Hersh: U.S. escalating covert ops against Iran.
Hersh: U.S. escalating covert ops against Iran.
The New Yorker’s Seymour Hersh reports that late last year, “Congress agreed to a request from President Bush to fund a major escalation of covert operations against Iran.” The “Presidential Finding” was designed to destabilize religious leadership and gather “intelligence about Iran’s suspected nuclear-weapons program“:
But the scale and the scope of the operations in Iran, which involve the Central Intelligence Agency and the Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC), have now been significantly expanded, according to the current and former officials. Many of these activities are not specified in the new Finding, and some congressional leaders have had serious questions about their nature.
“The Finding was focused on undermining Iran’s nuclear ambitions and trying to undermine the government through regime change,” a person familiar with its contents said, and involved “working with opposition groups and passing money.”
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It’s time for the lame-a$$, no balls Dems in congress to pass a law that makes it illegal for chimpy to attack Iran in the last throes of his administration. They won’t do it, of course.
June 29th, 2008 at 10:47 amAmerican heritage, search and distroy one tribe, country, at a time to capture all the resourses and control the world….Legacy, or genocide…..Blessings
June 29th, 2008 at 10:50 amDidn’t the US do the same thing in 1953, covertly overthrowing a Democratically elected government with an anti-nationalistic/Pro-Oil company regime? This is of course, lead directly to the conflicts we are seeing today. If Israel and the US start a third war in the Middle East, the first negative side effect would be a 2000 point drop in the Dow, and gas shooting to $10 a gallon and more.
Exit Stage Left Says:
It’s time for the lame-a$$, no balls Dems in congress to pass a law that makes it illegal for chimpy to attack Iran in the last throes of his administration. They won’t do it, of course.
Yep, mainly because AIPAC whore Pelosi works more for Israel, and not the people of the USA.
June 29th, 2008 at 10:54 amI told my Congressman when I last talked to him that if the Democrats didn’t move quickly to impeach and remove Cheney then Bush from office, they would start a war with Iran. He looked at me like I had two heads. If they do start this war, I’m firing my Congressman.
June 29th, 2008 at 10:55 amCongress needs to pull (stop)the funding covert operations against Iran. If some of the congressional leaders have serious questions about the activities of the CIA and JSOC then those concerns need to be addressed. There should be No Attack First And Ask Questions Later.
Obviously some of Congress hasn’t learned any lessons from the Iraq debacle.
June 29th, 2008 at 10:59 amI don’t think there are many real dem’s. left in D,C……Most polatiian’s are self serving block and tackler’s for the bush regime…..Recent event’s in the house proove that point……Blessings
June 29th, 2008 at 11:02 am“U.S. congressional leaders agreed late last year to President George W. Bush’s funding request for a major escalation of covert operations against Iran aimed at destabilizing its leadership, according to a report in The New Yorker magazine published online on Sunday.”
Now we know where congress stands on this issue. As usual, with bush and not the American people.
June 29th, 2008 at 11:08 amWayne A. Schneider Says:
I told my Congressman when I last talked to him that if the Democrats didn’t move quickly to impeach and remove Cheney then Bush from office, they would start a war with Iran. He looked at me like I had two heads. If they do start this war, I’m firing my Congressman.
The American public thinks they are isolated. You know, “Oh those Brave men and woman over there, getting themselves killed for Freedom® and Democracy©. Support the Troops!!”
People are disconnected to such realities, except when they lose a loved one, or can place themselves into a situation, and understand the pain and suffering inflicted upon the world by these NeoCons, and their enablers in the Democrat Party, Republican Party, Fundamentalists, and Corporatists. They don’t even report on nightly TV the people killed in Iraq and Afghanistan like they used to with Vietnam. No pictures of coffins now. It a propaganda fest of Information cleansing and half truths.
June 29th, 2008 at 11:09 amWitch1 @ 6:
Russ Feingold, Dennis Kucinich, Ted Kennedy…I know that’s only three, just trying to bring you some comfort.
Peace.
June 29th, 2008 at 11:12 am#6 Witch1 Says:
I don’t think there are many real dem’s. left in D,C……Most polatiian’s are self serving block and tackler’s for the bush regime…..Recent event’s in the house proove that point……Blessings
Good Morning Witch1 :)
You are right there are too many conservative dems that have proven to be corruptable. November will hopefully clean out the ones that are up for re-election. Witch, there are many grass-roots organizations that are going after the bad dems like Hoyer and Pelosi. They are going to run ads against them to wake up the people that don’t keep up with current events. That is a step in the right direction.
June 29th, 2008 at 11:14 amIt seem’s to me what we have now is one big dictatorship run by a lot of little dictator’s….We the people have not ment anything to the majority of polatician’s for a long time, once they are in office their flowery speeche’s and the will of the people vanish….The cancer in our house and senate is so bad it has taken over all but a few polatician’s that follow the constitution, law and will of the people…We can count on our finger’s and toe’s people like Kucinich, Finegold and other’s that still work for us and our country…..Sad, really sad…..Blessings
June 29th, 2008 at 11:18 am“The Finding was focused on undermining Iran’s nuclear ambitions and trying to undermine the government through regime change,”
Of course they could always try not provoking them by calling them part of the “axis of evil” and, you know, not invading and destroying neighboring countries. It’s just a thought.
http://progressiveworldreview.com
June 29th, 2008 at 11:21 am“Hersh: U.S. escalating covert ops against Iran.” What are they going to do plant hot wheels cars and trucks amd tiny buildings and a tiny fake a$$ landscape and tell the world that they have nukes and their pointed at Israel. I do agree that Pelosi and Hoyer are disgustingly weak when it comes to the SHRUB and his crime family and most of the moderates also.
June 29th, 2008 at 11:24 amBack at you all,,,Good Morning.Sorry my posting is quite slow today, guess I need more coffee and another walk with the Bear….Good to read you all here, thank you for posting and paying attention…..Blessings and Peace
June 29th, 2008 at 11:25 amU.S. Ambassador to Iraq Ryan Crocker, reacting to Hersh’s story on CNN’s Late Edition, said: “I can tell you flatly that U.S. forces are not operating across the Iraqi border into Iran.”
Are they operating across the Afghanistan border into Iran? (This is one of the clever ways they deny things. They say categorically that the entire statement is wrong based on one detail. The essence might be right, but the details might be wrong, so they deny it.)
I have no reason to doubt that we are running operations into Iran from Afghanistan.
June 29th, 2008 at 11:39 amLet me guess: because that’s classified information and it would be against the law to admit it?
June 29th, 2008 at 11:50 amlike they would tell crocker if they were…
June 29th, 2008 at 11:55 amHersch on CNN today said…one of the reasons Admiral Fallon., former Centcom Commander, resigned was that he was NOT being briefed about Secret US operations in Iran.
That’s the Top General in Charge of Middle East Operations not being told what America is doing in Iran.
Since Sept. 11, the Bush Administration’s policy is to keep the American People, the Press, the Congress, even the Military in the DARK about their Secret Schemes.
June 29th, 2008 at 12:05 pmCrocker’s denial is confirmation enough…
June 29th, 2008 at 12:08 pmCroker’s denial means nothing as he did not address the question posed by Hersch. The CIA would, of course, use Iranians to infiltrate into Iran so for Crocker to say that no “US forces” are inside Iran skirts the question. TP should have made this point.
June 29th, 2008 at 12:13 pm1. I support covert ops in Iran.
2. I do not support retroactive immunity for FISA violations.
3. I do not support electronic dragnets of Americans.
June 29th, 2008 at 12:24 pmThe situation in Congress is worse than posted here. TPM Cafe posted a sense of the Congress resolution with 197 cosponsors. In the resolution, Congress calls for, in effect, 100% blockade of Iran, i.e. boarding inbound and outbound ships, detailed inspections at boarder crossings, etc, etc.
http://tpmcafe.talkingpointsmemo.com/ 2008/ 06/ 21/ 169_house_77_dems_and_26_senat_1/
June 29th, 2008 at 12:34 pmFrom the Hersch Article:
The Administration may have been willing to rely on dissident organizations in Iran. The use of Baluchi elements, for example, is problematic. “The Baluchis are Sunni fundamentalists who hate the regime in Tehran, but you can also describe them as Al Qaeda,” The irony is that we’re once again working with Sunni fundamentalists, just as we did in Afghanistan in the nineteen-eighties.” Ramzi Yousef, who was convicted for his role in the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center, and Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, who is considered one of the leading planners of the September 11th attacks, are Baluchi Sunni fundamentalists.
Slow learners!
June 29th, 2008 at 12:43 pmHersh or Bush who do I believe.
Given almost 8 years of Bush/Cheney we know everything has been the opposite of what they have publicly stated and this is no different.
Therefore,
I can tell you flatly that U.S. forces are operating across the Iraqi border into Iran.
That is why we are in Iraq.
We want to destabilize and worry all the regimes in this region with our 150,000 troops and 150,000 mercenaries.
This has the added advantage of keeping China and India out that much longer.
As Mc Cain has said there will be other wars.
Defense and energy industries are at the center of all of this.
They are driving this policy and the tail is truly wagging the dog.
President Obama will have a hard time putting an end to this.
In anticipation of a new government in this country the Oil/Defense companies have are quickly consolidating their positions with the new government in Iraq excluding all other vendors and head quartering in Dubai.
The new drilling sites oddly correlate with those 25 - 35 projected new military bases.
It has always been about the oil.
June 29th, 2008 at 12:47 pmReferring to the policy differences between Obama and McCain, Seymore Hersch writes:
The Washington Post recently quoted Randy Scheunemann, the McCain campaign’s national-security director, as stating that McCain supports the White House’s position ( not talking to Iran), What Obama is proposing, Scheunemann said, “is unilateral cowboy summitry.”
COWBOY SUMMITRY! How Brazen.
June 29th, 2008 at 1:05 pmGuido the Loving OBGYN Says:
1. I support covert ops in Iran.
June 29th, 2008 at 12:24 pm
Why?
June 29th, 2008 at 1:21 pm“I can tell you flatly that U.S. forces are not operating across the Iraqi border into Iran.”
This comment is like any used by someone who manipulates words in order to lie in such a way that they can deny everything later. The necessary follow-up question is, “Then which border is it that U.S. forces are crossing to have operations into Iran?” If he won’t state that it is not happening anywhere, then you have the real answer.
June 29th, 2008 at 1:28 pmI consider Iran a threat on many levels. But I don’t support invasion or Nationbuilding of any Mideast country.
June 29th, 2008 at 1:39 pmGuido…consider this: from the Hersch article…
Earlier this year, a militant Ahwazi group claimed to have assassinated a Revolutionary Guard colonel, and the Iranian government acknowledged that an explosion in a cultural center in Shiraz, in the southern part of the country, which killed at least twelve people and injured more than two hundred, had been a terrorist act and not, as it earlier insisted, an accident. The Iranians have begun publicly blaming the U.S., Great Britain, and, more recently, the C.I.A. for some incidents. The agency was involved in a coup in Iran in 1953, and its support for the unpopular regime of Shah Mohammed Reza Pahlavi—who was overthrown in 1979—was condemned for years by the ruling mullahs in Tehran, to great effect.. It RALLIES SUPPORT for the regime and shows the people that there is a continuing threat from the ‘Great Satan.’ ” In (retired Air Force Colonel Sam) Gardiner’s view, the violence, rather than weakening Iran’s religious government, may generate SUPPORT for it.
June 29th, 2008 at 1:51 pmGuido the Loving OBGYN Says:
I consider Iran a threat on many levels. But I don’t support invasion or Nationbuilding of any Mideast country.
June 29th, 2008 at 1:39 pm
How about a little diplomacy?
The United States is more of a threat to the rest of the world than is Iran.
June 29th, 2008 at 2:15 pmSo? So allegedly there are opposition groups in yet another unstable country willing to take USA cash and weapons. Good luck with all that.
June 29th, 2008 at 2:16 pmZooey I don’t have a problem with that. All in time, I guess.
June 29th, 2008 at 2:21 pmBadger, I agree. Not to mention that if our covet ops include funding, and/or arming groups which have caused bombings against civilian targets in Iran how are we any different than terrorists.
June 29th, 2008 at 2:26 pmDang. That would be covert ops.
June 29th, 2008 at 2:28 pmRay McGovern has been warning about the planned attack on Iran. The plan is to attack Iran. The only question now is whether the plan is executed and then whether the orders are followed.
June 29th, 2008 at 3:00 pmAnd I can tell you flatly that I don’t believe a word that comes out of anyone’s mouth if they are a part of this administration.
June 29th, 2008 at 3:37 pm“I can tell you flatly that U.S. forces are not operating across the Iraqi border into Iran.”
Well, here is another one of those non-denial denials. I bet MR. Crocker is counting on the general public’s lack of knowledge of the region
Iraq is not the only US-friendly country that borders Iran. American forces could be operating from Turkey, Turkmenistan, Afghanistan, and Pakistan. There is no shortage of options.
June 29th, 2008 at 3:46 pmGregor is correct….From the article :
http://www.newyorker.com/ reporting/ 2008/ 07/ 07/ 080707fa_fact_hersh?currentPage=2
…the borders between operations are not always clear: in Iran, C.I.A. agents and regional assets have the language skills and the local knowledge to make contacts for the JSOC operatives, and have been working with them to direct personnel, matériel, and money into Iran from an obscure base in western Afghanistan.
June 29th, 2008 at 3:58 pm“Nothing gained and all is lost
To power obtained at any cost.”
–Cheryl Cotterill
June 29th, 2008 at 4:41 pmIran is no threat, but they’d like the population to believe that. This is simply a continuation of the PNAC agenda that pre-dated 9/11.
June 29th, 2008 at 5:02 pmI read the whole article and caught a few minutes of the Hersh interview on CNN - this is one scary tale. We, here, know not to put anything past the Bush Crime Family, but much of the public still believes them, particularly when it comes to Iran. Bush will use that blind faith to “catapault the propaganda” and before you know it, we will be in Iran up to our necks with no way out. Deja Vu.
June 29th, 2008 at 6:10 pmThere is no debate sending “ops” into Iran or paying others to do act of terrorism , IS AN ACT OF WAR and the ludicrous reason is before they even have a nuclear weapon , Israel , the neocons , the bush regime have them flying into Israel and with help from the completely COMPLICIT media, that totally distorted what Pres. A from Iran said , basically lying because according to Prof. JUAN COLE , who speaks FARSI , the words “Wiping off the map” were NEVER said . Google Juan Cole .
June 29th, 2008 at 11:07 pmAnd its funny after saying ” removing the regime ” he followed with ” giving the Palestinians the right to vote ” in Israel . Is that before or after Nuclear attack and why would they even contemplate that ludicrous idea , KNOWING Israel has over 300 nukes and they (IRAN)would no longer EXIST .
If Sy Hersh says it, I believe it. He has been consistently right about everything he reports. As for the ambassador that says there are no covert operations against Iran, bs.
I haven’t believed anything our government has said, in more years than I can count. We would all need our collective heads examined if we did. The problem is Bush of course. He and the others have lied so often and so consistently about everything, that they are not believed regarding anything.
We don’t have all those ships in that area for nothing. One day the missile will be launched. And Bush will start a third war, with no end in the other two he started.
The end result of all this hatred for us, will be another attack. It won’t matter who is in charge. Bush has fixed it for us, that Democrat or Republican, there is no safety for this country anymore. We are thought of as a ROGUE COUNTRY now. And the hatred manifested against us will not die for decades.
And when we get hit again with Obama in office, Bush will say, “see the Democrats cannot protect us.” And people are so very easily led and lied to, they will agree. Forgetting of course that the last attack was on Republican watch. And the hatred from the Iraq debacle will be the cause of another attack.
June 29th, 2008 at 11:26 pmThe U.S. is considered to be the biggest threat to peace by @ 80-90% of the world’s population.
We are the global equivalent of an out of control junkie, addicted to a frivolous gas guzzling lifestyle and needing greater and endless economic growth and material consumption to sustain our materialistic lifestyle.
What makes us an especially dangerous junkie is that we are armed to the teeth and have no problem attacking others and killing people to sustain economic growth and feed the military-industrial complex.
All addicts end up turning into something quite ugly unless they change their habits and it also helps to make amends to those they have hurt to feed their addictions.
June 29th, 2008 at 11:36 pmI doubt the U.S will make the necessary changes in time and will end up an out of control junkie careening into disaster.
I think it is no coincidence that both our President and VP have had histories of substance abuse and socio-pathic tendencies.
How many times has a White House official told us lies from Valerie Plame issue to WMD on and on. And they want us to believe Crocker or now even I wonder about 9/11. If The White House talks it is lying.
June 30th, 2008 at 1:14 pm