Fake But Accurate

Those EFPs that are "unquestionably" of Iranian origin? One thing about that.

Iranian Ambassador: The evidence that has been produced, in fact fabricated, is preposterous. The dates. If you look at the evidence, the dates that are used in this mortars are written in American date format, putting month first and date second. Whereas nowhere in the world people use month first and date second. Everywhere in the world except for the U.S. And those who fabricated this evidence should listen and learn. Everybody else in the world uses date, month, year. That is the order.

CHARLIE ROSE: That says what to you?

That this evidence is fabricated, as was the evidence that was fabricated before the Iraq war in order to launch an aggression. This evidence is fabricated and it points to a very dangerous policy that is being pursued by this administration.

I'll go you one further. The letter script is Roman and not Farsi, and the date refers to the Roman calendar instead of the Farsi one.

This evidence is fake. It's clearly fake. And via Digby, the President let his Freudian slip show this morning:

Q: What assurances can you give the American people that the intelligence this time will be accurate?

BUSH: Ed, we know they're there, we know they're provided by the Quds force. We know the Quds force is a part of the Iranian government. I don't think we know who picked up the phone and said to the Quds force, go do this, but we know it's a vital part of the Iranian government. What matters is, is that we're responding. The idea that somehow we're manufacturing the idea that Iranians are providing IEDs is preposterous.

[...]

I suspect that's what came up at his morning briefing and he just blurted it out because he's an idiot.

Still, it's hard for me to believe that even these people can be this inept, but it appears they can. There can be no reasonable explanation for the "bad coordination" between Baghdad on Sunday and Pace and now Bush today. And the "proof" is so suspicious that you honestly cannot take it seriously.

Hillary Clinton said the right thing today about Iran, warning the Administration that they would have to come back to Congress before attacking. But I think we have to step back a piece and put aside the notion of attack, by beginning an immediate set of hearings into whether or not this evidence has been deliberately falsified, as it now appears is likely.