Bush's covert game in Iran?

Is the United States conducting clandestine operations within Iran?

The New Yorker's Seymour Hersh thinks so, and reports in this week's issue that Congress agreed to a request from President Bush last year to fund a major escalation of covert activity against Iran -- aimed at destabilizing the country's regime by backing minority groups like the Ahwazi Arab and Baluchi.

The story was knocked down quickly by the administration -- "I can tell you flatly that U.S. forces are not operating across the Iraqi border into Iran." U.S. Ambassador to Iraq Ryan Crocker told CNN.
Hersh dismissed the denial, arguing that "when you run secret operations ... sometimes it's better not to have the ambassador know."

Saying that he does not know why the administration would be increasing covert operations in Iran, Hersh told CNN in an interview today that he believes that President Bush and Vice President Cheney "do not want to leave Iran in place with a nuclear program.... They believe that their mission is to make sure that before they get out of offices next year, either Iran is attacked or it stops its weapons program."

The Times' Babylon and Beyond blog, which reports on the Middle East, has more details here.

-- Johanna Neuman

Photo: Posters of Iran's late spiritual leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini (left) and current supreme leader Ali Khameni (sixth to the left) are included in a row of Hezbollah martyrs lining a street in southern Lebanon. Credit: RAMZI HAIDAR/AFP/Getty Images

Comments

[Tom in California]

A plea to Congress: please please please impeach this scoundrel and remove him from office. Even though there are only a few months left, he is determined to cause more damage. Don't let him start up a new disaster in addition to the chaos he has already caused!

[YN2]

It's no secret that Iranian SF have been operating in Iraq for the last few years. Munitions found being used for IEDs, so the whole idea of soverignty is a mute point.

However, supporting minorities in a similar manor as we did the Kurds, is not really an effort to get a regime destablized and their nuclear program dismantled in a year. I'd atrtibute that comment to a political bias on the part of the reporter.

Further more, having friends of mine who are SF, it is rather irresponsible of this reporter to blow any cover that this operation had. OPSEC is very important, it keeps guys like me and more so my friends alive.

[Allan]

Wouldn't be the first time the US has violated Iran's sovereignty. Remember the Shaw in 1953?

[jefflz]

This war mongering strategy has always been suggested as way the Bushites woiuld hold on to power. It accomplishes at least three major goals: (1) Distracts the electorate from the failed war in Iraq while maintaining an atmosphere of fear (2) Paves the way for a second war monger- John McCain to maintain Republican control of the White House (3) further extends US efforts to own or control foreign oil production

Bush must be dragged kicking and screaming if necessary from his roll as Commander in Chief. He has already abused his power to such an extent that any covert efforts to launch a another preemptive war under false pretenses in the name of national security must be the basis for impeachment in no uncertain terms. Are we gong to let military adventurers continue to rule this nation??

[Hah]

Oh good, now we have the Bible-bashers here. Now we shall be saved by people preaching fire and brimstone. Jeez people, grow up.

[James Huffer]

I hope the republican party is proud of the blithering idiots they selected to run their little terrorist organization. Can we survive the damage they have done to our nation or will we have to resort to an executive sanction within our own government to end the carnage. They ascended by assassinations and they will die by them as well, the question is how many of the rest of us will survive the WMD that now is aimed directly at us. As a people we have become so stupid we repeat history and then we complain about our sad situation. Perhaps a little revolution now and again is a good thing, yes? I wonder what lies limpaugh will conjure up to spin this transgression of Americam morals.

[natife]

woah cliff you are retarded at best. and C.Nugget, couldn't agree with you more.. ProAmerica, is where its at. Iran has been brewing for a major slapdown for more than a quater century now. ProAmerica. God continues to bless this great nation. God bless our soldiers!

[Circles Robinson]

I believe the Bush administration has been laying the groundwork for attacking Iran for several years, just as it did before launching the invasion of Iraq. Now that McCain needs to get people's minds away from Iraq and the US economy to get elected, it's worth listening to what Seymour Hersh has to say.

[JR]

Sal Robertson, "I went through Thomas.LOC.gov looking for the bill and couldn't find it"............what did you search for "400 million to fund war in IRAN" or maybe "covert funding to start another war"? Idiot.

[Dan Williams]

Iran wants to have its cake and eat it. Iran could possibly buy nuclear weapons instead of trying to make one. In either case the only reason anyone could give a care is what Iran has said it will do with such a weapon once in its possession so naturally the rest of the world has said that Iran cannot have one. In response Iran has said, try and stop us, so the options are pretty clear.

[donis georgiou]

I say if Seymour Hersh is correct, Iran sometimes in September or October.

[Rich Hudson]

Bush and Cheney's goal toward Iran -- i.e., the goal of the arms and oil industries -- is to *keep* the mullahs in power through antagonism that will rally Iranians around the regime (that is, allow the mullahs to crack down on all opposition). In fact, The worst case scenario for Bush and Cheney's corporate clients is that the Iranian people would overthrow the theocracy and establish a new regime themselves, without U.S. "help". That would take away their biggest excuse to invade and occupy the country.

[pete]

Iraq was a lone wolf, the only thing real Muslims cared about was the power vacuum that resulted from chopping the head off that beast. Iran is a whole different matter - we go in there and it's WWIII.

Not that W wouldn't just think starting Armageddon was just him being the lord's vessel. It's amazing how that fool can defend being stupid as acting from the gut, and thinking that Jesus guides his hand. Pride is a sin, yes? You too, Falwell.

[JDS]

Bush and Cheney are insane. They will start another war to move more tax dollars from the US Treasury into their own pockets. They do not care about America, Americans, or any one else. They must be impeached NOW!

[dan]

If Bush really believed in the "End Times" nonsense you speak of, he'd know that no man has the power to tell God when Judgment Day should be.

[Retired prosecutor]

Seymour Hersh?? Well, at least it's a pro-American source with lots of credibility --- remember his allegation that US occupation troops were sodomizing young Iraqi boys -- and Hersh's later explanation that he has "different" standards of credibility for his speeches than he does for his articles. But then I guess journalists caught in these things never have to say they are sorry.

[John]

How about a fatwa on Seymour Hersh; oh of course he is the Radicals best buddy. Maybe some patriotic American needs to knock him off.

[Matt]

So the funny thing is this... After any attack on the United State or any other country it is exactly this type of article that gets written to attack and flame the current leadership for not doing enough to stop terrorism etc. etc.. Now the administration is doing something about a state which is openly hostile against the US and our allies and they want the gov't to back down. Sorry you can't sit back and have it both ways.

[df]

what's the problem with covert ops in Iran.....I see some controversy if it
is aimed at preparing the battlefield but if it's just plain old spying and manipulation
well at least this time it's human int and ops against a real enemy...the only
problem is that it's run by nitwit bush ...he has a ruinous touch

[Donna H.]

Clyde Nugget, you wrote:

"The media, especially you and the NYTimes, should be more proAmerica. You report constantly items which helps our country's enemies. Why should these countries have spies in our mist when they have U.S. newspapers like yours."

Actually, I'm sure that the information in the article is no surprise at all to Iranian leaders; it's only a surprise to Americans who want to keep their heads in the sand about what it is our government is doing around the world. This article is in fact pro-American, for anyone who cares about getting this government to act in America's best long-term interests. Go back and read RABO's post, two before yours.

[angoose]

Cliff, you're scaring me, not because I think you are right but because it is that type of fundamentalist nonsense that continues to divide people into fearing everything and everyone that is not like onesself. We live in a world with six billion people with six billion perspectives. Open discussion with people with different beliefs, cultures, lifestyles, ethnic backgrounds, etc. and mutual respect for the right for the same to coexist is the only way any of us (our children and grandchildren... especially will be able to survive. Simply put, the God you fear so much is actually love, and ultimately love is respect for fellow beings and creatures and their right to coexist.

[JM]

Bush's covert game in Iran? That's funny...!

I only have two words to say about Iran: ATOMIC BOMB. Afterwards, there will be far fewer middle eastern problems and we'll have all the oil we need. Win-win if you ask me. And we can do it with no troops on the ground. Yeah, we'll have a $hit-load of liberal whiners back in the states fer sure. But they'll shut their mouths in short order when gas prices come down.

[jay]

You guys think this is just beginning? This has been going on, on and off, for years. Why does anyone need to doubt Mr. Hersh? And why would anyone try to confirm this story with the White House, anyway? We all know what kind of an answer they will give. And this is nothing new to history, either. Anyone remember Mossadegh? And you think Israel hasn't been in on this since the beginning? Jesus, some of these commentors are so freakin' ignorant. Others would put ideology over peace and the lives of our military service members. It makes me sick to think I volunteer to serve a nation of such people.

There has been a quiet war on Iran since their first elected government was undermined by the US and UK back in the 1940s. The current activities are just part of an ongoing story. There is nothing noble in our policies in the region. There never has been and there never will be.

Wake up, knuckleheads. What you think is a War on Terror is just a distraction. Take your side, but God help you and all of us if you think the current course of action in the wider region is the right one.

[Marcos El Malo]

@Sal Robertson: It's part of a Presidential Finding, not a bill. Read the original article in the New Yorker.

[Jim Lukas]

Covert action rumors are true. Look closely at the photo. Someone painted a mustache and beard on Khomeini!