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Pentagon Faults Iran Raid Report (Osirak '05)
Reuters ^ | January 17, 2005 | Staff

Posted on 01/17/2005 11:44:14 AM PST by Jomini

The Pentagon on Monday criticized a published report that said it was mounting reconnaissance missions inside Iran to identify potential nuclear and other targets. "The Iranian regime's apparent nuclear ambitions and its demonstrated support for terrorist organizations is a global challenge that deserves much more serious treatment than Seymour Hersh provides in the New Yorker article titled "The Coming Wars," the Pentagon's chief spokesman, Lawrence DiRita, said in a statement.

Hersh's article, published on Sunday, was "so riddled with errors of fundamental fact that the credibility of his entire piece is destroyed," DiRita said.

Hersh reported that President Bush had signed a series of top-secret findings and executive orders authorizing secret commando groups and other Special Forces military units to conduct covert operations against suspected terrorist targets in as many as 10 nations in the Middle East and South Asia.

DiRita did not comment on that assertion.

Instead, he said, Hersh's sources fed him "rumor, innuendo, and assertions about meetings that never happened, programs that do not exist and statements by officials that were never made."

Asked whether U.S. military forces had been conducting reconnaissance missions in Iran, Defense Department spokesman Lt. Col. Barry Venable said, "We don't discuss missions, capabilities or activities of Special Operations forces."


TOPICS: Foreign Affairs; Israel; News/Current Events; Russia; United Kingdom; War on Terror
KEYWORDS: iran; oil; walkoffgrandslam
On one floor of the Pentagon it is their job to criticize this report just as on another it is their job to prepare the plan for the destruction of Iranian nuclear facilities in a massive surprise airstrike.

Hersh is too late to halt the next campaign in the war on terror. Within 48 hours of the initial strikes, the Iranian nuclear threat will be collapsed, the US and Britain will own Abu Musa and the Tumbs -- and with any kind of luck a revolution will be sparked.

Iranian air-defences have sharp teeth and their anti-ship missiles can do serious damage. Of course the Pentagon is preparing to neutralise these threats -- of course the Pentagon has to deny these stories. Tehran would be wise to immediately begin seeking terms.

J

1 posted on 01/17/2005 11:44:29 AM PST by Jomini
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Comment #2 Removed by Moderator

To: Jomini

As usual, Hersch is as accurate as he was about John O'Neill.


3 posted on 01/17/2005 11:52:51 AM PST by CyberAnt (Where are the dem supporters? - try the trash cans in back of the abortion clinics.)
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To: Jomini
Don't you love how we're supposed to leave mini-Hitlers alone with nukes because they're "sovereign nations." As far as I'm concerned, the only sovereignty that we must respect is that which comes from the people of the nation. I don't respect the sovereignty of a government who rules by force and not by mandate.

And for those libbies who think that we're hypocrites for wanting nukes ourselves but not wanting Iran or Iraq to have them, I say this. Britian can expand it's nuclear program. So can Canada. So can Germany. Or even France. Heck, I think I would even be okay with proliferation from Russia. My problem is not nations who are lead by sane individuals in power based on a popular mandate. My problem is psychotics like Kim Jong Il and whoever is in charge in Iran having those weapons!
4 posted on 01/17/2005 11:53:45 AM PST by Calvarys_Soldier ("If there is a pile of excrement, the Democrats will find a way to step in it." -Rush Limbaugh)
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To: Jomini

Reconnaissance missions take place all the time. The idea that we have people there watching so we must be getting ready to attack doesn't quite add up. What is so wrong with being prepared? These Iranians are a swirly bunch, we need to be prepared for anything. But being ready for it, doesn't guarantee that it is going to happen.


5 posted on 01/17/2005 11:54:45 AM PST by kika_chuck
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To: Jomini

Hersh's mission in life seems to be to undermine the security of the United States.


6 posted on 01/17/2005 12:03:54 PM PST by MNnice
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