Report: Iran pays $1,000 for each U.S. soldier killed by the Taliban

[oberliner]

Source: MSNBC

Iran is paying Taliban fighters $1,000 for each U.S. soldier they kill in Afghanistan, according to a report in a British newspaper.

The Sunday Times described how a man it said was a "Taliban treasurer" had gone to collect $18,000 from an Iranian firm in Kabul, a reward it said was for an attack in July which killed several Afghan government troops and destroyed an American armored vehicle.

The treasurer left with the cash hidden in a sack of flour, the newspaper said, and then gave it to Taliban fighters in the province of Wardak. In the past six months, the treasurer claimed to have collected more than $77,000 from the company.

The Sunday Times said its investigation had found that at least five Kabul-based Iranian companies were secretly passing funds to the Taliban.

Read more: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/39014669/ns/world_news-south_and_central_asia/

[Historic NY]

1. Wasn't that the same crap we heard about in Iraq too. ...

and the same crap that Saddam was paying the Palestinians for suicide bombers in Israel.

[stray cat]

3. Somethings are true even if du calls it crap

[Turborama]

15. Some things are untrue, even if MSNBC reports it as a fact

Which this didn't originate from, anyway. MSNBC are just regurgitating something from Murdoch's Sunday Times which you now have to buy your way into to read the full *story*.

"according to a report in a British newspaper."

"The Sunday Times described how a man it said was a "Taliban treasurer" had gone to collect $18,000 from an Iranian firm in Kabul"

"The Sunday Times said"

This is the real icing on the cake...

"The newspaper's correspondent, Miles Amoore, said he met and interviewed the treasurer, who he said had been an illiterate farmer who was taught to read and write, plus basic accountancy, by the Taliban last winter."

Miles Amoore appears to have either believed everything told to him by this so called "treasurer" who only up until less than a year ago was an illiterate farmer or is just making shit up.

Lastly, the one comment that discredits the whole preceding article....

"Iran is a predominantly Shiite country, while the Taliban is dominated by Sunni Muslims."

[niceypoo]

20. The 'Saddam paying suicide bombers' story was a lie

The story was originally about the Saudis holding a telethon to raise money for the Palestinians. Over a period of about 3 weeks, this metamorphosed into 'Saddam is paying suicide bombers' by the BUsh administration. I am shocked that anybody actually believed it.

[frylock]

48. crap is crap even if authoritarian types want to lap it up with a spoon..

remember curveball? yeh, i'll bet you believed that shit as well.

[OmahaBlueDog]

8. That may have been true, even if most other "facts" about Iraq were, really, crap

And the Iranians (possibly with the help of the Mossad, if one can believe that) were operating Chalabi....... and Chalabi was supposed to have been the source of all of the juicy details on the WMDs that did not exist.

[Name removed]

17. Deleted message

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[BetterThanNoSN]

47. NEW HEADLINES: IRAN.....

.....OFFERS $10,000 FOR EVERY PLASTIC TURKEY CAPTURED FROM GREEN ZONE CAFETERIA'S

[Orrex]

2. Well, we've paid many billions of dollars for each US soldier killed in Iraq...

So where does that leave us?

[Billy Burnett]

21. US made direct cash payments to the groups killing American military.

[Salander]

61. The US army has admitted that it pays warlords, many of whom are Taliban,

to guarantee safe passage of convoys which are supplying troops who are fighting the Taliban.

[geckosfeet]

4. And how much did the american taxpayer end up paying for each Iraqi soldier killed?

It makes me ill. We payed for killing human beings - soldiers (ours, theirs, anyones) , civilians, and 'terra-ists' in Iraq.

[parkia00]

5. I smell fish.

Rotten fish. Just because the Sunday Times say it is so does not mean it is. Although some unsubstantiated mystery source with no solid credibility says something some people want to hear, it's all they need to parrot up and say the same things over and over again as solid fact. On a side note, why would Iran help the Taliban as they don't get along?

[Turborama]

10. Exactly, it's well documented that Iran despises the Taliban

And that the help to defeat the Taliban that they offered to Buscho at the time of the invasion was rejected.

Murdoch's Sunday Times seems to be releasing enough made up bullshit bait to make people go to their website and buy their way through their new paywall.


What about this article from last year with actual real names...?

Iran offers to help US rebuild Afghanistan
Iranian delegate at Hague conference in major conciliatory move towards Obama administration
Julian Borger in The Hague
guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 31 March 2009 12.40 BST
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/mar/31/iran-afghanistan-obama

[Name removed]

18. Deleted message

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[Turborama]

24. Whatever you "think" is irrelevant

"Iran is a predominantly Shiite country, while the Taliban is dominated by Sunni Muslims."
From the MSNBC article above.

As I said, it's a well documented fact that Iran despises the Taliban.

I can go even further back in history than that Guardian article, if you want...

Taliban threatens retaliation if Iran strikes
Iranian armed forces have been put on alert
Iranian military on alert

September 15, 1998
Web posted at: 1:28 p.m. EDT (1728 GMT)
http://edition.cnn.com/WORLD/meast/9809/15/iran.afghan.tensions.02/index.html

As for this question: "Do you support that or are you going to play the tit for tat game with the world trying to reign in Iran held as an equal to Iran?"

What you ask doesn't make any sense.

BTW Even though it doesn't have anything to do with the topic at hand, I don't support anyone being held hostage anywhere by anyone for any reason.

[Name removed]

29. Deleted message

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[Turborama]

31. You obviously haven't been paying attention to what's been going on in the region n/t

[Name removed]

33. Deleted message

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[Turborama]

34. Yes. n/t

[Name removed]

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[tabasco]

53. But you were saying they were not enemies.

Your posts indicate a lack of intelligence.

[aquart]

36. They despise Arabs but they use Hezbullah mercenaries.

Despising people doesn't mean you don't use them.

[Turborama]

38. If you want to believe a story told to a Murdoch rag by "an illiterate farmer who was taught...

... to read and write, plus basic accountancy, by the Taliban last winter." That's up to you.

Personally, a *story* with unnamed sources, unnamed companies etc in a Murdoch rag that's now gone viral on Faux (To see what I mean, Google: fox news Report Iran Paying Taliban to Kill U.S. Troops) raises multiple red flags for me.

I tend to look at things like this through longer term perspectives. IE What Iran's relationship with the Taliban has been like historically.

I'm not a defender of either Iran's regime or the Taliban, far from it. I just don't trust anything that isn't sourced properly, especially if it comes from News Corp.

[aquart]

50. I don't watch FOX.

I did, and do, however, follow @OxfordGirl and #iranelection on Twitter among others. Iranian protesters are my source for the Hezbullah basij identifications. That doesn't mean they don't support the Palestinian cause against Israel because they do. It becomes more complicated because Ahmadinejad seems to be supporting Hamas while denigrating Fatah and the Palestinian Authority's right to negotiate.

That Iranians despise Arabs is based on personal experience. I once made the error of mistaking some Iranians (Persians) for Arabs. The loathing with which I was corrected made a strong impression. All Muslims don't love each other any more than all Christians love each other. For instance, Ahmadinejad promises aid to the Palestinians. How much has he sent? And to whom?

[Turborama]

59. I wasn't suggesting you do. I was just saying that this is a *story* from the same corporation

I think we can see a pattern here. British sister paper reports something that only segments can be reported on by other news agencies due to the pay wall. The fact it comes from a British paper gives it more credence in the naive public's mind. MSNBC, Fox and whoever else report it as facts and lo and behold before you know it the meme has gone viral.

As I suggested above, this thing needs to be looked at with a wider perspective than what some News Corp. reporter says that an up until very recently illiterate farmer says to be true. Even if this ex-farmer exists in the 1st place.

http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=32249">How Neo-Cons Sabotaged Iran's Help on al Qaeda

[Warren Stupidity]

57. hez is a shia organization closely aligned with iranian shia

but you know that.

[onethatcares]

42. all I can say is,

GITMO.:shrug:

[Downwinder]

52. Another side note.

Would a bounty on wolves encourage Sarah Palin to kill wolves?

[Turbineguy]

6. Let's bomb Iran!

desired reaction?

[T Wolf]

7. Who cares what lies are pushed about this? We have invaded two soverign nations and are shocked

that they are defending themselves?

With all the money that we have wasted in the ME wars, it may have been cheaper to pay them not to kill americans.

But we would rather funnel the money to contractors.

[Davis_X_Machina]

9. We pay the Afghan National Army.

States have intervened by unconventional means in their neighbors since Caesar and the Gauls and Germans.

Gives us a reason to talk to Iran. They apparently have a hand on the violence spigot in Afghanistan, and when you can you always talk to the guy at the faucet, not at the nozzle.

[florida08]

11. sounds like

to me

[izquierdista]

12. They sure know how to bargain

It takes thousand bucks to get a Blackwater Xe mercenary to show up for lunch.

[coffeenap]

13. Check out MSNBC's source:

Murdoch's Times of London. I smell fish too.

[scarletwoman]

14. Iran stole my hubcaps and kicked my dog. nt

[Name removed]

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[mbperrin]

27. How would this organization have any special information?

It's located in Maryland, headed up by a real estate agent who was also a delegate to the Republican National Convention in 2004. This organization was incorporated 4 years ago, and Manda Z. Ervin, the owner, with 3 employees, has not been in Iran since 1979.

http://www.manta.com/c/mms8wsl/alliance-of-iranian-women-inc

http://www.imrealestateagent.com/Maryland/Columbia/560953-manda-z-ervin.html

http://www.msa.md.gov/msa/mdmanual/40party/html/repc.html

Google is your friend.

[EFerrari]

58. omgomgomgomgomg

[msongs]

19. not as much as US CORPORATIONS make per dead soldier..... nt

[IndianaGreen]

22. Rehash of the Saddam pays $20,000 to each family of suicide bomber

Coming from a Rupert Murdoch publication (Times of London), I am not surprised at the resurgence of neocon propaganda.

[TomClash]

23. And it wasn't always so

Iran cooperated with the US, providing both intelligence and flyover rights at the start of the Afghan War. I wonder what changed that? Can you guess?

Oh and I wonder why this story is being pimped now by MSNBC and posted now on DU?

[lutherj]

25. Shucks, now Uncle Sam is just gonna have to whack 'em. And that just

breaks his god-fearin, peace-lovin', exceptionalist heart.

:nuke:

oh yeah . . .

:sarcasm:

[SOS]

26. Name the companies, Murdoch

From the article: "at least five Kabul-based Iranian companies".

Really?
Iranian companies are operating in a capital city under the control of the United States military?
And these mystery companies are allegedly paying for the killing of US soldiers?

Why doesn't the Times name the "five companies"?

And if the Times could back up this absurd story, why are they publishing it in London rather than informing the US military in Kabul?

To Mr. Murdoch:
Forward the names and addresses of these "companies" to the link below or consider yourself complicit.

http://kabul.usembassy.gov/

[Downwinder]

40. Shades of Joe McCarthy. n/t

[SOS]

41. How so?

Not sure I understand your post.

Murdoch's Times of London says there are "Iranian companies" operating in Kabul (under the nose of the US military) who
are paying bounties for killed US soldiers.

A. I don't believe a word of it.
B. If true, shouldn't Murdoch inform the US military in Kabul of the existence of these mystery companies?

Are you saying that telling the US military about these alleged companies is tantamount to McCarthyism?

:shrug:

[Downwinder]

45. I've got the list right here . . ..

No, I am equating Murdoch with McCarthy.

[SOS]

49. Exactly

The "list" is bogus.

[Turborama]

28. FOX News - Report: Iran Paying Taliban to Kill U.S. Troops

About 949,000 results so far on Google if you search for that term.

Just sayin'...

[mbperrin]

30. Okay, just pay $1500 to kill the other guys! Who knew a war could be

so cheap!!??

[tkmorris]

32. Anyone who believes this deserves what they get

Just how transparent do they have to be before some people begin to get skeptical? This one is just pathetic.

[MilesColtrane]

37. Murdoch has gone from catapulting the propaganda, to trebucheting the trash.

[CBGLuthier]

39. Their guys work on commission, ours take a straight salary.

In the end just a bunch of killing machines.

[Gin]

43. I believe it..... and think karzai and family are profiting from

killing our troops also....this makes me furious

[onethatcares]

44. don't leave out the incubator babies,

just sayin.

Do they get U.S. Federal Reserve Notes or do they get what ever the Iranians use for a monetary system? Or do they get notes from the Afganistan banking system that is currently needing bail out by the United States taxpayer?

This shit is getting really confusing, and I have this steeeenking feeling all kinds of reasons are gonna come up to push for an invasion of Iran. Hell, we can't have all those combat trained military personnel coming home to no employment can we?:wtf:

[chatnoir]

46. It's ridiculous how transparent this is

The corporate media is partaking yet again in the drumbeat to war. How surprising.

[dipsydoodle]

51. I don't believe

and regard the report as complete bollocks. Since when did Iran support the Taliban.

[greiner3]

54. Everyone needs to carry a gun;

Oh wait, that's most every other thread. Well, maybe this too.

[on point]

55. More BS propaganda to demonize Iran and justify an attack

[Odin2005]

56. BULLSHIT PROPAGANDA ALERT!!!

[daleo]

60. The Military-Industrial Complex pays well for dead soldiers too

Propagandists who foment wars that get soldiers killed by the thousands generally make out ok. We may have a case of it in this story.

[SOS]

62. Just Americans?

The UK has 9,500 soldiers in Afghanistan.
Looks like Murdoch's Times of London is carefully avoiding a treason charge.