They never get tired of spreading Bush's crap. NYT hawks lie that Hezbollah is aiding Iran in Iraq

[bigtree]

Deadliest Bomb in Iraq is Made by Iran, U.S. Says

this title (and this pile of crap) shouldn't be repeated by anyone who cares at all about the truth . . .

By MICHAEL R. GORDON
Published: February 10, 2007

WASHINGTON, Feb. 9 — The most lethal weapon directed against American troops in Iraq is an explosive-packed cylinder that United States intelligence asserts is being supplied by Iran. :eyes:

The assertion of an Iranian role in supplying the device to Shiite militias reflects broad agreement among American intelligence agencies, although officials acknowledge that the picture is not entirely complete. (EVIDENCE?!!!!)

The focus of American concern is an “explosively formed penetrator,” a particularly deadly type of roadside bomb being used by Shiite groups in attacks on American troops in Iraq. Attacks using the device have doubled in the past year, and have prompted increasing concern among military officers. In the last three months of 2006, attacks using the weapons accounted for a significant portion of Americans killed and wounded in Iraq, though less than a quarter of the total, military officials say.

Because the weapon can be fired from roadsides and is favored by Shiite militias, it has become a serious threat in Baghdad. Only a small fraction of the roadside bombs used in Iraq are explosively formed penetrators. But the device produces more casualties per attack than other types of roadside bombs.

The assessment was described in interviews over the past several weeks with American officials, including some whose agencies have previously been skeptical about the significance of Iran’s role in Iraq. Administration officials said they recognized that intelligence failures related to prewar American claims about Iraq’s weapons arsenal could make critics skeptical about the American claims. The link that American intelligence has drawn to Iran is based on a number of factors, including an analysis of captured devices, examination of debris after attacks, and intelligence on training of Shiite militants in Iran and in Iraq by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard and by Hezbollah militants believed to be working at the behest of Tehran.

The information includes interrogation reports from the raids indicating that money and weapons components are being brought into Iraq from across the Iranian border in vehicles that travel at night. One of the detainees has identified an Iranian operative as having supplied two of the bombs. The border crossing at Mehren is identified as a major crossing point for the smuggling of money and weapons for Shiite militants, according to the intelligence.

According to American intelligence, Iran has excelled in developing this type of bomb, and has provided similar technology to Hezbollah militants in southern Lebanon. The manufacture of the key metal components required sophisticated machinery, raw material and expertise that American intelligence agencies do not believe can be found in Iraq. In addition, some components of the bombs have been found with Iranian factory markings from 2006.

more: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/10/world/middleeast/10weapons.html?ei=5094&en=ca3616f749ffa5e8&hp=&ex=1171083600&partner=homepage&pagewanted=print

[Monkeyman]

1. Next it will be Bin-Laden is helping Hezbollah with WMD's

[Drum]

2. Frankly, I think that regionally EVERYbody must be siding against the

US War and Propaganda Machine.


x(

[rusty charly]

3. "The assessment was described in interviews over the past several weeks with American officials"

"According to American intelligence"?

"The information includes"?

"One of the detainees has identified"?

y'know what? this time around, we need some 'on the record' quotes, don'cha think?

[bigtree]

4. absolutely

they still haven't shown ANY link between these materials and the Iranian government. If we're talking about how many and whose weapons the Iraqi resistance and the Shia militias are using then the U.S. weaponry has to stand out as the most proliferated and employed against our troops. WE supplied the Shia militias as they were a part of the initial Iraqi police and army forces we used to suppress the Sunni community before, during, and after the 'elections' which elevated the Shiites and gave them the majority.

Now there are numerous reports today that the Iraqi government is directing the Iraqis who've joined the U.S. escalation in Baghdad, against mainly Sunni targets (again).

[seafan]

5. More "serial number", RPG-29, EFP propaganda debunked in this earlier post today:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=165667&mesg_id=168010

[bigtree]

12. great post, seafan

[leveymg]

6. This design of IED was developed in Lebanon, but, it was the Sunni who have been using them

The first use of these big IEDs was in May 2005 in the Sunni areas west and east of Baghdad. This was before the Shi'a used these things. After the elections, that brought the al-Maliki Shi'a-dominated regime into secure control, there was absolutely no reason for Iran or its allied Shi'a militias to destabilize the status quo.

The big EIDs were designed by Iran and developed by Hezbollah. But, they've been used in Iraq by the Sunnis and then by splinter al-Sadr militia who have been turned against the dominant Iran-backed al-Maliki and al-Hakim regime. The primary supplier of the IEDs in Iraq since the elections is Saudi intelligence, formenting an intra-Shi'a Iraqi civil war.

[bigtree]

7. Or, they got the stuff off of the black market

the most likely source

[Drum]

8. Wasn't there a huge cache of explosives

in Iraq that was unguarded after the "liberation" and duly plundered?

Nobody really pursued (it seems) where all of that materiel might've ended up

[leveymg]

10. Once the design is proliferated, anyone can build them. Iraq is a bomb-maker's Paradise.

There is so much ordinance, plastic explosive and solid rocket fuel lying around, along with oil pipes and fabrication equipment, a Middle School tech class kid could mass produce "sophisticated" IEDs.

IEDs aren't made in Iran. Why, when nearly anyone can make them inside their house in Iraq?

[rusty charly]

9. bingo!

'Cobra II,' by Michael R. Gordon and Bernard E. Trainor

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/04/30/books/review/30heilbrun.html?ex=1304049600&en=ffc80747ae84f966&ei=5088&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss

"The book is most riveting in its descriptions of the war. Gordon and Trainor emphasize that from the outset, it went very differently than the administration had expected. They might have been slightly more forgiving on this front, since the fog — or, in the Iraqi case, sandstorm — of war wreaks havoc on most battle plans. (Given that Gordon himself wrote two articles with Judith Miller about Iraqi weapons of mass destruction that The Times later criticized in a note "from the editors," he should have been more circumspect about reproving the administration for bungling the W.M.D. issue.) Still, Rumsfeld's blithe assumptions, coupled with misleading C.I.A. intelligence about weapons of mass destruction and the prospects for an insurgency, were fateful. The authors emphasize that in late March 2003 commanders wanted to go after the Fedayeen irregulars who would form the core of the insurgency, but Rumsfeld wanted to wind the war up as soon as possible and hand Bush a gift-wrapped victory. General Franks even declared that it was as important to take risks on the way out of Iraq as it was going in by slashing troop numbers, which Jay Garner, the first head of reconstruction, thought "was plain crazy."

[CoffeeCat]

11. I just read this article on their site...

...and I had the same reaction.

Someone explain it to me...what in the hell IS the New York Times?

When we're not at war, they seem to get at the truth and they also seem
to cover stories and speak truth to power---better than the MSM.

However, when it comes to war--we can always count on "New York Times"--
front and center! This publication seems to thrive off of pounding
that war drum.

I realllllly don't get it. Why is the NYT so hell bent on playing
marketing agent for the necons--who want to sell us war? Why
do they allow the neocon thugs to use them as their personal PR agency?

I'll never understand this. NEVER. It's like the NYT has a split
personality.

[Kagemusha]

13. The NYT has never been shy about wars believed to help Israel out

And never will be.

It's a free country so I certainly don't hold grudges over editorial tilt. I just don't feel obliged to share it.

[rusty charly]

14. the paper's policy on using unidentified sources:

A front page article in Saturday's New York Times which claims that there is "broad agreement among American intelligence agencies" that Iran has been supplying Iraqi Shiite militias with explosively formed projectiles (or EFPs) appears to violate the paper's policy on using unidentified sources, RAW STORY has found.

The article, "Deadliest Bomb in Iraq Is Made by Iran, U.S. Says," written by Times military affairs correspondent Michael R. Gordon, refers to "civilian and military officials from a broad range of government agencies" but only identifies one original source used on the record, Lt. Col. James Danna. However, Danna provides no quotes about any Iranian involvement with the EFPs. Gordon's article also refers to public statements made by Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates and Gen. Peter Pace, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

In February of 2004, the paper issued a "restatement" of its "sourcing policy," after controversies arose regarding its coverage of the Bush Administration's pre-war WMD claims about Iraq and the scandal surrounding Jayson Blair, who was discovered not only to have plagiarized many of his articles but also to have invented sources.

According to the confidential news sources policy, the New York Times has "long observed the principle of identifying our sources by name and title or, when that is not possible, explaining why we consider them authoritative, why they are speaking to us and why they have demanded confidentiality."

http://www.rawstory.com/news/2007/NYT_article_appears_to_violate_policy_0210.html