Of Course You Realize, This Means War

According to a recent article in the New York Times, U.S. "intelligence" officials in Iraq (there's an oxymoron for you) believe that Iran is supplying insurgents in Iraq with munitions, including the most effective form of roadside bomb. The article alludes to the evidence U.S. officials claim to have unearthed, but makes no attempt to assess the validity of these claims. The article also mentions that Iranian officials flatly deny the charges.

This is an extraordinary story. Given the way the Times via Judith Miller got burned by the WMD claims leading up to the invasion, it's astonishing that that the Times would report these claims as straight news. I would think that most Times readers (and I would hope editors) would immediately sense their "here we go again radar" booting up. Yet the article alludes only very indirectly to the possibility that this is part of a P.R. campaign to start another war -- by quoting U.S. officials' denials that that's what it is. Beyond that, there's is no counterpoint and minimal political context to the story. There's also nothing on the opinion pages yet. One would think that the minute a story like this hits, the opinion writers would be raising "fool me once ... " warnings, but this isn't happening so far.

Ironically, the idea that support for Iraqi insurgents is coming from Iran is entirely plausible. Iran was a refuge for Shiites throughout the Saddam era. From what I understand, the border areas between Iran and Iraq are somewhat analagous to the "tribal" areas of Afghanistan and Pakistan. Allegencies are religious and tribal far more than they are national. Consequently, it's entirely logical that Shiite militants are getting arms from within Iran (even if not from the Iranian government). Yet the intelligence and military "communities" under Bush are so discredited that even if they present something that on its face seems reasonable, it's almost impossible for any thinking person to take it seriously.

Or so I would hope. For now, there is only speculation. If Joe "I am the Lorax" Lieberman starts talking about the the threat to U.S. troops posed by Irani armorers, though, we'll know for sure the fix is in.