FLASHBACK to January 7, 2006: Iran has accused the United States of taking nine Iranian border guards hostage which on the surface would be a plausible scenario pending certain circumstances. There’s a problem though. It is believed those guards were taken hostage by Sunni terrorists linked with Al Qaida, meaning Iran is accusing the United States of collaborating with Al Qaida. Basically typical Iran.

Guess who opened his mouth today and made the same accusation the United States and Al Qaida are cooperating? A spokesman to radical Islamic cleric Muqtada al Sadr said on Iraqi and Iranian television the U.S. was cooperating with Al Qaida and he has the documents to prove it.

In an interview with a local TV network that was also re-transmitted by Iranian televison, Saheb Ameri, one of al-Sadr’s right-hand men, said he is “in possession of vital documents that disclose the close cooperation between al-Qaeda and the US occupation forces.”

“These documents prove without a shadow of doubt that groups linked to al-Qaeda and to al-Zarqawi are coordinating their attacks with the tacit consent of the US military command in Iraq,” said Ameri.

“This cooperation has reached worrying levels since Zalmai Khalilzad has been in charge of the American embassy in Baghdad,” he stated. Shiites have repeatedly accused the current US ambassador to Iraq, a diplomat of Afghan origins, of “sympathising with the Sunnis and the al-Qaeda insurgency,” Ameri said.

I sense a fake but accurate type of document trail on this one.  There is reason why Sadr and his group would blame the United States for supporting Al Qaida. Sadr is supported by Iran. He has traveled to Iran for secret meetings and argues the Iranian stance of most issues. He has also said he would declare war upon the Coation if Iran or Syria asked him to. The proposed talks between the United States and Iraq would center around Khalilzad who has been the targeted of an orchestrated attack on his reputation for the past few months. In other words, this slur was probably manufactured in Iran.