The Iranian hand in Iraq insurgency

There has been much speculation over the possibility that Iran has been stirring the pot in Iraq. Now it looks like there is some cold, hard proof (HT Captain's Quarters):

U.S. military and intelligence officials tell ABC News that they have caught shipments of deadly new bombs at the Iran-Iraq border.

They are a very nasty piece of business, capable of penetrating U.S. troops' strongest armor.

What the United States says links them to Iran are tell-tale manufacturing signatures — certain types of machine-shop welds and material indicating they are built by the same bomb factory.

This is the type of thing that needs to be verified and reverified, but even Richard Clarke believes that Iran is behind this:

"I think the evidence is strong that the Iranian government is making these IEDs, and the Iranian government is sending them across the border and they are killing U.S. troops once they get there," says Richard Clarke, former White House counterterrorism chief and an ABC News consultant. "I think it's very hard to escape the conclusion that, in all probability, the Iranian government is knowingly killing U.S. troops."

Using force against Iran is still not going to be something anyone really wants to do, but Iran is doing its damn best to give us plenty of justification.