The European parliament has approved a damning report on secret CIA flights, condemning member states which colluded in the operations.

The UK, Germany and Italy were among 14 states which allowed the US to forcibly remove terror suspects, lawmakers said.

The EU parliament voted to accept a resolution condemning member states which accepted or ignored the practice.

The EU report said the CIA had operated 1,245 flights, some taking suspects to states where they could face torture.

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On Sunday, the Washington Post, like most other American news sources, reported on a presentation by members of the US military in which they alleged that many of the explosives used by militants in Iraq against US troops are supplied by Iran. In contrast to their reporting in 2002 and 2003 on allegations of Iraq's weapons of mass destruction, the Post readily pointed out the inadequacies of the evidence presented.

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.

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.

Although the administration has made many assertions about Iran's nuclear program, its role in Iraq and its ties to groups on the State Department's terrorism list, the U.S. government has never publicly offered evidence proving the allegations. The briefing was the first time during the Bush administration that officials had sought to make a public intelligence case against Iran.

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.

From the Washington Post: Military Ties Iran To Arms In Iraq.

But the very next day, the Post was repeating the allegations as if they were undisputed fact - just as they did with the WMD evidence four years ago.

The Army is working to fill a shortfall in Iraq of thousands of advanced Humvee armor kits designed to reduce U.S. troop deaths from roadside bombs -- including a rising threat from particularly lethal weapons linked to Iran and known as "explosively formed penetrators" (EFP) -- that are now inflicting 70 percent of the American casualties in the country, according to U.S. military and civilian officials.

From Thousands of Army Humvees Lack Armor Upgrade (emphasis mine).

So, is the Post a willing mouthpiece for the administration, but making an effort to be less blatant about it than in the run-up to the Iraq war? Or is this just sloppy reporting and editing? As was the case with Operation Mockingbird in the 1950s, it may be decades before we find out the truth, if we ever do.

Meanwhile, from today's Post:

Marine Gen. Peter Pace, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said yesterday that he has no information indicating Iran's government is directing the supply of lethal weapons to Shiite insurgent groups in Iraq.

"We know that the explosively formed projectiles are manufactured in Iran," Pace told Voice of America during a visit to Australia. "What I would not say is that the Iranian government, per se, knows about this."

"It is clear that Iranians are involved, and it's clear that materials from Iran are involved," he continued, "but I would not say by what I know that the Iranian government clearly knows or is complicit."

Pace's comments came a day after U.S. military officials in Baghdad alleged that the "highest levels" of the Iranian government have directed use of weapons that are killing U.S. troops in Iraq. No information was provided to substantiate the charge. Administration officials yesterday deflected requests for more details, even as they repeatedly implied Tehran's involvement.

From Pace Demurs on Accusation of Iran
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"We're told this new surge is going to be more intelligence-based instead of just hitting random sites," said Staff Sgt. Jamie Slagle, 31, of Morrisville, Mo., as he flipped through a stack of unused stickers. "But that's what seems to me to still be going on."

"The newest plan had the best chance of being effective two years ago. But I don't think it has much of a chance now. It's just too late. The militias are embedded in everything," Slagle said.

More from MSNBC.
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To make his case for war before the U.N., George W. Bush dispatched the most credible official in his administration, Secretary of State Colin Powell.

Yet, when Powell was assigned to make the case for war, he already counted himself among the growing list of U.S. officials nervous about the quality of the WMD intelligence. Indeed, Powell may have been one of the best positioned officials to know that the threat from Iraq was being exaggerated.

Powell's skepticism led to his "four day and four night" encampment at the CIA reviewing the intelligence. Despite assurances from CIA Director George Tenet, Powell recognized the shakiness of the case.

Wilkerson said Powell "turned to the DCI, Mr. Tenet, and he [Powell] said, 'everything here, everything here, you stand behind?' And Mr. Tenet said, 'absolutely, Mr. Secretary.' And he [Powell] said, 'well, you know you're going to be sitting behind me. … Right behind me. In camera." So, on Feb. 5, 2003, Powell sat at the curved table of the U.N. Security Council – with CIA Director Tenet and U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. John Negroponte behind him.

Revealing none of his internal doubts, Powell calmly presented what he claimed was a convincing factual case that "Saddam Hussein and his regime have made no effort – no effort – to disarm as required by the international community. Indeed, the facts and Iraq's behavior show that Saddam Hussein and his regime are concealing their efforts to produce more weapons of mass destruction."

Powell's speech was a classic example of persuading an audience of someone's guilt by piling on one suspicious incident after another. Even if no single example proved the point, the mind numbed to the volume of accusations and surrendered to the impression that the accumulation of pseudo-evidence must add up to something.

More from Consortium News.
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More on Tony Blair's corruption:

The [British] attorney general, Lord Goldsmith, changed his mind about whether there was enough evidence to bring corruption charges against the arms company BAE after pressure from Downing Street, legal sources have told the Guardian.

In emergency meetings before Christmas, Lord Goldsmith initially agreed with lawyers and prosecutors that the Serious Fraud Office could bring charges against the former head of BAE Sir Dick Evans.

The allegations involved backdoor gifts to the then head of the Saudi air force, Prince Turki-bin-Nasser.

Having reviewed the SFO's files, Lord Goldsmith agreed that BAE could, in effect, be offered a plea bargain in which investigators would drop further potentially politically embarrassing inquiries if the company agreed to plead guilty to these relatively minor charges.

But within 48 hours the agreement was countermanded after decisions taken in Downing St, Whitehall sources said.

The director of the SFO, Robert Wardle, was forbidden to make the approach to BAE. Instead the attorney general told parliament the entire Saudi investigation was to be halted, and that there was insufficient evidence for it to succeed.

Lord Goldsmith also said in the Lords that MI5 and MI6 believed national security was in danger. The heads of the agencies have refused to endorse his claim.

More from Guardian Unlimited.

Citizens of the United Kingdom now know that Tony Blair answers to another master besides George W. Bush. Unfortunately, that other master is a defense contractor.
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