Video: Wikileaks Proves Mearsheimer Wrong

Here is a video of an interview with John "Israel Lobby" Mearsheimer during Yearly Kos 2007, where he dismisses the killing of American soldiers by Iran as "a small percentage" and the result of "disingenuous arguments" by the Bush administration.



Based on the Wikipedia leaks, it seems that Mearsheimer is the disingenuous one.
Who knew!?

The New York Times is reporting that Leaked Reports Detail Iran’s Aid for Iraqi Militias:

During the administration of President George W. Bush, critics charged that the White House had exaggerated Iran’s role to deflect criticism of its handling of the war and build support for a tough policy toward Iran, including the possibility of military action.

But the field reports disclosed by WikiLeaks, which were never intended to be made public, underscore the seriousness with which Iran’s role has been seen by the American military. The political struggle between the United States and Iran to influence events in Iraq still continues as Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki has sought to assemble a coalition — that would include the anti-American cleric Moktada al-Sadr — that will allow him to remain in power. But much of the American’s military concern has revolved around Iran’s role in arming and assisting Shiite militias.

Citing the testimony of detainees, a captured militant’s diary and numerous uncovered weapons caches, among other intelligence, the field reports recount Iran’s role in providing Iraqi militia fighters with rockets, magnetic bombs that can be attached to the underside of cars, “explosively formed penetrators,” or E.F.P.’s, which are the most lethal type of roadside bomb in Iraq, and other weapons. Those include powerful .50-caliber rifles and the Misagh-1, an Iranian replica of a portable Chinese surface-to-air missile, which, according to the reports, was fired at American helicopters and downed one in east Baghdad in July 2007.

Iraqi militants went to Iran to be trained as snipers and in the use of explosives, the field reports assert, and Iran’s Quds Force collaborated with Iraqi extremists to encourage the assassination of Iraqi officials.

The reports make it clear that the lethal contest between Iranian-backed militias and American forces continued after President Obama sought to open a diplomatic dialogue with Iran’s leaders and reaffirmed the agreement between the United States and Iraq to withdraw American troops from Iraq by the end of 2011.

Of course, Mearsheimer will still blame US policies rather than Iranian aggression and agenda, but it better to get the facts than to have to rely on Mearsheimer.

Hat tip: Legal Insurrection

Technorati Tag: Mearsheimer and Wikileaks and Iran and Iraq.