http://www.longwarjournal.org/archiv...es_iranian.php
Iran made, but they don't say how they got in Iraq.
and there's this:
February 18, 2007
From WMDs to EFPs: I Think We've Seen This Movie Before
Here we go again! In the run up to the invasion of Iraq, George W. Bush lied through his teeth when he said that Saddam Hussein was in possession of Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD's) and used this as one of the dizzying array of reasons for deposing Saddam. Remember the other
reasons? Among these were: Iraq tried to obtain yellowcake uranium from Niger; Sadddam had bought aluminum tubes for processing enriched uranium; there were links between Saddam and al Qaeda (and so Iraq was complicit in 9/11); Iraq had unmanned drones capable of attacking our friends (Israel); and Iraq had mobile labs to manufacture biological weapons. Bush's feet have never been held to the fire for this pack of lies and deceptions, thanks to a weak-kneed Congress.
Now the target is Iran and we're hearing that Iran is furnishing sophisticated Explosively Formed Penetrators (or Projectiles) - EFP's - to insurgents in Iraq. "EFP's" is Pentagonese for particular kinds of
shaped charges that have been around a long time and used by Sunni insurgents against British and American troops long before the alleged connection to Shia Iran was even mentioned. Bush is whipping up war fever by demonizing Iran and a compliant press is once again going along with his act. I think we have seen this movie before.
We Americans had best check out the facts about these allegations before we are stampeded into yet another military misadventure by Bush and Cheney. This time the consequences would be much more dire for the world. At least there is more
skepticism on the part of some of the press this time around.
All this business about EFP's became public in an unusual briefing by two anonymous military officers in Baghdad last Sunday, February 11. (
See the article by Robert Dreyfuss) No other U.S. officials were present. Cameras and tape recorders were barred from the backgound-only briefing. Some photographs of alleged EFP's were shown and the briefers said that Iranian leaders at the highest level had authorized the smuggling of these munitions into Iraq to be used against American forces.
Alleged Iranian-supplied EFPs
It was claimed that the serial numbers on the munitions could be traced back to Iran. Note, however, that the serial numbers are not written in Farsi, the Iranian language, and the Iranian ambassdor to the United Nations Javad Zarif said that the date markings are American-style, i.e., with the month first. Zarif also said, "There is every reason to believe that this evidence is fabricated." As to why an Iranian made weapon would have English markings a U.S. intelligence official
declared, "That's a very good question." Now, just because the WFP's may have been made in Iran, this doesn't mean that they were provided in Iraq by Iranian agents. U.S.-made weapons are used all over the world, but that doesn't mean that the U.S. government supplied them to the users. It looks like we're being flim-flammed again.
Even U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman General Peter Pace distanced himself from the Badhdad briefers' claims: "It is clear that Iranians are involved, and it's clear that materials from Iran are involved, but I would not say by what I know that the Iranian government clearly knows or is complicit." Of course, the Iranian government denies giving sophisticated weapons to militants in Iraq to use against American forces.
In a revealing
articleAndrew Cockburn writes that in November 2006 U.S. troops found copper discs 5 inches in diameter in a Baghdad machine shop and such a disc can be combined with a high powered explosive and a pipe (high quality steel oil pipe is good) to make an effective EFP and that it would cost no more than $30. So, it doesn't take highly sophisticated machining to make an EFP as the Bush administration is claiming.
Explosively Formed
Penetrator Device
An Explosively Formed Penetrator utilizes something called the "Misznay-Schardin Effect" to tranform a copper disc into a nearly molten projectile that can easily cleave through armor. A projectile accelerates to 2,000 to 3,000 feet per second and uses its kinetic energy to effect penetration. Only about 2.5% of the 3000 Improvised Explosive Devices (IED's) used in Iraq by insurgents in the month of January were EFP's, but they account for 15% of bomb casualties. EFP's have previously been used by the IRA in Northern Ireland against the British, Hezbollah "drove the Israelis out of Lebanon" with them, and Afghans utilized EFP's against Soviets (the U.S. furnished them).
Misznay-Schardin Effect in Action
It really doesn't make sense for Iran to provide such weapons to Iraqis to use against U.S. troops. The Iranians are Shia, while it has been Iraqi Sunnis who have been proactively targeting Americans. It is not in Iran's interest to destablize the Shia-dominated government in Iraq. The Bush administration claims that 170 Americans haved died via Iranian-supplied EFP's since 2004. However, in April and August 2004 the U.S. waged a minor war against Muqtada al-Sadr's militia army and they are Shia. So, the mass of American casualties due to EFP's used by Shia could have occurred during this period.
It seems clear to this observer that this business of Iranian-supplied EFP's is just a pretext to help set the stage for an air attack on Iranian nuclear and military facilities. There will be more allegations by Bush and Company and perhaps a Gulf of Tonkin-type incident will be manufactured to stampede the American people into yet another unjustified military misadventure. Hopefully the Democrats and disaffected Republicans in Congress will put a stop to this madness.
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Also read somewhere Iranian weapons were being brought in by Israelis & Americans