Letters to the Editor
casual_observer
Published Letters: 1249 Editor's Choice: 1
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240mm Rockets
[Read the article: The president's escalating war rhetoric on Iran]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Bush placed his claims of Iranian involvement in Iraq in a separate graph, distant from the text cited by GG. In that graph, the most specific claim is of large 240 mm rockets that are claimed to have come from Iran.
This accusation comes from an earlier DOD briefing by a General Bergner, Aug.15, in Bagdad. During that briefing, he asserts:
Also this weekend, there was another rocket attack on one of our operating bases. On this slide, you see an aerial view of the rocket launch area. In this specific case, coalition forces were able to interdict some of the rockets before they could all be fired, and you see those highlighted in the three circles. On the next slide, you'll see some of the unfired 240-millimeter rockets that were recovered from the sight, as well as fragments from the impact site. As a result of this, we were able to see how some of the markings were sanded down to make them more difficult to read, though they remain visible and consistent with munitions we have seen before.
The 240-millimeter rocket is a large caliber projectile that has been provided to militia extremist groups in the past, along with a range of other weapons from Iranian sources. We know this from people like Qais Khazali and Ali Musadaqdouq (ph), who have given us explicit information about the importance of Iranian support to the special groups which Khazali used to command.
He was then asked about these rockets in Q/A:
Q (Through interpreter.) You mentioned that there are Iranian weapons that you found in many of the operations that you've conducted. Is this enough evidence that the Iranian government is involved in the military operations against the coalition forces, because we know that anyone can buy some weapon and we know that anyone can, you know, buy any kind of weapon and sell it -- (inaudible) -- country.
INTERPRETER: (Off mike) -- Iranian weapons -- (off mike) -- Iraqi general. Does that mean that the Iranian government is involved in these weapons, because in Iraq there is people who buy weapons from Iran -- (off mike) -- Iranian government.
GEN. BERGNER: Well, first of all, the mere presence of weapons is not something we -- that's not what we're pointing to, not just the mere presence of the weapons. What we have learned from Ali Musa Daqduq -- who you remember is a member of Lebanese Hezbollah, who was being used by Iranian Qods Force as a surrogate, a proxy, for their operations in Iraq -- we learned from him, as well as from Qais Khazali, who was the former commander of the special groups, exactly what kind of support the special groups received from Iran. And we know that it involved the provision of weapons, sniper rifles, rocket- propelled grenades, mortars and rockets. We know that it included the provision of funds. We know that it included training.
And so we're not just connecting the presence of the weapons to sources of support, we know this from first-hand information from people who were involved in doing it, and we know it from some of the documents that were captured during their -- that were recovered during their capture.
So I acknowledge your point. The mere presence of weapons in Iraq does not by itself say where they came from, but when connected to the other information, it does give you a better understanding of how those weapons might have come here.
I suggest this needs some real scrutiny.
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Copyright 2007 Federal News Service, Inc.
All Rights Reserved
Federal News Service
August 15, 2007 Wednesday
DEPARTMENT DEFENSE BRIEFING
6855 words
BRIEFING BY BRIGADIER GENERAL KEVIN BERGNER, DEPUTY COMMANDER, MULTINATIONAL FORCE-WEST;
LOCATION: THE COMBINED PRESS INFORMATION CENTER, BAGHDAD, IRAQ
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Rockets II
[Read the article: The president's escalating war rhetoric on Iran]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Compare Bergner's quote with what Bush said in his speech:
Recently, coalition forces seized 240-millimeter rockets that had been manufactured in Iran this year and that had been provided to Iraqi extremist groups by Iranian agents.
This is exactly the same behavior we saw prior to the Iraq invasion.
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@Svensker
[Read the article: The president's escalating war rhetoric on Iran]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]"...aside from the fact that a strong Iran, especially one with nukes, threatens Israel's hegemony in the Middle East, why does any American have a hard on for an attack against Iran?"
I don't think there is any other reason, aside from the one you stated here.
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Premature Evisceration
[Read the article: Forcing Larry Craig's resignation while embracing David Vitter]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I believe Greenwald's condemnation of various republican politicians or media is premature. After all, we haven't heard their side of the story. Have any of them been given an opportunity to explain their logic for why Vitter's case is different from Craig's, and how either might differ from Foley? All are sexual incidents, but these are apparently being graded on some sort of curve. And how do all of these stack-up when compared to Scooter Libbey's written fansasies involving the rape of little girls by caged bears?
There are any number of contextual facts surrounding all of these issues, events, and prominent Republican leaders. Who can blame their peers and colleagues in treating each of these cases quite differently. For example, Craig's alleged behavior occurred in a public restroom at an airport. Perhaps there are issues of national security here, airports being an international port of entry.
Vitter, on the other hand, was apparently wearing diapers.
[pause]
I can't see how that might possibly be relevant, but the point is that until the politicians and pundits making these statements are asked, we just can't know what their reasoning is. We can't understand the calculus. It's as if the entire subject is shameful, embarassing, and taboo.