Remember last time BushCo "proved" something about Iraq?

Fresh on the heels of four years of falsehoods and bumbling, the Bush Administration has launched a new dog and pony show, with new Defense Secretary Robert Gates asserting that the US can "prove Iran's Iraq role" according to the Washington Post. Uh huh. Where have I heard all this before? Maybe it was Colin Powell's "proving" that Saddam Hussein had mobile chemical labs (which had to be represented by artist's renditions since they didn't actually exist -- that should be clue #1 that you are bullshitting).

Now Gates is trotting out this year's model, with bold assertions and less than bold backing facts. Viddy this:

Serial numbers and markings on explosives used in Iraq provide "pretty good" evidence that Iran is providing either weapons or technology for militants there, Defense Secretary Robert Gates asserted Friday.

Offering some of the first public details of evidence the military has collected, Gates said, "I think there's some serial numbers, there may be some markings on some of the projectile fragments that we found," that point to Iran.

Serial numbers would provide good evidence, except the Secretary doesn't seem terribly firm on their existence. Note the qualifiers "I think" and "may be some markings" that Gates inserts into his exuberant assertion.

Does this administration think they'll have any backing to go into Iran even if it turns out that all of the bombs were personally signed by Ahmadinejad with a sharpie? Do they understand they're now running on fumes and they're hundreds of miles from any gas stations?

Here's another tidbit from our dear leaders:

He [Gates] and other U.S. officials have said for some time that Iranians, and possibly the government of Iran, have been providing weapons technology, and
possibly some explosives to Iraqi insurgents.

If you were to replace "Iranians" and "Iran" with "Americans" and "United States" and strike "Iraqi insurgents" in favor of "repressive but business friendly governments and drug-running murderous business friendly thugs," you'd basically have US foreign policy in the third world for at least the last 70 years.