Juan Cole explains Iraq succinctly

If folks are not aware of Juan Cole's excellent Iraq-focused blog, Informed Comment, please visit it! Among other things, Dr. Cole is fluent in Arabic, and provides translations from news published in that language.

Today he provides a very brief but concise summary clarifying recent violence:

The massive violence in Iraq on Tuesday underlines that in the north, the US is mainly fighting Sunni Iraqis, some of them neo-Baathists. It is a misnomer to call the resistance "al-Qaeda," since most of them are not foreign fighters but Iraqis, and none of them has Usamah Bin Laden's telephone number.

The recent propaganda push by Bush and his aides to blame Iran for most of Iraq's ongoing instability is revealed as grounded in false premises. The Sunni guerrillas who hit Baquba, Baghdad, Ramadi and Mosul were completely unconnected to Iran.

He goes on to cite a Reuters post that suggests that some (many?) arms from Iran are simply being smuggled by entrepreneurs (W's beloved "free market" at work):

At the very end of the Reuters post quoted below, we see an implicit acknowledgment that what Iranian weapons have come into Iraq have often come in via freelance smugglers using donkeys.

[the referenced Reuters post]:
NEAR KHANAQIN - Iraqi border guards clashed with smugglers trying to bring in 170 roadside bombs stacked on mules near Khanaqin in Diyala province, on the border with Iran, a border guard source said.

"Well, who you gonna believe, me or your own eyes?"
[Chicolini (Chico Marx), impersonating Rufus T. Firefly (Groucho Marx), Duck Soup, 1933]

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