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MILES O'BRIEN: In Iraq,
the U.S. military claiming this morning it has
smoking-gun proof Iran is meddling in Iraq, supplying
Shiite insurgents with weapons. U.S. troops showing
off weapons seized in a raid over the weekend in the
Diyala province. Weapons experts say the seized
mortar shells, rockets and explosively formed
projectiles could only come from Iran. But critics
say it could just as easily be a home-grown bomb
factory. Or, even if the weapons did come from Iran,
it does not necessarily mean the leadership in Tehran
is responsible. CNN's Michael Ware live in Baghdad
with a look at that.
Michael, first of all, who had possession of the
weapons?
MICHAEL WARE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, what we're
talking about here, Miles, are two separate weapons
dumps -- one south of the capital of Baghdad, one
north of the capital of Baghdad,-- exposed by U.S.
forces over a period of days. Both of these weapons
dumps were within the control or certainly within
areas of control of Shia militia groups or Shia
insurgent groups. The very groups that western
intelligence has long claimed are backed by the
Iranian special forces.
M. O'BRIEN: Based on the nature of the weapons
seized, if they could, I mean, is this technology
that would be unique to Iran in some way? Are there
some markers on these components and on these weapons
which link it directly back across the border?
WARE: Yes, there are. Now, unfortunately, this is yet
another development in what's increasingly becoming a
bungled American information operation or process to
convince the public that Iran is involved here in
Iraq. There is a considerable body of evidence to
show that Iran is, indeed, involved in Iraq.
There are weapons with Iranian markings. There's C-4
explosives that can be traced back to Iran. And these
deadliest of deadly roadside bombs have a distinctive
bomb-making signature that's only been seen when used
by Iranian-backed Shia militias, either in southern
Lebanon or here in Iraq.
There's also troves of other materiel. There's been
detained Iranian intelligence and special forces
officers. There's documents. All source of materials,
yet the military is just bungling this as they're
laying out their body of evidence. Miles.
M. O'BRIEN: How are they bungling it?
WARE: It's just not being convincing. They're
producing the material, at times, where it becomes
suspicious. Why are they doing it now? Is it to
deflect attention from other things? When much of
this materiel has been available for at least a year,
if not more. Also, they're failing to get their
message across and they're giving mixed messages.
Fundamentally, what the military is saying is, here
are these weapons. We found them. They're from Iran.
They've come across the border. But we can't say
whether the top levels of the government have
ordained this.
Nonetheless, it's well and truly known by every
player in Iraq that the Iranian government is so
well-controlled, its military so disciplined, that
nothing like this happens without official sanction.
So America is wrapping itself up in word games just
to avoid the pre-Iraq invasion embarrassment
resurfacing.
M. O'BRIEN: Interesting. Michael Ware in Baghdad,
thank you.
Soledad.