This really needs to stop. Today, the AP is reporting yet again on "evidence" the US government is providing that links Iran to armor-piercing bombs used in IRaq to attack US soldiers. Here is how they describe it:
The deadly and highly sophisticated weapons the U.S. military said it traced to Iran are known as “explosively formed penetrators,” or EFPs.
The presentation was the result of weeks of preparation and revisions as U.S. officials put together a package of material to support the Bush administration’s claims of Iranian intercession on behalf of militant Iraqis fighting American forces.Senior U.S. military officials in Baghdad said the display was prompted by the military’s concern for “force protection,” which, they said, was guaranteed under the United Nations resolution that authorizes American soldiers to be in Iraq.
‘Machining process’ laid to Iran
Three senior military officials who explained the display said the “machining process” used in the construction of the deadly bombs had been traced to Iran...The display appeared to be part of the White House drive that has empowered U.S. forces in Iraq to use all means to curb Iranian influence in the country, including killing Iranian agents.
t included a PowerPoint slide program and a handful of mortar shells and rocket-propelled grenades which the military officials said were made in Iran.
The centerpiece of the display, however, was a gray metal pipe about 10 inches long and 6 inches in diameter, the exterior casing of what the military said was an EFP, the roadside bomb that shoots out fist-sized wads of nearly molten copper that can penetrate the armor on an Abrams tank.
It goes on and on and on like that.
Now let me add the part I redacted:
The experts, who spoke to a large gathering of reporters on condition that they not be further identified, said the supply trail began with Iran’s Revolutionary Guards Quds Force, which also is accused of arming the Hezbollah guerrilla army in Lebanon. The officials said the EFP weapon was first tested there.
This was a complicated power point presentation, complete with evidence exhibits, delivered to a large gathering of reporters, and it was all done anonymously? How can that possibly make sense to anyone?
The point of anonymous sourcing is to trade confidentiality in exchange for information you couldn't otherwise get, not to allow government officials to hide when presenting an authorized but nevertheless controversial presentations. This is information the government wants to get out. It is information they want widely disseminated. Why are they hiding?
Anonymous sourcing is supposed to protect the public's interest, not the government's. What the hell is going on here?
UPDATE: Eason Jordan nails it:
Why are US officials hiding behind the cloak of anonymity when presenting the most detailed evidence yet that Iran is supplying weaponry to anti-US forces in Iraq?
After weeks, if not months, of US official planning to present a damning "dossier" of incriminating evidence against Iran, and after this same US administration presented us with lopsided, erroneous information about the capability and evil intentions of the Saddam Hussein regime, the best the US government can give us today is incendiary evidence presented at a Baghdad news conference by three US officials who refuse to be quoted by name?That's disgraceful and unacceptable.[...]
But, wait, one of the three supposedly unnamed US officials apparently has been outed by an Iraqi news service, Voices of Iraq, whose report on the Baghdad news conference identified one of the three speakers as Major General William Caldwell, whose portfolio includes public affairs and who holds frequent news conference and grants one-on-one interviews. So, if the VOI report identifying Caldwell is correct, why did every other news organization apparently agree to grant anonymity to the general who's the official spokesman of the US-led Multi-National Force in Iraq? Why would Caldwell insist on not having his name associated with these allegations today?
I can understand why the government might at times try to get away with this stuff. I cannot for the life of me understand why the media would let them. Disgraceful only begins to get at it.
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