Seymour Hersh Exposes New US Covert Operations In Iran (VIDEO)

The New Yorker's Seymour Hersh reports on how the Bush Administration has stepped up covert operations against Iran:

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.

Read Hersh's full report here.

Watch Hersh discuss his article on CNN below:

Comments

[bodo]

9/11 would never have happened in Bush's first year if Bill Clinton had not shut down the US spy system with the argument that everything could now be observed from the air. That this was false was quickly proven when the US tried in vain to find weapons of mass destruction from the air.

[CSE]

Please read "Ghost Wars" by Steven Coll. The twelve years of Reagan-Bush I and their illegal clandestine activities created levels of oversight and teams of lawyers in all the governmental departments that reviewed each potential step - a considerable hindrance. Add to that the reluctance of Congress to appropriate any significant funding for the Northern Alliance in Afghanistan and open support for Ahmed Shah Massoud. Tie in the actions of the Pakistanis in all of this and then tell us about 9/11.

[mady]

That is pure speculation on your part.

I could say 9/11 would never have happened if Gore were President because he was smart enough to read the report that Bush and co., filed.

[ICanHasDemocracy]

riiiight....keep drinking that Blame Clinton kool aid- never mind the fact that GHWB left troops in Somalia as a parting gift for Clinton.
Never mind the fact that they had intel of a possible strike months before...heck of a job, Condi!

[WIpatriot]

Wow...a reality heretofore nonesistant.

[el8usa]

Manipulation... So it was predicted long time ago that they will use their last Terror attacks... Now it's time... but the Leader they want to run a third term of Bush is not the leader Peoples think he is. The Biggest False Allegation was made by a Naval Aviator running for to lead the US Country to WAR – McCain made False claim to be the entitled Commander in Chief but has ZERO..NO Experience as he pretends to have. Performing heroic military service is not a substitute for earning commander in Chief experience... then if you Daddy was an Admiral in the Army, that’s not a legacy for McCain to claim the post of Commander in Chief as a status he shall deserve. It’s shameful if someone like McCain to expect respect back. Since the beginning of the Race, he had and still has nothing else to run for in his candidacy for President.

The Polls shows McCain as a looser in every political matters... but only security is left and Obama has just to wait for the right time to show that the only argument McCain try to make his case as his heritage on the matters of security is even not a case McCain can win, by trying to portray himself as the one he wasn't and is not (the War Expert and ready for day one but waiting for Petraeus to give him order to do something) - McCain: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GnGzfyTFwoM&eurl

[ICanHasDemocracy]

"Admiral in the Army"? at least get your service branches right- Hooo-rah!

[ShakeYourComplacency]

Imagine what 400 million dollars would do for us here. What roads, hospitals, schools it could buy. The war in 2 countries was not enough. The sucking sound from the treasury was not loud enough. Now we've got it coming from Iran. And since Obama is not liberal, supports guns in the street, and amnesty for telcoms, it's likely he'll support more miliitary action in Iran as well. Nothing is going to change. Say goodbye to your tax dollars.

Those kids changing their name to Hussein are better off changing it to Northrup and Exxon-Mobil, because that's who's running the country.

[eNewsReference]

I'm sure there are covert operations all over the world...we've know there were operations in Iran for how long now?... http://www.enewsreference.com

[riverhouse]

Let's not minimize the consequences here. We're already getting our tails kicked in two Middle East wars which have busted our economy and our military and removed us fro our moral authority in the world. An attack on Iran will be the ruination of this nation.

[SouthpawSass]

You've heard of ethnic cleansing, well is the United States attempting to "polically cleanse" the Middle East? 'Cause I don't see the difference between the two...

[SouthpawSass]

"politically" duh...

[SouthpawSass]

What are the messages that were powerful enough to incite the genocide of Tutsis in Rwanda, the Holocaust, and the widespread murder, rape and torture of Muslims, Croatians, and Albanians in the Balkan conflict? What follows is an analysis of seven messages that consistently appear in the fiercest and most thorough campaigns of hate propaganda. These messages are:

1. The enemy is qualitatively different than us.

2. The enemy represents some great evil. They are demonic, fascist, fundamentalist, etc. The evilness of the enemy is eternal. They have always been evil and they will always be evil.

3. The enemy has harmed us in the past with impunity.

4. The enemy has plans to harm us again in the future.

5. Unlike the enemy, we are noble and deserving of the good lives that the enemy would deny to us

6. The enemy is united so we must also be. Those of us who undermine our unity are traitors or agents of the enemy.

7. This is the final battle. If we win we will move on to a bright future free from the threat that the enemy poses.


http://gseweb.harvard.edu/~t656_web/peace/Articles_Spring_2004/Belman_Jonathan_hate_propaganda.htm

[peacekitten]

i would add only one more thing.

the enemy isn't human.

they are much easier to kill if we aren't taught to even think of them as human beings.

[SouthpawSass]

Oh yes, you are right, we should add that.

[BlindedbytheSlight]

Yep, I've seen this tactic practiced by you and other lefties every single day on the Huffington Post.

[Seven7s]

Bingo...this is the main reason genocides are allowed to go on.

It is much easier to kill a human being when you do not see them as actual human beings.

After your successfully instill thoughts of dehumanization into people the rest falls into play.

[BlueStateMan]

Same as it ever was.......

[ThePodiumIsMine]

Yep, those points are exactly how the libtards demonize conservatives. Libs: always working towards the next concentration camp.

[SouthpawSass]

You've got to be kidding... Conscurvytives are the ones who fear mongered us into Iraq... now Iran.

What example can you possibly fabricate to back up your claim?

[ICanHasDemocracy]

...of Republi-cons maybe.
Hey we'll even through in a free toe-tapping stall ad transexual prostitutes.

[WIpatriot]

Pubican party troll.

[peacekitten]

i should think that a *true* conservative, a *genuine* republican, would outraged, ashamed and angry beyond belief at the way their political party has been hijacked by a bunch of amoral thieves, warmongers, sadists, liars and megalomaniacs.

show me a *true* conservative, one that believes as lincoln did, and i'll show you an exhibit in the smithsonian.

[Joeblue]

The only camps I heard of are the bush FEMA camps, you GD idiot.

[lornejl]

The enemy sounds a lot like repubs.

[SouthpawSass]

Hey, I think you're on to something...

[fumes]

we're more their enemy than they ours. and at a guess, i'm thinking my guy congressman dr ron paul voted against this. ron paul 2008 write-in!

[MiddleRoad1]

Conventional wisdom seems to be that this will help the Republicans. That people will be afraid, and will not vote out the government during a war. I think that won't work this time around, that people are sick of the cynical war-mongering and this will be the last straw that will cause even republicans to come out and vote democrat. What do you think?

[bbrecht]

I hope that you are right, but I think a good number of people are still motivated by fear and anger and do not think for themselves & therefore learn nothing. Not only that but they "cling" to these emotions and will not be reasoned with. I know I am related to some of them.

[meowomon]

They have the camps ready for us. I am fully ready for any dissenting voice to be labeled enemy combatant and hidden away while Bush/Cheney suspend the Constitution.

[Vinca]

To meowomon: I STRONGLY BELIEVE GW BUSH has his heart set on INVADING IRAN,WHY SHOULD WE KEEP THESE CRIMINALS< BUSH AND CHENEY UNTIL '09?

[KQuarksSuperKollider]

This shows why we need a leader in the white house that is not a warmonger. We have spineless Democrats in congress that are afraid to look weak and rubber stamp all of Bush's operations. They will do the same with McBush. Obama is the only one who can lead this country out of disastrous wars.

That's also why it's totally insane to rely on the Democratic congress to preserve Roe v. Wade through the confirmation process. Everyone seems to forget that the two most conservative judges on the Supreme Court (Scalia and Thomas) were confirmed with Democratic majorities in Congress. In fact Scalia's conformation was unanimous. That's why PUMA's false assumption that the Supreme Court is not an issue is so wrongheaded.

[peacekitten]

the supreme court is at least as important an issue as the war itself.

there are at least four justices that should be impeached as quickly as possible, starting with clarence thomas. he's a liar and incompetent, both of which were there in glaring relief at his confirmation hearing.

we cannot afford to have our supreme court filled with bloviating torquemadas who are a disgrace to their office, their profession, and just humanity in general.

[BlueStateMan]

Thomas perjured himself during his confirmation hearing.... Scalia committed treason during Bush v Gore (Vince Bugliosi make a strong argument in his book, "The Betrayal of America: How the Supreme Court Undermined the Constitution and Chose Our President").

Also is this wonderful piece in The Nation.......

http://www.thenation.com/doc/20010205/bugliosi

[LongBeachDave]

This is what we should be doing in Iran, and around the world:

http://www.vimeo.com/1211060?pg=embed&sec=1211060

[SouthpawSass]

lol

Thanks LBD... I agree.

[danoj]

Dropped the warmonger bomb again i see. What do you want in the White House another Bill Clinton. That turned out well; it led to 3k deaths on the homeland. I think Iraq was a bad idea too, but i'd rather fight them over there than over here whaere they afforded rights and can move around freely hiding in plain sight.

[Chas53]

One of the great misconceptions is "if we don't fight them over there, then we'll have to fight them over here". This is BS. Fight them where? In Iraq? Well, it just so turns out that Al Queda and the Taliban have been reconsituting themselves in W. Pakistan. Meanwhile, we have wasted billions and expended valuable "treasure". What a waste. History will not look kindly on the Iraq misadventure. All the while, American infrastructure crumbles and we have no energy policy. We have met the enemy and he is us- Pogo.

[sisterdebmac]

After all these years, you can STILL spout the party line? Why don't you change your name to "mushroom"? How can you really still believe that bullpuckey? Where the hell have you been the last 7.5 years? Do you read? CAN you read? Or do you still get all your news from Hannity & Billo? Geez....

Must be getting kinda lonely down there in the lower 24%, huh? Guess that's why all the weirdo rightie trolls keep coming here...

[Mogamboguru]

Searching foreign ships at gunpoint and sending special ops into Iran are in itself acts of war and justify istant retaliatory measures against all means of the USA without prior warning, according to the Geneva Convention, anyway. Yet, if the USA are going to take this measure, they are also subject to the following:

Quote:

Wars without international legality (e.g. not out of self-defense, not sanctioned by the United Nations Security Council, and not sanctioned by Article 51 of the Charter of the United Nations) can be considered wars of aggression.

The International Military Tribunal at Nuremberg, which followed World War II, called the waging of aggressive war "essentially an evil thing...to initiate a war of aggression...is not only an international crime; it is the supreme international crime, differing only from other war crimes in that it contains within itself the accumulated evil of the whole."

Article 39 of the United Nations Charter provides that the Security Council shall determine the existence of any act of aggression and "shall make recommendations, or decide what measures shall be taken in accordance with Articles 41 and 42, to maintain or restore international peace and security".

The Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court refers to the crime of aggression as one of the "most serious crimes of concern to the international community", and provides that the crime falls within the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court (ICC).

Unquote.

The ICC is waiting, George, Dick and Condi.

[BlueStateMan]

Finally....

Someone who actually KNOWS what he's talking about!

[peacekitten]

thank you, my friend, for putting this up.

it needs to be shouted from the mountain tops on the hour around the clock, until EVERYONE gets it.

[arvay]

All of this is true, but has not ever stopped the US from contemptuous scorn for these provisions of international law. Just one small example -- remember the ease with which W's father invaded Panama and abducted its president. Totally illegal and outrageous. He got away with it.

If my country takes the illegal and catastrophically stupid path of war with Iran, it will trigger a global economic collapse, probable closing of the Straits of Hormuz, lose tens of thousands of soldiers and kill hundreds of thousands of people. One or two American aircraft carriers may be sunk, certainly there will be costly attacks on Americans in Iran. Israel will suffer deeply, its loss of life may be the end of its existence as a viable state.

The war will not achieve its objective. We don't have the troops to invade let alone occupy Iran, and Iran will certainly develop nuclear weapons quickly in response, and use them the next time it is attacked, or maybe in a calculated counterstroke a year or so from now.

In other words, these plans are a dream that Osama bin Laden couldn't have dreamed in his wildest fantasies. But our leadership is proving to be more stupid that he could have imagined. If they do this, we are all going to suffer the consequences, whether or not anyone ever enforces international law.

[peacekitten]

please note that iraq is NOT a signatory to the icc, and when maliki tried to sign iraq onto the court, the b*sh administration strong armed him out of it in 2005.

it's that one little line that is the sticking point. iran has always been a signatory to that court, and if they invade iran without justification, they WILL be held up in a world court of law. any country that is part of that treaty can bring the charges, and if the iranians don't, which is unlikely, somebody else will.

[TianZi]

Let's call a spade a spade: the United States has invaded Iran by conducting hostile military ops there, and thereby committed an act of war that cannot be justified under international law on the basis of preemptive self-defense.

And he was able to do this only with the assistance of the Democratic leadership in Congress. Ditto previously in Iraq.

The list of people who want an American Empire, and who will use the fig leaf of "WMD" to cover an intent to seize foreign oil supplies, is not limited to Republicans. H R C was one of those enablers. I can only hope B O is not.

[openhand]

Charlie Black "another terrorist attack in the United States would "be a big advantage" for McCain in the coming election."

The point is that Bush/Cheney have opened themselves to serious prosecution and need J W McCain as president to protect them.

[Vinca]

To openhand: VINCENT BUGILOSI hit the nail on the head, THEY MUST BE HELD ACCOUNTABLE< I' M SO MAD AT NANCY PELOSI

[BenBernanke]

Thanks to huffpo for giving this story first billing... as it should.

I mean C'mon, in effect, the next unprovoked illegal war has been started and the democrats were enablers.... how much bigger than that does it get?

and yet, check the papers... NYT, Washpo, etc... even foreign press... the global neocom media coordination in something else.... this story was but a Sunday morning wonder... it's gone down the memory hole on Monday morning.

Right there is when you know we are in deep crap. This Iran war has been planned and approved at all levels!

What this really means is that our Republic and Constitution are no more.

we're screwed.... unless...

nah! as long as cable and walmart are on, nobody's gonna do nothing!

a disgrace! Undeserving of Liberty.

The Founding Fathers hoped you, the citizen would be the last rampart against such perfidy...

Can't you see this is the crowd the Founding Fathers tossed and turned at night in their beds worrying so much about, these are dangers to the Republic our Founding Fathers worried so much about when they ever so carefully crafted our Constitution to give us the tools to prevent such a disaster?

[peacekitten]

the ENTIRE reason for this "covert" operation is to try and find ANY tiny shred of ANYTHING to justify their wish to flatten the entire country. it is the ONLY way they could avoid being hauled into the international criminal court, something to which iran is a signatory.

it doesn't matter if the agressor is a member or not, it only matters if the *aggrieved" party is a member for the court to have jurisdiction. even if the current administration were to try and proclaim themselves outside the court's jurisdiction, they cannot make it true. and we do have an extradition treaty with italy. it bears considering that donald r*msfeld cannot set foot in germany, because he would be immediately arrested. the charges, among others, are war crimes, and crimes against humanity.

if this administration can make the case that they have proof positive iran has violated non-proliferation treaties (it has not) or that they have attacked the united states forces in some way (they have not), they have deluded themselves into thinking they can evade the charges of crimes against humanity, and unprovoked aggression. their only possible out is that iranian citizens have joined the army of the mahdi, under the command of al-sadr. the mahdi army answers to no government, and knows no boundaries. it would at best be a very, very shaky argument to defend an invasion.

their desperation is showing.

[GnitenGoodLk]

I'm feeling pretty desperate about all of this as well peacekitten

[peacekitten]

our biggest problem in straightening out this mess is the lack of courage in the congress. anymore, i am not so sure it is a lack of courage as it is a result of blackmail on the part of the repugnican party. either way, as our founders intended, we the people are indeed the last line of our own defense.

the machinery is in place to change the political landscape once and for all. the laws are there already that would bring the troops home forthwith.

we have the weapons. we must not hesitate to use them, and we can start by trying to educate everyone we can as to the TRUTH of the matter.

[Mogamboguru]

Hey - this is GOOD News! Spread it as far as you can! I am with you!

BTW - Do you have a link to a reliable source at hand to support that?

PLEASE!

[peacekitten]

http://www.icc-cpi.int/about.html

from there you can download directly the statutes of the court governing its jurisdiction.

http://atlanticreview.org/archives/484-Prosecution-of-Secretary-Rumsfeld-in-Germany-UPDATE.html

regarding the rumsfeld case, he can now add france to that list, as human rights groups there are seeking to open an investigation regarding his use of torture. he may or may not have been cleared in germany, as of now.

[BlueStateMan]

Which is why they are more dangerous NOW than EVER.

[sustainable]

Its a desperate move, as currently McCain is unelectable, but if there's war who knows?

[kfdan]

The Democratic leadership and the GOP who have consistently supported Bush's actions in the senate and house need to be cleaned out. These so called representatives of the people are a part of a neo-con game that will bring perpetual war to the Middle East. It's time for a very large change in the Beltway!