U.S. general in Iraq warns Iran on bomb smuggling (do "all we can")

[sabra]

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/IBO759250.htm

U.S. general in Iraq warns Iran on bomb smuggling

FORT TARIK, Iraq, May 7 (Reuters) - A senior U.S. general flew to Iraq's vast desert frontier with Iran on Sunday and vowed to stop what he said was the smuggling of bomb materials from Iran that is wreaking havoc among American troops.

Landing by helicopter under the gun sights of Iranian border guards perched on a watchtower across the frontier, Lieutenant General Peter Chiarelli, the No. 2 U.S. general in Iraq, said U.S. and Iraqi forces securing the border will do "all we can" to stop roadside bombs.

Known as improvised explosive devices, or IEDs, the home-made bombs are the largest cause of U.S. casualties in Iraq, where more than 2,400 American troops have been killed since the U.S.-led invasion to topple Saddam Hussein in 2003.

...

"We will do all we can to stop IEDs from coming into Iraq," Chiarelli told reporters in the border post of Fort Tarik, a spartan building surrounded by wastes of sun-drenched desert, once trodden by the caravans of the ancient Silk Route.

[HysteryDiagnosis]

1. Shoulda done all they could to secure more than just the oil ministry

like say, the ammo dumps that were fleeced earlier on... then again, IF they had enough men to go around that MIGHT HAVE been possible.

[lyonn]

3. Exactly, securing those stock piles was a no brainer

We saw film of soldiers abandoning piles of weapons on their way to Baghdad, they were following orders from above. Brilliant.

[acmavm]

4. Ammo dumps? What ammo dumps? You can't mean those caves

and bunkers with how damn many tons of high explosives that we let be looted, can you. Those ammo dumps that they pretend never existed?

Now you know it's them there pesky Iranians who are causing all the trouble. It used to be the Syrians but apparently we decided it's the Iranians and gol darn it, we're gonna nuke their asses. That'll teach 'em to mess with g dubya bush** and his neocon friends.

[orwell]

2. Why stop there...

...why not ban illegal weapons and explosive sales worldwide by the crooked cabal of global arms merchants.

Oh that's right, that's too profitable, especially for the friends of Dumbya...

Nevermind...

[saigon68]

9. This idiot with the stars wants to start WW 3

he can't wait for the rapture.

[Tempest]

5. Iran supplying the Sunni insurgency? What are those guys smoking?

More proof that even after 3 years, the U.S. doesn't have clue one on what is happening in Iraq.

[HysteryDiagnosis]

6. The Iraqis have a clue, their country has partly been sold out

from under them....

http://www.alternet.org/waroniraq/19293/

The (New and Improved) Bremer Orders

A sampling of the most important Orders demonstrates the economic imprint left behind by Bremer:

Order #39 allows for the following: (1) privatization of Iraq's 200 state-owned enterprises; (2) 100 percent foreign ownership of Iraqi businesses; (3) "national treatment" of foreign firms; (4) unrestricted, tax-free remittance of all profits and other funds; and (5) 40-year ownership licenses. Thus, it allows the U.S. corporations operating in Iraq to own every business, do all of the work, and send all of their money home. Nothing needs to be reinvested locally to service the Iraqi economy, no Iraqi need be hired, no public services need be guaranteed, and workers' rights can easily be ignored. And corporations can take out their investments at any time.

Order #40 turns the banking sector from a state-run to a market-driven system overnight by allowing foreign banks to enter the Iraqi market and to purchase up to 50 percent of Iraqi banks.

Order #49 drops the tax rate on corporations from a high of 40 percent to a flat rate of 15 percent. The income tax rate is also capped at 15 percent.

Order #12 enacted on June 7, 2003 and renewed on February 24, 2004, suspends "all tariffs, customs duties, import taxes, licensing fees and similar surcharges for goods entering or leaving Iraq, and all other trade restrictions that may apply to such goods." This led to an immediate and dramatic inflow of cheap consumer products, which has essentially wiped out all local providers of the same products. This could have significant long-term implications for domestic production as well.

[seasat]

7. That is what I find bizarre about that accusation.

Why would Iran risk alienating the Shiite majority in Southern Iran by arming an insurgency that is attacking Shiites? It's possible there are some freelancers in Iran that are providing the materials for the money but it doesn't make sense that it would have government support. The way the Iranians possibly played us through Chalabi, it wouldn't make sense for them to risk alienating other Shiites. I suspect that if Shrub Inc had some real evidence against Iran, they would have brought it out because it would have served to build a case for war against Iran. I believe that they are manipulating intelligence again.

[Tempest]

10. Manipulating intelligence, or the U.S. is behind it

Most likely it is the U.S. supporting the Iranian dissent groups and they are the ones attacking in Iraq.

Civil strife in Iraq benefits the U.S. because it means (1) U.S. soldiers aren't being targeted and (2) the U.S. can continue to steal Iraq's oil while no one is watching.

[Media_Lies_Daily]

11. Bingo. Same old doctored intelligence, just change the names.

[HuffleClaw]

8. but they'll send terrorists into iran

what a joke.