US Military Exaggerated Deaths from Shiite Militias
Juan Cole, 1 March 2007
Sunni Arab guerrillas account for 90 percent of deadly attacks on US troops in Iraq, concludes Drew Brown of the McClatchy wire service. He shows, as well, that explosively formed projectiles were used with deadly effect against US Bradley fighting vehicles and Abrams tanks in al-Anbar Province, Taji, Muqdadiya, and West Baghad, all Sunni areas. This datum proves that Sunnis and not just Shiites are deploying EFPs and it shows that Sunni Arabs have workshops where they can mill the components. The US military had seemed to be arguing bass ackwards that all EFPs came from Iran. Iran is not giving them to Sunnis in Ramadi, that is ridiculous. The key components can be fashioned by people who have experience making explosives for use in the petroleum industry, which is a lot of Sunni Arab Iraqis.
The recently discovered cache of weapons in Diyala province should be viewed with great suspicion. The Mojahedin-e Khalq or MEK base is in Camp Ashrafiya in that province, and they have been boasting in Washington of having had a great success in convincing the US military that the Explosively Formed Projectiles came from Iran. Yeah, and they are likely the ones importing them. MEK is a manipulative cult that wants to get up a war between the US and Iran, and is linked in with the Neoconservatives.
Council on Foreign Relations: Intel on Iran no grist for the mill
28 February 2007
The United States also gets intelligence on Iran from various exile organizations, including the Mujahadeen-e-Khalq (MEK) terror organization, a personality cult opposition group once aligned with Saddam Hussein’s regime and designated a terrorist organization by the State Department.
Protection of MEK forces by U.S.-led coalition forces in Iraq (they are reportedly being protected by Bulgarian troops) is a source of controversy among some Middle East analysts, given the MEK’s ties to Saddam and the group’s terrorist leanings. [More]
From the Wonderful Folks Who Brought You Iraq
By Craig Unger, Vanity Fair, March 2007
The same neocon ideologues behind the Iraq war have been using the same tactics—alliances with shady exiles, dubious intelligence on W.M.D.—to push for the bombing of Iran. As President Bush ups the pressure on Tehran, is he planning to double his Middle East bet?
[More]