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NYT: Iran Not Responsible for Attacks

by BooMan
Fri Aug 24th, 2007 at 06:39:55 PM EST

I thought Iran was responsible. You know, the Iran that is the home of the world's largest Shi'ite population.

The number of detainees held by the American-led military coalition in Iraq has swelled by 50 percent under the troop increase ordered by President Bush, with the inmate population growing from 16,000 in February to 24,500 today, according to American military officers in Iraq.
Nearly 85 percent of the detainees in custody are Sunni Arabs, the minority faction in Iraq that ruled the country under the government of Saddam Hussein, with the other detainees being Shiite Muslims, the officers say.

But surely they are motivated by some Iran-inspired ideology? Or, perhaps, they are big time into al-Qaeda?

Those statistics would seem to indicate that the main inspiration of the hard-core Sunni insurgency is no longer a desire to restore the old order — a movement that drew from former Baath party members and security officials who served under Mr. Hussein — and has become religious and ideological.
But military officers say a large number Iraqi detainees say money is a significant reason they planted roadside bombs or shot at coalition and Iraqi forces.
“Interestingly, we’ve found that the vast majority are not inspired by jihad or hate for the coalition or Iraqi government — the vast majority are inspired by money,” said Capt. John Fleming of the Navy, who is spokesman for coalition detainee operations in Iraq.
“The primary motivator is economic — they’re angry men because they don’t have jobs,” he said. “The detainee population is overwhelmingly illiterate and unemployed. Extremists have been very successful at spreading their ideology to economically strapped Iraqis with little to no formal education.”

I'm sorry but that just doesn't fit in with Bush's narrative at all. Just goes to show...you can't trust the New York Times.

NYT: Iran Not Responsible for Attacks | 2 comments (2 topical, 0 editorial, 0 hidden)

Re: NYT: Iran Not Responsible for Attacks (none / 0)

I wonder if the Bush Narrative is actually changing a bit. We shall see. New product lines roll out after Labor Day. August is the time for recalling defective product, when few are paying attention.

by RandyH on Fri Aug 24th, 2007 at 08:44:41 PM EST

Re: NYT: Iran Not Responsible for Attacks (none / 0)

That has to be some of the most useful "intelligence" I've seen coming from any detainees -- and I'll bet it didn't take much effort (and no torture) to get.

The real question is will our military and the Bush Admin. make intelligent use of it -- and change their approach in Iraq?

Probably not. Doesn't fit with the narrative, like you said.

I remember reading somewhere (probably on a blog, or maybe CommonDreams.org) that it would have only taken a relatively small amount of money (a few million?) to re-start the state-owned businesses again in Iraq, which would have provided jobs and income to thousands of people, and gotten at least part of their economy working again. But that wouldn't have fit with the "privatization is GOOD" mantra of this Administration -- never mind that the Iraqis don't have the capital or resources to start private companies, and the jobs the American military presence can get going are all given to foreign contractors because they're afraid to trust Iraqis...

One stupid mistake after another, all because of IDIOTIC neocon idealology, from the time the first bomb fell to the current day. Unable to acknowledge that no matter how hard they beat that dead horse, it will not get up and push the damned wagon.

I still don't know which is scarier, that they are really that stupid and out of touch with reality -- or that what is happening now is what they really intended all along.

Keith Olbermann speaks for me.

by JanetT in MD on Sat Aug 25th, 2007 at 06:40:04 PM EST

NYT: Iran Not Responsible for Attacks | 2 comments (2 topical, 0 editorial, 0 hidden)

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