A Shaky Briefing on Iran?

"But today, The New York Times does precisely the opposite -- it has published a lengthy, prominent front-page article by Michael Gordon that does nothing, literally, but mindlessly recite administration claims about Iran's weapons-supplying activities without the slightest questioning, investigation, or presentation of ample counter-evidence."

And as Greenwald notes, Gordon's story appears to violate quite a few of the basic journalistic rules for avoiding the media's government-enabling mistakes in Vietnam and Iraq that I tried to sketch out for NiemanWatchdog.org last week.

The Briefing

"Military Ties Iran To Arms In Iraq," blares the headline over Joshua Partlow's story in today's Washington Post: "Senior U.S. military officials in Iraq sought Sunday to link Iran to deadly armor-piercing explosives and other weapons that they said are being used to kill U.S. and Iraqi troops with increasing regularity.

"During a long-awaited presentation, held in Baghdad's fortified Green Zone, the officials displayed mortar shells, rocket-propelled grenades and a powerful cylindrical bomb, capable of blasting through an armored Humvee, that they said were manufactured in Iran and supplied to Shiite militias in Iraq for attacks on U.S. and Iraqi troops."

Partlow does gives readers some indication of how unusual the briefing was. He writes that the senior defense official who was joined by a defense analyst and an explosives expert, "said they would speak only on the condition of anonymity, so the explosives expert and the analyst, who would normally not speak to the news media, could provide information directly. The analyst's exact title and full name were not revealed to reporters. The officials released a PowerPoint presentation including photographs of the weaponry, but did not allow media representatives to record, photograph or videotape the briefing or the materials on display. . . .

"With so much official U.S. buildup about the purported evidence of Iranian influence in Iraq, the briefing was also notable for what was not said or shown. The officials offered no evidence to substantiate allegations that the 'highest levels' of the Iranian government had sanctioned support for attacks against U.S. troops. Also, the military briefers were not joined by U.S. diplomats or representatives of the CIA or the office of the Director of National Intelligence."

And Partlow offers this useful perspective: "Iraq's deputy foreign minister, Labeed M. Abbawi, said in an interview Sunday that the Iraqi government remains in the dark about the full U.S. investigation into Iranian activities in Iraq. 'It is difficult for us here in the diplomatic circles just to accept whatever the American forces say is evidence,' he said.

"'If they have anything really conclusive, then they should come out and say it openly, then we will pick it up from there and use diplomatic channels' to discuss it with Iran, he said. 'The method or the way it's being done should be changed, to have more cooperation with us.'"

"U.S. Says Arms Link Iranians to Iraqi Shiites" is the headline over James Glanz's story in today's New York Times. A couple paragraphs down, Glanz acknowledges some problems with the presentation: "The officials also asserted, without providing direct evidence, that Iranian leaders had authorized smuggling those weapons into Iraq for use against the Americans. The officials said such an assertion was an inference based on general intelligence assessments.

"That inference, and the anonymity of the officials who made it, seemed likely to generate skepticism among those suspicious that the Bush administration is trying to find a scapegoat for its problems in Iraq, and perhaps even trying to lay the groundwork for war with Iran. . . .

"The officials also were defensive about the timing of disclosing such incriminating evidence, since they had known about it as early as 2004."

"U.S. makes case that Iran arms flow into Iraq" is the headline for Tina Susman and Borzou Daragahi's story in the Los Angeles Times, although the subhead -- "A limited number of munitions are displayed at a secretive briefing" --reflects some of their skepticism.