De Commerciele Massamedia 34

Media Lens bericht:

MEDIA ALERT: IRAN IN IRAQ

The Art Of Instant Forgetting

Media corporations have an awesome ability to fail to learn even the most obvious lessons from the recent past. In discussing allegations made against Iran in 2007, for example, it is often as though Iraq 2002-2003 never happened. The same journalists receiving the same propaganda from the same government sources respond with the same credulity and the same indifference to the human consequences. On February 16, the US media watchdog, FAIR, recalled how, in the wake of its disastrous pre-war reporting on Iraq, the New York Times had "implemented new rules governing its use of unnamed sources". How exasperating, then, that the Times' lead story on February 10 promoting US government charges against Iran trashed these rules completely. FAIR commented: "Repeatedly citing the likes of 'administration officials,' 'American intelligence' and 'Western officials,' the article used unnamed sources four times as often as named ones. Only one source in... [the] report challenged the official claims: Iranian United Nations ambassador Javad Zarif, who was allowed a one-sentence denial of Iranian government involvement." (Fair Action Alert, 'NYT Breaks Own Anonymity Rules,' February 16, 2007; http://www.fair.org/index.php?page=3042)A January 16 leader in the Telegraph - which did not apologise for its own catastrophic pre-war reporting or implement new rules - was bolder still:"It has been clear for many months that Iran has been actively involved in the Iraqi insurgency: by supplying arms and manpower to the militias who target American and British forces, and inciting sectarian violence, it has helped to maintain the state of chaotic instability which has persisted in spite of all attempts to bring order to the country..." (Leader, 'The threat from Iran,' Telegraph, January 16, 2007)The direct involvement of Iran's leadership was also not in doubt:"... as those in charge of our forces on the ground in Basra are clearly aware, Iran is not simply a delinquent state indulging in gratuitously destructive terrorism. However absurd and nihilistic the posturing of its president may seem, his country is committed to an orchestrated political plan [in Iraq] which will require systematic opposition". (Ibid)On BBC's Newsnight (February 12), the Telegraph's Con Coughlin declared that military action was looming now that "diplomacy is almost at an end". Indymedia reported on February 5:"A report, put together by Campaign Iran and published at the end of 2006, revealed that Daily Telegraph's political editor Con Coughlin, the man who 'broke the story' of Iraq's 45 minute WMD capacity, was behind 16 articles containing unsubstantiated allegations against Iran over the past 12 months. "The Press Complaints Commission has launched its third investigation into Coughlin in as many months after a number of high level complaints about his latest article on Iran. The investigation is looking at an article by Coughlin on 24 January relying on an unnamed 'European defence official' alleging that North Korea is helping Iran prepare a nuclear weapons test." ('MI6 Iran Disinfo: The Prelude to War?'; http://www.indymedia.org/fr/2007/02/879774.shtml)By contrast, a week earlier, The Los Angeles Times cited an ironic comment from a British officer stationed in Iraq: "'We do have intelligence which suggests that weapons and ammunition are being smuggled in from Iran,' Maj. David Gell, a spokesman for British forces in Basra, said last week. 'We don't always manage to find any.' "US military officials in Diyala have had the same experience. No munitions or personnel have been seized at the border, officers said." (Alexandra Zavis and Greg Miller, 'Scant evidence found of Iran-Iraq arms link,' Los Angeles Times, January 23, 2007)Gareth Porter noted on truthout.org last week:"The [US] administration suggested that there could be no other explanation for the presence of Iranian-made weapons than official government sponsorship of smuggling them into Iraq. But in doing so, they had to ignore a well-known reality: most weapons, including armor-piercing projectiles, can be purchased by anyone through intermediaries in the Middle East." (Porter, 'US Briefing on Iran Discredits the Official Line,' http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/021407D.shtml)Porter cited Michael Knights, chief of analysis for the Olive Group, a private security consulting firm, whopresented evidence in Jane's Intelligence Review that Iraqi Shiites have manufactured both the components for "explosively formed penetrators" (EFPs) and the complete EFPs. Knights claims that the equipment required to make EFPs "can easily be found in Iraqi metalworking shops and garages", and that all EFPs exploded so far could have been manufactured in one or at most two simple workshops with one or two specialists in each - one in the Baghdad area and one in southern Iraq. Knights comments of US-UK forces:"I'm surprised that they haven't found evidence of making EFPs in Iraq. That doesn't ring true for me."Indeed, since Porter's article appeared, the New York Times included this comment at the end of a February 20 news report:"An Iraqi unit, aided by American advisers, caught militants in the act of constructing devices known as explosively formed projectiles in a house in Hilla, south of Baghdad, on Saturday, according to the American military." (Marc Santora, 'Iraqi Militants Launch Attack on U.S. Outpost,' New York Times, February 20, 2007) Knights believes there was a time when whole EFPs were imported from outside, but that now most, if not all, are manufactured by Iraqis.Certainly the idea that only Iran possesses the necessary lathes and operators trained in the manufacture of EFPs is outlandish. Writer Milan Rai observes that no evidence has been produced that Iraq lacks the means to produce EFPs - there is no shortage of metal tubes or explosives. An independent assessment of Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) in Iraq, obtained by Defense News in 2006 and based on British military intelligence, said: "Based on current usage, there are enough stocks of illegal explosives to continue the same level of attack for 274 years without re-supply." (Milan Rai, 'IED lies,' February 12, 2007; http://www.j-n-v.org/AW_briefings/IED_Lies.htm)Writing in the Independent, Patrick Cockburn notes the irony:"The US stance on the military capabilities of Iraqis today is the exact opposite of its position four years ago. Then, President Bush and Tony Blair claimed that Iraqis were technically advanced enough to produce long-range missiles and to be close to producing a nuclear device. Washington is now saying that Iraqis are too backward to produce an effective roadside bomb and must seek Iranian help." (Cockburn, 'Washington accuses Tehran, and sets stage for a new confrontation,' The Independent, February 12, 2007)'

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