Piling on Kyl

Senator Jon Kyl (R-AZ) has returned from a trip to the Middle East "with a growing concern over the pernicious role Iran plays in the region." According to Kyl, we know that Shiite militias "are clearly being armed by Iranian agents" because we've found advanced IEDs - known as Explosively Formed Penetrators (EFPs) - that "had Farsi writing on them indicating they were made in Iran."

Note to Jon: This is very thin gruel! First, as retired Army lieutenant general William E. Odom has noted, the idea that we need to escalate the war to counter "the pernicious role Iran plays in the region" is preposterous:

One of the president's initial war aims, the creation of a democracy in Iraq, ensured increased Iranian influence, both in Iraq and the region. Electoral democracy, predictably, would put Shiite groups in power -- groups supported by Iran since Saddam Hussein repressed them in 1991. Why are so many members of Congress swallowing the claim that prolonging the war is now supposed to prevent precisely what starting the war inexorably and predictably caused?

Secondly, Kyl's uncritical parroting of Bush administration talking points on Iranian EFPs distorts what in reality is a very complicated situation. Of course, in pointing this out I do not mean to suggest that the Iranians are a stabilizing force in Iraq - though as noted above, Kyl would do well to remember that our invasion made Iranian meddling in Iraq inevitable (for more on how the U.S. has also been throwing its weight behind less than savory Shia groups in Iraq, see here). That said, Kyl simply has no way of knowing whether (1) Iranian weapons are actually meant to be used to kill U.S. forces (as opposed to aiding the Shia groups in their war against the Sunnis, for example) or (2) if the highest levels of the Iranian government have actually authorized the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps's Qods Force to supply weapons for use against U.S. troops. What's more, Kyl's claims are further undermined by this Wall Street Journal report which shows that Iraqi insurgents and militias appear to be capable of constructing EFPs on their own!

Posted by Kingston