Yesterday, Donald Rumsfeld took the spotlight as he started accusing Iran of
sending explosives to Iraq. Rumsfeld told reporters at a Pentagon news
conference
“It is true that weapons clearly, unambiguously from Iran have been found
in Iraq,. That’s a big border and it’s notably unhelpful for the Iranians to
be allowing weapons of those types to cross the border.”
Rumsfeld of course refused to say how they were able to identify these
weapons or how many there could be.
Now today Iraq is downplaying that report in this article from the
Associated Press.
Iraqi: Iran Smuggling Reports Exaggerated
BAGHDAD, Iraq – Iraq’s interior minister said Wednesday that reports of
deadly roadside bombs being smuggled into this country from Iran are
exaggerated.On Tuesday, U.S. Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld said some insurgent
weapons are entering Iraq from Iran although it’s unclear whether they were
coming from elements of the Iranian government or from other parties.Interior Minister Bayan Jabr told reporters that Iraqi security forces
recently opened fire on a group of men carrying boxes near the Iranian border.
The men dropped the boxes and fled back into Iranian territory. Inside the
boxes were dynamite sticks with some wires.“This is all that happened at the border and was very much exaggerated,”
Jabr said.Appearing before parliament, Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari dodged
questions about the use of Iranian weapons by the insurgents. Al-Jaafari, who
spent years in exile in Iran, referred questions to the interior and defense
ministries.Al-Jaafari was responding to a question by a Shiite Muslim legislator,
Hussein al-Sadr, about U.S. allegations that weapons were coming in from Iran.“Concerning me, I don’t comment on reports especially if they are coming
from abroad,” al-Jaafari said. “It should not be that someone says something
and we sit here and open a conversation about it. We have our own sources.”
Now the question lies in who to believe. I am more compelled to believe what
Iraq is telling us as opposed to the words of Rumsfeld, who has a credibility
problem. These accusations could result in a lead up to a possible invasion of
Iran, as we are very familiar with false accusations from our administration.