Pentagon Charges Iran With Supplying Weapons to Shiite Extremists in Iraq
LOU DOBBS, HOST: New charges tonight that Iranian weapons are killing our troops in Iraq. The Pentagon now says Iran's government is supplying Shiite extremist groups with sophisticated weaponry. Iran denies that. We'll have the report. Almost 20,000 Americans died from accidental drug overdoses in 2004. Nearly double that of five years earlier. Researchers say abusive sedatives, prescription painkillers a principal cause. We'll have those stories, all the day's news, and much more straight ahead here tonight.</s>ANNOUNCER: This is LOU DOBBS TONIGHT, news, debate and opinion for Monday, February 12th. Live in New York, Lou Dobbs.</s>DOBBS: Good evening, everybody. American troops in Iraq are being killed by sophisticated weapons made in Iran, and the U.S. military says the Iranian government is behind it. Iran denies those accusations and, instead, accuses the United States of fabricating evidence. House Democrats are trying to stop President Bush from sending more troops to Iraq. Can they force the president's hand? The powerful chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, Ike Skelton, will be here tonight. And Michael Ware is reporting from Baghdad tonight on what the U.S. is calling a growing body of evidence that Iran is killing our troops in Iraq. Suzanne Malveaux reporting from the White House, where Tony Snow says talk of war with Iran is just hype. And Andrea Koppel reports on the proposed non-binding resolution opposing the administration's reinforcements to Iraq. We begin with Michael Ware in Baghdad.</s>MICHAEL WARE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): In a background briefing in Baghdad that could not be taped, by three officials who cannot be named, the U.S. escalated its campaign of accusation against Tehran. The U.S. officials laid out what they call a growing body of evidence that a largely covert Iranian special forces unit, arms, trains and advisers, Shia insurgents, attacking coalition soldiers. That unit is an element of the Revolutionary Guard Corps. Its elite Quds force which, the U.S. officials claim, takes its orders directly from Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei himself. Insisting the Quds force is systematically funneling insurgents, a range of arms from mortars to sniper rifles, grenades to machine guns, the American officials highlighted one weapon in particular they blame the Quds force for supplying, a roadside bomb pioneered by Lebanese Hezbollah, so powerful it punches through the heaviest American armor with ease. Called an explosively-formed penetrator, or EFP, the officials say the device has killed at least 170 soldiers since it first emerged on the Iraqi battlefield in 2004. But, like much of the declassified information released during the briefing, it's a claim U.S. officials have made many times before, insisting one of the bombs' key components needs fine machine tooling that could be traced back to Iran. As can markings on mortars and explosives found inside Iraq which show they were manufactured by Tehran. While admitting there is no smoking gun of Iranian complicity, a Defense Department intelligence analyst says this is a sophisticated Iranian campaign being fought through a host of surrogate groups maximizing Iran's deniability. If so, it's precisely the same kind of proxy war techniques America's CIA used so successfully with Islamic allies against the Soviet Union's occupation of Afghanistan in the 1980s.</s>WARE: And it's armaments like these that the U.S. military is hoping to stop. These are the tail fins of Iranian-supplied mortars that CNN has obtained. The U.S. military used several of these as examples of the kind of munitions that the Revolutionary Guard Quds force is supplying across the border to Shia militias -- Lou.</s>DOBBS: Michael Ware reporting from Baghdad. The White House today responded to those reports. The president saying he has no plans to go to war with Iran. Suzanne Malveaux reports from the White House -- Suzanne.</s>SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Lou, as you know, just how and when this evidence was released was really at the heart of the debate here for the last couple of weeks within the administration. Administration officials telling me last week that, look, on the one hand you had American diplomats inside of Iraq under tremendous pressure from the Iraqi and Iranian friends who say, look, give up the goods here, prove your case that Iran is meddling in Iraq's affairs. On the other side, you have NSC officials, White House officials very much concerned to release this evidence. It actually leads to a lot of criticism in Washington, including that of warmongering. And really a lot of concerns among Middle Eastern allies, as well. So, the compromise here was to release this information. No doubt, no names mentioned, of course, over in Iraq, not here in the United States. President Bush, as you can tell in the C-SPAN interview today, again, walking that fine line, the diplomatic dance he's doing regarding Iran.</s>GEORGE W.  BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I guess I would just say that there is an endless chatter. A lot of people on TV expressing their opinion, which is fine, don't get me wrong. It's just part of the process. After all, I'm on TV expressing my opinion with you. But it's just a lot of chatter in Washington. A lot of people expressing themselves on a regular basis.</s>MALVEAUX: And really make no mistake about this. They may be releasing this evidence, providing more details, but the White House is under no kind of illusion here that people are necessarily going to take this at face value. They say, quite frankly, they know they have a credibility problem, and that is because of the faulty intelligence regarding Iraq -- Lou.</s>DOBBS: Suzanne, it seems the White House is in a peculiar position. The -- I would think the conclusion would be that the White House is fully briefed and encouraging these reports. And at the same time, if these reports are true and if the previous intelligence that Iran has been helping the insurgency kill our troops over the course of the past year or so, why has there not been a response? Either way the White House is in a very difficult position.</s>MALVEAUX: And really, what the White House is trying to do, Lou, is build this case, to increase the rhetoric, make it hotter, and also to intimidate Iran. Essentially, to put as much pressure as possible so that Iran's elite and the young people in that country will ultimately say this isn't worth it. There is a public relations campaign that's against the Iranian administration that they don't want to deal any more with Ahmadinejad anymore, the Iranian leader, and that ultimately they turn their back on him. That is the strategy of the Bush administration. At the same time, you bring up a good point, which is the White House does not want to be very closely linked to this evidence. They want to put that out in Iraq with the American diplomats and try to deal with the Middle Eastern allies first.</s>DOBBS: Suzanne, thank you. Suzanne Malveaux, from the White House. Insurgents in Iraq have killed six more of our troops. They were killed on a number of separate incidents in Baghdad and Diyala Province. Forty of our troops have been killed so far this month, 3,123 killed since the war began. 23,417 of our troops wounded, 10,397 of them wounded seriously. The violence against civilians in Iraq is showing no signs of easing at all. More than 90 people were killed, nearly 200 wounded in multiple explosions today. Those casualties the result of several bombings in commercial districts of central Baghdad. The violence comes on the one-year anniversary of the bombing of the holy Shia shrine in Samarra. Arwa Damon reports.</s>ARWA DAMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Thick, choking smoke, flames raging out of control after three car bombs ripped through the clothing and perfume sections at Baghdad's main wholesale marketplace. Firefighters battled the blaze for hours, black smoke filling the capital skyline. The bombings coming shortly after a roadside bomb detonated in another crowded commercial area of the city. The four bombs killed scores of Iraqis and wounded more than 170 in just 20 bloody minutes. The impact devastating, further paralyzing a society already living in fear. Imagine a trip to the marketplace, or heading out to work, and then sheer carnage. "I have a shop at Keni (ph) building," this shop owner says, "a few meters away from the explosions. We felt the shock wave." Iraqi prime minister Nouri al-Maliki also heard the blasts, exactly at the moment he was calling for unity, during a speech on the anniversary of the bombing of the Al-Askariya mosque in Samarra, one year ago on the Islamic lunar calendar. A grim event that catapulted Iraq's sectarian violence to new levels. A second explosion heard. This time as Maliki was expressing his optimism about the new Baghdad security plan. (on camera): On the streets of Baghdad, little optimism about this new plan. Its impact, if any, has yet to be felt. Hours after today's bombings, you can still see the smoke rising from the scene of the attack. Arwa Damon, CNN, Baghdad.</s>DOBBS: Democrats in the House of Representatives today proposed a non-binding resolution that disapproves the president's plan to send additional troops to Iraq. Democrats expect to have a vote by the end of this week. Andrea Koppel reports.</s>ANDREA KOPPEL, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Even before members debate the war on the House floor, the battle over the resolution is already well under way. Democratic and Republican leaders squared off over a decision by Democrats to block Republicans from offering an alternative measure.</s>REP.  STENY HOYER (D), MAJORITY LEADER: We're going to continue to bring change, and we're going to give Republicans the opportunity to fully participate...</s>REP.  JOHN BOEHNER (D), MINORITY LEADER: When? When?</s>HOYER: John...</s>BOEHNER: When? When? You've been saying that for a year.</s>KOPPEL: Instead, Democrats are pushing for a vote on their own resolution, which says simply, "Congress will continue to support and protect U.S. troops serving in Iraq." And that "Congress disapproves of President Bush's decision to deploy more than 20,000 combat troops."</s>TONY SNOW, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: We disagree, and the president's commander in chief. And he has the obligation to do what he thinks is best to make this country safe, and that's what he's doing.</s>KOPPEL: Republicans concede the resolution will pass, but they're not giving up without a fight. Just off the House floor, they've staffed up a special room to offer members reports and speeches, talking points, as well as charts, graphs and visual aids. And during at least three days of debate, members will be encouraged to hammer away at key talking points which say the resolution weakens morale among U.S. troops and gives comfort to the enemy and that Democrats have no plan for victory. Still, North Carolina Republican Walter Jones, who co-sponsored this resolution, predicts at least 15 and perhaps as many as 25 Republicans will follow his lead.</s>REP.  WALTER JONES (R), NORTH CAROLINA: The AP ran a survey on the surge. Seventy percent of the American people said they were opposed to the surge. I mean, members of Congress have to do what they think is right, but they also -- certainly they do consider what the people back home want.</s>KOPPEL: And in an effort to tell those people back home that they've been listening and as a way to bolster their credibility opposing the president's plan to send more troops, Democrats plan to have a number of military veterans dating back to the Korean War kick off tomorrow's debate -- Lou.</s>DOBBS: There must be some sense of considerable embarrassment in the Senate. This debate is taking place in the House rather than the Senate, which failed to find a parliamentary process that would lead to a very important debate on this critical national issue.</s>KOPPEL: Well, if not embarrassment, there is certainly a great degree of frustration on both the Democratic and Republican sides -- Lou.</s>DOBBS: Andrea, thank you very much. Andrea Koppel from Capitol Hill. North Korea today tentatively agreed to shut down its nuclear weapons program. That deal still needs to be approved, of course, by officials of the six-country talks. That agreement would call for North Korea to end its production of plutonium in exchange for undisclosed amounts of energy aid. Assistant U.S. Secretary of State Christopher Hill said the talks would reconvene tomorrow. Coming up here next, House Armed Services Committee chairman Ike Skelton joins me. We'll be talking about the Democratic plan to tell the White House not to send those troops to Iraq. And what will be the consequences? Accidental fatal drug overdoses climbing at an alarming rate in this country. We're eating (ph) our young. We'll have a special report on what's behind this increase. And the president says his policies have made the economy strong, but America's embattled middle class is still seeing quality jobs heading overseas. We'll have a report for you and a great deal more straight ahead. Stay with us.