And The Story Gets More Baroque

by tristero

Now Iran is supposed to be hiring Hezbollah to conduct classes in terrorism for Iraqis in Iran so they can go back to Iraq and create havoc. Got that?

Militants from the Lebanese group Hezbollah have been training Iraqi militia fighters at a camp near Tehran, according to American interrogation reports that the United States has supplied to the Iraqi government.

And how do they know this?

An American official said the account of Hezbollah’s role was provided by four Shiite militia members who were captured in Iraq late last year and questioned separately.

Probably tortured separately. Assuming, of course, that any part of this Michael Gordon-told story is true. Apparently, the Iraqi government has its own set of doubts:

Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki’s government announced Sunday that it would conduct its own inquiry into accusations of Iranian intervention in Iraq and document any interference.

By all means the Iraqi government should never trust Bush propaganda. Nor should the US public without convincing public proof. That is the problem with lying about something as monumental as Saddam’s wmd: these allegations may very well be true. But there is no reason to assume so – and every reason to conclude they are not – given the Bush administration’s long history of lies, and of the NY Times regurgitating those lies on their front page. In this case, the story Gordon weaves is just a mite too slick at filling in some holes in the earlier ones:

First, they say, the Iranians believe it is useful to have Arabs train fellow Arabs. Second, Hezbollah has considerable experience in planning operations and using weapons and explosives in Lebanon.

And the proof?

he official summed up the information from the interrogation reports but did not make them available. He declined to be identified because the information had not been released publicly.

Which brings up serious questions regarding why the NY Times prints this swill.

Again, maybe it’s true. Then again, if it was, there’d be little reason to withhold the documentation of the interrogation and certainly no reason to withhold the identity of Gordon’s source.

[UPDATE] Glenzilla stomps all over the same article.