When The Narrative Becomes Its Own Evidence

The Bush administration has now moved from leaks by "anonymous official sources" alleging that Iran is supplying weapons to Iraq's militias and insurgencies to open attack on Iran for such activities.

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Five Iranians arrested by U.S. forces in northern Iraq are connected to an Iranian Revolutionary Guard group that provides weapons to Iraqi insurgents, the U.S. military said on Sunday.

The five were arrested on Thursday in a U.S. raid on an Iranian government office in the Iraqi city of Arbil -- the second such operation in a month.

"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.

"The Multi-National Force, in keeping with U.S. policy, will continue to disrupt logistical support to extremists that originate from outside Iraq," it said.

...U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, beginning a Middle East tour to drum up support for Bush's plan for extra U.S. troops, repeated a warning by Bush that Washington will not tolerate Tehran's alleged support for armed groups in Iraq.

"I think there is plenty of evidence that there is Iranian involvement with these networks that are making high-explosive IEDs (bombs) and that are endangering our troops, and that's going to be dealt with."

The "plenty of evidence" cited seems to consist of the very leaks they originally made, nothing more. It is those leaks that provide the background for statements about Iran being "known to provide" a damn thing. The narrative, by simple repitition, has become its own evidence.

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 high-ranking 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.

Color me sceptical in the extreme. To me, it looks like a leaf out of an old book:

The size of the lie is a definite factor in causing it to be believed, for the vast masses of a nation are in the depths of their hearts more easily deceived than they are consciously and intentionally bad. The primitive simplicity of their minds renders them a more easy prey to a big lie than a small one, for they themselves often tell little lies, but would be ashamed to tell big lies. Adolf Hitler.