Sy Hersch: Iran War Already Underway (to distract us from Iraq)

[Doctor_J]

Looks like the war with Iran was not planned all along, but DickCo has had to cook it up because

1. Iraq's been such a disaster
2. The Iraq debacle has actually made Iran into a power

Some of the core tactics of the redirection are not public, however. The clandestine operations have been kept secret, in some cases, by leaving the execution or the funding to the Saudis, or by finding other ways to work around the normal congressional appropriations process, current and former officials close to the Administration said.

A senior member of the House Appropriations Committee told me that he had heard about the new strategy, but felt that he and his colleagues had not been adequately briefed. “We haven’t got any of this,” he said. “We ask for anything going on, and they say there’s nothing. And when we ask specific questions they say, ‘We’re going to get back to you.’ It’s so frustrating.”



http://www.newyorker.com/fact/content/articles/070305fa_fact_hersh

[maddezmom]

1. AFP: US covert operations helping Muslim radicals: report

WASHINGTON (AFP) - A secret shift in US strategy in the Middle East toward undermining Iran risks sparking an "open confrontation" and benefits Sunni radicals, which may feed sectarian warfare in Iraq, said a magazine on Sunday.

US policy has been "redirected" toward undermining Iran and its Shiite Muslim leadership, the magazine reported in the issue that goes on sale Monday.

"The 'redirection,' as some inside the White House have called the new strategy, has brought the United States closer to an open confrontation with Iran...," Seymour Hersh wrote in The New Yorker.

The magazine reports that the United States is pushing its policy in the region with clandestine operations in Lebanon, Iran and Syria.

"A by-product of these activities has been the bolstering of Sunni extremist groups that espouse a militant vision of Islam and are hostile to America and sympathetic to Al-Qaeda," Hersh concludes.

more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20070225/wl_mideast_afp/usattacksiraniraq_070225163633;_ylt=AjeCtxwuVCtqHJMoOyK5klqaOrgF

[Botany]

2. Great Article ....

Iraq, Iran, Syria, Israel, Lebanon, Palestinian Lands, and Saudi Arabia
every place where the magic of bush's policies have touched the problems
are worse.

[Jcrowley]

3. Required reading

K&R

[Doctor_J]

4. HOw about this part:

Now ... Iran has forged a close relationship with the Shiite-dominated government of Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki.

Has there ever been a bigger fuck-up than George Bush????

[Jcrowley]

5. No

The question that interests me is, "How did it come to the point that such a fuck-up was even possible?"

Let's face it Bush is just the errand boy, so what are the constellation of events that have led to this? It goes way back I'm afraid. Maybe to the original seed.

[Emillereid]

6. K&R

[ixion]

7. more neocon (ill) logic

so we illegally invaded a very weak country, and screwed it up. Now, in order to distract, we're going to illegally invaded a nation that is capable of defending itself.

Gee, that makes so much sense. NOT! :grr: