Escalating covert operations in/against Iran - Sy Hersh
Sy Hersh has a new New Yorker piece on the escalation of covert ops against/within Iran. As with most Sy Hersh pieces, it's huge and discursive, so here's a topline only summary from Reuters.
Just on a quick read, the US is still funding the Baluchis/Jundullah a Sunni terror group operating out of the south with ties to Al Qaeda that has bombed, executed, and committed terrorist acts, as well as the Iraq based MEK and Kurdish PJAK.
Sec Def Gates last year meeting with some Democratic Senators,
A dispute over whether this finding covers use of lethal force inside Iran.
One of the disputes around now retired Centcom commander Adm. Fallon was that Fallon expected all operations to report to him. They went around him to report to the CIA and White House.
Not officially linked to the groups the US is supporting, but a huge increase in reports of violence in country,
And it's not just money, “We’ve got exposure, because of the transfer of our weapons and our communications gear."
There's more if you're willing to dig through it all.
Just on a quick read, the US is still funding the Baluchis/Jundullah a Sunni terror group operating out of the south with ties to Al Qaeda that has bombed, executed, and committed terrorist acts, as well as the Iraq based MEK and Kurdish PJAK.
Sec Def Gates last year meeting with some Democratic Senators,
Gates warned of the consequences if the Bush Administration staged a preëmptive strike on Iran, saying, as the senator recalled, “We’ll create generations of jihadists, and our grandchildren will be battling our enemies here in America.”
A dispute over whether this finding covers use of lethal force inside Iran.
One of the disputes around now retired Centcom commander Adm. Fallon was that Fallon expected all operations to report to him. They went around him to report to the CIA and White House.
Not officially linked to the groups the US is supporting, but a huge increase in reports of violence in country,
“Hardly a day goes by now we don’t see a clash somewhere. There were three or four incidents over a recent weekend, and the Iranians are even naming the Revolutionary Guard officers who have been killed.”
And it's not just money, “We’ve got exposure, because of the transfer of our weapons and our communications gear."
There's more if you're willing to dig through it all.
posted by mikevotes at
6:12 AM
4 Comments:
Two interesting points here. The first is that the Democrats are once again complicit in the Administration's dirty business, though they are now claiming to be innocent and misled. The second is that this kind of action really serves to shore up the Iranian government's authoritarian hold and rally the citizens against a common external threat.
From the link:
"“This is the ultimate for the Iranians—to blame the C.I.A.,” Gardiner said. “This is new, and it’s an escalation—a ratcheting up of tensions. It rallies support for the regime and shows the people that there is a continuing threat from the ‘Great Satan.’ ” In Gardiner’s view, the violence, rather than weakening Iran’s religious government, may generate support for it."
Iran is a much more homogeneous population than Iraq, and it wasn't created out of whole cloth by an imperial power, either. Just as we applied a WW2 mindset to Iraq, we are now applying an Iraq mindset to Iran.
Also, if you read between the lines of this report, you can tell that Cheney is the one masterminding these covert operations. Fourth Branch, indeed.
By
Todd Dugdale , at 11:39 AM
Well, but ratcheting up the tension serves a goal of its own in the Bush strategy. They're trying to get there.
And if Cheney's the one, you know his plan would include hopes of a provocation.
By
mikevotes, at 3:48 PM
Well, but ratcheting up the tension serves a goal of its own in the Bush strategy.
It "works" along the lines of the Contras, I suppose. Make the people so miserable that they cry uncle; this is far too small-scale for that, though. If you want to inspire insurrection or support the political opposition, then this strategy will backfire in a big way.
It's like 9/11 for Bush. Did 9/11 cause people to lose faith in Bush or give Al-Qaeda whatever it wanted? It certainly racheted up the tension, but it made Bush more popular and silenced the opposition.
If your contention is that it makes Iran less open to negotiations, then I agree. But it makes anything less than a full-scale invasion and occupation impossible, and that way lies madness.
Cheney can manufacture a provocation at will. It could even be completely imaginary. By the time the dust settles nobody would know if he made it up or not.
By
Todd Dugdale , at 4:51 PM
Not what I meant. I wasn't really clear. The idea is to ratchet the tension to provoke the Iranian government into a "mistake," even something indirect like cracking down hard on one of these groups the US is supporting, or maybe cranking the rhetoric past 10.
All those things will fall to the US's diplomatic advantage in playing on the Europeans, even if they aren't large enough to be true "provocations." (Although that might be a hope, too.)
The US had it's best recent leverage when the Iraq violence was being blamed on Iran. Now the big, headlining attacks have mostly gone away.
By
mikevotes, at 10:06 PM
Post a Comment
<< Home