Challenges/Rebuttals/Resources
February 16, 2007
By Joe Miller
Pelosi Challenges Bush on Iran War
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi issued a clear challenge to President Bush on Thursday (2/15), stating that in the absence of specific Congressional authorization, Bush lacks the authority to attack Iran. (1)
Zune Debunks Bush Charges Against Iran
An important and very informative article (2) debunking Bush's charges that the Iranian government is supporting and arming the insurgents who are attacking U.S. and Iraqi forces appeared on the Foreign Policy in Focus website on Wednesday (2/14). Among the many excellent points made in the article, author Stephen Zunes notes that "the Iranian government and the U.S. government are essentially on the same side in Iraq's ongoing conflict." More specifically, Zunes notes that while Iraqi Shi'ite political groups have received "training, arms, financial, and logistical support" from "segments of the Iranian government and religious hierarchy," many of these same groups are "allied with the U.S. backed Iraqi government."
At another point in the article, Zunes notes that "virtually all attacks against U.S. forces over the past couple of years have come from Baathist, Sunni, and other anti-Iranian groups," not Iranian-backed Shi'ite groups "as Bush now implies." At still another point Zunes effectively rebuts Bush's charges that the Iranian government is providing insurgents attacking U.S. and Iraqi forces (which in the past have been Sunni) with "improvised explosive devices" (IEDs) using "explosively formed projectiles" (EFPs).
Zunes article is clear, compelling, and highly recommended.
Additional context and perspective on everything that has happened in Iraq, and on the credibility of Bush's charges about Iranian support for insurgents' attacks on U.S. and Iraqi forces, can be gained by going to the National Public Radio website and checking out The Partisans of Ali (3), the five-part series (with additional resources) that NPR has been running this week on the split between Sunni and Shia Muslims, and how it has evolved across time, and is manifest in contemporary Iraq and Iran.
Links
- http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/021607J.shtml
- http://www.fpif.org/fpiftxt/3996
- http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=7346199
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