Thursday, February 15, 2007

Bush Declares Iran’s Arms Role in Iraq Is Certain
"I can say with certainty that the Quds Force, a part of the Iranian government, has provided these sophisticated I.E.D.’s that have harmed our troops,” Mr. Bush said, using the abbreviation for improvised explosive device. “And I’d like to repeat, I do not know whether or not the Quds Force was ordered from the top echelons of the government. But my point is, what’s worse, them ordering it and it happening, or them not ordering it and its happening?"

Dear Press Corps,

Please ask President Bubble Boy if the U.S. government has evidence that U.S. weaponry has been used by Iraqi insurgents against U.S. troops. And if there have been cases of our weaponry being used against us, please ask him if that means that his government is responsible for arming the insurgents, and will we be sending any carrier groups to the Eastern seaboard as a threat against ourselves.

Monday, February 12, 2007

Over the weekend, the NYT published on their front page a Valentine's message from reporter Michael Gordon to Judy Miller. It was titled Deadliest Bomb in Iraq Is Made by Iran, U.S. Says.

Some anti-romance types criticized the substance of this love letter. Somehow, this anti-love Schwarz fellow does not understand that candies and flowers are nothing compared to the gift of military actions against nonthreatening Middle Eastern nations.

In a follow-up article, the NYT's James Glanz takes a look at the gift of war.
After weeks of internal debate, senior United States military officials on Sunday literally put on the table their first public evidence of the contentious assertion that Iran supplies Shiite extremist groups in Iraq with some of the most lethal weapons in the war. They said those weapons had been used to kill more than 170 Americans in the past three years.

[...] The officials also asserted, without providing direct evidence, that Iranian leaders had authorized smuggling those weapons into Iraq for use against the Americans. [...]

And while the Americans displayed what they said was the physical evidence of their claims about Iran’s role in Iraq, they also left many questions unanswered, including proof that the Iranian government was directing the delivery of weapons.

The officials were repeatedly pressed on why they insisted on anonymity in such an important matter affecting the security of American and Iraqi troops. A senior United States military official gave a partial answer, saying that without anonymity, a senior Defense Department analyst who participated in the briefing could not have contributed.

The officials also were defensive about the timing of disclosing such incriminating evidence, since they had known about it as early as 2004.

[...]

But then the officials went much further, asserting without specific evidence that the Iranian security apparatus, called the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps - Quds Force controlled delivery of the materials to Iraq.

"Without providing direct evidence," no "proof" that Iran was "directing the delivery of weapons," and "asserting without specific evidence." Glanz appears to be a romance skeptic - critical, but not necessarily against bold gestures like the indiscriminate bombing of foreign countries.

I sure hope those kids get together, no matter how many foreign countries have to suffer along the way.