(cross posted at washupeace.blogspot.com)
I think this bears repeating over and over. The media continues to regurgitate the claim that certain IEDs could only have been made in Iran. Yet, there were stories last year that describe how U.S. troops stumbled across a factory in Iraq that made these same IEDs. No attempt at reconciling the “Iran-only” story with this fact is ever given in subsequent stories. Atrios’s post cites a Boston Globe story, and from here you can find stories in the NYT, the Wall Street Journal, and the LA Times that all allude to this idea (subscription required in all cases, unfortunately).
Though I’m tempted to make a stronger claim, I guess all I can legitimately say is that no evidence has been provided that demonstrates that the IEDs were made in Iran. But, of course, all we could say before the war was that there was no evidence provided that Iraq had WMDs. Shouldn’t our media, especially after that debacle, require that the administration actually provides some evidence for its claims?
My own hunch is that most of the stories coming from the U.S. military are carefully controlled, but in the excitement of trumpeting the ‘success’ of the occupation, they accidentally let a story through that contradicted their claims that the IEDs could not possibly be made by Iraqis.
Atrios
The media narrative continues…
How would the press know that the IED’s could only have been made in Iran. How would US military or Petraeus know that the IED’s could have been made only in Iran. Is their “Made in Iran” label showing. These IED’s can be manufactured anywhere across the region. Middle Easterners (all of them) are EXPERTS at manufacturing all sorts of things out of little to nothing. Strange how our people are such experts on the origins of the foreign explosives and can’t keep track of their own weapons.
But if the administration throws around terms like Sunni, Shia, Iranian, Iraqi, terrorist, bad guys, Al Queda, etc, to a population (ours) that most of which really wouldn’t be able to find Iraq on a map, it is bound to cause mortal confusion which then gives the Administration a blank check to do as he sees fit. This type of hype also gives Bush some cover when he becomes obliged to go to Saudi Arabia and do a sword dance (holding hands yet) with the King before he goes on his knees to beg for more oil.
Incidentally, it is well publicized in the world press that the Grand Ayatollah Khamani has stated that Iran will be happy to talk to the US. Just not right now. But that the time will surely come, he says. Could it be that he is waiting for our loose cannon to get himself back to Crawford?