Shameless and desperate

The search for a reason to attack Iran continues apace. While demonstrating a remarkable ability to maintain a straight face, the Bush administration and indeed, both political parties, continue to insist that Iran has no business in Iraq.

A senior US official in Baghdad told the Guardian in May that Iran was fighting a proxy war in Iraq. He accused Tehran of “committing daily acts of war against US and British forces”, including weapons and other assistance to militias and ad hoc cooperation with individual extremists tied to al-Qaida.

The hypocrisy here is stunning. Not only has the US repeatedly failed to produce any evidence to support this claim, but they themselves are backing the same Shiite party that Tehran has supported all along, while more recently, arming the Sunni insurgents. Even worse is that the US is supporting Pakistan based Jihadist groups and Marxist revolutionaries to launch attacks against Tehran.

War critics and most of the public remain highly skeptical of the accusations, especially some of the allegations that… fall apart under the most minimal scruitiny. For example.

Gen Bergner indicated that interrogation of captured insurgents was partly the basis for the US intelligence assessments. He detailed alleged al-Quds involvement in training, at camps inside Iran, weapons supply, and funding of the special groups to the tune of $3m a month.

Again, this can so easily be debunked, seeing as Al Qaeda recently issued a very public warning to Iran not to interfere in Iraq.

Why then, would Iran be supporting a sworn enemy? The US propaganda machine has not seen fit to explain this paradox.

Of course, there is also the recent report that came out recently that revealed that no foreign fighters in Iraq are coming from Iran. Nevertheless, reality never got in the way of a sideshow on Capitol Hill, where the house voted 97-0 in condemnation of Iran for attacks on US forces – an amendment sponsored by neocon bottom feeder, Joe Lieberman.

The fact remains that for a country that shares a border with Iraq, Iran has every reason to be involved in the affairs of Iraq. What would be Washington’s response if Iran demanded that the US stay out of the affairs of Canada or Mexico after they had been invaded?

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