Vol. 71/No. 9      March 5, 2007

For the first time Bush publicly endorsed the accusations against Tehran, which until then had been leveled by anonymous U.S. military officials. “I can say with certainty that the Quds Force, a part of the Iranian government, has provided these sophisticated I.E.D.’s [improvised explosive devices] that have harmed our troops,” the U.S. president asserted.

In a February 11 news briefing in Baghdad, U.S. military officials, who refused to reveal their names, claimed that “the highest levels of the Iranian government” had authorized smuggling such weapons into Iraq to be used against the U.S. forces. The next day, however, Gen. Peter Pace, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, contradicted some of these assertions. He told reporters that he could not endorse the claim that the Iranian government, “per se, for sure,” is complicit. Many commentators in the big-business media and some capitalist politicians voiced similar skepticism.

It appears that Washington had not quite concocted its story until the February 14 press conference. There, Bush refused to answer reporters’ questions about the inconsistencies in the presentation of “evidence” by the military brass against Iran. But he kept on hammering at the point. “I’d like to repeat,” Bush said, “I do not know whether or not the Quds Force was ordered from the top echelons of the government. But my point is, what’s worse, them ordering it and it happening, or them not ordering it and it’s happening?”

Bush continued, “What matters is, is that we’re responding.” If U.S. forces found either networks or individuals “who are moving these devices into Iraq, we will deal with them,” he stated.

Bush kept on referring to the “Quds Force” routinely as an established fact. But an article in the February 17 New York Times headlined “Iranian Force, Focus of U.S., Still a Mystery,” made this point: “Some specialists even question whether the Quds Force exists as a formal unit clearly delineated from the rest of the Revolutionary Guard” of Iran’s armed forces.

Iran’s foreign ministry spokesman, Mohammed Ali Hosseini, dismissed Washington’s accusations. “The United States has a long history in fabricating evidence,” he said.

Meanwhile, European Union officials announced that the EU will tighten its economic squeeze on Iran, as decided by the United Nations Security Council. A resolution adopted by this body December 23 imposed sanctions on Iran for refusing to abandon its efforts to develop nuclear energy. According to a draft resolution EU officials released to the press February 12, the EU would widen a ban on financial transactions with Tehran and the export of materials and technology that could be used in Iran for the development of nuclear arms.

“This is a very positive initiative because it takes the European Union beyond where they were until recently,” said Nicholas Burns, the U.S. under secretary of state for political affairs.

The Iranian government insists it has no intention of developing atomic weapons. Tehran says it is developing nuclear energy for peaceful purposes, to meet the country’s needs and to lessen its dependency on diminishing fossil fuels.

In an attempt to minimize the impact of U.S.-led economic sanctions, the Iranian government in mid-December ordered its central bank to replace the U.S. dollar with the euro for all foreign transactions.
 
 
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U.S. forces intensify attacks on Iraqi militias
Congress backs aims of war, while it postures as ‘opposing’ escalation
Prowar Congress  
 
 
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