http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/meast/...ef=mpstoryview WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The Bush administration has launched a "significant escalation" of covert operations in Iran, sending U.S. commandos to spy on the country's nuclear facilities and undermine the Islamic republic's government, journalist Seymour Hersh said Sunday. An Iranian flag flies outside the building containing the reactor of Bushehr nuclear power plant, south of Tehran. White House, CIA and State Department officials declined comment on Hersh's report, which appears in this week's issue of The New Yorker. Hersh told CNN's "Late Edition with Wolf Blitzer" that Congress has authorized up to $400 million to fund the secret campaign, which involves U.S. special operations troops and Iranian dissidents. President Bush and Vice President d*ck Cheney have rejected findings from U.S. intelligence agencies that Iran has halted a clandestine effort to build a nuclear bomb and "do not want to leave Iran in place with a nuclear program," Hersh said. "They believe that their mission is to make sure that before they get out of office next year, either Iran is attacked or it stops its weapons program," Hersh said. The new article, "Preparing the Battlefield," is the latest in a series of articles accusing the Bush administration of preparing for war with Iran. He based the report on accounts from current and former military, intelligence, and congressional sources. "As usual with his quarterly pieces, we'll decline to comment," White House spokesman Gordon Johndroe told CNN. Don't Miss ElBaradei warns against strike on Iran Official: Israeli air exercise a message to Iran Messages conflict over tighter Iran sanctions "The CIA, as a rule, does not comment on allegations regarding covert operations," CIA spokesman Paul Gimigliano said. Ryan Crocker, the U.S. ambassador in Baghdad, denied U.S. raids were being launched from Iraq, where American commanders believe Iran is stoking sectarian warfare and fomenting attacks on U.S. troops. "I can tell you flatly that U.S. forces are not operating across the Iraqi border into Iran, in the south or anywhere else," Crocker said. Hersh said U.S. efforts were staged from Afghanistan, which also shares a border with Iran. He said the program resulted in "a dramatic increase in kinetic events and chaos" inside Iran, including attacks by Kurdish separatists in the country's north and a May attack on a mosque in Shiraz that killed 13 people. The United States has said it is trying to isolate Iran diplomatically in order to get it to come clean about its nuclear ambitions. But Bush has said "all options" are open in dealing with the issue. Iran insists its nuclear program is aimed at providing civilian electric power, and refuses to comply with U.N. Security Council demands that it halt uranium enrichment work. U.N. nuclear inspectors say Tehran held back critical information that could determine whether it is trying to make nuclear weapons. Israel, which is believed to have its own nuclear arsenal, conducted a military exercise in the eastern Mediterranean in early June involving dozens of warplanes and aerial tankers. The distance involved in the exercise was roughly the same as would be involved in a possible strike on the Iranian nuclear fuel plant at Natanz, Iran, a U.S. military official said. In 1981, Israeli warplanes destroyed an Iraqi nuclear reactor. Iran's parliament speaker, Ali Larijani, warned other countries against moves that would "cost them heavily." In comments that appeared in the semi-official Mehr news agency Sunday, an Iranian general said his troops were digging more than 320,000 graves to bury troops from any invading force with "the respect they deserve." "Under the law of war and armed conflict, necessary preparations must be made for the burial of soldiers of aggressor nations," said Maj. Gen. Mirfaisal Baqerzadeh, an Iranian officer in charge of identifying soldiers missing in action.
Bush Announces Iraq Exit Strategy: 'We'll Go Through Iran' March 9, 2005 | Issue 41•10 WASHINGTON, DC—Almost a year after the cessation of major combat and a month after the nation's first free democratic elections, President Bush unveiled the coalition forces' strategy for exiting Iraq. Bush announces the pullout of Iraq through Iran. "I'm pleased to announce that the Department of Defense and I have formulated a plan for a speedy withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq," Bush announced Monday morning. "We'll just go through Iran." Bush said the U.S. Army, which deposed Iran's longtime enemy Saddam Hussein, should be welcomed with open arms by the Islamic-fundamentalist state. "And Iran's so nearby," Bush said. "It's only a hop, skip, and a jump to the east." According to White House officials, coalition air units will leave forward air bases in Iraq and transport munitions to undisclosed locations in Iran. After 72 to 96 hours of aerial-bomb retreats, armored-cavalry units will retreat across the Zagros mountains in tanks, armored personnel carriers, and strike helicopters. The balance of the 120,000 troops will exit into the oil-rich borderlands around the Shatt-al-Arab region within 30 days. Pentagon sources said U.S. Central Command has been formulating the exit plan under guidelines set by Bush. "The fact is, we've accomplished our goals in Iraq," said General George Casey, the commander of coalition forces in the Iraqi theater. "Now, it's time to bring our men and women home—via Iran." Questions have been raised about the unprecedented size of the withdrawal budget. "I'm asking Congress to approve a $187-billion budget to enable us to exit as smoothly as possible," said Casey, whose budget request includes several hundred additional M1A1 Abrams battle tanks, 72 new C-130 cargo planes, and two brigades of artillery. "We're concerned about the safety of our troops, so we need to have the capacity to deal with insurgent forces all the way from the Iraqi border through to Tehran." Casey has requested a budget increase for the Pentagon, so that the government can reward recruits who serve in the U.S. mission to exit Iraq. Some of the Iranian citizens U.S. troops will meet as they pass through Iran. "The plan also includes a minor stopover for refueling and provisional replenishment in Syria," Casey said. "But I don't expect we'll need more than 50,000 additional troops for that stretch of the Iraq pullout." Bush's plan has met with widespread support. "The people who said Iraq was a quagmire and that the president would never get our troops out are now eating crow," said Sean Hannity on his popular radio show Tuesday. "Of course, I don't expect anyone will have the honor to come forward and actually admit that they were wrong to question our commander-in-chief." Sioux Falls, SD's Dianne Haverbuck, who has two sons in the military, said she was pleased to hear of the impending exit. "Don and Kenneth have already been in Iraq an extra four months, so it's so good to hear that they'll finally be leaving that dangerous place," Haverbuck said. "I can't tell you how happy I was when the president said—what was it? I wrote it down. 'Getting our troops out of the Middle East and back home to their families is a viable long-term goal.'" "I can't wait to see the boys," Haverbuck added. Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Hoseini-Khamenei welcomed the exit plan. "Let the Allied armies come to Iran," Khamenei said. "I believe I can assure you that, if they do withdraw here, their brothers-in-arms in the Islamic Republican Army, the Revolutionary Guards Corps, the Quds special forces units, and the Basij Popular Mobilization Army will no doubt do everything they can to make the troops' trip back home memorable." http://www.theonion.com/content/news/bush_announces_iraq_exit_strategy
what i find laughable is listening to iran's officials, Quds members, or whomever the hell they are spin out rhetoric any time an invasion comes up in the media. for some reason, people in the middle east think tough, gruesome, and horrendous language of defiance is somehow affecting the decisions of their enemies on whether to go to war or not. It reminds me a lot of that kook from Iraq who basically stood there saying there was no US invasion when our forces were basically on the next street over from where he was giving his press conference. one guy was talking about bringing a cane because your going to need it to go home without your limbs. i will say this...there is probably no way in hell we can fight a clean war with Iran...like we are trying to do in Iraq. the more we try to fight clean...the more we are going to end up shooting ourselves in the foot. we would seriously have to take the gloves off with iran. i doubt the speed mission we did in iraq is going to work as well going into their capital, Tehran, and trying to stake a claim...like we did in baghdad. we're going to have to take out their navy, air forces and air defense radar sites. then, resort to some major ass bombing...probably even carpet bombing. it won't work if try to duplicate what's going on in iraq. it's going to have be more like WWII war. that is why...if there is even a shred of doubt...there is no way we should commit to a war with Iran...cause the gloves are going to have to come off.
You know, it's pretty damn hot. Couldn't we just ban the sale of gloves or even the possession of gloves? Then we wouldn't have to "take them off" and refight WWII! Impeach Bush/Cheney.
This war is NOT going to take place, neither side can afford to get into war.....it's all talk, both sides are talking out of their back sides.....as Surfguy said IF it does somehow happen, the war will be dirty and long with multiple countries getting involved, nobody wants that.
We're only in 2 wars right now... we really need to join a 3rd, maybe create a 4th and 5th. That way, maybe we can forget how 'swell' the first 2 are going.
interesting. i read the book of revelations a while back. it talked about a great war between Gog and Magog which happens to be modern day Israel and Russia...
I haven't read Hersh's article yet, but any reason why Congress is going along with the $400 million funding?
I heard Hersh talking on NPR yesterday, and he was more than a little dumbfounded by that himself. Basically, he attributed it to just another example of cowardice in standing up to the president for fear of appearing weak on defense or something similar.
Its only eight people who sign off on it, half are democrats. Why they signed off on it is not clear.
This is about right. It is amazing how effective the whole smear tactic of not being patriotic is. Hersch also thinks that Bush administration is more likely to attack Iran if it looks like Obama will win, since they feel they can count on McCain to continue their military policy. Also he said that Israel is not powerful enough to pull off an attack that would really cripple the Iranian nuclear program. According to another piece I read, Israel can't do numerous or sustained attacks. Hersch thinks that Bush Cheny feel that if Israel attacks, we need to also, as we will be blamed anyway.
Funny thing, that link is now dead. I'm pretty sure they keep all their news stories archived some place. So, why did they remove this one? I even remember clicking on this link two days ago I think on cnn.com and now I don't see it. I wonder why...
Here is the link to the NPR interview with Hersh: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=92025860
