US blames Tehran for escalating Iraq violence

Isn't scandalous that those bastards over at MoveOn.org dared to suggest that General Petraeus was somehow spouting the White House line?

Thankfully he stepped up to the plate over the weekend and removed any chance of that accusation being levelled at him again.

The commander of US forces in Iraq, General David Petraeus, yesterday sharpened America's confrontation with Iran, claiming that a leader of its Revolutionary Guard corps was in direct charge of policy in Baghdad.

The charge that Tehran's ambassador to Baghdad, Hassan Kazemi-Qomi, was a member of the Quds force, a unit of Iran's Revolutionary Guard, takes US accusations of Iranian meddling in Iraq's violence to a new level. It strengthens suggestions that Washington is ratcheting up the rhetoric against Tehran in preparation for military strikes against Revolutionary Guard facilities in Iran.

So, just when Bush is taking to Arab airwaves to decry the people who say he is preparing to attack Iran, up steps Petraeus to tell us that it really is those filthy Iranians who are killing God fearing GI's.

The line up until now has been this.

The United States has long accused Iran of supporting militants in the Middle East, from Palestinian fighters to Iraqi Shiites. Last week, the Untied States displayed weapons found in Iraq allegedly provided by Iran, but admitted it is not clear whether Iran's top leaders specifically ordered such shipments.

Previously the Americans have stated that there is Iranian involvement but have always stated that there is no proof that the Iranian leadership are aware of what is going on. Petraeus is now saying that Tehran's ambassador to Baghdad, Hassan Kazemi-Qomi, is a member of the Quds force, a unit of Iran's Revolutionary Guard.

Now, as the US has no intention to attack Iran, General Petraeus obviously would only make such an accusation reluctantly and because the evidence is overwhelming and beyond dispute.

The general, who told Congress last month that Iran was playing an increasingly dangerous role in Iraq by providing arms to Shia militia, provided no evidence that Mr Kazemi-Qomi was a member of the Revolutionary Guard.

The Bush regime appears to be coming apart at the seams. Leaving aside the fact that the President now makes statements in public which are risible, his administrations comments regarding Iran are not only shamelessly similar to the comments he made before the Iraq war, but the fact that he is a serial liar is now openly acknowledged in the response his comments elicit even from allies.

Diplomatic relations between Britain and the United States over Iran are under increasing strain after Gordon Brown's special security adviser warned that American claims about Tehran's military capability should be taken 'with a pinch of salt'. Mercer, the former shadow homeland security spokesman, who visited the Iranian capital recently, said: 'There is increasing concern about the apparent evidence that America is preparing about Iranian military involvement.'

Mercer, who last month accepted a post as an adviser to the Brown government, said: 'All that I heard when I was in Iran was British authorities saying "be careful about what you hear from America". I'm not saying for one moment that it is necessarily wrong, but it's got to be taken with a pinch of salt. Is it American rhetoric, propaganda or fact?'

That's coming from Britain, the US's MAIN ally in the war on terror. They are saying that you can't accept anything that comes from the US at face value. One must ask, is it "American rhetoric, propaganda or fact?"

The British government are therefore openly admitting that this administration have a rather casual relationship with the truth.

Indeed, this is why people like myself argued that Bush and Blair should have resigned when no WMD were found in Iraq. They were so profoundly wrong in everything that they had said prior to the war that they had sacrificed any right to ever again be trusted, leaving both their nations open to the danger that another crisis would develop and that neither man would ever again be believed when they spelt this danger out to their people.

And here, again, we have Bush playing this tired boring fucking game of "blame Iran".

Indeed, Bush has so tarnished the reputation of the United States over the past six years that his own country is now seen worldwide as a greater danger to world peace than Iran.

The survey, carried out annually, shows a continued decline in support for the US since 1999. The US image for most of the 20th century has been relatively positive, being regularly identified with democracy, human rights and openness in spite of criticism from the left, which reached a height during the Vietnam war, and a residual suspicion in the Muslim world.

But even in the UK, Washington's closest ally, favourable ratings have slumped from 83% in 1999 to 56% this year. The pattern is similar in France, down from 62% to 39%, Germany 78% to 37%, and Spain 50% to 23%.

In Muslim countries with which the US has traditionally enjoyed a good relationship, such as Turkey - a member of Nato - and Indonesia, there have also been slumps. In Indonesia favourable ratings for the US have dropped from 75% to 30%, and in Turkey from 52% to 12%.

So Bush can take to Arab airwaves and claim that he has no intention of attacking Iran, just as he can claim that the US does not engage in torture, but the truth is that many of us simply don't believe a single word that comes out of that man's mouth.

He's a LIAR. A repeated and continual LIAR.

Even the British government appears to be conceding that.

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Tags: Petraeus, Bush, Iran