Did Iran Kill 600 Americans in Iraq War II?

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo claims that Iran killed 600 Americans during Iraq War II. The syllogism goes, Iran supplied EFP bombs to Sadr’s militia, the Mahdi Army, they then used those bombs on U.S. troops. Ergo “Iran,” meaning the ayatollah and his government, killed those troops.

Is that the case?

No. All through 2007, Gen. Petraeus and friends had insisted that all Shi’ite-placed, copper-core-having, “Explosively Formed Penetrators” were being made and supplied by Iran. They never demonstrated this.

In fact, if you check, you will find that over and over again, Western reporters found machine shops where the EFPs were being made in Iraq by Iraqis.

Here are a few blogs full of links from back then.

And here are a few more articles debunking the spin.

It does look like Lebanese Hezbollah taught them how to make them, but they’re not “Iran,” and they did what? Taught Iraqi Shia how to make them. And again, though obviously it’s possible in part at least, it was never shown that any of these bombs originated in Iran, much less that the Iranian government was behind it all. The US claimed that then, and they claim it now, but they have never proven it.

So you can see how attributing every American death at the hands of a Shi’ite in Iraq War II to “Iran,” based on the Shi’ites’ use of EFP bombs, is just plain old not true.

Scott Horton is Managing Director of The Libertarian Institute, host of Antiwar Radio for Pacifica, 90.7 FM KPFK in Los Angeles and KUCR 88.3 in Riverside, podcasts the Scott Horton Show from scotthorton.org, and is the Editorial Director of Antiwar.com. He’s conducted more than 4,500 interviews since 2003. He is also the author of Fool’s Errand: Time to End the War in Afghanistan (2017).