DEFENSE INTELLIGENCE AGENCY HISTORY CONFUSES IRAQ AND IRAN

In a memorable TV interview with former Secretary of State James Baker,
prankster "Ali G" (Sasha Baron Cohen) wondered about the possibility of
confusing "Iran" and "Iraq."

"Do you think it would be a good idea if one of them changed their name
to make it very different sounding from the other one?" he asked
Secretary Baker.

"Ain't there a real danger that someone give like a message over the
radio to one of them fighter pilots whatever saying bomb 'Ira...' and
the geezer don't hear it properly and bomb Iran rather than Iraq?"

"No danger," Secretary Baker gamely replied.

In an official history published on its web site, however, the Defense
Intelligence Agency really has confused Iran and Iraq.

Among the "world crises" that transpired during the 1980s, the DIA
history cites "an Israeli F-16 raid to destroy an Iranian nuclear
reactor."

See "Defense Intelligence Agency: A Brief History" (originally
published in 1997) at page 14:

http://www.dia.mil/publicaffairs/Foia/dia_history.pdf

or here:

http://www.fas.org/irp/dia/dia_history.pdf

But there never was an Israeli attack on an Iranian nuclear reactor.

Rather, "The description appears to match Israel's raid on Iraq's
[Osirak] nuclear reactor" in 1981, observed Gideon Remez, an Israeli
scholar who is co-author of the recent book Foxbats Over Dimona (Yale,
2007).

"Today's preoccupation with Iran's nuclear program seems to have been
projected onto the events of 27 years ago," Mr. Remez suggested this
week in an email message to DIA public affairs.

"If that is indeed the case, I'd recommend a correction," he wrote.