Dems Worried Over Crazy George Taking Us to War with Iran

Politics is always fascinating in how one side always will put their failings on the table as proof that their opponent failed. This is an indirect point with regards to the intelligence on the WMD in Iraq and the arms being seen in Iraq that are most obviously coming out of Iran by some means.

Sen. Christopher Dodd, D-Conn., a 2008 presidential candidate, said the administration could be laying the groundwork for an attack on Iran and that "I'm worried about that. That's how we got into the mess in Iraq," by relying on what Dodd called "doctored information."

Interesting. You would think that Dodd would be more cautious with that type of line on "doctored information." He and his political allies had access, directly or indirectly through the oversight committees to the same information that the Bush administration had. If they had actually done their due diligence and examined the data, they would have had grounds to stand against Iraq in the first place. But since they couldn't be bothered, now they complain that they were lied to. Sorry, just doesn't follow.

With the case of Iran, the arms being provided don't neccessarily indicate a direct link to the top policy makers of Iran, but they do indicate that Iran is involved.

According to U.S. military officials, a significant increase in a number of explosively formed projectiles, or EFPs, found in Iraq have tracked back to Iran. EFPs, which can penetrate heavy armor used in tanks, have killed 170 American troops since 2004.

According to the officials in Baghdad, they recently confiscated a number of EFPS that were found before exploding. The C-4 explosive in them has been chemically traced to Iran, the "machining process" required to make the projectile is not available in Iraq and the triggering devices are also traceable to Iran, they said.

That is also true of a significant number of mortar rounds as well as rocket-propelled grenades, which can be identified by the markings and designs on the tailfin of the mortars, the officials said. The date on most of the ammunition is 2006, which means it was manufactured in 2006 and is not material left over from the era of Saddam Hussein. The officials said the Iranian supplies are mostly going to surrogates here, primarily Mahdi Army militia members.

And there is this report that I found linked at QandO that shows that military arms have been appearing in Iraq that are known to have been purchased by Iran.

Austrian sniper rifles that were exported to Iran have been discovered in the hands of Iraqi terrorists, The Daily Telegraph has learned.

More than 100 of the.50 calibre weapons, capable of penetrating body armour, have been discovered by American troops during raids.

A Steyr HS50 rifle, Austrian supplied rifles, arms trade, Iran equipping Iraq insurgents
The Steyr HS50 is a long range, high precision rifle

The guns were part of a shipment of 800 rifles that the Austrian company, Steyr-Mannlicher, exported legally to Iran last year.

The sale was condemned in Washington and London because officials were worried that the weapons would be used by insurgents against British and American troops.

Within 45 days of the first HS50 Steyr Mannlicher rifles arriving in Iran, an American officer in an armoured vehicle was shot dead by an Iraqi insurgent using the weapon.

Nope, nothing to that "doctored information." No doubt there should be concern that the full government of Iran is or isn't participating, which is how the military is handling it with quotations from Pace:

The Bush administration struggled Tuesday to explain what it knows about alleged Iranian interference in Iraq after the Pentagon's top general appeared to contradict a recently released military dossier on the subject.

At issue was a weekend briefing in Baghdad at which three senior U.S. military officials said that the "highest levels" of the Iranian government had ordered the smuggling into Iraq of high-tech roadside bombs that have been killing American soldiers.

Gen. Peter Pace, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told reporters in the Indonesian capital, Jakarta, that U.S. forces have arrested Iranians in Iraq and some of the materials used in roadside bombs had been made in Iran.

"That does not translate that the Iranian government per se, for sure, is directly involved in doing this," Pace said.

The assertion of Tehran's involvement, made by U.S. officers who spoke on condition of anonymity Sunday in Baghdad, had already drawn skeptical responses from some lawmakers and other critics still wary of an administration that based the invasion of Iraq on faulty intelligence.

Those doubts increased Tuesday after Pace said the link between the bomb materials and the government had not been definitively proven.

His caution is noteworthy. And appears to have been completely ignored by those railing against their fears that Bush will flip out and rush into a war with Iran. Hopefully, previous problems with intelligence won't lead to complete failure to act due to certain politicians being incapable of actually reviewing the data.

Back to the original article. They quote John Kerry wanting to give the Iranians big hugs and lollipops:

Kerry, the 2004 presidential candidate, said despite the evidence, the United States must try to engage Iran diplomatically.

"Ultimately, they want an Iraq that is stable. They want influence. They want to be players in the region. And we need to recognize that and engage in a kind of diplomacy that the Iraq Study Group recommended," Kerry told ABC's "This Week."

"They want to be players" is interesting in that he missed a little word. Try this: "They want to be THE players." Iran only wants Iraq to be stable enough for them to gain hegemony and for the US to be viewed widely as a complete failure. That is quite clear if you actually listen to what the Iranians say.

"Now the United States administration is — unfortunately — reaping the expected bitter fruits of its ill-conceived adventurism, taking the region and the world with it to the brink of further hostility. But rather than face these unpleasant facts, the United States administration is trying to sell an escalated version of the same failed policy. It does this by trying to make Iran its scapegoat and fabricating evidence of Iranian activities in Iraq," wrote Amb. Javad Zarif.

Note that the evidence doesn't warrant investigation or inquiry, which is pretty much where it would have lead to in Europe or the US. It's just that Bush is trying to cover up his failure.

Diplomacy will only work with parties that have goals similar to your own. If they are completely different goals, then the need for coercion is present. The changes in the North Korean Nuclear saga is a perfect example. You can't honestly tell me that North Korea has reached this level in negotiations without having their arm twisted by China.