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Iraq: The Elusive Iranian Weapons |
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Written by Tina Susman
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Friday, 09 May 2008 |
Editor's note: After some two years of unfounded allegations which have been
the basis of US Senate resolutions against Iran for "killing our soldiers in
Iraq", the US military finally makes an embarrassing confession: the weapons
found in Iraq that until only two weeks ago were alleged to be a smoking gun for
Iran's support for militants against US occupation, were not even made in Iran.
Interestingly, there is still a complete silence over this revelation in the
mainstream western media.
There was something interesting missing from Maj. Gen. Kevin Bergner's
introductory remarks to journalists at his regular news briefing in Baghdad on
Wednesday: the word "Iran," or any form of it. It was especially striking as
Bergner, the U.S. military spokesman here, announced the extraordinary list of
weapons and munitions that have been uncovered in recent weeks since fighting
erupted between Iraqi and U.S. security forces and Shiite militiamen.
Among other things, Bergner cited 20,000 "items of ammunition, explosives and
weapons" reported by Iraqi forces in the central city of Karbala; an additional
Karbala cache containing 570 explosive devices, nine mortars, four anti-aircraft
missiles, and 45 RPGs; and in the southern city of Basra alone, 39 mortar tubes,
1,800 mortars and artillery rounds, 600 rockets, and 387 roadside bombs. Read
his remarks
here.
Not once did Bergner point the finger at Iran for any of these weapons and
munitions, which is a striking change from just a couple of weeks ago when U.S.
military officials here and at the Pentagon were saying that caches found in
Basra in particular had revealed Iranian-made arms manufactured as recently as
this year. They say the majority of rockets being fired at U.S. bases, including
Baghdad's Green Zone, are launched by militiamen receiving training, arms and
other aid from Iran.
Today brought fresh attacks, including an unusual barrage fired at a military
base used by British and U.S. forces in Basra, in southern Iraq. A statement
said "several" rockets hit the base during the afternoon, and that initial
reports indicated two civilian contractors were killed, and four soldiers and
four civilians injured.
It was the first reported attack of its kind since March 27 in Basra.
Iraqi officials also have accused Iran of meddling in violence and had echoed
the U.S. accusations of new Iranian-made arms being found in Basra. But neither
the United States nor Iraq has displayed any of the alleged arms to the public
or press, and lately it is looking less likely they will. U.S. military
officials said it was up to the Iraqis to show the items; Iraqi officials lately
have backed off the accusations against Iran.
A plan to show some alleged Iranian-supplied explosives to journalists last week
in Karbala and then destroy them was canceled after the United States realized
none of them was from Iran. A U.S. military spokesman attributed the confusion
to a misunderstanding that emerged after an Iraqi Army general in Karbala
erroneously reported the items were of Iranian origin.
When U.S. explosives experts went to investigate, they discovered they were not
Iranian after all.
Iran, meanwhile, continues to seethe after an Iraqi delegation went to Tehran
last week to confront it with the accusations. It has denied the accusations,
and it says as long as U.S. forces continue to take part in military action in
Iraq's Shiite strongholds, it won't consider holding further talks with
Washington on how to stabilize Iraq.
Source: CASMII
Comments posted are the sole opinion of the author and may not necessarily reflect the opinions of AIM. |
