So now the “evidence” of Iran’s supposed meddling in Iraq has been “presented” to a select number of people and is being used as further reason to bomb the country back to the Stone Age. Well, sorry for not being whipped into a feverish bloodthirsty frenzy, but it seems an awful lot like “been there, done that”.
And since this “evidence” was only presented to certain people in the military and we are supposed to trust those who are telling us “no really, this time we are serious, there really is evidence”, I still have a few questions. Excuse me for being the skeptic, but I think We the People are owed an explanation and just a wee bit more detail.
How do we know that this evidence actually exists? If all we are seeing are pictures of purported evidence, how do we know that these pictures aren’t the same “cheap forgeries” that related to another country a few short years ago?
How do we know that this information has anything at all to do with Iran’s government when even General Pace doesn’t think there is a link? How do we know that the source of this evidence is any more credible than my sister’s husband’s cousin’s uncle’s grandchild’s babysitter? How do we know that, even if this “weapons cache” was used in Iraq that it wasn’t specifically planted by Sunni insurgents as a false flag?
How do we know that the US isn’t being played (just as it was by Ahmad Chalabi) by Sunnis in order to divert attention towards Iran and the Shiites in Iraq? How do we know that the intelligence community is in agreement about this supposed evidence, especially when National Security Advisor Stephen Hadley recently called it “overstated”? How do we know that this evidence, which was also recently called “scant” actually even exists?
How do we know that this evidence didn’t come from sources other than the ever-credible “sources” like discredited arms dealers who were involved with Iran-Contra? How do we know that this evidence isn’t being “stovepiped” like the evidence on Iraq? How do we know that Office of Special Plans evidence manipulator Abram Shulsky isn’t manipulating evidence again?
How do we know that, even if this “evidence” is accurate, that it is being used in attacks against our troops? How do we know that Saudi Arabia ISN’T at least as involved or even more involved in the financing for weapons that are shooting down our helicopters? How do we know that Pakistan isn’t harboring terrorists and turning a blind eye towards attacks by the Taliban against our troops in Afghanistan?
How do we know that you aren’t lying once again? How do we know that you aren’t going to lie this country into war again? How do we know that the pre-dawn raid in December that led to the detaining of Iranian diplomats wasn’t specifically meant as an act of aggression? How do we know that your intentions are any different you’re your intentions on Iraq, where war was predetermined regardless of the facts?
Sorry to burst your bubble here, but this world already got suckered once. You fooled us once. And before you fool us twice, just know that, um, you can’t get fooled again.
Fixed your links for you. They weren’t working before for me, but they are now.
hmmm, strange. Thx. Gotta go check and make sure they work in the orange version.
Or maybe I’ll just copy and paste from here back to there….
Thanks – it’s better when the links go where they’re supposed to.
Re the question “how do we know” – not only was this kind of evidence forged before Iraq, but this kind of evidence was forged years ago to try to implicate Castro in a Venezuelan arms deal. I’ll write that up at some near point – it’s an interesting parallel. And Kennedy’s refusal to fall for that may well have been the final straw for those trying to push it, because he turned up assassinated three days later.
Now maybe if the MSM had asked even a fourth of the questions you posed here this whole stupid story would have been a discredited non starter in the last news cycle.
If proven to be absolutely false it’s not likely that will get 24/7 coverage and the only thing the public will remember is that the Iranians are killing our troops right?
And how come Pace didn’t come out right away when this story started and denounced it? He’s the big boss, head of joint chiefs isn’t he? Maybe he was too busy watching the Anna Nicole coverage and couldn’t tear himself away from that circus.
yeah, but they will just replace Pace as they did with everyone else.
Watch John Bolton be the new Joint Chiefs of Staff. Or better yet, Rummy…..
Oh, don’t SAY that! You just gave me the shudders.
We know they’re lying their asses off as usual because:
1– they’re hiding behind anonymity agreements with the press. There is absolutely no reason for “White House sources” to do that if they’re not telling lies that will catch up to them later.
2– they won’t release the “evidence”, allow photos, or give details. If they had evidence, there’s no reason not to show it. Maybe they did learn a little something from that Iraqi ice cream truck.
3– there’s no way they could know the route any weapons took, or where they originated. After their “intelligence” on Iraq, you’d have to be nuts to think the same story, different country, is true this time.
4– they don’t know how to tell the truth.
The NY Times has editorialized about this today, as I note here. It was pretty sceptical.
al-Sadr has “fled” to Iran, according to anonymous government sources in Washington. He did this 3 weeks ago, which is conveniently right before our helis started falling from the sky. This feels like a major part of their propaganda campaign, but I can’t figure out any way it helps them or why Wolf Blitzer seems to believe this is important even after the correspondent in Iraq told him it didn’t make any sense. I guess mostly I’m just stunned that the administration can tell the difference between a shi’ite and sunni and correctly picked one of the former to hightail it out of the country.
The surge has scared al-Sadr away for fear that he will be killed by burly macho surging American heros. This whole “breaking story” has suddenly acquired a smell of desperation.
I don’t believe this.
al Sadr has tens of thousands of supporters.. any one or group of which would be able to hide and protect him for weeks/months in Sadr City.
that in fact is likely to be what is going on here– and it’s making the U.S. nervous because they don’t in fact know where he is.
they’re trying to smoke him out– it won’t work. the U.S. has been trying since day one to get a meeting with Ayatollah Sistani. he refused to meet with U.S. officials and stays holed up in his home.
al Sadr is using a similar tactic.
I don’t believe it either, though I do think it is likely that al Sadr went to Iran for a few days last month just like every other shi’ite leader including al Sistani has done recently. Of course, 3 weeks ago was still pre-surge so Jamie McIntyre’s sources appear to be on some serious drugs trying to turn this into a surge-is-working narrative.
any good news in this ungodly mess is blown up like the Allied victory on D-Day in WWII.
with al Sadr now allegedly asking his cappos to join him in Iran– while encouraging U.S. forces to “deal with” the bad apples running amok in Baghdad– reminds me of something I read not long ago that some of al Sadr’s people went off the reservation and have more or less become thugs– kidnapping people for money, assassinating for money, etc.
we know there has been a lot of this going on for some time now. so the U.S. military taking these guys out merely does al Sadr’s work for him.
when this is completed, al Sadr and his commanders will come back and pick up where they left off.
http://www.ynetnews.com/Ext/Comp/ArticleLayout/CdaArticlePrintPreview/1,2506,L-3364342,00.html
let’s get real here, folks.
Israel and the U.S. does not want Iran to be able to challenge their strength and ability to influence/control the ME region.
I have a picture of a unicorn. Now, prove to me that you’re not secretly hiding one. Go on. I’m waiting.