U.S. Increases Covert Operations in Iran

Well.

U.S. congressional leaders agreed late last year to President George W. Bush’s funding request for a major escalation of covert operations against Iran aimed at destabilizing its leadership, according to a report in The New Yorker magazine published online on Sunday.

The article by reporter Seymour Hersh, from the magazine’s July 7 and 14 issue, centers around a highly classified Presidential Finding signed by Bush which by U.S. law must be made known to Democratic and Republican House and Senate leaders and ranking members of the intelligence committees.

“The Finding was focused on undermining Iran’s nuclear ambitions and trying to undermine the government through regime change,” the article cited a person familiar with its contents as saying, and involved “working with opposition groups and passing money.”

Hersh has written previously about possible administration plans to go to war to stop Tehran from obtaining nuclear weapons, including an April 2006 article in the New Yorker that suggested regime change in Iran, whether by diplomatic or military means, was Bush’s ultimate goal.

Funding for the covert escalation, for which Bush requested up to $400 million, was approved by congressional leaders, according to the article, citing current and former military, intelligence and congressional sources.

I’m glad to hear that we are actually trying to do something about Iran, but disturbed that a finding like this was leaked.  If I were Bush, I’d have the FBI investigate. 

1. Just what we need. Another dumbassed adventure lead by this incompetent.

   If there should be an investigation, it should be of Bush.

   Posted by on June 29, 2008 at 0935 hrs




2. That would be interesting, since presumably it would be undertaken by the same Democrat and Republican congressional leaders who just agreed to the “dumbassed adventure”.

   Posted by on June 29, 2008 at 0944 hrs




3. Kieth - get over your BDS, as your unhinged hatred of Bush is blinding you to reality. If the operation was apporved by congressional leaders in late 2007, who was in charge in Congress? Why, would it have been the Democrats? With that in mind, it seems they had no problem in letting Bush run another military operation. If you’re going to condemn the operation, seems to me you you should be condemning the Democratic leadership. That’s have amuses you about you lefties - you insist that Bush is an idiot, but the Democrats still go along with his requests on military actions, going all the way back to 2003 and the Iraq war. So if Bush is really an idiot, he’s still smart enough to continue to fool the Democrats, so who’s really the idiots here?

   Put down the BDS Kool-Aid and grow up.

   Posted by on June 29, 2008 at 1116 hrs




4. It’s spelled Keith.

   Your Bush love has been far more dangerous than my so-called Bush hatred. All I and most liberals care about is results. What ever I’m going to hear is nice and rosey but boy did we pay through the nose to get it. But thanks to you guys who are in love with a guy who you will never sever have a beer with we will be stuck with the tab for decades for an invasion we should have never launched.

   Yeah we can’t do anything about that one but we can sure stop the next one.

   I’m not crazy about what many blue dog Democrats have done or not done, but let’s stow the nonsense about Democrats and Congress. The expectation with that famous resolution was Bush would go to the UN first. hose Democrats who were behind invasion did in on the basis of trumped up and cherry picked intel.

   Sorry. This last one has Bush/Cheney’s finger prints all over this. We wouldn’t be there if it wasn’t for these guys.

   It is becoming clear that the Bush administration wants to lay another mess on Iran on the door of the White House for who ever comes in next—better as far as they are concerned if it is a Democrat.

   Put done the six pack and stop being screwed and taking the rest of us with you.

   Posted by on June 29, 2008 at 1326 hrs




5. I should have known better, anybody suffering from BDS is incapable of linear thought. Bush apparently wields such incredible power that he can do anything he wants, regardless of the constraints of Congress and the Constitution. Everything moonbats dislike, no matter what, is Bush’s fault. This includes hurricanes, the Reichstag fires, Ghandi’s assasination and the San Andreas fault.

   If something is sucessful, couldn’t you for once admit that Bush may have gotten it right?

   This will be my last comment on this topic, as you are obviusly so deranged that any future use of logic and rational thought would be wasted “Keith”.

   Posted by on June 29, 2008 at 1418 hrs




6. Does any thoughtful person think Iran did not know the U.S. was funding their opposition?  Perhaps the program was highly classified because lawmakers did not want the American public and citizens of other countries to know about the program.

   Posted by on June 29, 2008 at 1517 hrs




7. Umnhhh...yah, JP.  The only real surprise here is the amount of money involved. 

   Any thinking adult would have a ‘betting suspicion’ that we were in Iran one way or the other sometime in the last 5 years.

   Posted by dad29 on June 29, 2008 at 1724 hrs




8. If W did not start something like this after Ron R., we are total idiots. Now I would say recovering ediots. Good for W for starting this only 3 years later than it should have started.

   Posted by on June 29, 2008 at 1942 hrs




9. The skyrocketing gas prices that would ensure would doom Republicans to the fate of the Know-Nothings. How appropriate.

   Talk and some threat worked in Korea. I hope this is the plan but there is no doubt some back pressure on the Bush administration to “deo something.”

   Posted by on June 30, 2008 at 0738 hrs




10. The left has been predicting an imminent strike on Iran now since 2003 or even earlier.

    Sy Hersh is trying to relive his glory days, wouldn’t surprise me a bit if he is publishing various bits of BS fed to him in order to spook the Mullahs.

    So Keith, do you view the high gas prices as good or bad?

    Posted by Marcus Aurelius on June 30, 2008 at 1138 hrs




11. Gee we are actually trying to destablize a government who wants to see a mushroom cloud over all our major cities - who’d a thunk it?

    Posted by on June 30, 2008 at 1822 hrs




12. "Gee we are actually trying to destablize a government who wants to see a mushroom cloud over all our major cities”

    Oh boy here we go again, the greatest hit of 2003. Notice any similarities?

    “ who’d a thunk it?” Certainly not the last National Intelligence Assessment—http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/03/worl d/middleeast/03cnd-iran.html?_r=1&oref;=slogin—whi ch said Iran ended their nuclear weapons program in 2003—even Bush admits that.

    Cherry picking anyone? What a pack of bright bulbs we have there.

    Posted by on June 30, 2008 at 2135 hrs




13. —even Bush admits that.

    So to strengthen your argument in favor of the “National Intelligence Assessment[sic],” the 2002 version of which contained all the botched Iraq intel, you carefully include the endorsement of the person you regularly claim is a dimwitted moron.  Interesting.

    Posted by on June 30, 2008 at 2216 hrs




14. Nice reach Tony but you have certainly exceed your grasp. There must be something to the NIA if even HE gets it.

    So it’s most of us and Bush who get it. If in fact if Bush is that dumb, then why aren’t you getting it?

    Once again Cheney and company may very well pursue an adventure with no basis in reality in order to waste or money, troops and time. Is that so hard to figure out?

    Posted by on July 01, 2008 at 1225 hrs




15. Keith, another interesting comment, well done, sir.

    There must be something to the NIA if even HE gets it.

    If you want to follow you new bestest buddy GWB down the path of believing the latest “NIA” as you call it, feel free.  Though I would have thought that you’d be less anxious to do so after the faulty Iraq intel showed that it’s not always what it’s cracked up to be.

    So it’s most of us and Bush who get it. If in fact if Bush is that dumb, then why aren’t you getting it?

    Well, Keith, if most of us means everyone on this post who supports your position, that would amount to you, and..., well, nobody.

    Once again Cheney and company may very well pursue an adventure with no basis in reality in order to waste or money, troops and time. Is that so hard to figure out?

    Apparently that’s the case for your Democrat leadership, who approved this new funding.  Perhaps you should focus your laser-like intellect in that direction.

    Posted by on July 01, 2008 at 1711 hrs