Hersh Exposes Covert Efforts Against Iran

From the oh so fey yet viciously anti-American journal, The New Yorker:

Iranians take part in a rally against the Iranian government, organized by the opposition National Council of Resistance of Iran, in Villepinte, a northern suburb of Paris, Saturday, June 28, 2008.

Preparing the Battlefield

The Bush Administration steps up its secret moves against Iran.

by Seymour M. Hersh July 7, 2008

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. These have included seizing members of Al Quds, the commando arm of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard, and taking them to Iraq for interrogation, and the pursuit of “high-value targets” in the President’s war on terror, who may be captured or killed. 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.

Under federal law, a Presidential Finding, which is highly classified, must be issued when a covert intelligence operation gets under way and, at a minimum, must be made known to Democratic and Republican leaders in the House and the Senate and to the ranking members of their respective intelligence committees—the so-called Gang of Eight. Money for the operation can then be reprogrammed from previous appropriations, as needed, by the relevant congressional committees, which also can be briefed.

“The Finding was focussed 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.” The Finding provided for a whole new range of activities in southern Iran and in the areas, in the east, where Baluchi political opposition is strong, he said…

"Journalist" Seymour Hersh speaks at Al Jazeera Forum “Media and the Middle East - Beyond the Headlines” in Doha April 1, 2007.

Perhaps it is needless to say that coming as this does from Mr. Hersh, none of this may be true.

For this despicable traitor "journalist" has a long history of grossly exaggerating stories or simply making them up out of whole cloth.

Indeed, he is a confessed liar, not that we really needed his confession.

But if any of this report is true, then Mr. Hersh has once again revealed secrets which are vitally important to our national security.

Perhaps there are no laws against this at the moment per se. Though I would contend there are several on the books that would apply.

But if they aren’t, there should be.

Our country needs some way to protect itself from "the enemy within," for which Mr. Hersh serves as the poster child. He is a one man fifth column.

At the very least, whether it is true or not, this article will make it that much more difficult for any political opposition within Iran.

But of course that is also Mr. Hersh’s intentions. Since any enemy of of the US, such as Iran, must be protected at all costs.

(Thanks to Sheehanjihad for the heads up.)

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