According to the trustworthy US Military
"Preliminary results revealed the five detainees are connected to the Iranian Revolutionary Guard - Qods Force (IRGC-QF), an organization known for providing funds, weapons, improvised explosive device technology and training to extremist groups attempting to destabilize the Government of Iraq and attack Coalition forces," the U.S. military said in a statement.
No evidence produced, but just in time to have Sunday talk show hosts solicit bipartisan support for our next miltary misadventure in Iran.
Iran has responded by demanding their release.
Newshog mentions how there have been failed attempts to connect Iran to weapons smuggling for months.
At least The Guardian is keeping perspective and not letting this sleight-of-hand pass for established fact.
The claims are not new. Throughout last year, officials dropped heavy hints about the presence of Revolutionary Guards in Iraq, although usually without evidence to support the claims. What has changed in the past few days is that rumours have been translated into public accusations in Washington, amid moves by the US military to break up what it alleges are 'Iranian networks' in Iraq. This time administration officials claim they have evidence.
Last week, US troops in helicopters launched a raid on an Iranian facility in Kurdistan claiming afterwards that they had arrested a highranking Revolutionary Guard officer among six Iranians seized and found maps of neighbourhoods in Baghdad in which Sunnis 'could be' evicted. US officials also claimed they had found proof there of Iranian involvement in last summer's conflict in Lebanon. None of this 'evidence' has yet been produced for public scrutiny.
...While it is true that the sophisticated plugs of machine-pressed steel and copper, that US military intelligence officials believe arrive in Baghdad in kit form for assembly, are being produced in someone's factory what is not so certain is where it is. Indeed, there is strong evidence that many are produced locally. Questions have also been raised over the widespread claims by senior British and US officers that the devices are being smuggled from Iran. British troops patrolling the border last autumn insisted to several journalists that in months of patrolling they had found no evidence of the devices coming across.
I posted about that lack of success back in October, when the British officer in charge of the hunt said "We have found no credible evidence to suggest there is weapons smuggling across the border." The British Defence Minister had said much the same in August: "I have not myself seen any evidence -- and I don't think any evidence exists -- of government-supported or instigated" armed support on Iran's part in Iraq.
Nor had the U.S. military any concrete evidence of Iranian complicity as late as last March. Asked whether the United States has proof that Iran's government was behind these developments, Marine Corps Gen. Peter Pace, chairman of the military's Joint Chiefs of Staff, told a Pentagon briefing, "I do not, sir."
There was no credible evidence in March, in August or in October of 2006 but the Bush administration insisted there should be so they kept on looking. Now, after raids made by Presidential fiat which arrested Iranian diplomats who were in Iraq at the invite of the highest levels of the Iraqi government, they say they have found some. But they don't have enough confidence in it to produce it for public scrutiny.
During the run up to the Iraq War the lies about drone planes, mobile labs, uranium from Niger etc. would appear on page 1. The debunking would much later on page 27, if at all. I think there should be a pool as to how long it will take these charges against Iran to be discredited.
I don't believe I am playing the role of the skeptical townsfolk when the boy who cried wolf finally tells the truth. There is plenty of reason to believe we are witnessing propaganda in a run up for a military hit on Iran. This link to the Revolutionary Gaurds is too timely after Bush's Wednesday speechand there were these words from an Israeli General two weeks ago
President Bush lacks the political power to attack Iran. As an American strike in Iran is essential for our existence, we must help him pave the way by lobbying the Democratic Party (which is conducting itself foolishly) and US newspaper editors. We need to do this in order to turn the Iranian issue to a bipartisan one and unrelated to the Iraq failure.
Questions were not asked during the propaganda blitz that led to the Iraq war. Let's hope that the quaestions will now bea asked as we approach a miltary conflict with Iran