U.S. GENERAL ACCUSES IRAN OF SUPPLYING, TRAINING SHIITES - NO EVIDENCE OFFERED

Hamid Ahmed writes for the AP that U.S. generals in Iraq are accusing Iran of funding and training an supplying Shiite Iraqis in their attacks against the U.S. occupation.


"Lt. Gen. Raymond Odierno, the U.S. second-in-command, said Sunday that rogue Shiite militiamen with Iranian weapons and training launched 73 percent of the attacks that killed or wounded American forces last month in Baghdad, nearly double the figure six months earlier.
Odierno did not provide a total number of militia attacks but said Iran has sharply increased its support for the fighters ahead of a September report to Congress on progress in Iraq, leading to the surge in rogue militia action."



First, where is the evidence that these Shiite militias are using Iranian weapons? The evidence produced so far is quite ambiguous and murky. How does Odierno know that "Iran has sharply increased its support for the fighters?" This is all spin and innuendo. The top generals have received their talking points from Bush and Cheney, so that's what they give out at "news conferences." Odierno's spin is just another attempt to prepare the American people for war against Iran. First demonize the opponent, then drop the bombs.

Odierno goes on to make more unfounded assertions. Writes Ahmed:

""Because of the effect we've had on al-Qaida in Iraq and the success against them and the Sunni insurgency, it's now shifted and so we are focusing very much more on the special groups of the Jaish al-Mahdi here in Baghdad," he told The Associated Press in an interview, referring to the Arabic term for the Mahdi Army.


""They tend to be breakaway groups from Sadr who tend to be funded by Iran, armed by Iran and trained by Iran," he said."

So how do these groups get "trained" by Iran? Are there camps run in Iran that are "boot camps" for Iraqis. Do Iraqi militiamen go to Iran for several weeks for "training"? And how does Iran supply the weapons and "arm" the militiamen? Are their Iranian trucks back and forth delivering AK-47's and IED's? This is all so much spin, without a shred of evidence, all done for political purposes.