Posted on 01/16/2005 10:02:49 PM PST by DoctorZIn
Top News Story
US Special forces 'on the ground' in Iran
Ian Traynor
Monday January 17, 2005
The GuardianAmerican special forces have been on the ground inside Iran scouting for US air strike targets for suspected nuclear weapons sites, according to the renowned US investigative journalist Seymour Hersh.
In an article in the latest edition of the New Yorker, Mr Hersh, who was the first to uncover the US human rights abuses against Iraqi detainees at Abu Ghraib prison last year, reports that Pakistan, under a deal with Washington, has been supplying information on Iranian military sites and on its nuclear programme, enabling the US to conduct covert ground and air reconnaissance of Iranian targets should the escalating row over Iran's nuclear ambitions come to a head.
Acting on information from Pakistani scientists knowledgeable about Iran's nuclear programme, Mr Hersh reported, US commandos have penetrated territory in eastern Iran seeking to pinpoint underground installations suspected of being nuclear weapons sites.
The report in the New Yorker said the Americans have been conducting secret reconnaissance missions over and inside Iran since last summer with a view to identifying up to 40 possible targets for striking should the dispute over Iran turn violent.
"This is a war against terrorism and Iraq is just one campaign," Mr Hersh quotes one former US intelligence official as saying. "The Bush administration is looking at this as a huge war zone. Next we're going to have the Iranian campaign."
Another unnamed source described as a consultant close to the Pentagon said: "The civilians in the Pentagon want to go into Iran and destroy as much of the military infrastructure as possible."
That appeared to be a reference to noted "neocons" in Washington such as the defence secretary, Donald Rumsfeld, his deputy, Paul Wolfowitz, and others. Arguments about Iran's suspected nuclear programme have been raging for the past 20 months since it was discovered that Tehran had been conducting secret nuclear activities for 18 years in violation of its international treaty obligations.
The International Atomic Energy Agency in Vienna has had inspectors in the country throughout the period. While finding much that is suspect, the inspectors have not found any proof of a clandestine nuclear bomb programme.
The IAEA chief, Mohamed ElBaradei, has infuriated the Bush administration over his even-handed dealings with Iran, while the Europeans - Britain, Germany, and France - have been pursuing a parallel diplomatic track that has won grudging agreement from Tehran to freeze its uranium enrichment activities.
Mr Hersh reported that the US campaign against Iran is being assisted by Pakistan under a deal that sees Islamabad provide information in return for reducing the pressure on Abdul Qadeer Khan, the disgraced metallurgist who is the father of Pakistan's nuclear bomb and who was revealed last year to be the head of the biggest international nuclear smuggling racket uncovered.
Since confessing his activities and being placed under house arrest almost a year ago, Khan has been incommunicado. Despite heavy pressure, IAEA inspectors and US officials, according to knowledgeable diplomats, have been denied all access to the man who supplied Iran, Libya and North Korea with nuclear equipment and expertise.
After months of being denied permission, IAEA inspectors last week gained access to the Parchin military facilities outside Tehran which the Americans contend has been a centre for Iranian attempts to refine missile technology for nuclear purposes, although experts agree that Iran does not yet have a nuclear capability.
A White House aide, Dan Bartlett, sought to weaken the claims in the New Yorker. The report, he told CNN, was "riddled with inaccuracies." he added: "I don't believe that some of the conclusions he's drawing are based on fact."
I hope that it is bull, since I doubt they want the rest of the world to know.
The Guardian -- quoting Hersh -- couldn't you have at least gone to the National Enquirer for a more reliable source?
So Farah says no active use of force to oust the regime, that is undesirable. Then what else can the US do?
It sounds like Europe has more influence when it comes to Iran.
We can call them a member of the Axis of Evil, but we cannot remove the regime from power.
Our hands are tied.
Don't you agree?
oh yeah, and I am Santa Claus
Hersh -- and his article -- have have already been thoroughly trashed here on FR. Besides, this article is from The Guardian...
No more bloodshed in Iran! That is what I agree with... but in the worst case scenario the US has to intervene and we may watch a full scale bloodshed in Iran to oust the regime.
I'd be so glad if the US could hand weaponry and tools to the Iranian youths to oust the Islamic regime with less bloodshed and without US carpet bombings and ...etc!
Well, our hands are tied until we have no obvious policy on Iran.
And Re: EU influence on Iran, yes those bunch of thieves have lots of influence on the Mullahs than the US government and that is what it is!
I think people willing to fight the regime if we arm them!
If you really want to send a message to Iran, send in a KBR assessment team.
"Let's see...that looks like a good place to set up a camp, and there's another good place for a camp..."
Bump!
THE COMING WARS
New Yorker
by SEYMOUR M. HERSH
What the Pentagon can now do in secret.
Issue of 2005-01-24 and 31
Posted 2005-01-17
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/1322253/posts?page=33#33
http://diplomadic.blogspot.com/
Sunday, January 16, 2005
Weird Watch
If over the past 15 years or so one read and believed the reports of Human Rights Watch, one would be 110% convinced that the United States -- the world's oldest democracy; the country that brought down colonialism, Nazism, Fascism, and Communism; invented the UN; serves as a safehaven for tens-of millions of people of all races, nationalities, and creeds; and remains still the most sought after destination for millions of intending immigrants around the world -- is the greatest threat to peace, international cooperation, freedom and democracy ever to exist. It seems that for the guys and the gals at HRW, whenever something "negative" happens in the world, it's ultimate source is something the USA has done or failed to do.
snip
Dr Zin, the New Yorker has asked FR not to link or publish their magazine articles scroll down here
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1111944/posts
These publishers have asked us not to allow any material at all to be posted to FR:
My mistake.
I thought I new all the restricted magazines.
I should have known better.
Well, Sy is harshing the truth again....
The boy is about as sharp as a bowling ball..-Foghorn..
This article gets too much attention in Persian speaking Media.
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