|
Preparing the Battlefield: The Bush Administration steps up its secret moves
against Iran
by
Seymour M. Hersh, New YorkerL ate
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. |
Congressional leaders agreed to a request from President Bush last year to
fund a major escalation of covert operations against Iran aimed at destabilizing
Iran's leadership, according to a new article by veteran investigative
journalist Seymour Hersh in the New Yorker magazine. The operations were set out
in a highly classified Presidential Finding signed by Bush which, by law, must
be made known to Democratic and Republican leaders. The plan allowed up to $400
million in covert spending for activities ranging from supporting dissident
groups to spying on Iran's nuclear program. Hersh joins us from Washington DC.
Congressional leaders agreed to a request from President Bush last year to
fund a major escalation of covert operations against Iran aimed at destabilizing
Iran's leadership. This according to a new article by veteran investigative
journalist Seymour Hersh in the New Yorker magazine.
The operations were set out in a highly classified Presidential Finding
signed by Bush which, by law, must be made known to Democratic and Republican
House and Senate leaders and ranking members of the intelligence committees. The
plan allowed up to $400 million in covert spending for activities ranging from
supporting dissident groups to spying on Iran's nuclear program.
According to Hersh, US Special Forces have been conducting cross-border
operations from southern Iraq since last year. These have included seizing
members of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard, and taking them to Iraq for
interrogation, and the pursuit of so-called "high-value targets" who may be
captured or killed.
While covert operations against Iran are not new, Hersh writes that the scale
and the scope of the operations in Iran, which involve the CIA and the Joint
Special Operations Command, have now been significantly expanded.
Seymour Hersh is a Pulitzer prize-winning journalist. He joins us from
Washington DC.
Read the full story or listen to the program on Democracy Now's
web site.
