UNNAMED SOURCES IN WASHINGTON POST CLAIM IRAN IS SUPPLYING WEAPONS

I wrote just below on how more Americans are seeing Iran as the "enemy," and quoted from Juan Cole's post on how the government with the collusion of major media are foisting the canard on a gullible American public.

Now we have Robin Wright in today's Washington Post giving more unsubstantiated claims that Iran is supplying arms to both Iraq and to the Taliban in Afghanistan. Never mind that Iran considers the Taliban savages and that the Taliban are Sunni, not Shia as is Iran.

But what I especially don't like about Robin Wright's story is that she quotes "unnamed government officials" as sources for her claim about Iranian interference without naming any of the names.

"Iran has increased arms shipments to both Iraq's Shiite extremists and Afghanistan's Taliban in recent weeks in an apparent attempt to pressure American and other Western troops operating in its two strategic neighbors, according to senior U.S. and European officials."

As Juan Cole points out, the U.S. has given no evidence of this. Weapons manufactured in Iran may be smuggled into Iraq by Shia insurgents or wind up in Afghanistan after being brought back from Iran by notorious Afghan smugglers. But to claim Iran itself is supplying weapons is baseless and without any evidence.

Here's Robin Wright quoting another unnamed "senior U.S. official" who is concerned "about what appears to be" an escalating flow of Iranian arms"

""We're concerned about what appears to be an escalating flow of Iranian arms shipments to extremists operating in Iraq and about Iran's stepped-up efforts to supply weapons to Taliban militants in Afghanistan," said a senior U.S. official who monitors Iranian activity in the region." "

No wonder that more and more Americans are accepting the demonization of Iran and the U.S. portrayal of Iran as the "enemy." Can a military strike against Iran be that far off?

We cannot let this happen.