Editorial: Intelligence and assumption

Thursday, July 5, 2007 | 7:29 a.m.

Mi litary leaders this week accused Iran of using Hezbollah militants as surrogates in Iraq, which is deeply troubling.

The Bush administration has, for some time, been increasing the rhetoric against Iran in what sounds like the makings of a case for war.

Officials accused Iranian operatives of helping plan a raid in January in which five American soldiers were killed. The New York Times noted that military leaders cited "extensive intelligence" to show that Iran supplied Shiite militants with armor-piercing roadside bombs. American officials have previously charged the Quds Force, an elite unit of Iran's Revolutionary Guard, with training and supplying Shiite militants in Iraq, spending $3 million a month on the effort.

Officials in Iran have denied involvement in Iraq. American officials have argued that using Hezbollah is a way to cover Iran's actions. At a briefing in Iraq, U.S. Brig. Gen. Kevin Bergner said intelligence "reveals that the senior leadership is aware of this activity."

Iran and Hezbollah have a shared history of hostility when it comes to America. Iran helped start the Lebanese Shiite group in 1982 after Israel invaded Lebanon and has continued to arm and fund the group, which has carried out terrorist attacks against America's staunchest ally in the Mideast, Israel. Hezbollah also has been linked to the bombing of the Marine barracks in 1983 that killed 241 U.S. servicemen, as well as deadly attacks on two U.S. Embassy buildings and more than 50 kidnappings of foreigners.

Given the history between Hezbollah and Iran, it would hardly be a stretch of the imagination to link the two to havoc in Iraq. The American people, however, should be skeptical of any attempt by the Bush administration to make that link if it tries to build a case for military action or war with Iran.

Four years ago America embarked on a war in Iraq based on bad intelligence and wrong assumptions. When leaders make announcements about enemies now, they face stiff cynicism from the American public. The Bush administration has only itself to blame. President Bush is the proverbial boy who cried wolf, and we are now paying the price for his misdeeds.