The secret program - could it have to do with Iran?

[Duer 157099]

After reading Marcy's column today, I went back to read the Sy Hersh article from July 2008 and now am wondering if Cheney's secret CIA program had to do with Iran.

Obey declined to comment on the specifics of the operations in Iran, but he did tell me that the White House reneged on its promise to consult more fully with Congress. He said, “I suspect there’s something going on, but I don’t know what to believe. Cheney has always wanted to go after Iran, and if he had more time he’d find a way to do it. We still don’t get enough information from the agencies, and I have very little confidence that they give us information on the edge.”

The Administration may have been willing to rely on dissident organizations in Iran even when there was reason to believe that the groups had operated against American interests in the past. The use of Baluchi elements, for example, is problematic, Robert Baer, a former C.I.A. clandestine officer who worked for nearly two decades in South Asia and the Middle East, told me. “The Baluchis are Sunni fundamentalists who hate the regime in Tehran, but you can also describe them as Al Qaeda,” Baer told me. “These are guys who cut off the heads of nonbelievers—in this case, it’s Shiite Iranians. The irony is that we’re once again working with Sunni fundamentalists, just as we did in Afghanistan in the nineteen-eighties.” Ramzi Yousef, who was convicted for his role in the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center, and Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, who is considered one of the leading planners of the September 11th attacks, are Baluchi Sunni fundamentalists.

One of the most active and violent anti-regime groups in Iran today is the Jundallah, also known as the Iranian People’s Resistance Movement, which describes itself as a resistance force fighting for the rights of Sunnis in Iran. “This is a vicious Salafi organization whose followers attended the same madrassas as the Taliban and Pakistani extremists,” Nasr told me. “They are suspected of having links to Al Qaeda and they are also thought to be tied to the drug culture.” The Jundallah took responsibility for the bombing of a busload of Revolutionary Guard soldiers in February, 2007. At least eleven Guard members were killed. According to Baer and to press reports, the Jundallah is among the groups in Iran that are benefitting from U.S. support.

Aside from instigating events within Iran, what if the program also provided support for activities within Iraq, in order to implicate Iran and provide rationale for going after them?

Perhaps this was the program Panetta was so appalled about?

[Duer 157099]

1. Really? An unrec? Why not just reply and disagree?

Coward

[chill_wind]

3. ? I agree-- why? Anyway-- Marcy was on MSNBC today!

According to a poster at your link. Between 3-4 eastern I think. I missed it, but thanks for the thread and KnR.

[jimshoes]

2. This might seem a little tin foilly but I'm thinking

the secret program may have had something to do with nukes and the possibility of one going off somewhere that had yet to be determined. (On again off again program) In other words (we had the nuke... we lost the nuke) I can think of nothing worse than a rouge dick cheney with a stolen nuke and some willing maniac minion of his willing to set it off.

[Motown_Johnny]

4. Remember we are talking about something that started in 2001. They were all still focused on Iraq

and how to get us into a war there. I doubt they were thinking about Iran at that point.

I'm down with the death squads idea.

[peacetalksforall]

5. I don't know about it pertaining to Iran. I remember reading that about Iran

in the early 2002 or 3. A statement was that Iran was crawling with spies from the U.S. and Israel. It was repeated later on - when it was mentioned that precise bobming targets were essential - related to nuclear plants, etc.

You said - "Perhaps this was the program Panetta was so appalled about?"

One of the first things mentioned by George is that there was an axis of evil - N Korea, Iran, Iraq.

Cheney and Bush promised a lot of people stuff in exchange for favors.

Cheney set it up.

Religious fanatics wanted a Christian government. Robertson got his law student grads a job under Rove and Harriet and Alberto - to take down US Attys. They got their abortion aid canceled outside this country. George played along with them about stem cell, etc.

Cheney promised Israel that they would get to eradicate the Iran nuclear sites - the propaganda is that it was for the nuclear sites.

Yes, I think Iran as a program that had to be stopped is not what Panette was involved in.