Thread: Bush Authorizes New Covert Action Against Iran

By Brian Ross and Richard Esposito
ABC News
Tuesday 22 May 2007
The CIA has received secret presidential approval to mount a covert "black" operation to destabilize the Iranian government, current and former officials in the intelligence community tell the Blotter on ABCNews.com.
The sources, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitive nature of the subject, say President Bush has signed a "nonlethal presidential finding" that puts into motion a CIA plan that reportedly includes a coordinated campaign of propaganda, disinformation and manipulation of Iran's currency and international financial transactions.
"I can't confirm or deny whether such a program exists or whether the president signed it, but it would be consistent with an overall American approach trying to find ways to put pressure on the regime," said Bruce Riedel, a recently retired CIA senior official who dealt with Iran and other countries in the region.
A National Security Council spokesperson, Gordon Johndroe, said, "The White House does not comment on intelligence matters." A CIA spokesperson said, "As a matter of course, we do not comment on allegations of covert activity."
The sources say the CIA developed the covert plan over the last year and received approval from White House officials and other officials in the intelligence community.
Officials say the covert plan is designed to pressure Iran to stop its nuclear enrichment program and end aid to insurgents in Iraq.
"There are some channels where the United States government may want to do things without its hand showing, and legally, therefore, the administration would, if it's doing that, need an intelligence finding and would need to tell the Congress," said ABC News consultant Richard Clarke, a former White House counterterrorism official.
Current and former intelligence officials say the approval of the covert action means the Bush administration, for the time being, has decided not to pursue a military option against Iran.
"Vice President Cheney helped to lead the side favoring a military strike," said former CIA official Riedel, "but I think they have come to the conclusion that a military strike has more downsides than upsides."
The covert action plan comes as U.S. officials have confirmed Iran had dramatically increased its ability to produce nuclear weapons material, at a pace that experts said would give them the ability to build a nuclear bomb in two years.
Riedel says economic pressure on Iran may be the most effective tool available to the CIA, particularly in going after secret accounts used to fund the nuclear program.
"The kind of dealings that the Iranian Revolution Guards are going to do, in terms of purchasing nuclear and missile components, are likely to be extremely secret, and you're going to have to work very, very hard to find them, and that's exactly the kind of thing the CIA's nonproliferation center and others would be expert at trying to look into," Riedel said.
Under the law, the CIA needs an official presidential finding to carry out such covert actions. The CIA is permitted to mount covert "collection" operations without a presidential finding.
"Presidential findings" are kept secret but reported to the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence and other key congressional leaders.
The "nonlethal" aspect of the presidential finding means CIA officers may not use deadly force in carrying out the secret operations against Iran.
Still, some fear that even a nonlethal covert CIA program carries great risks.
"I think everybody in the region knows that there is a proxy war already afoot with the United States supporting anti-Iranian elements in the region as well as opposition groups within Iran," said Vali Nasr, adjunct senior fellow for Mideast studies at the Council on Foreign Relations.
"And this covert action is now being escalated by the new U.S. directive, and that can very quickly lead to Iranian retaliation and a cycle of escalation can follow," Nasr said.
Other "lethal" findings have authorized CIA covert actions against al Qaeda, terrorism and nuclear proliferation.
Also briefed on the CIA proposal, according to intelligence sources, were National Security Advisor Steve Hadley and Deputy National Security Advisor Elliott Abrams.
"The entire plan has been blessed by Abrams, in particular," said one intelligence source familiar with the plan. "And Hadley had to put his chop on it."
Abrams' last involvement with attempting to destabilize a foreign government led to criminal charges.
He pleaded guilty in October 1991 to two misdemeanor counts of withholding information from Congress about the Reagan administration's ill-fated efforts to destabilize the Nicaraguan Sandinista government in Central America, known as the Iran-Contra affair. Abrams was later pardoned by President George H. W. Bush in December 1992.
In June 2001, Abrams was named by then National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice to head the National Security Council's office for democracy, human rights and international operations. On Feb. 2, 2005, National Security Advisor Hadley appointed Abrams deputy assistant to the president and deputy national security advisor for global democracy strategy, one of the nation's most senior national security positions.
As earlier reported on the Blotter on ABCNews.com, the United States has supported and encouraged an Iranian militant group, Jundullah, that has conducted deadly raids inside Iran from bases on the rugged Iran-Pakistan-Afghanistan "tri-border region."
U.S. officials deny any "direct funding" of Jundullah groups but say the leader of Jundullah was in regular contact with U.S. officials.
American intelligence sources say Jundullah has received money and weapons through the Afghanistan and Pakistan military and Pakistan's intelligence service. Pakistan has officially denied any connection.
A report broadcast on Iranian TV last Sunday said Iranian authorities had captured 10 men crossing the border with $500,000 in cash along with "maps of sensitive areas" and "modern spy equipment."
A senior Pakistani official told ABCNews.com the 10 men were members of Jundullah.
The leader of the Jundullah group, according to the Pakistani official, has been recruiting and training "hundreds of men" for "unspecified missions" across the border in Iran.
Click Here to See Photos of the Players in Another Iran Operation - the Iran-Contra Affair: Where Are They Now?

Ah, the pawn game.

US Sponsoring Al Qaida Linked Terror Group against Iran

April 03, 2007 5:25 PM
Brian Ross and Christopher Isham Report:


A Pakistani tribal militant group responsible for a series of deadly guerrilla raids inside Iran has been secretly encouraged and advised by American officials since 2005, U.S. and Pakistani intelligence sources tell ABC News.

The Blotter

Jundullah (Army of God) (Persian: جنداللہ) is a militant Islamic organization that is based in Waziristan, Pakistan and affiliated with Al-Qaeda. It is a part of the Baloch insurgency in Pakistan and in Iran's Sistan and Baluchistan Province. The goal of the group is to form an independent and united Baluchistan under a hardline Sunni Islamist government similar to the Taliban regime in Afghanistan.[1] Though Baloch-dominated, the group claims to represent all Sunnis in Iran, regardless of ethnicity.[2] Iran and Pakistan have designated it a terrorist organization and banned it.

Support from the United States Government
On April 3, 2007, ABC News reported that the United States government had been secretly encouraging and advising Jundullah in its attacks against Iranian targets. This support is said to have started in 2005 and has been arranged so that the United States provides no direct funding to the group, which would require congressional oversight and attract media attention.[4][6] Fars News Agency reports that the United States government is involved in Jundullah terrorists acts.[7] On April 2, 2007, Abdul Malik Rigi, the head of the Iranian branch, appeared on Voice of America, the official broadcasting service of the United States government, which identified Rigi as "the leader of popular Iranian resistance movement". This incident resulted in public condemnation by Iranian-American communities in the U.S.[8][9][10][11]

Jundallah - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

U.S. protects Iranian Terror group in Iraq

POSTED: 11:53 a.m. EDT, April 6, 2007


Story Highlights

• State Department considers Mujahedeen-e-Khalq a terrorist group
• Group's camp in Iraq protected by coalition forces
• Mujahedeen-e-Khalq provides valuable intelligence on Iran
• Iraqi government demands group leave Iraqi soil

U.S. protects Iranian opposition group in Iraq - CNN.com

Published on Friday, May 30, 2003 by the ABC News

Pentagon Eyes Massive Covert Attack on Iran

WASHINGTON - The Pentagon is advocating a massive covert action program to overthrow Iran's ruling ayatollahs, senior State Department and Pentagon officials told ABCNEWS.

The proposal, which would include covert sponsorship of a group currently deemed terrorist by the U.S. government, is not new, and has not won favor with enough top officials to be acted upon.

But sources say it is a viable option that is getting a new look as the administration ramps up its rhetoric against Iran, and it is likely to be one of the top items on the agenda as high-level U.S. policymakers meet today to discuss how to deal with the Islamic republic.

The Pentagon's proposal includes using all available points of pressure on the Iranian regime, including backing armed Iranian dissidents and employing the services of the Mujahedeen e Khalq, a group currently branded as terrorist by the United States.

The MEK, which had been primarily supported by Iraq and was responsible for numerous attacks inside Iran, agreed after the Iraq war to a truce with U.S. forces.

The Pentagon specifically set aside a proposal to reconstitute the MEK under a different banner and promote their armed incursions into Iran, much as the MEK had been doing under Saddam. As the State Department insisted, and the White House concurred, the MEK has been disarmed but their forces are still in place and their weapons are in storage.

The State Department argument was that MEK is on the terrorist list and any failure to disarm it would be an act of hypocrisy, which was the same line taken by the Iranians in confidential meetings that have been ongoing in Geneva, until the United States recently cut them off.

The office of Doug Feith, undersecretary for policy at the Department of Defense, argued that the MEK has not targeted Americans since the 1970s, which is true, and was only put on the terrorist list by the Clinton administration as a gesture to improve relations with Iran.

The Pentagon argues that the MEK is disciplined, well-trained, and an effective lever against the ayatollahs, and could be renamed and placed under American clandestine guidance.

For the moment, this proposal is blocked, but will be revisited as part of the greater proposal to institute massive covert action against the ayatollahs.

This covert action program, which has not been approved or even recommended by the so-called deputies committee of Paul Wolfowitz, Richard Armitage, National Security Council Deputy Steven Hadley and the deputy to the director of Central Intelligence, would include intelligence collaboration with Iranian dissidents, as well as lethal aid (i.e., guns and other military assistance to anti-Iranian government elements, both inside and outside Iran).

The objective of the Pentagon proposal to destabilize the Iranian government is based on the belief that the religious hard-liners are opposed by the majority of the Iranian population and any pressure would make them crack — a view that some analysts find dubious.

The debate over Iran comes after Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld on Tuesday warned Iran against meddling in Iraq, and presidential spokesman Ari Fleischer described the Islamic republic's efforts to root al Qaeda leaders out of country as insufficient.

New accusations also surfaced this week from an Iranian opposition group, the National Council of Resistance of Iran, that the government has built a uranium-enrichment plant for bomb materials, echoing existing charges from the United States.

Whether the Pentagon proposal gets to the point of a covert action program is partly dependent on Iranian responses to U.S. demands, such as turning over high-ranking al Qaeda lieutenant Saif Al-Adel and closing down the alleged nuclear weapons program.
The State Department favors diplomatic and political pressure, utilizing the International Atomic Energy Agency as one pressure point on the nuclear program.

Whether or not that al Qaeda leaders will be handed over, as the United States formally requested last week, depends on politics within Iran.

There is an apparent debate under way in Iran between more hard-line elements led by Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamanei, and moderates led by Iranian President Mohammad Khatami.

Khatami seems to argue that cooperation with the United States on al Qaeda is necessary, and that Al-Adel should be turned over. The hard-liners apparently are using the issue of protection of senior al Qaeda as a tool against the pragmatists who wish to improve relations with the United States.

Some senior American intelligence sources are optimistic that the issue can be resolved in the United States' favor soon.

But the nuclear issue remains, and U.S. officials are apparently divided on how imminent the threat is.

The Pentagon, and Vice President Dick Cheney, are said to believe that Iran may have all the means necessary to build a nuclear bomb without further foreign assistance, although CIA intelligence sources say their assessments are at variance with these assumptions. The intelligence agency apparently believes that Iran is trying to build a bomb, but that it still needs help for parts of the program.
Pentagon Eyes Massive Covert Attack on Iran

Originally Posted by michaelr

The CIA has received secret presidential approval to mount a covert "black" operation to destabilize the Iranian government

good. let's get this party started.

Originally Posted by sectionOne

good. let's get this party started.

Sponsoring terror against another country is illegal. Forcing regime change is also illegal unless its in self defense.

Originally Posted by Horhey

Sponsoring terror against another country is illegal. Forcing regime change is also illegal unless its in self defense.

It is a definite violation of international law. Folks here don't realize, when the USofA violates international law, they violate our own laws, both the constitution and the federal law that authorized our treaties with the international community.

Originally Posted by Horhey

Sponsoring terror against another country is illegal. Forcing regime change is also illegal unless its in self defense.

of course Noriega would say something like that.
I'm sure the legalities are covered and the "article" written by "reporters" is slanted for the audience to have a tizzy over.

Iran is going to nuke your ass. do you want some action to stop that? yes or no?
since you aren't going to get off your ass before it's nuked do you want someone else to do it for you? yes or no?

Originally Posted by Vortex

It is a definite violation of international law. Folks here don't realize, when the USofA violates international law, they violate our own laws, both the constitution and the federal law that authorized our treaties with the international community.

are you a lawyer?

anyone know what saber rattling means?