Everybody's going to war,
But we don't know what we're fighting for,
Don't tell me it's a worthy cause,
No cause could be so worthy...
If love is a drug, I guess we're all sober,
If hope is a song I guess it's all over,
How to have faith, when faith is a crime?
I don't want to die...
If God's on our side, then God is a joker,
Asleep on the job, his children fall over...
Nerina Pallot - Everybody's Gone to War
US military spokesmen, officials and analysts are gradually adding flesh to the bones of allegations of official Iranian collaboration with Shia and Sunni insurgents in Iraq, including elements linked to al-Qaida.
[In contrast to the continuing flow of unsubstantiated "allegations" about Iran, there is no doubt that the US regime certainly is involved with insurgent groups, The US regime cannot control where all of the the weapons, explosives and money they provide to insurgents in Iraq actually end up, even if we accept the apparent assumption that US agents stirring-up violence in Iraq care who gets what let alone need to control the process.]
The development comes amid reports that the White House is leaning towards military action against Iran over its suspect nuclear activities and supposed meddling in Iraq, and growing expectations that George Bush will extend the military "surge" to at least next summer.
A senior US official in Baghdad told the Guardian in May that Iran was fighting a proxy war in Iraq. He accused Tehran of "committing daily acts of war against US and British forces", including weapons and other assistance to militias and ad hoc cooperation with individual extremists tied to al-Qaida.
The allegations were rejected out of hand by Iran. Anti-war groups dismissed them as unsubstantiated US propaganda, reminiscent of false claims made prior to the 2003 invasion of Iraq. In an apparent response to this scepticism Brigadier-General Kevin Bergner, of Multi-National Force Iraq, put coalition concerns on the record at an official briefing in Baghdad on July 2.
For the first time he formally accused Iran's senior leadership of instigating, or at the least countenancing, insurgent attacks. He cited an incident in Kerbala, in January, which led to the deaths of five Americans, and identified 21 "high-level operatives" who worked under clandestine Iranian direction.
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