Monday, February 12, 2007

More critiques of the Iran arms allegations

From im300lbsofhoney, (yes, that is the poster's name), a Blogger on Digg.com:


The evidence against Iran is even more insubstantial than the faked or mistaken evidence for Iraqi WMDs disseminated by the US and Britain in 2002 and 2003. The allegations appear to be full of exaggerations. Few Abrams tanks have been destroyed. It implies the Shias have been at war with the US while in fact they are controlled by parties which make up the Iraqi government.

The post bases its criticism on this Guardian article:

The United States is moving closer to war with Iran by accusing the "highest levels" of the Iranian government of supplying sophisticated roadside bombs that have killed 170 US troops and wounded 620.

The allegations against Iran are similar in tone and credibility to those made four years ago by the US government about Iraq possessing weapons of mass destruction in order to justify the invasion of 2003.
The following completely overlooks the Mahdi Army and Shiite death squads the U.S. has fought:
The allegations by senior but unnamed US officials in Baghdad and Washington are bizarre. The US has been fighting a Sunni insurgency in Iraq since 2003 that is deeply hostile to Iran.The statements from Washington give the impression that the
US has been at war with Shia militias for the past three-and-a-half years while almost all the fighting has been with the Sunni insurgents. These are often led by highly trained former officers and men from Saddam Hussein's elite military and intelligence units.
Then - a startling admission:
It is likely that Shia militias have received weapons and money from Iran and possible that the Sunni insurgents have received some aid. But most Iraqi men possess weapons. Many millions of them received military training under Saddam Hussein. His well-supplied arsenals were all looted after his fall. No specialist on Iraq believes that Iran has ever been a serious promoter of the Sunni insurgency.
Most Iraqi men possess weapons? Does a decrepit Kalashnikov compare with a sophisticated IED, which can take out a Humvee? And so, im300lbsofhoney's accusation of "bullshit" is entirely inaccurate, most obviously because the author of the Guardian piece cited admits "It is likely that Shia militias have received weapons and money from Iran."
This other post on AntiWar.Blog is even more incoherent:

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