dagblog - Comments for "British special forces seize Iranian rockets in Afghanistan"

Now for some real news: Brits

acanuck — Fri, 11 Mar 2011 00:36:13 +0000

In reply to British special forces seize Iranian rockets in Afghanistan

Now for some real news: Brits tell the majority of their 10,000 troops on active duty in Afghanistan that, when they rotate home, they should start looking for news jobs:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/onthefrontline/8355902/British-troops-on-front-line-in-Afghanistan-told-they-face-the-sack.html

Some official warns the news might harm morale. Ya think?

Tide goes out -- no

acanuck — Fri, 11 Mar 2011 00:15:17 +0000

In reply to "acanut" ... I like that! ;-)

Tide goes out -- no misunderstanding there.

"acanut" ... I like that! ;-)

quinn esq — Fri, 11 Mar 2011 00:08:53 +0000

In reply to acanut, you are faster and

"acanut" ... I like that! ;-)

acanut, you are faster and

A Guy Called LULU — Thu, 10 Mar 2011 22:46:42 +0000

In reply to Borger (and his co-author

acanut, you are faster and much more concise.

That 2003 story is [rather

A Guy Called LULU — Thu, 10 Mar 2011 22:45:00 +0000

In reply to Had this story been published

That 2003 story is [rather was] an informative article, a kind we rarely saw in U.S. msm coverage. It reported cherry-picking of intelligence, mistaken analysis of intelligence, and fabrication of intelligence, all done with the purpose of advancing an agenda. It does not report anything that was new news at the time it was published. The current article which you linked to reports what is being said today by "western diplomats". It may be absolutely correct but I am not ready to give it much credence unless I hear more compelling evidence. The story may also be the result of purposeful spin.
All emphasis is added.

"British special forces in Afghanistan have intercepted an Iranian shipment of rockets to the Taliban that would have allowed them to double the range of their attacks, western diplomats have said."

At this point he still noted that the information is based on what has been said by government sources. Are there still elements within our country's governments and that of others who have agendas which would be aided by demonizing Iran? I think there are. I do not think that because Borger wrote about lies by officials in the past that we should unquestionably accept as fact stories that he is now simply passing on from other officials.
Today Borger seems to be accepting as fact and without question what he is told about this cache of weapons. Much like most reporters first did regarding the information in Borgers 2003 story. By two thirds of the way through the story it is reported as fact.

"It is the largest confirmed shipment of Iranian arms to the Taliban since 2007, when armour-piercing bombs were found in a vehicle in the western province of Farah.

The rockets appear to be a version of the Russian "Grad" which is an unguided weapon intended to be fired in very high numbers from dedicated launchers [which the Taliban almost certainly do not have and could not hide] at area targets. Fired individually they would be almost useless for an attack on a defended position. From twelve miles they could not be expected to hit within a hundred yards of any point they were aimed at even if they had the launchers and aiming equipment they were intended to use. They would, though, be affective as a terrorist weapon aimed at random into cities or villages, just like a highly accurate guided weapon is when fired at a target within a city or village.

Borger (and his co-author

acanuck — Thu, 10 Mar 2011 21:41:29 +0000

In reply to Had this story been published

Borger (and his co-author Richard Norton-Taylor) appear capable of careful, well-researched work. But reread this particular article. It is pure stenography ("Foreign Secretary William Hague said this, European diplomats said that, unnamed British officials added something else ... .") All reported uncritically, as if they didn't think the story was worth critical examination. Almost as if the authors didn't believe the claims either, but felt (lacking countervailing evidence) there was no point making an issue of them. I've edited quite a few newspaper articles in my life; trust me, even normally good reporters make that kind of judgment call.

Had this story been published

artappraiser — Thu, 10 Mar 2011 20:47:19 +0000

In reply to I call bullshit. For

Had this story been published by Fox News, I wouldn't have given it a second glance.

But it wasn't, it was by Julian Borger of The Guardian. He has a bit experience around this sort of into., here for example was something he wrote in July 2003:

The spies who pushed for war
Julian Borger reports on the shadow rightwing intelligence network set up in Washington to second-guess the CIA and deliver a justification for toppling Saddam Hussein by force

Since Britain is more than 12

NCD — Thu, 10 Mar 2011 16:09:59 +0000

In reply to British special forces seize Iranian rockets in Afghanistan

Since Britain is more than 12 miles from Afghanistan, the Homeland is safe. If NATO just exits the place the locals can resume fighting each other. In fact, with all the suicide bombings in Pakistan it's occurred to me that if one of the Pakistani nukes got 'loose' and into the wrong hands, extremists would likely use it almost immediately, to settle a local grudge (near an Army compound, but taking out 1/2 a city in the process).

Iran, Afghanistan, Britain,

A Guy Called LULU — Thu, 10 Mar 2011 15:40:53 +0000

In reply to I call bullshit. For

Iran, Afghanistan, Britain, and the U.S. all have security, military, and intelligence services that will, and do, lie their asses off at every opportunity. They work hard to create the opportunities to lie. The truth, at this point, is impossible for us to know, but we can know how to bet if we believe in odds. I bet with you. The story is almost surely pure BS, or at least tainted by a thick layer.

I call bullshit. For

acanuck — Thu, 10 Mar 2011 08:34:09 +0000

In reply to British special forces seize Iranian rockets in Afghanistan

I call bullshit. For starters, the Iranian regime and the Taliban have nothing in common; they hate each other. Shiite extremists and Sunni extremists don't play well together.

Second, this event supposedly occurred in Afghanistan's Nimruz province, where the population is majority Baloch. The West is funding Sunni rebels in Iranian Balochistan who would be the natural allies of the Afghan Taliban. If they are getting arms and training in Iran, that's whom they're getting them from, not the Revolutionary Guard.

Third, even the Brits admit the missiles are Soviet-era design, i.e. exactly the kind of 30-year-old crap Afghanistan is littered with. What supposedly makes them Iranian is their "unique" green fuse plug. Give me a break!

Does anyone else remember the shaped-charge IEDS the American military found in Iraq that had to come from Iran because of their sophisticated design and manufacture? Then they captured an Iraqi factory that was clearly turning out the things? Oops.

Like I said, bullshit.