ready to confirm" that Iran was abiding by its pledge but only a confirmation "that there was a pledge from the senior levels in Iran to the senior level of government in Iraq that they would stop."



"I am more than willing to say there was confusion on the part of the intent of the word ‘ready," ” he said, regarding the original quote he provided to The Times.

http://www.washingtontimes.com/article/20080104/NATION/499661424/1002/NATION

[bigtree]

2. The Iraqi government has praised Iran for their cooperation

in stemming the flow of weapons and weapons material. They even went so far to praise Iran for helping bring about a reduction in the violence. Remember, al-Sadr issued his call for his Shiite compatriots to lay down their arms from Iran.

[Emit]

3. Thanks for the info

Hadn't heard the specifics of that.