DAR AL HARB - U.S.A. - WASHINGTON D.C.: U.S. GOVERNMENT DHIMMIS PLAYING DOWN EVIDENCE OF IRAN'S MEDDLING

US eases tone on Iran's role in Iraq
White House officials are playing down 'nefarious' evidence against Iran, and looking for a diplomatic solution.
By Howard LaFranchi
Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor

WASHINGTON - In an atmosphere of sharp skepticism about intelligence and heightened sensitivity to saber rattling since the Iraq invasion, the Bush administration is signaling a more cautious tone toward Iran.

Less than a month ago, President Bush used a speech on a way forward in Iraq to present fresh accusations against Iran and roll out a more aggressive approach to the regime in Tehran. Now, the Iran debate is sounding markedly different.

Senior officials from the White House, State Department, and Pentagon are playing down the evidence the US possesses of "nefarious" Iranian involvement in Iraq's spiraling violence – in particular against US forces there. They're also insisting the US wants to work out problems with Tehran diplomatically.

A repeated delay in a promised presentation of evidence against Iran reflects the administration's desire to get things right, and to neither overplay nor underestimate involvement, officials say.

Explaining why the rollout of facts on Iranian involvement has been delayed, Stephen Hadley, Mr. Bush's national security adviser, told reporters Friday that "the truth is, quite frankly, we thought the briefing overstated, and we sent it back to get it narrowed and focused on the facts."
But the moderated tone also suggests an administration still smarting over memories of the earlier botched campaign to justify taking on Saddam Hussein, some experts say. And with some military officials cautioning against the risks of an "accidental escalation" resulting from a mishandling of the new aggressiveness toward Iran, the administration may have decided to pull back, they say.

Yet others with experience in similar situations involving both policy and intelligence motivations believe some evidence linking Iran to recent acts of violence is in US hands – but that intelligence officials have resisted its release for fear of compromising a fruitful information channel.

"What we've seen so far suggests information from somewhere in the Iranian government, perhaps from the Quds force of the Revolutionary Guard, but the intelligence people don't want to let it out for fear of tipping off the Iranians or losing a source," says Wayne White, a former Middle East analyst with the State Department's bureau of intelligence and research.

"Cat fights" are common, Mr. White says, between "policy people" who want to get the information out, and the intelligence side that is more focused on long-term effectiveness. "I suspect there was quite a lot of friction last week over Iran," he says.

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and

What’s Our Iran Policy?
We need something besides confusion.
By Andrew C. McCarthy

For lo these six-plus years, the Bush administration’s Iran policy has been incoherent. Axis of evil ... but no regime change; incorrigible destabilizer supporting both Sunni and Shiite terror in Iraq ... yet Iraq's helpful neighbor who has no interest in destabilization; the terror master who cannot be negotiated with ... but a rational actor we believe will be brought around by negotiations.

Got that?Now, the confusion is manifesting itself in spasms of gibberish over another self-imposed wound: To release or not release evidence that Iran is stoking the violence in Iraq. Iran’s mayhem-making has long been known. Alarm, however, and more than a little American embarrassment have been heightened in recent months. As the strife in Iraq continued to mushroom, Iran’s hand in it became too blatant to ignore.

...

The December raid left the Bush administration doubly red-faced. First, it took place in what the Iranians must have believed was the safety of a compound belonging to Abdul Azziz al-Hakim. Hakim has recently been portrayed by the administration as a “moderate Shiite political leader” with whom the president has personally been consulting to help shore up the new Iraqi “democracy.” Well, he’s a Shiite leader, alright. In fact, he heads the Supreme Council for Islamic Revolution in Iraq — a creation of Iran dedicated to the teachings of the Ayatollah Khomeini.

Second, our other favorite Iraqi “moderate,” Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, directed that the two Iranians be released, infuriating U.S. military officials.

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Pertinent Links:

1) US eases tone on Iran's role in Iraq

2) What’s Our Iran Policy?