ABC: New Arms Shipments to Iraqi Militia Detected (believed to be of Iranian origin)

[sabra]

http://blogs.abcnews.com/theblotter/2007/01/new_arms_shipme.html

New Arms Shipments to Iraqi Militia Detected

US military intelligence sources tell ABC News that large shipments of weapons have been smuggled to Iraqi militia over the past five weeks, including dozens of Iranian supplied EFP's , or Explosive Form Projectiles, highly effective against armored vehicles.

The weapons were sent to Moqtada al Sadr's Shi'a militia, known as "Mahdi’s Army" who control Sadr City, a slum in northern Baghdad with a population of 2 million.

US and Iraqi intelligence units on the ground detected the shipments which are believed to be of Iranian origin. In addition, US military sources tell ABC, Al Sadr has been working on his own "surge," actively recruiting hundreds of residents of Sadr City to supplement the 8 to 10,000 militiamen already believed to make up the "Mahdi Army" in Baghdad.

[hippiechick]

1. My, how conveeeeeeenient!!!

:eyes:

[Lerkfish]

7. you beat me to it!

[wryter2000]

20. Key words

"Over the past five weeks" What do you bet they've known about this (if it is true) for a month.

[Morgana LaFey]

42. Same claim refuted by the Brits back in October

British Find No Evidence Of Arms Traffic From Iran (This bears repeating.)
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=364x3100864


I don't believe it this time either. I think we can safely call that military psyops, not military intelligence.

[stephinrome]

44. timing is everything

[DrZeeLit]

51. After 6 yrs..they still think we are sooo stupid. Sick, sick, sick~!

I'm amazed. Continually amazed, that media like ABC still play the patsy for this crime family. Oy! I suppose I should not be amazed. But I keep thinking... somebody has to be the Grown Up.

Thank goodness for Keith Olbermann.
And thank goodness I quit all t.v. six years ago.

Now, if only I could convince my mother (80 yrs old) that her boy "Georgie" is satan.
Nah. She'll never go for it. Tsk tsk tsk. Sorry to say.

Help! How do we STOP THE SURGE (of idiocy)???!!!

[Buzz Clik]

2. And so it begins...

The media will now eagerly become dupes in the adminstrations bullshit about Iran.

All the media repeated the administrations unfiltered lies before Iraq. I guess they haven't learned much.

[54anickel]

15. But it seems Bushco has learned a lot from their past mistakes. This time

there will be no time for "factiness" checking or debate or inspections. They are in full-speed ahead mode before anyone tries to stop them. Their eyes are on the prize - Iran at all costs.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

3. I'm shocked and awed.

[frylock]

4. you'll have to forgive me if i don't believe a word of this shit..

they are really ramping up the bullkrap since shithead's speech the other night. Should be just a matter of weeks before armageddon is in effect.

[aggiesal]

56. Iraq - Armageddon-it-done !!! n/t

[halobeam]

5. yip,

[Marnieworld]

6. Right on cue

Sickening. I am amazed that they are trying to get away with another conjured war again.

[Nihil]

53. Why not?

It worked so well for them last time ...

[jaysunb]

8. I call BULLSHIT !

:evilfrown:

[Ferret Annica]

43. I call BushShit, which stinks and fouls much worse

then the bovine based waste product.

[Roland99]

57. So did the British in their Oct. 2006 search >>>>>>>>>

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/10/03/AR2006100301577_pf.html

Wednesday, October 4, 2006

ON THE IRAQ-IRAN BORDER -- Since late August, British commandos in the deserts of far southeastern Iraq have been testing one of the most serious charges leveled by the United States against Iran: that Iran is secretly supplying weapons, parts, funding and training for attacks on U.S.-led forces in Iraq.

A few hundred British troops living out of nothing more than their cut-down Land Rovers and light armored vehicles have taken to the desert in the start of what British officers said would be months of patrols aimed at finding the illicit weapons trafficking from Iran, or any sign of it.

...

"I suspect there's nothing out there," the commander, Lt. Col. David Labouchere, said last month, speaking at an overnight camp near the border. "And I intend to prove it."

Other senior British military leaders spoke as explicitly in interviews over the previous two months. Britain, whose forces have had responsibility for security in southeastern Iraq since the war began, has found nothing to support the Americans' contention that Iran is providing weapons and training in Iraq, several senior military officials said.

"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, British Defense Secretary Des Browne said in an interview in Baghdad in late August.

[seemslikeadream]

9. I'm shocked

:eyes:

[CrazyOrangeCat]

10. The Mighty Hurlitzer gears up . . .

:puke:

[DRoseDARs]

11. ABC: New Arms Shipments to Iraqi Militia Detected (believed to be of Clinton origin)

You KNOW that's the headline they wanted to use...

[maddezmom]

13. no fooling

:eyes: This shit is getting too predictable even for the peeps that don't hang out at DU. :D

[wryter2000]

21. You bet

Clinton sold arms to Iran! Oh wait...that was Raygun.

[leftchick]

12. I call Bullshit! "It's a question of intelligence versus evidence"

from a few weeks ago....

British Find No Evidence Of Arms Traffic From Iran
Troops in Southeast Iraq Test U.S. Claim of Aid for Militias

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/10/03/AR2006100301577_pf.html

ON THE IRAQ-IRAN BORDER -- Since late August, British commandos in the deserts of far southeastern Iraq have been testing one of the most serious charges leveled by the United States against Iran: that Iran is secretly supplying weapons, parts, funding and training for attacks on U.S.-led forces in Iraq.

A few hundred British troops living out of nothing more than their cut-down Land Rovers and light armored vehicles have taken to the desert in the start of what British officers said would be months of patrols aimed at finding the illicit weapons trafficking from Iran, or any sign of it.

There's just one thing.

"I suspect there's nothing out there," the commander, Lt. Col. David Labouchere, said last month, speaking at an overnight camp near the border. "And I intend to prove it."

Other senior British military leaders spoke as explicitly in interviews over the previous two months. Britain, whose forces have had responsibility for security in southeastern Iraq since the war began, has found nothing to support the Americans' contention that Iran is providing weapons and training in Iraq, several senior military officials said.

"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, British Defense Secretary Des Browne said in an interview in Baghdad in late August.

"It's a question of intelligence versus evidence," Labouchere's commander, Brig. James Everard of Britain's 20th Armored Brigade, said last month at his base in the southern region's capital, Basra. "One hears word of mouth, but one has to see it with one's own eyes. These are serious consequences, aren't they?"

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/10/03/AR2006100301577_pf.html

[BayCityProgressive]

14. I dont know what pisses me off more

the fact that our fascist government will try forcing free market capitalism on another country with oil, or the fact that many Americans will support this. It IS going to happen. I am stating it right here and now. This war will expand and it isn't going to stop until the whole third world and developing world is under our fist. The new socialist goernments in Latin America better come up with a defense plan. We can't have them give people the threat of the "good example".

[leftchick]

23. do you really think Iran,China and Russia will let them?

I don't. This is very very bad. :(

[freefall]

65. I'm with you leftchick. If Bloody George actually does attack Iran we

will pay dearly. A few minutes ago I read a comparison of Bush with George Custer. At least Custer had the balls to actually lead and die with his army. Today's George is nothing more than a chickenhawk, cowardly, frat boy.

Peace,

freefall

[Lone_Star_Dem]

16. Wonder how the Iraqi government feels about this

Remember the little tiff they had last month with the US over two Iranians who were accused of running arms and planning attacks.

Here's a snip from the story:

The Americans insisted that the Iranians had been running guns and planning sectarian attacks and pressed the Iraqis to expel them as intruders. The U.S. military said it had detailed evidence collected in the raid that linked the Iranians to illicit arms shipments to Shiite militia groups and to attacks on American and Iraqi forces.

Iraqi officials said Friday that it was clear that the men, who weren't publicly identified but were described as Iranian military officials by the Bush administration, hadn't been entirely forthcoming about what they were doing in Iraq.

Even so, the Iraqis said they thought the evidence against the men was mostly circumstantial and not as damning as the Americans had portrayed. For that reason, the Iraqis said, the government decided to release the men.
http://www.statesman.com/news/content/news/stories/world/12/30/30iraq.html

They almost called them on their BS then.

[jpak]

17. If they had the intel - why didn't they act on it????

Why weren't these Evil I-ranian arms shipments intercepted???

Because it's a fucking Curveball Bullshit Lie????

[remfan]

50. Oh, they did "act" on it

They contacted ABC "News" with the second or third "exclusive" about Iranian arms showing up in Iraq. Slowly saturate the market until it becomes common knowledge...should take about 3 months.

It's the same damn shit they pulled in the run-up to Iraq, except this time they're using the domestic press rather than the foreign press, and it looks like ABC is going to be their 'go-to' outlet for all things Iranian.

When Iran gets its own graphics and theme music on CNN (*Showdown! Iran! Hide the Children!*) then you know we're completely fucked.

[OregonBlue]

18. So is everyone willing to contact ABC news and challenge them? Will we

all call them on this b.s. Why does Disney so desperately want war? Here's your answer!

Partnering with Hearst Corporation and General Electric (GE,) Disney invests in 12 cable stations.

Disney is a financial partner with Sid R. Bass in crude petroleum and natural gas production (Texan of course).

[maddezmom]

24. I have no problem contactiing for more follow up, but they are only passing on

what the US military is telling them. I guess it could be seen as propaganda, etc.... but I'm still glad they put the word out on what the US military is saying. :shrug:

[OregonBlue]

27. We all need to ask them if they are going to "spin" this or just report

on it. ABC has been very gung ho on the war. Stephanopoulis has not been willing to ask the hard questions. Partnered with Hearst, GE and the Bass empire, can't imagine why.

[maddezmom]

34. no disagreement

:hi:

[starroute]

48. Disney also has Saudi connections

This came up here during the flap over The Road to 9/11, but here's something FAIR put out on the subject in 2004:

http://www.fair.org/activism/disney-moore-update.html

On the television network that his company owns, Disney CEO Michael Eisner dismissed the idea that forbidding Disney subsidiary Miramax to distribute a controversial new documentary by Michael Moore was a form of censorship. "We informed both the agency that represented the film and all of our companies that we just didn't want to be in the middle of a politically-oriented film during an election year," he told ABC World News Tonight (5/5/04), referring to Moore's Fahrenheit 911, which examines the connections between the Bush family and the House of Saud that rules Saudi Arabia. . . .

So what is the real reason it won't distribute Moore's movie? The explanation that Moore's agent said he was offered by Eisner-- that Disney was afraid of losing tax breaks from Florida Gov. Jeb Bush-- is more persuasive than Eisner's obviously false public rationale. But more relevant may be Disney's financial involvement with a member of the same Saudi family whose connections to the Bush dynasty are investigated by Moore. Prince Al-Walid bin Talal, a billionaire investor who is a grandson of Saudi Arabia's King Fahd, became a major investor in Disney's Eurodisney theme park when it was in financial trouble, and may be asked to bail out the troubled project again.

Al-Walid bin Talal also owns 5.5% of Fox News and hasn't been shy about using his influence there.

Israeli interest in provoking a war with Iran is obvious -- but Saudi interest in the matter may be even greater, and perhaps more significant.

[Kelvin Mace]

19. Just a couple of questions:

Notice all the things we don't know in this story?

They "detected" the shipments. Have the actually SEEN the weapons? Have they EXAMINED the weapons. Who are these "intelligence sources"? We had lots of sources when this kind of shit was being claimed against Iraq, and they all turned out to completely WRONG in all of their claims.

How do they KNOW these weapons are from Iran? Do they have little tags on them that say:

To: Moqtada al-Sadr

Love and xxxxx's

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad

If the US military KNEW about this weapons cache, WHY DIDN'T THEY CONFISCATE IT?!!!

This smells to the high heavens.

[sabra]

22. obviously it's in the docs that they confiscated in yesterdays Iran consulate

raid. duh! :sarcasm:

[wryter2000]

25. Why do you hate America?

No true American asks questions. :sarcasm:

[donkeyotay]

49. The Wurlitzer of War. It's one of those known unknowns, don't ask

too many questions kind of stories. How did those intelligence sources detect and suspect, but not do anything?

[OregonBlue]

64. Little stamps that say "made in Iran" that one of our 7 State Department

officials that actually speak the language "interpreted".

[0007]

26. Didn't Hitler do almost the same thing before the invasion of Poland?

...and we wonder why the world hates us!

We're so screwed.

[global1]

28. Where Are Our Troops? How Could Anything Get Into Iraq? Why Aren't.....

we patrolling the borders? How did this shipment get in? Plane? Trucks? Cars? FedEx? Why is it that we don't have checkpoints on all major routes into and out of Iraq? What kind of war are we running anyway?

Seems to me we had more control of Iraq when Saddam was in charge. We supposedly knew everything that was happening in that country. We had no fly zones. We controlled what went into and came out of Iraq.

Now we are occupying this country. We have 130,000 to 140,000 troops in country. They are there. Right on the scene and they can't stop this.

Are they all holed up just in the Green Zone?

Come on now. If we are to have a war - put somebody in charge that knows how to fight a war.

[halobeam]

29. That would be the proper response if they were telling the truth.

You believe them? I don't.

edit to add: only 3 recs?

[aggiesal]

58. I throwing the yellow flag on this one.

Penalty for making way toooo much sense.
That's at least a 15 yard penalty.
Or, a round of drinks. Whichever you prefer.

[aggiesal]

59. You haven't seen the video on YouTube yet?

[MrPrax]

30. Iran? or Bosnia!

US in secret gun deal

Friday May 12, 2006
The Guardian

The Pentagon has secretly shipped tens of thousands of small arms from Bosnia to Iraq in the past two years, using a web of private companies, at least one of which is a noted arms smuggler blacklisted by Washington and the UN.

According to a report by Amnesty International, which investigated the sales, the US government arranged for the delivery of at least 200,000 Kalashnikov machine guns from Bosnia to Iraq in 2004-05. But though the weaponry was said to be for arming the fledgling Iraqi military, there is no evidence of the guns reaching their recipient.

...

European administrators in Bosnia, as well as NGOs working to oversee the stockpiling and destruction of weapons from the Bosnian war of the 1990s, are furious that the Pentagon's covert arms-to-Iraq programme has undermined the disarmament project.

"It's difficult to persuade people to destroy weapons when they're all holding back and waiting for Uncle Sam to arrive with a fistful of dollars," said Adrian Wilkinson, a former British officer overseeing a UN disarmament programme in former Yugoslavia.

Guardian

[xxqqqzme]

31. the last FIVE WEEKS????

And what has been done to stop the shipments IF they are soooo certain?

[BluePatriot]

32. *cough* False flag *cough*

[dipsydoodle]

33. Probably find

they've got USPS Airparcel labels on them.

[Malikshah]

35. Now is the time when a REAL journalist would take stories from

the last 3 years and piece them altogether, showing the obvious set up of stories (real, fake, disproven, etc.) in an attempt to create the "need for war" with Iran. They were clumsy with the buildup to Iraq, but the timing was on their side.

With Iran, they've got to be more careful. La Calumnia...sussurando sussurando (sorry for the spelling errors) Insidious even.

[canadianbeaver]

36. Really did anyone not see this happening??? I mean come on!!

Like stones skipping across the water...slowly their plan is taking shape....all with our eyes wide open!!

[Straight Shooter]

37. *sniff sniff* What's that smell?

[Warren Stupidity]

38. We are beating the war drums.

Anyone who thinks that the administration is not on the warpath is not paying attention.

[Buzz Clik]

39. Enough of this. It's time to impeach.

I have been anti-impeachment because it would be a distraction from the country's real business. Bush is trying to make Iran the country's new business, so it's time to put this in motion.

[goforit]

40. Bull sh*T US MILITARY BULLSH*T!!!!!

[Tom Joad]

41. New Arms supplies given to Israel. Believed to be of US origin.

New Arms supplies given to armed invaders of Iraq. Believed to be of US origin.

[NMDemDist2]

45. but the British (who actually patrol the Shia border with Iran) say they

haven't seen a thing

my nose detects a steaming pile of bushit

[BadGimp]

46. How to spot Propaganda

Anything that starts with: "US military intelligence sources tell ABC* News...
* substitute any network or rag title

Is CLEARLY propaganda.

[librechik]

47. no worries--we don't have any armored vehicles to blow up n/t

[happydreams]

52. Check for Cheeto stains on the guns and crates.

:evilgrin:

[VegasWolf]

54. Hey, the big American Corporations are selling arms to Iraqi milita. nt

[pinniped]

55. This is another sure sign of BullShit::

believed to be

[HuffleClaw]

60. bwahhhahhahahaaaaaa

sure, pull the other one, its got bells on it!

[Ouabache]

61. Office of Special Plans News Release ??

probably, although they closed down the OSP after it got Iraq started and embedded it elsewhere in DOD under direct control of Rumsfeld, wonder which ne-con is calling the shots now? maybe we need to look at all those 'edit' notes in the Word documents?

Found this in another DUer's post elsewhere:

U.S. Moves to Weaken Iran

A campaign to promote democracy and fund dissidents prompts speculation that the administration's goal is to change the regime.

By Laura Rozen
Special to The Times
5/19/06 "Los Angeles Times"


(...) The State Department also is planning to send 15 foreign service officers to countries neighboring Iran and to capitals with large Iranian exile populations to serve as "Iran watchers."

At the Pentagon, the new Iranian directorate has been set up inside its policy shop, which previously housed the Office of Special Plans. (snip)

Pentagon spokesman Lt. Col. Barry Venable declined to name the acting director of the new Iran office and would say only that the appointee was a "career civil servant." Among those staffing or advising the Iranian directorate are three veterans of the Office of Special Plans: Abram N. Shulsky, its former director; John Trigilio, a Defense Intelligence Agency analyst; and Ladan Archin, an Iran specialist.



full story: http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article13111.h...

[Jazzgirl]

62. Why does this sound like a big lie??

This sounds like some made up shit. What...did the shipments have address labels on them saying Moqtada al-Sadr, 211 Baghdad Street....Geez! How come they didn't detect them coming across the border? Don't we have troops on the Iranian border? This is bullshit.

JG

[natrat]

63. why would anyone with half a brain believe abc?

[mmonk]

66. You never know what to believe.

Back when we were a free country with a working press, I might would look at it with less skepticism. In this country that has replaced the United States, I take such reports with a grain of salt.

[hedgehog]

67. Oh, shit

[sarcasmo]

68. WWIII here we come.