International Small Arms Traffic Blues
The US Military held a super-fun Green Zone powerpoint presentation for reporters this weekend, trying to convince them that Iran was responsible for some of the deadliest attacks in Iraq over the last couple years. Their proof: Pictures that were quite damning, once their significance was explained by the US military. There was everything from PVC tubing that (the military said) proved Iranian involvement to mortar shells that (the military said) proved Iranian involvement. Some bloggers question the western text on the weapons, but the military has a ready explanation even for that:
The shells had serial numbers in English in order to comply with international standards for arms, the officials said.
You know, we don't know much about international arms standards, or warfare in general, but it seems really nice of Iran to follow the rules so closely in their arms manufacturing so that we could easily identify all their mortars and use them to justify our eventual bombing the shit out of Tehran!
Military Ties Iran To Arms In Iraq [WP]
U.S. Says Arms Link Iranians to Iraqi Shiites [NYT]
English, not Farsi [Bring It On]