ABC EXCLUSIVE: Iraq Weapons -- Made in Iran?

ABC News ^ | March 6 2006 | BRIAN ROSS, JILL RACKMILL and RICHARD ESPOSITO

[jmc1969]

U.S. military and intelligence officials tell ABC News that they have caught shipments of deadly new bombs at the Iran-Iraq border.

They are a very nasty piece of business, capable of penetrating U.S. troops' strongest armor.

What the United States says links them to Iran are tell-tale manufacturing signatures — certain types of machine-shop welds and material indicating they are built by the same bomb factory.

"The signature is the same because they are exactly the same in production," says explosives expert Kevin Barry. "So it's the same make and model."

U.S. officials say roadside bomb attacks against American forces in Iraq have become much more deadly as more and more of the Iran-designed and Iran-produced bombs have been smuggled in from the country since last October.

"I think the evidence is strong that the Iranian government is making these IEDs, and the Iranian government is sending them across the border and they are killing U.S. troops once they get there," says Richard Clarke, former White House counterterrorism chief and an ABC News consultant. "I think it's very hard to escape the conclusion that, in all probability, the Iranian government is knowingly killing U.S. troops."

U.S. intelligence officials say Iran is using the bombs as a way to drive up U.S. casualties in Iraq but without provoking a direct confrontation.

"They penetrate the armor of an M1 Abrams tank," Clarke says. "They're shape charges. They go through anything, and they are very lethal."

[pctech]

If ABC is reporting this, then there must be concrete proof. If there is, then this is a clear act of war and must be dealt with harshly. I always wanted to see what a huge peace of glass looked like, I think it's time to find out.

[Loyal Buckeye]

Time to drop those bombs at their point of origin.

[bethtopaz]

What's casus belli? Something pretty?

[dc27]

"The signature is the same because they are exactly the same in production," says explosives expert Kevin Barry. "So it's the same make and model."

ISO9000 Iranian Bomb Factory

[Billthedrill]

These aren't actually IED's at all, they are sophisticated war munitions prepared by professionals. It's just one more line item on a long list of things we owe the mullahs.

[A CA Guy]

So bomb the Iranian factory already.

They can even use that new military beam that can destroy things from thirty miles away that I've been reading about.

DO SOMETHING THOUGH.

No reason our fine military shouldn't have the best defense, which in this case is a good offensive move.

[Left2Right]

It's way past time to bomb Iran back to the stone-age. Yeah, I feel sorry for all the good people who live there who like America and aren't evil. Unfortunately, they've had over twenty years to sort out this mess and their country has only gotten worse.

And screw all the lefties who are going to be upset. No rational person cares about what they think anymore. They are like the clowns at a 3 ring circus. Annoying, occasionally entertaining, but not relevant.

[Thunder90]

"As Bush has said, "Bring it On!" It's time we put the fear of God ( and the US airforce) into them!"

[ballplayer]

I love how every few months a story like this comes out ,Before it was Rumsfeld saying Iran was importing fighters and so on and so on ,everyone gets their shorts in a bunch and nothing is done .If Iran is doing this stuff then do something about it !I am sick and tired of the Huff and Puff

[sport]

If Richard Clark said that the sun was shining at high noon, I would have to look out the window before I believed it/him.

Once a liar, always a liar.

[lepton]

I think some of these were in fact post-1990, but its a difficult thing to prove. That was a violation of UN resolutions.

Some anti-air missiles were from lots tested in Feb of 2003. The issue there was whether the government of France had a part in their acquisition.

[NutCrackerBoy]

What's casus belli? Something pretty?

Belli is the Latin root for war. Casus belli means occasion for war. Iran is a complex problem, and any approach to it has to be in the context that the people are victims of a fanatical oppressive regime. But if there must be military steps taken, it is necessary to show very specific triggers. Especially because these rogue states are pretty good about dancing around and taking advantage of overly pacifistic tendencies within the West. So every clear violation by the Iranian regime should be catalogued so that later on the military steps can't be cast as precipitous.

I don't know why Italian and French words (bello, belle) for beauty seem to have that same root.