In Perspective: Now Pace contradicts White House on Iran

Remember the White House's questionable accusations that Iran is not only messing up Iraq (I smell a scapegoat), but also arming the parties to the sectarian conflict? — which the United States is doing too (many in the Iraqi Army fight alongside factional militiamen). Journalists, experts, and Iran's president have all called Bush's bluff on many of these charges. Now Gen. Peter Pace, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and thus the highest ranking officer in the American military, has joined the club. Pace has been known, as it is well documented in Bob Woodward's State of Denial (still reading it, by the way), to be meek to the demanding White House — especially previous Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, a power freak if the Department of Defense ever knew one. About time Pace stood up for rationality.

The most senior US military officer has said there is no proof the Iranian government has directly armed Shia groups fighting in Iraq.

Gen Peter Pace, chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, appeared to contradict claims made by US officers in Iraq.

The US presented evidence this week it said proved the "highest levels" of Iran's government were supplying arms used by Shia militants in Iraq.

Gen Pace said all it proved was "things made in Iran" are being used in Iraq.

Though it gives me no comfort to defend a country like Iran, just imagine all the US-made weapons being used by people with far from good intentions, from all different conflicts across the globe. Surely there are some weapons being used by militants in Iraq made in America, and given to the militants — often unintentionally like in the case of Iraq's army — by they US. Funny that both Iran and the US are dumping weapons in Iraq, considering it ultimately helps neither of them.

Bush remains defiant as usual on Iran's involvement in Iraq, maintaining mindless political rhetoric over logic and only inflaming US-Iran relations. How can he expect everyone to believe him without proof? We already fell for his Iraq scheme. This is a man who would stand in the face of all rational facts and spin his own truth, sadly many still believe him.

Naturally the American president's orders for US troops to kill any Iranian 'meddlers' does not help anything. Iran and the United States should be working together on Iraq. Instead, they are both making it worse while eroding their relations.

The article continues...

Speaking anonymously on Sunday, US defence officials in Baghdad told reporters that the Iranian were supplying sophisticated bombs capable of penetrating the armour of a US-made Abrams tank.
...
Suggestions by some analysts that the US allegations against Iran were intended to prepare public opinion in the US for an attack on Iranian nuclear facilities have prompted public statements by the leaders of both nations.

US President George W Bush dismissed suggestions of a plan to attack Iran as "noise" by critics of his administration.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, in an interview with US TV, said he was ready for talks with the US, but would defend Iran in the event of any attack.

As soon as some progress is made on the North Korean front, Bush gets the US into even more of a hole with Iran. Great. Some are convienent timing of the Bush administration's allegations about Iran. That Iran is probably sending weapons into Iraq is nothing new. As usual the Bush administration did not really provide ample evidence of its allegations...
As an NBC News reporter blogs,

That's the difficult thing about this story -- without having access to information the U.S. government says it can't give us, it's impossible to evaluate the accusations that these weapons are coming only from Iran in operations authorized by the Iranian government. It's particularly difficult because the U.S. doesn't speak to Iran – so it uses other countries –- and the media to send its messages.

However, like in the lead-up to the Iraq war, even The New York Times followed the White House's lead. American news media is often following what the government says without questioning the lack of evidence, or just convicting even with a lack of evidence, on everything from Iraq's WMDs (patriotic bandwagon; ignorant support of botched government talking points) to the John Mark Karr/JonBonet Ramsey (acting as judge and jury; innocent before guilty and reasonable doubt, forget about it! attitude) debacle.

Speaking of contradictions, those close to a major Shia militia leader in Iraq, head of the radical so-called Madhi Army inflaming the sectarian violence in Iraq, Moqtada al-Sadr, say he is lying low in Iraq and has not left for Iran, contrary to what US officials have said.