Dr. Bush’s Iran Medicine Show
I usually don’t have much to say about the natterings of White House press secretaries. There are bloggers who seem to obsess on their every word, which more than takes up the slack for the rest of us who think there are more important things to discuss.
But I’m going to make an exception for something that Tony Snow said this week. While Snow is an improvement over his predecessors, he is only as good as the script he is given, although he does seem to be better at tap dancing around it.
The Bush administration’s circumlocutions on Iran as Bogeyman have been something to behold, leaving Snow to run interference between all the unsubstantiated crap being mouthed and the blowback from the people who are knocking it down.
Now this is the part of the movie where I note that Iran’s intentions in Iraq are malevolent. But an administration that is so accustomed to making stuff up to suit its purposes just can’t help itself when it comes to blaming Teheran for everything short of a toilet paper shortage in the Green Zone.
Take the very sensitive issue of Explosively Formed Generators, which having been causing a disproportionate number of deaths and injuries to U.S. troops. The administration line is that EFGs are being manufactured in Iran and smuggled into Iraq, but there are two problems with this overarching statement:
First, while there is no question that Iran has had a hand in EFG manufacturing (witness Hezbollah in Lebanon), that Islamic republic is led by Shiites and supports Iraqi Shiites. This is why anti-American Shiite cleric Moqtada Al-Sadr is hiding out in Iran if he isn’t still in Iraq or working on his tan in the Bahamas.
Yet the vast majority of EFG attacks against American troops in Iraq involve Sunni insurgents. Got that?
Second, the administration has portrayed EFGs as some kind of high-tech gadget. As Snow said in response to a reporter’s question:�You cannot deny that there presently is no manufacturing capability within Iraq able to produce those kinds of weapons.�
Actually, EFGs actually are pretty simple to make and there is at least one instance in which American troops have stumbled on an EFG factory smack dab in the middle of Baghdad.
Now I have no desire to pile on Snow, and it is obvious that the White House is aware that the credibility of its Iran claims is going to be suspect because of all the bamboozling it did in the run-up to the invasion of Iraq. But doncha think that there would be somebody who would try to get stuff like the EFG story right?
Nah.
More here. And click here for the lowdown on the EFP in its various forms, including a model used by U.S. Special Forces shown in the photograph.
14 Responses to “Dr. Bush’s Iran Medicine Show”
As your co-blogger Jack Grant said once, “Do the Math”.
I think this kind of analysis is desperately needed. I would expect that *many* things are fueling the insurgency at various levels, and in particular there are probably *many* sources for IEDs and their raw materials. While *any* death from Iranian supplied IEDs is a bad thing, the correct focus of policy and discussion must at least address the relative magnitude and effectiveness of each source, and the relative likelihood of success in interving against that source and the improvement in safety resulting from that intervention.
Robert:
Talk about cutting through the BS!
“Talk about cutting through the BS!”
Indeed! But isn’t it the MSM’s job to do that? Thank God for the bloggers taking up the task!
Gray:
You indirectly make a good point. Most of the MSM sleepwalked through the early years of the war — taking at face value the White House’s pronouncements — until things were so obviously so out of whack that there finally were stories calling into question the rose-colored outlook.
While there seems to be a bit more effort to question the administration’s pronouncements about Iran, the MSM is again lagging behind bloggers. I give the MSM some leeway on this — so many stories, so many assertions, so few reporters and so little time.
But while MSM coverage today is not as slavishly one-sided as it was earlier in the war, the level of skepticism about Iran claims is nowhere near as high as it should be. There seems to be little williness or ability to do the math, as Mr. Bell appropriately quotes Jack Grant as having said.
Comapre the photo you have above with the cleaned up pipes from the Pentagon dog and pony show. The Pentagon/Lincoln Group is also spinning the RPG-7 and RPG-29 story.
Shaun as side by side comparison of the photos would be a good visualization. Gray was one of the few “Axis of Evil” to remain sceptical about the Austrian rifles, seems that one is going up in smoke now too. Good job Gray.
Rudi:
It’s a tad premature to give Gray a medal.
There are many — repeat, many — versions of EFGs, and just because the ones the Pentagon put on display don’t look like the one in the photo above doesn’t really say anything.
Iran is providing EFGs that are killing and dismembering Americans. The big point is that EFGs almost certainly also are being cranked out at machine shops in Iraq that have the tools to make them.
Shaun,
In another thread Gray questioned the Austrian rifle story. This story is collapsing fast. Seems the Austrian authoerities keep good track of serial numbers, unlike the US officials in Iraq. No one from the US to this day has asked for the serial numbers from Austria. I am tired of Lincoln Group plants in our MSM, our news is becoming Tass of the USSR.
Rudi:
Feel free to give Gray a medal with my blessing. Just make sure you invite me to the ceremony.
Maybe Bush will give him a Medal of Freedom medal with Rummy
.
As it turns out, at least one source claims to *have* done the
math
“Just make sure you invite me to the ceremony.”
Hehehe, not so fast! There are some guys here who wouldn’t invite me to a ceremony, but rather to a crematory. And I prefer to stay undecorated, cause, you know, medals make great targets for snipers…
Seriously, dunno if I’ve been right, I don’t think we already have seen all the facts. One way or the other, no big brouhaha, pls.
Why not pile on Snow? Doesn’t he deserve it? It’s been a long time since I just gave up on hearing anything honest from this administration and Snow decided to buy into it long after it was obvious how deceitful they are. Remember that old joke about how you can tell they’re lying.
All this talk of Iran has obliterated the other side of the coin:
Sunni fighters of various sort.
There is nearly zero reporting about what the Saudis are funneling into Iraq, and who is on the receiving end of their cash and supplies.
We are arguing with teeth bared about Iraq, but I often get the feeling that we have only a key-hole view of what all goes on there.
.
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