Posted on 01/16/2005 9:56:33 AM PST by Sub-Driver
Report: U.S. Conducting Secret Missions Inside Iran
22 minutes ago
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States has been conducting secret reconnaissance missions inside Iran to help identify potential nuclear, chemical and missile targets, The New Yorker magazine reported Sunday.
The article, by award-winning reporter Seymour Hersh, said the secret missions have been going on at least since last summer with the goal of identifying target information for three dozen or more suspected sites.
Hersh quotes one government consultant with close ties to the Pentagon (news - web sites) as saying, "The civilians in the Pentagon want to go into Iran and destroy as much of the military infrastructure as possible."
One former high-level intelligence official told The New Yorker, "This is a war against terrorism, and Iraq (news - web sites) is just one campaign. The Bush administration is looking at this as a huge war zone. Next, we're going to have the Iranian campaign."
The White House said Iran is a concern and a threat that needs to be taken seriously. But it disputed the report by Hersh, who last year exposed the extent of prisoner abuse at the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq.
"We obviously have a concern about Iran. The whole world has a concern about Iran," Dan Bartlett, a top aide to President Bush (news - web sites), told CNN's "Late Edition."
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
I hope so, but Mr. Hersh likely has real information which I just hope doesn't compromise our operations. President Bush clearly has to make a military move and soon, and broadcasting our preparations is just a bad idea on Mr. Hersh's part. He could tell this story just as easily after operations become overt and still get his plaudits, but I am afraid he is going to damage our national security and also put more Americans in more danger than has to be.
Not sure if that was Churchill, he is supposed to have said that in times of war, the truth is so valuable that it must be surrounded by a bodyguard of lies. What better conduit than the ever-credulous Sy Hershberger?
Hirsch finds out about this a year of more after they have been started. Good Deal, Big Mouth would have dropped a dime on us sooner if he could. Loose Lips Sink Ships and kill our soldiers!!
I hope the snake eaters are running around inside Syria, too.
They won't know what hit them.
huh - thanks - I bumped a mod to pull mine...
I really dislike the MSM.
A very good point.
One would hope we are doing this, and not just in Iran. Still, any 'consultant' on a government contract that talked to Hersh about this should go to prison, unless it is sheer speculation on the consultant's part.
Hersh quotes one government consultant with close ties to the Pentagon (news - web sites) as saying, "The civilians in the Pentagon want to go into Iran and destroy as much of the military infrastructure as possible."
Then again, this could simply be disinformation / psyops. A lot of chatter about Syria, Iran being targets, may make them make mistakes, keep them off balance.
We could clean up Iraq quite a bit if we just let it be known that every weapon (AK47, Gernade Launcher, IED, etc) we capture in Iraq, we will simply smuggle back across the border into Iran or Syria to their opposition folks. :)
Here comes the disgraced, fired CIA clowns that Goss unloaded.
Can't call Sy Hersch a traitor. A traitor is somebody who switches sides to betray their country. Sy has always been on one side.
The neo-cons are at it again.
Gotta watch that gang of axis of evil. :)
This is the result of letting Rather off the hook.
Iran recon ping. saw your earlier post.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.