by Deb Cupples | Seymore Hersh has a scary story about the Bush Administration's secret attempts to de-stabilize Iran. Hersh begins:
"Late last year, Congress agreed to a request from President Bush to fund a major escalation of covert operations against Iran, according to current and former military, intelligence, and congressional sources. These operations, for which the President sought up to four hundred million dollars, were described in a Presidential Finding signed by Bush, and are designed to destabilize the country’s religious leadership.
"The covert activities involve support of the minority Ahwazi Arab and Baluchi groups and other dissident organizations. They also include...
"gathering intelligence about Iran’s suspected nuclear-weapons program.
"Clandestine operations against Iran are not new. United States Special Operations Forces have been conducting cross-border operations from southern Iraq, with Presidential authorization, since last year."
See the rest of Hersh's very detailed article here.
We've known at least since 2002 that President Bush disliked Iran, when his handlers came up with the comic book-ish phrase "Axis of Evil" and included Iran in the sol-called axis (White House).
Fast forward to June 2007, when Administration ally Sen. Joe Lieberman -- who used to be a Democrat, at least in name -- went on Face the Nation and called for the bombing of Iran.
Fast forward to December 2007, when a U.S. National Intelligence Estimate (NIE) on Iran became public. The NIE indicated that Iran had dropped its nuclear weapons program back in 2003 -- which caused severed doubts about the Bush Administration's long running rationale for wanting to attack Iran based on Iran's alleged nuclear-weapons program.
The Bush Administration had seen the NIE months before the rest of us, yet President Bush and his surrogates continued to speak of military action against Iran based on that nation's alleged possession of nuclear weapons.
Fast forward to January of this year, when U.S. military officials questionably reported on an incident involving a few small Iranian boats and a huge U.S. destroyer. Some U.S. officials claimed that the Chihuahua-sized Iranian boats were verbally threatening to destroy the elephant-sized U.S. boat.
Days later, the U.S. military and the Iranians proffered very different videos to the public -- and the issue quietly disappeared from the media.
Yes, there's little doubt that the Bush Administration has been itching for a fight with Iran, but I always welcome concrete details like those that Mr. Hersh provides.
Memeorandum has commentary.
Other Buck Naked Politics Posts:
* Iran is the New Iraq, and Lieberman Wants to Bomb it
* Iran: is the Administration Telling the Truth or Saving Face?
* Afghanistan: the Next Focus of our Fears?
* Under the Rug: What happened to the 190,000 Missing Weapons?
* Violence Down in Iraq, despite Attacks & Human Rights Violations?
* Iraq: Conflicting Stories from the Front & at Home
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