Unnamed “US officials” at the Pentagon are claiming that they have reason to believe Iran is responsible for the attack and execution style slaying of 5 US troops in Karbala on January 20th.

BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) — The Pentagon is investigating whether a recent attack on a military compound in Karbala was carried out by Iranians or Iranian-trained operatives, two officials from separate U.S. government agencies said.

“People are looking at it seriously,” one of the officials said.

The official added the Iranian connection was a leading theory in the investigation into the January 20 attack that killed U.S. five soldiers.

The second official said: “We believe it’s possible the executors of the attack were Iranian or Iranian-trained.”

(cont.)
Of course, they also say that this serious investigation isn’t based on any hard evidence:

Both officials stressed the Iranian-involvement theory is a preliminary view, and there is no final conclusion. They agreed this possibility is being looked at because of the sophistication of the attack and the level of coordination.

“This was beyond what we have seen militias or foreign fighters do,” the second official said.

A preliminary view. How convenient. How long before it becomes the official US position. To refresh your recollection, here are some news accounts regarding what happened at Karbala on January 20th:

LINK
KARBALA, Iraq – Four American soldiers – whom the U.S. military originally reported were killed when unknown gunmen stormed an Iraqi provincial office in Karbala last Saturday – were in fact taken hostage and later executed by their kidnappers, military officials said Friday.

The abducted soldiers were discovered, with shots to the head, when five Chevrolet Suburbans used in the attack were found abandoned, their doors open, near the city of Hilla hours after the attack. Hilla is about 24 miles from Karbala.

Military officials offered no explanation for why the men originally were reported as having died “repelling the attack.” The Pentagon named the men in a news release on Tuesday and said they’d died “from wounds sustained when their patrol was ambushed while conducting dismounted operations.”

Here’s what the AP reported on January 27th about this attack:

The brazen assault, 50 miles south of Baghdad, was conducted by nine to 12 gunmen posing as a U.S. security team, the military confirmed. The attackers traveled in black GMC Suburbans — the type used by U.S. government convoys — had American weapons, wore new U.S. military combat fatigues, and spoke English, according to senior U.S. military and Iraqi officials. […]

“The precision of the attack, the equipment used and the possible use of explosives to destroy the military vehicles in the compound suggests that the attack was well-rehearsed prior to execution,” said Lt. Col. Scott Bleichwehl of the Multi-National Division-Baghdad.

Here’s what Juan Cole of Informed Comment wrote about the possible identity of these attackers on January 27th at his blog:

Mahawil, a mixed Sunni-Shiite city, is a Sunni Arab guerrilla arena of action, and it now seems likely to me that this was a Sunni Arab operation aimed at harming security arrangements. Shiite Mahdi Army ghetto militiamen don’t know English. If I were in charge of Karbala, I’d put extra security around the city for Tuesday’s Ashura commemoration of Imam Husayn’s martyrdom. The only thing I can’t figure out is that it clearly was an inside job, and so how would there have been Sunni Arab guerrilla sympathizers at this police and army meeting at Shiite Karbala. Maybe mixed units were involved?

So to recap: First the Pentagon claimed these 5 soldiers died fighting off an attack on the place where they were meeting with Iraqi officials. Then, a week later it admits that four of the soldiers were kidnapped and then slain execution style 25 miles outside Karbala. Now it is claiming that Iran may have been responsible for the attacks and that is what the investigation into the attack is focusing on. Interesting how the Pentagon has developed the storyline about this incident, isn’t it?

Not that I’m suspicious or anything, but it sure seems odd that all these stories about the danger Iran poses to America, new US troop deployments to the region to intimidate Iran, and the rejection of diplomacy by the US, all seem to be coming out within the last few weeks:

Like this story from January 29th in which US officials claimed that Iran is supplying “terrorists” in Iraq with arms, bombs and missiles in order to kill American troops there.

Or this story in which the United States rejected the proposal by the head of the IAEA, El Baradei, that UN sanctions and Iran’s uranium enrichment both be suspended and negotiations begun between Iran and the members of the UN Security Council to resolve the ongoing crisis regarding Iran’s nuclear program.

Or this story from January 24th, in which unnamed Western and European officials claimed that North Korea is providing nuclear technology and assistance to Iran, and that Iran is only 12 months away from testing a nuclear bomb.

Now we hear that Iran is the most likely suspect behind the murders of five Americans in Karbala 11 days ago. Amazing coincidence don’t you think?

Personally, as I’ve stated before, I think we are in the process of preparing for an attack on Iran this year. And the stories we see now about Iran’s evil intentions are all part of a massive disinformation campaign similar to the one that was employed in the run-up to the Iraq war.

I feel we are in the end game between those who seek to attack Iran militarily (the leaders of the Israeli government and the Bush/Cheney administration), and those, like El Baradei and many in the US Congress in both parties, who seek to forestall such a calamitous event. In Iraq, the Bush administration prevailed, despite a lack of evidence of any real threat from Saddam Hussein’s regime, because they won the propaganda war, i.e., the war fought to control the media narrative that was being “told” to the American and British publics.

We are seeing the same propaganda war being fought again with respect to Iran. On one hand, we have those (Bush, Cheney, Rice, Lieberman, neoconservative pundits and sympathizers in the media, etc.) whom either lied to and/or misled major American news outlets, and through them the American people, about the danger that Iraq posed to us in the wake of 9/11. The same story lines that were used to hype an attack on Iraq are being employed again regarding the danger Iran poses to us now (rogue nation, major terrorist supporter, weapons of mass destruction, an oppressive regime ripe for being overthrown, et alia) The same truth tellers who were right about Iraq in 2003 (and dismissed at the time by the Beltway’s Gang of 500) are standing up and stating that the threat of Iran’s nuclear program is a chimera, based on all the evidence and knowledge regarding Iran we currently possess.

Count me as a skeptic on this story that Iran ordered an attack on US soldiers at the same time it is being threatened with war by the Bush administration. This makes no sense for Iran to have ordered such a murderous assault, not with the sword of an American military Damocles hanging over their head. It makes perfect sense, however, for the Bush administration to claim Iran did it, if the purpose of that allegation is to add another brick to the wall of disinformation which is being constructed to justify a US attack on Iran.