Agence Global - Article

Agence Global - Article: "Blaming Iran for Everything (Again)
by William O. BeemanReleased: 21 Jul 2004


The Bush administration is now perpetually under fire for the debacles in Iraq and Afghanistan. It also faces criticism for its failings in preparing for and reacting to the tragedy of September 11, 2001. Consequently it has adopted an old, tried and true ploy of muddying the waters to deflect negative press: Blame Iran for everything.

On July 17, President Bush stated that although the Central Intelligence Agency had found 'no direct connection between Iran and the attacks of Sept.11,' nevertheless, he said, 'We will continue to look and see if the Iranians were involved.' What is he referring to? Some of the September 11 hijackers may have been allowed to travel through Iran in 1991 without having their passports stamped. This trivial event, if it happened at all, took place a decade before the tragedy itself. Moreover, it predates the earliest known Al-Qaeda planning concerning the September 11 plot.

And accusations against Iran do not stop with September 11. Resident analysts at the neo-conservative, right-wing American Enterprise Institute and other similar bodies have tried to blame Iran for the faulty intelligence presented to justify the Iraq war by the Bush administration. The scenario is this: Iran wanted the United States to remove its old enemy, Saddam Hussein. Iranian intelligence therefore worked through the Defense Department�s now-discredited leader-in-waiting, Ahmad Chalabi, to provide false information to U.S. officials about weapons of mass destruction.

Iran has also been accused of supporting Iraqi cleric Muqtada al-Sadr and his al-Mahdi Army in their opposition to the U.S. occupation. The accusation came from neo-conservative pundit, Michael Rubin, who until recently was an advisor to"