U.S.: Iran giving weapons to kill troops

[sabra]

http://www.fortwayne.com/mld/newssentinel/16572117.htm

U.S.: Iran giving weapons to kill troops
Associated Press

WASHINGTON - Deeply distrustful of Iran, the White House expressed skepticism Monday about Tehran's plans to greatly expand its economic and military ties with Iraq, where the United States has accused Iran of supporting terrorism and supplying weapons to kill American forces.

"If Iran wants to quit playing a destructive role in the affairs of Iraq and wants to play a constructive role, we would certainly welcome that," National Security Council spokesman Gordon Johndroe said. But, he said, "We've seen little evidence to date (of constructive activities) and frankly all we have seen is evidence to the contrary."

...

Iran's plans in Iraq were outlined by Iranian Ambassador Hassan Kazemi Qumi in an interview with The New York Times. He said Iran was prepared to offer Iraqi government forces training, equipment and advisers for what he called "the security fight," the newspaper reported. He said that in the economic area, Iran was ready to assume major responsibility for the reconstruction of Iraq.

"We have experience of reconstruction after war," the ambassador said, referring to the Iran-Iraq war in the 1980s. "We are ready to transfer this experience in terms of reconstruction to the Iraqis."