Petraeus works to halt foreign fighters.

dapperdan said

But why would the "first thought" be that it would be someone on the U.S. payroll, "Freelancers? Jundallah? Someone else on our payroll?".

Out of all the possible choices available, why would the focus be on pointing the finger immediately at the U.S. and coming to a premature conclusion. It becomes a bit of a political Rorschach test.

Click to expand...

You note the question marks.

I merely hold out the possibility that one of these groups we have contacts with is involved, based on ample past experience of covert operations and on the fact that we are known to be currently running "de-stabilization" covert operations in Iran and funding anti-government groups with a history of terrorism.

I'm not saying we necessarily directly plan or order these things in Iran.

But by our own standards any link or indirect, arm's length support of a group like Jundallah is considered tantamount to direct participation in the act.

For example, Saddam's donation of cash to surviving family members of Palestinian militants and suicide bombers was presented to us unequivocally as "support for global terrorism."

I merely apply our own standards to these things and since they are often double standards, discomfort results.