Posted on 01/17/2005 9:48:50 PM PST by HAL9000
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President George W. Bush says he will not rule out military action against Iran if that country is not more forthcoming about its suspected nuclear weapons program."I hope we can solve it diplomatically, but I will never take any option off the table," Bush said in an interview with NBC News when asked if he would rule out the potential for military action against Iran "if it continues to stonewall the international community about the existence of its nuclear weapons program."
Iran denies it has been trying to make nuclear weapons and says its nuclear program is geared solely to producing electricity.
Bush's comments followed Pentagon criticism on Monday of a published report that 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 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.
He said Hersh's sources fed him "rumour, 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, Defence Department spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Barry Venable said, "We don't discuss missions, capabilities or activities of Special Operations forces."
© Reuters 2005. All Rights Reserved.
Maybe it was a mistake to even acknowledge the report by Seymour Hersh.
Unless Seymour was set up......
That is always a possibility. I have to look at the Pentagons response saying that the report was riddled with errors. Is that saying that the report had a degree of creditability?
I don't know, but Seymour Hersh is about as predictable a hack as you'll ever find. Leak him some BS as negotiating ploy with Iran...yeah, I could actually see that.
Using a NYTimes Europansy like Seymour to fire a shot across the bow of Iranian Theocrats....that's ironic, and I get the impression that G.W. has a taste for irony.
If US forces help overthrow the Shiite-head regime in Iran, there will be major differences compared with Iraq.
Number one, general Iranian support for the regime is poor, which is not really the case in Iraq; the Sunni benefited from Saddam to some extent, and fear the possibility of being a minority voice.
Number two, the opposition isn't made up of Islamofascists. They want a real constitution, real candidates, real elections, real opportunities, real freedoms, and the mullahs out (even if that means all the way out).
Number three, the Iran-Iraq war lasted eight years, and the pro-Khomeini fanatics got fed to the guns in great numbers. Those who stayed home had the kids, and raised them in a pre-Khomeini way. That damaged the long-term viability of the Khomeini "revolution" and is perhaps the only benefit of Saddam Hussein's having been in power in Iraq.
Number four, the Islamofascist fanatics in the armed forces will not surrender, and will keep fighting us until every last one of them is dead.
And good riddance when that happens.
Number five, getting rid of the Islamofascists in Iran may have a temporary negative effect on Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Iraq, but in the long run isolates the fanatics in three areas where they can be slowly but surely starved out.
Overthrowing Syria will seem trivial to the veteran US forces after regime change in Iraq and Iran. ;')
Posted by HardStarboard to FairOpinion On News/Activism 01/16/2005 9:09:09 PM PST · 30 of 59 My reply was to this bracketed comment......
>>>If this is true, people who leak this type of info, should be prosecuted and locked up<<<
First let me stipulate that Hersh is a leftie dumbsquat.
On the other hand, he may be serving a useful purpose for the Bush administration in throwing a scare into the mullahs in Iran.
Yes, an attack is a high possibility; anyone looking at the situation with their illegal clandestine nuclear development can't possibly help but think that either the Israelis or the US will, sooner or later, take care of business.
So why leak bluff and bluster? Perhaps this is timed to help increase the anti-theocratic students and population in Iran that want a democratic revolution. We are told on several Iranian websites that the population is fed up sith the mullahs and is ripe for revolution. Indeed, pitched battles between the government and students with democracy seeking citizens at their side have taken place.
Perhaps, just perhaps, Hersh is unwittingly helping bring about a democratic Iran.
I'm not placing bets, but Seymore Hersh could be a useful idiot. It's not a big step from being an idiot to start with!
I look for the Iranians to do something stupid in their response to the article.
They'd do something stupid anyways. :)
These second generation mullahs don't sound like the brightest bunch of cats.
You are so correct about them not being the sharpest tool in the shed. However, they are the remnants of the Khomeni revolution and since they are backed up by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard they can be quite destructive to those that would oppose them. What is needed here are the tactics employed by Shah's father.
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