Late Edition: Sy Hersh Says Attacks On Iran Happening Now
Download | play 
Download | play (h/t David)
Seymour Hersh has been writing about the Bush administration's aggressive stance against Iran for years now. His latest article for The New Yorker, "Preparing the Battlefield", Hersh claims that the Bush administration has been carrying out clandestine operations in Iran for some time now, with the funding and cooperation of the Democratic leadership in Congress.
HERSH: I think this is another example of putting an awful lot of pressure on the Iranian government. There's been a dramatic increase in kinetic events and chaos inside of Iran. Almost every other day, there's another story in the Iranian press -- I write about this in the article, too -- about things blowing up, et cetera, et cetera. It looks like things are falling apart, a little bit. And the central government certainly has more trouble.
And I think the goal of this operation, this incredible operation, with all this money -- and, by the way, it's the Democrats in Congress who basically looked the other way and said, take the money and run. They did not stop this money, the leadership that I'm talking about, the Democratic leadership.
So, basically, my guess is that -- I don't think we can safely say that any military action is off the table, no matter what happens. And that's -- as I say, I wish I'm going to be wrong about all that, but this is really, sort of, an amazing development.
CROWLEY: Absolutely. I want to read a graph out of your book because it goes to the oversight of the Democrats you just mentioned. [snip] "'The oversight process has not kept pace -- it's been co-opted by the administration,' the person familiar with the contents of the findings said. 'The process is broken and this is dangerous stuff we're authorizing.'"
Tell me, first, what your sources say is so dangerous about this?
HERSH: The president has to give a finding on covert action, any action that's covert. In other words, when CIA goes in some place, if they get caught, there could be spies.
So he has to tell the Congress about it. And the military simply is -- the president, since 9/11, has decided anything we do militarily, we don't have to tell anybody in Congress about.
Guest host Candy Crowley brings on Iraq Ambassador Ryan Crocker to officially deny that any cross border operations have taken place, but Hersh points out that Crocker may not be in the loop--plausible deniability being the operative word.
That is simply a reality, that when you run secret operations, if you're not telling the commander, the military commander of the Central Command, who is supposedly running the country -- you may not tell the ambassador everything. Sometimes it's better not to have the ambassador know.
Full transcripts below the fold:
CROWLEY: While the Bush administration has been emphasizing tough diplomacy with Iran, it's also been escalating covert U.S. military actions against the country. That's according to investigative journalist Seymour Hersh, who reveals the details in a new article for the New Yorker magazine, titled "Preparing the Battlefield." He joins us now.
That sounds a little ominous. Let me ask you first, if you -- what is the headline that readers will take away from this article?
HERSH: Well, one of the basic points is that, no matter what we say about diplomacy, you know, carrot and stick, the stick is working pretty hard and the stick is working overtime. This president did escalate the covert war, the secret war inside Iran.
We've been doing stuff inside Iran since '05 pretty much, pretty heavily, you know, looking at the nuclear facilities, collecting intelligence, trying to undermine the regime, et cetera, et cetera.
But there was a significant escalation this year. First of all, they got a great deal of authorization to spend up to $400 million. That doesn't mean he's spent it all yet, but he's got that kind of authorization from one of the secret committees.
Anybody who saw "Charlie Wilson's War" -- you know, Charlie Wilson was able to generate a lot of money secretly. That's what happens in Congress.
And the other major thing is, we've sent in a special task force that operates out of Afghanistan into Iran. I give notice what Ambassador Crocker said about not cross-border. And I have a lot of respect for him and I don't want to challenge him. But the fact is, we're inside; we're not necessary cross-border. We have teams inside Iran.
And these include joint special operation forces, our most elite commando unit. And basically, they're guys that go after high-value targets around the world. You know, they capture them or kill them.
So it's a significant increase in American potential for damage inside Iran.
CROWLEY: I do want to let our audience hear from Ambassador Crocker, and then I want to ask you the difference between what he's denying and what you're saying. Here he is.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CROCKER: I haven't read the article, Candy, but I can tell you flatly that U.S. forces are not operating across the Iraqi border into Iran, in the south or anywhere else.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CROWLEY: So they're not -- I mean, is he denying something you didn't say? I can't quite get the difference here.
HERSH: Well, you know, it's complicated. Because one of the things in the article -- it's a long article in the New Yorker -- one of the things I described is that one of the problems Admiral Fallon, the former commander of CENTCOM, who ran into trouble because he spoke about not wanting to bomb Iran.
Another factor in Fallon's problems with the White House, particularly with Mr. Cheney, the vice president, was that Fallon wasn't able to learn what was going on, all he wanted to know, about covert operations, CIA operations inside Iran and Afghanistan.
That is simply a reality, that when you run secret operations, if you're not telling the commander, the military commander of the Central Command, who is supposedly running the country -- you may not tell the ambassador everything. Sometimes it's better not to have the ambassador know.
But the other point is, we certainly are going cross-border, on short forays, grabbing Al Quds members, bringing them back. We've been doing that for a long time.
He may not know the extent to which we're operating deeply with commandos or -- not so much -- with our special forces inside Iran. So it's possible. Because he's not somebody -- he'll spin it, but he's not somebody who won't say something he doesn't believe.
CROWLEY: So what's the end game here? What are they trying to accomplish?
Is it to end the war in Iraq?
Is it to overturn the government in Iran?
Is it greasing the skids for a preemptive strike?
What are they doing there?
HERSH: That's a great question because I don't know. And, boy, do I wish -- I've been writing about Iran for about three years, almost constantly, in the New Yorker, sort of, this, you know, "Chicken Little, the sky is falling." And I sure wish I could be wrong about it.
But the end game is, as far as -- and I do have some access into some of the thinking, particularly in the vice president's office. They do not want -- Bush and Cheney do not want to leave Iran in place with a nuclear program, with, they believe, a nuclear weapons program. They simply don't believe the national intelligence estimate that came out late last year that said they haven't done anything in nuclear weapons since '03. They just don't believe it.
So they believe that their mission is to make sure that, before they get out of office next year, either Iran is attacked or it stops its weapons program.
I do believe that. I think this is another example of putting an awful lot of pressure on the Iranian government. There's been a dramatic increase in kinetic events and chaos inside of Iran. Almost every other day, there's another story in the Iranian press -- I write about this in the article, too -- about things blowing up, et cetera, et cetera.
It looks like things are falling apart, a little bit. And the central government certainly has more trouble.
And I think the goal of this operation, this incredible operation, with all this money -- and, by the way, it's the Democrats in Congress who basically looked the other way and said, take the money and run. They did not stop this money, the leadership that I'm talking about, the Democratic leadership.
So, basically, my guess is that -- I don't think we can safely say that any military action is off the table, no matter what happens. And that's -- as I say, I wish I'm going to be wrong about all that, but this is really, sort of, an amazing development.
CROWLEY: Absolutely. I want to read a graph out of your book because it goes to the oversight of the Democrats you just mentioned.
HERSH: Sure.
CROWLEY: This is from your book -- sorry -- from your article.
"'The oversight process has not kept pace -- it's been co-opted by the administration,' the person familiar with the contents of the findings said. 'The process is broken and this is dangerous stuff we're authorizing.'"
Tell me, first, what your sources say is so dangerous about this?
HERSH: The president has to give a finding on covert action, any action that's covert. In other words, when CIA goes in some place, if they get caught, there could be spies.
So he has to tell the Congress about it. And the military simply is -- the president, since 9/11, has decided anything we do militarily, we don't have to tell anybody in Congress about. That's all preparing the battlefield. That's the title of the piece.
And so what Congress gets told is something about CIA operations, and that's why they had a finding, but nothing about what the military is doing on the ground inside Iran.
And so the people in the Senate -- the House, particularly, the Defense Appropriations Subcommittee, Charlie Wilson's old subcommittee, we're talking about Congressman Obey, Congressman Murtha, some of the others are really concerned because they're approving programs about which they don't have the whole story, and they know it. And they don't know what to do about it. And it's a source of enormous tension.
The problem is it's also secret. Nobody wants to talk about it. Nobody can talk about it. It's a world that the White House controls because it's very top secret. The presidential finding that I'm writing about is a document you don't discuss on CNN. If you're the ambassador, you don't talk about it.
I understand Senator McConnell was here. And the senators are able to say -- those who know can say, "I can't talk about it."
So we in the public don't get much of a look. And for me, as a journalist, to write about this is difficult because, often, a lot of other journalists won't be able to make heads or tails of what I'm doing, because they can't simply find the people that will talk about.
CROWLEY: Right, absolutely.
I've got about 15 seconds. Can you give me, in a nutshell, why it's so dangerous?
Is it because it could prompt a war with Iran if they were to find these special-ops people?
HERSH: We have the special operations people, and they're great people. They're very loyal soldiers. They do what they're told, going around, killing people around the world without ambassadors knowing it, without the CIA station chiefs knowing it, without Congress knowing.
If that doesn't sound like -- you know, with this president, if that doesn't make people nervous, I don't know what else would, I can just tell you.
CROWLEY: Seymour Hersh, another blockbuster story, the New Yorker.
Thank you so much. You all ought to go out and get a copy. We will be right back.
where is congress?
Seymoure Hersh is just trying to justify "his" previous predictions that Iran would be
attacked/invaded/bombed before bush leaves office...and in my opinion, his comments
are just more of his earlier "guesses". Most of his statements are self-serving and
he offers NO proof.
So people, what do ya think of paying $7.50 a gallon for gas?
Because thats whats gonna happen once the shit hits the fan in Iran.
Then Bush, Cheney, Haliburton, ExxonMobil, et al. can really hang out the "Mission Accomplished" banner.
anyone venturing into this discussion should familiarize themselves with the CIA overthrow of mossadeq in '53
it is deja vu-ish history
http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB28/#documents
it was a bad idea then and it is a bad idea now (massive understatement)
Who's bright idea was it to make Nancy "roll over" Pelosi house minority leader?
Didn't they realize she'd be a shoe in for Speaker of the House when Democrats retook Congress?
I think WW3 to these dipshits mean war with 3 countries at the same time. At this point this is not sustainable without the draft or without making us lose everywhere which is not good any way you see it
doggiebobo @ 2:
Did you read the article? Have you read any of his previous articles on Iran? Before you make any more ridiculous comments I would suggest you do that.
Hersh was right about My Lai and Richard Perle-- he is one of the last few journalists in our country.
Where is Congress? I'll tell you where Congress is they are selling us out and working on the the other prong in the Bomb Iran propaganda push.
http://www.antiwar.com/blog/2008/06/23/iran-war-resolution-may-be-passed...
doggiebobo @ 2:
everyone has been predicting war with iran, not just in the US, the preznit has not made a secret of it, especially with the war rhetoric, most of it recycled with the 'q' replaced with an 'n'
Iran responds:
Iran is to dig 320,000 graves in border districts to allow for the burial of enemy soldiers in the event of any attack on its territory, a top commander said on Sunday.
"In implementation of the Geneva Conventions... the necessary measures are being taken to provide for the burial of enemy soldiers," the Mehr news agency quoted General Mir-Faisal Bagherzadeh as saying.
"We have plans to dig 15,000 to 20,000 graves in each of the border provinces or a total of 320,000," the general said, some of them mass graves if necessary.
Bagherzadeh said Iran was keen to "reduce the suffering of the families of the fallen in any attack against our country... and prevent any repetition of the long and bitter experience of the Vietnam War."
http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=080629185519.5hi45ii3&show_artic...
I'd have to see more proof on this story before I'd believe anyone.
However that being said, I tend to believe Sy Hersh long before anyone in our government
The DIA is now the new CIA and NSA special ops. These guys are doing the things these oil and defence based neocons aren't willing to let the world know we are doing. Sy gives the Iraqi ambassador too much leeway is his excuse for the lies he makes.
We have been doing special ops in Iran for 7 years now. All of it is with the intent of invading the country to take control of the oil reserves and fomenting further terrorist attacks in this country. These puppet masters want you to be very afraid and pay $12 a gallon for your gas. Then they will have complete control over every aspect of commerce and government.
HERSH: We have the special operations people, and they're great people. They're very loyal soldiers. They do what they're told, going around, killing people around the world without ambassadors knowing it, without the CIA station chiefs knowing it, without Congress knowing.
If that doesn't sound like -- you know, with this president, if that doesn't make people nervous, I don't know what else would, I can just tell you.
It is the same imperial secret government we have had for sixty years.
Only the players are different.
And the Congress has gone completely lame.
Otherwise, it is the same old sh!t.
Until I see videos of these attacks or actual complaints by Iran's government, I'm going to believe this is utter nonsense.
Dick Cheney is a great American!
neoconned @ 7:
Yes, I read the article and his previous articles...I stand by my statement.
Just stick us in the 'In Memoriam' thread, would you?
CoIntelPro for Pronktastic Democratic Party Victory Over SCLM and DIEBOLD! @ 1:
Same place they have always been when govt fucks up!
same place when 9/11 happened
same place when Iraq was illegally invaded
same place when Katrina happened
same place when the wiretapping happened
same place when The patriot act was passed
same place when wiretapping immunity was passed
I dont know where that place is but there must be alot of money wherever it is.
You know what's funny, in that 'end of the world' kind of way?
If the administration's goal was to weaken the religionists in Iran's government, maybe it shouldn't have spent the first couple of years of Bush Jr's presidency giving a big middle finger to Iran's moderate Hafsanjani leadership, who then lost an election to Ahmedinajad, just like the Bushites wanted.
TomR @ 13:
Until the genetic test on the sperm dripping down my leg comes back from the lab...I refuse to believe I was raped.
Halle Burton @ 14:
You must be joking.
El Cid @ 18:
The PNAC crowd wants the "creative destruction" of the entire Arab-Persian region in hot turmoil. Whatever helps that agenda is what they want.
dude @ 20:
He's a great barnacle.
miss_kitty @ 16:
My thoughts exactly.
Anyone else wonder about the timing of this? We've been hearing rumblings for quite a while, but what could be better for the repubs (in their own mind anyway) than a new war on the eve of an election? Especially when things don't look so good for their side early on.
So what's obama going to do about it?
Cal @ 5:
Nancy and Obama should work nicely together (a two-fer in 'roll-overs')
Historians will analyze this period in American history as demonic and darksided.
Gretchen @ 23:
War with Iran? Not gonna happen during bush's term. They(Republicans) are
idiots and dispeciable, but to win an election by going to war is just a ridiculous
thought.
SlowBurn @ 24:
He's gonna "change" things...but your gonna have to wait...
doggiebobo @ 15:
In none of the articles did he say absolutely that we were going to attack. He also did not say that in this article. In the last one, he talked about the U.S. using Saudi money to fund Sunnni extremists. In the article before that he talked about the Bush administration wanting to have nuclear weapons on the table for an attack on Iran.
The Vice President and his men have been wanting a war for the past 4 years. They have been thwarted by Admiral Fallon, the NIE report, General Pace and various other factions.
The fact that we have patriotic people in the military that have stopped Cheney does not necessarily mean that we were not in danger. Fallon is gone. Pace is gone. Cheney is making a last push. Someone may stop Cheney again but then again they might not. Hersh is not necessarily a journalist-- he is a stenographer for the faction in the military that is seeking to stop Cheney.
But don't worry about that. You're right. It's better to stay ignorant.
I especially liked reading this:
A Democratic senator told me that, late last year, in an off-the-record lunch meeting, Secretary of Defense Gates met with the Democratic caucus in the Senate. (Such meetings are held regularly.) Gates warned of the consequences if the Bush Administration staged a preëmptive strike on Iran, saying, as the senator recalled, “We’ll create generations of jihadists, and our grandchildren will be battling our enemies here in America.” Gates’s comments stunned the Democrats at the lunch,.."
Is the senior Congressional leadership so frickin' clueless that someone has to point that out to them? Or perhaps "stunned" refers to hearing this coming from a Bush cabinet member, in which case it's still pathetic beacuse it would imply they still put stock in the horseshit that comes out of the White House.
SlowBurn @ 24:
Maybe he will wave his majic wand?
If people will be patient Obama and his team that he will assemble will work to turn this huge nation and government into a new direction of enlightenment and progress from its current right wing criminal path that it is on!!!
doggiebobo @ 27:
That assumes that the Israelis won't force it on us by acting pre-emptively. We would then get hit in retaliation, and would "have to" respond. Such would either boost McBu'ush into office, or thoroughly hog-tie a President Obama with the ensuing mess.
Question is... Is there anything the American citizen can do to stop this?
TomR @ 13:
Unlike Bill Kristol and his ilk, Sy Hersh has yet to be wrong on anything that he has done investigative reporting on, he has sources and doesn't pull information from his butt.
LibertyLover @ 33:
Nope.
What was it that T.S. Elliot said, "The world ends not with a bang, but a whimper."
crowley is so one dimensional here
BobbyG @ 32:
Yes. Or possibly postpone an election? Sorry, I just don't expect much less from this administration.
LibertyLover @ 33:
Quit filing Income tax returns?...deny congress its allowance? ...smash all diebold machines?...be ready w/ a gun?
...look to history for guidance...
surely this has happened before somewhere...
Over the course of the last 40 years, who has established more credibility? The government? Or Sy Hersh?
I would submit that Hersh has far more credibility than any shit coming out of the government.
Remember what I.F.Stone said. All governments lie.
This bit jumped out at me-
[A] lesson was learned in the [speedboat] incident: The public had supported the idea of retaliation, and was even asking why the U.S. didn’t do more. The former official said that, a few weeks later, a meeting took place in the Vice-President’s office. “The subject was how to create a casus belli between Tehran and Washington,” he said.
LibertyLover @ 33:
Yes. Write your Congress member and tell them not to vote for HR 362 and SR580.
http://capwiz.com/niacouncil/issues/alert/?alertid=11523111
With Iranian battle aircraft carriers off both sides of continental US and also pushing into western Pacific we Americans are feeling full court Iranian military pressure.
Also Iranian Air Force long range cruise missile carrying bombers are being sent deep into American early warning defense networks to find out where the soft spots are.
Iranian backed Americans are blowing up electrical substations,interstate overpasses and may have a hand in the California fires and midwest flooding breakouts as well.
Wall St.,American mortgage market and American-Mexican border are being undermined by Iranian international monetary and stock market ploys and Iranian-Mexican secret plan to take back southwest US and give it back to Mexico.
With all the above surely now taking place how can Bush and Cheney just sit back and not defend America?
Iran is a dire threat to America. Bush and Cheney are the good guys in Iraq trying to help Iraqis and the Iranians are trying to stop this good work because they are evil and can not stand "good guy" Americans being in ME doing good.
Of course Iran must be attacked before Iran attacks USA and does to Americans what Americans have been doing to the Iraqis these past five years.
Only Americans are allowed to do what Americans do to other nations and peoples.
Where can I enlist to join in the defense of America from this terrible Iranian menace?
Iran is so big and America is so small.
Americans must attack before another Pearl Harbor happens.
Thank God George Bush and Dick Cheney are still in the WH to protect us!
milquetoast @ 39:
Aha, we need to find a Diebold assassin. Either that or have some early risers go to their polling places and "accidently" knock machines over and stomp on them.
shootthatarrow @ 43:
Snarkalicious!
motorfingaz @ 26:
Never mind the historians, take a trip outside th US (anywhere), and ask anyone you meet. Remember to wear a raincoat though, there's going be a lot of spit flying.
If you listen to the Ambassador's words carefully, he is ONLY denying that there is US forces entering Iran from the IRAQ border. Iran has other borders.
andy @ 41:
I got an idea- in order to create a casus belli we could blockade the country. Oh shit Congress beat me to it.
Off topic but if we think Iran would be a real mistake.....think about why Iraq leaders are close to Iran. Could it be things like this have driven Iraq to Iran's welcoming arms?
Bush and Cheney are so Incompetent, They Will Get Us All Killed: Crisis grows in Iraq over U.S. raid that killed Maliki relative
BAGHDAD, Iraq — Senior Iraqi government officials said Saturday that a U.S. Special Forces counterterrorism unit conducted the raid that reportedly killed a relative of Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al Maliki, touching off a high-stakes diplomatic crisis between the United States and Iraq.
U.S. military officials in Baghdad had no comment for the second day in a row, an unusual position for a command that typically releases information on combat operations within 24 hours
http://www.mcclatchydc.com/251/story/42580.html
And you will wake up on, oh let's take a guess, October 12, 2008, and the US has bombed Iran. Just what McCain wants. What do you do? And I am asking every Democratic senatorial campaign, what do you do? Do you want $12 per gallon gas? Do you call for impeachment? Why haven't you called for impeachment before this? Enough said.
Both the Republican and Democratic National Parties are beholden to the National Security State. Loosely based on industrial ascendancy after WWII, it is fashioned to maintain a minimum of regulation on capitalism which when left unregulated will by its nature evolve to monopoly and then oligarchy.
As a pseudo-christian warrior empire in denial the National Security State allows economics to blend with religion, politics and misguided patriotism as a vehicle to fascism.
The constant erosion of constitutional rights is the outward manifestation of this process.
the end game here is to start another war and put mccain, the faux national security candidate, in the white house . . . bush & co will go to any length to do so, killing more u.s. troops and countless, innocent iranians, because they must ensure that they are followed by an administration that will cover up their crimes
CoIntelPro for Pronktastic Democratic Party Victory Over SCLM and DIEBOLD! @ 1:
Partying?
*
Saad @ 6:
That must be why they picked her.
*
Epinnoia @ 47:
i caught that, too . . . and hersh actually stated that "we’ve sent in a special task force that operates out of afghanistan into iran" . . . bet hersh will be kicking himself when he re-watches what crocker said
.
Q U E S T I O N:
If John Conyers; who penned the book George W. Bush versus The US Constitution in 2005 and; who was reelected in 2006, sworn in in 2007 and; who immediately retreated from impeaching George W. Bush/Richard B. Cheney because ... "There is not enough time..." and who; is on record for saying that IF Bush/Cheney attack Iran without the consent of Congress...
... Where will he find the time necessary to investigate and commence impeachment in the House?
Anyone else see something fundamentally WRONG with Conyers' thinking and approach?
... Besides me?
.
Halle Burton @ 14:
A great American what? or can't you say in polite company?
*
"I got an idea- in order to create a casus belli we could blockade the country. Oh shit Congress beat me to it."
Hahaha...
Oh wait, this is not a joke.
This is more of the likes of an ancient Greek tragedy.
Sadly, another war for AIPAC.
Well, Israel thanks you brave Americans for being the stupid dupes errrr heroic defenders of freedom.
Radian @ 30:
Maybe they'll just be happy that America and her citizens will be broken, bankrupt, ruined and reviled worldwide for at least a generation? That we won't be able to lift a finger in our own defense? Maybe? If they can say they beat us? Maybe?
*
innocent bystander @ 55:
Exactly.
My ears perked when Crocker stressed the "not from the South... or anywhere else."
I couldn't help but reflect on this... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bNws6IG696M
.
LibertyLover @ 33:
No - but maybe DC will fall off the map tomorrow. That'd help.
*
americangoy @ 58:
They just don't want to be the first ones to fire off a nuclear weapon. They'd rather it was us. So would Cheney. And Bush. What good are all those nukes to an administration of Wankers if you can't use them to get off?
*
sorry, this is the video I meant http://youtube.com/watch?v=EYI7JXGqd0o
We are not the same people who fought for freedom such as our founding fathers. Instead we now fight desperately for security, lead by cowards. Freedom takes courage and strength and if you lack that you lose freedom. To this administration I say, rot in hell.
Ace Armstrong @ 51:
Right you are! Like the military industrial complex Eisenhower warned about. There is huge money in war and I am not just thinking nationally but globally. Think of it as a enterprise that generates profits and more power for those global franchises. It will probably end up as a "war futures" commodity to trade at some point.
p.s. I have not seen Hope posts in a while. I miss them :-)
I agree with Sy Hersch.
The most recent "dot" to connect was when the Bush administration announced that it was backing off from its hard-line stance toward North Korea.
The article I read stated that the "Condi Rice faction" in the White House had won out over the "Dick Cheney faction" which had attempted to block diplomatic efforts by the Rice faction. But Condi Rice prevailed with George W. Bush by making the case that cutting a deal with North Korea would be good for his "legacy."
Was this really a trade-off within the Bush administration, though?
In other words, did Bush give in to the Rice faction over North Korea, while telling the Cheney faction that they could get their way over Iran?
I believe so. Especially when the Bush administration keeps putting out the "talking point" about Iran and how Bush doesn't want his "legacy" reflecting that he didn't stop Iran's "nuclear bomb aspirations." And we all know how Cheney doesn't like to talk, but likes to shoot things up instead.
So, now we have Democratic leaders being suckered once again by the most foul administration in American history, while at the same time stating their unwillingness to consider impeachment of Bush and Cheney for all their anti-American, un-constitutional criminal acts, essentially making many in the Democratic leadership just as much lapdogs as the Republican leadership was before...thus undermining the traditional, constitutional role of our representatives in Congress...and tearing our democracy asunder.
The frightening part about Sy Hersh's book and articles is that what he's saying is absolutely plausible. Bush and Cheney are the most secretive government we've had since Nixon. In fact, they make Nixon look like a lightweight. They have no respect for Congress. It's not at all surprising the Bushies aren't keeping Congress informed about how the billions in war funding are being spent. Couple that with Bush's persistent war rhetoric toward Iran, the constant drum beat for war, and the many reports about the military build-up in the Gulf...and none of this is surprising.
LibertyLover @ 33:
Apparently not, until both the Rethugs and Dems are voted out. I wrote my useless Dem Rep. Peter Welch today to tell him he has lost my vote.
Leslie [Hussein] @ 67:
Indeed. I'm thinking our "October surprise" is going to be Iran.
OK, we've all seen this coming for at least three years now. I thought I'd be more prepared for the end, but I still wanna slap a couple politicians around. It would truly reaffirm what little faith I have left if one of the valves on Cheney's robotic heart failed right about now.
Seymour has been one of the more reliable journalists in the last number of years, and he and his "sources" have provided many insights both pre- and post- some of Cheney/Bush's most abhorrent actions.
The real confirmation of the veracity of his article is the fact that such a large number of very long-serving, high-ranking military officers have recently been moved to other commands or have resigned abruptly (read: were fired!).
It is heartening to know that there are officers in the military (unlike the Reps and Sens) who are courageous enough to speak out and speak against actions that they know are futile and dangerous - even at the cost of their careers.
It is disheartening to know that now the incompetents from the lower ranks are ready to step up and do the bidding of DICK ChAney.
LibertyLover @ 33:
For starters, refuse to finance any of it through federal taxes. If necessary go to jail and make sure you have a great publicist and lots of paper and pens to write a journal of your experiences for publication on the WWW and elsewhere. (Don't worry...we'll get you out soon).
And make the necessary phone calls tomorrow morning in order to ascertain how to get the filing papers to run for Congress in your district as an Independent against...WHO EVER!!! Whether for the House of Representatives or the Senate, we all need to replicate exactly what Cindy Sheehan is doing against Pelosi. And we also need to start working on a way to check and STOP the rotten Diebold voting systems.
And finally we need to seriously consider why in God's name we are thinking about voting for Obama. He's a snake and we all know it. Just look at his flip flop on FISA. How can ANY of us vote for him with a straight face? I listened to the interview with Jane at Firedog Lake and Bob Barr, the Libertarian candidate for POTUS, on FISA and other issues. I'd sooner vote for HIM than Barack Obama! The Democrats are SNAKES!! Hello?????
Think about what the Democrats have done since 9/11?!
I really don't consider myself a sellout, do all of you?
Suggestions? Comments?
Abbybwood @ 72:
My suggestion to you is go fuck yourself. What have the republiscums done other that sell the country down the river to big oil? I consider you a sellout. Get lost troll.
Saint Augustine @ 73:
Well!
I am no troll and I seriously doubt Liberty Lover is either!
If anyone is a troll it's YOU!!
Perhaps the truth really grates on your nerves, but the fact is that Barack Obama is a coward, a snake and a liar and just as much a "flip-flopper" as McCain. I realize the truth is painful but it is a bitter pill we must all swallow if we are ever to achieve our goals of "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness".
Where is the site monitor when I need her/him? You are the TROLL dude! I didn't do the interview with Bob Barr I do believe was posted here at Crooks and Liars. What are you trying to say? That John Amato is a TROLL for having an interview with Bob Barr?
Grow up.
Sy Hersh , commands more respect , than all of the warlords in the WH demand .
We attack Iran , Russia levels Israel , China perhaps throws in with Russia , Pakastain throws in with the Taliban overruning our troops there , all focus is then on Irag and Iran which will fight together , major % of US combat troops lost . Whose left to protect the US , the TAS ? .
Even with a draft there would be a 6 month lag time , or longer , seeing how we have exported our jobs overseas and our workers our losing their homes or have lost them , many people my age with heavy metal fab work , Mech. Eng . skilled trades folks , wont be there .
Yea its time for a change , a complete change , time to replenish the tree of freedom .
"One of the most active and violent anti-regime groups in Iran today is the Jundallah"
“They are suspected of having links to Al Qaeda"
"the Jundallah is among the groups in Iran that are benefitting from U.S. support."
LOL
doggiebobo @ 2:
Go to Iranian or MidEast websites and read up on all that is really going on for the last few years. Hersh is right, but a little late in blowing the horn in the media. The US has been doing military incursions into Iran for more than a year. It's been reported on various websites. Do a search and don't shoot the messenger because you don't want to believe him.
Abbybwood you asshole, I'm quite grown being 64 years old, so fuck you and your grow up comment. Calling Obama a snake makes me think you are the troll and not worthy of being listened to.
What have the dems done since 9-11? They have tried to correct the damage done by Bush, and might have done something if republiscums had not had control of congress until 2007. Since 2007 the dems haven't done much only because of scaredy cat republiscums who have subverted the system.
By the way did I mention "go fuck yourself"?
BobbyG @ 35:
Kucinich has articles of impeachment introduced and ready to go. If Bush attacks Iran openly, they can be used. Let's be clear, though, that I'm not saying that they would be used, but that they can be used. Pelosi would have to find the guts to do it...
innocent bystander @ 52:
Yup. That's it in a nutshell. THEY WILL DO ANYTHING... and it's all about war crimes now... and how to avoid prosecution.
LibertyLover @ 33:
Many interesting comments to my posed question. But basically, I call my representative and voice my opinion on a regular basis. Know what I get? "I'l be happy to pass this information on the the Congressman." And nothing changes much. My senators are (cough, cough) John McCain who hasn't bothered a vote since March and Jon Kyl... another Bush lock-stepper.
I'm reminded that George Carlin used to say: "...power is going to do what power is going to do..." and that is true. Especially for this administration. This Administration has acted with such hubris and with such disregard for the American public that I don't expect things to change much.
November can't get here too soon for me. As well as January 20th 2009. But Bush is going to do what Bush is going to do, regardless of what the American public wants. I can hope and I can pray otherwise for all the good that it will do me. And in the meantime, I will call my Congressperson with all the good that that will do me, too.
I would like someone ( preferably a Democratic candidate for President) to start standing up for the Constitution for a change. And THAT would be change that I could believe in.
If this admin starts a war with Iran - who's to say that there will be an election? As George Carlin said, "You think you have rights? Google Japanese-American 1942."
sy tells you nothing that hasn't been reported in the international press for at least the last two years.
for at least that long, perhaps longer, the brit, kiwi, ozzie sas, sbs have been operating in northern iran. to destabilize iran. their surrogates have been the kurdish peshmurga and the mek[think of these entities as the meo and the 'yards during the vietnam invasion].
in a very real sense, the usa and the uk invaded iran years ago. up until now, it has been a gangster-style effort. assassinations, sabotage. and it is routinely reported in the farsi press, which doesn't get translated or disseminated by the agitprop agencies controlling the information easily available to the us ignorati.
the other troubling aspect of these activities is the false flag element of these ops. you may recall the speedboat in the gulf some weeks ago. which was used as a potential casus belli.
well, that act of provocation was run by the special boat services. when the usn discovered that, they were some pissed off. it was those ops being run out of the queen's knickers, as an agent for the bushits, that caused admiral fallon to become quite intemperate, which compelled his firing.
{Deleted, Please Do Not post in all Caps or in all Bold lettering. It's yelling.SiteMonitor}
SBS was in the "Iranian" speedboats? Whoa. Seems plausible, maybe even likely since they are known to be operating in the area, etc. However, do you have a source for that? I googled a bit but didn't come with anything convincing.
Gretchen @ 69:
not much of a surprise
"by the way, it’s the Democrats in Congress who basically looked the other way and said, take the money and run."
no doi
if any1 thinks that the dems are any less to blame than the repuglyKKKans they havnt been paying attention.
Bush is determined to ruin this country beyond repair, while leaving a blackened legacy worse than any other president in American history.
Frybread @ 88:
mission accomplished!
TomR @ 13:
Ya, good point. I'm sure the special ops guys will be happy to video tape their illegal terrorist acts on a country that has done nothing to us. Then you and the rest of the country can pretend they aren't really happening anyway.
In the spring of 2006, a soldier on leave told me that when he got back to Iraq, his unit was going to Iran. This has been going on a long time.
June 30 , 2008
Oil is now at $ 145 per barrel.
Until I see videos of these attacks or actual complaints by Iran’s government, I’m going to believe this is utter nonsense.
Sure, TomR, and where were you planning to see these? CNN?
Somehow I doubt that you're going to make the effort needed to access Iranian media.
You do understand that most of what actually happens in the world is not reported in the US, right?
LibertyLover @ 33:
Get out in the streets and make your opinions heard. We still have the freedom to assemble as long as w. isn't making an appearance, forcing the use of free-speech zones.
From "Oil, Smoke and Mirrors":
Richard Heinberg: "Global Oil production will peak. The global economy will be devastated by it. We'll see oil wars. Everything will change as a consequence. And yet people won't be talking about the Oil Peak. They'll be talking about the unemployment figures. They'll be talking about the high price of food. They’ll be talking about the fact that you can’t get on an airliner and travel any more because all the airline industry has collapsed. There are only a few carriers still in business, and the tickets are astronomically expensive. They’ll be talking about the latest war or terrorist incident. And they will have completely lost sight of the one event that caused all those events."
Watch at: http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=8677389869548020370
Mr. Hersh is right. We are preparing the battlefield for war with Iran. His only mistake is the assumption that bringing this to light will somehow prevent the war. In a country with the most powerful military and a world with declining energy there is only one path. War, war, war.
When they start bringing up " DIPLOMACY " with Iran , run for the hills . It's the same propaganda they did just before attacking Iraq , so they can say see weeeee twied , weee twied .
The fact of the matter even if Iran was not" involved in Iraq ", the BusH Regime would sTILL BE CONDUCTING ILLEGAL ACTS OF WAR , entering IRAN and creating chaos , killing in the dark and trying to undermine the IRANIAN Government .
And the arrogance and criminality of a nation that travels thousands of miles to invade and occupy a nation , and Claim they have more of a right to be in a nation (IRAQ), than a nation or people who have lived in the region for THOUSANDS of years , have direct connections and share the same history ..is ABSURD .
The democratic party seems just as interested in the destruction of Iran as this administration. The recent bill HCON 362 that pretty much amounts to an attempt at a complete destruction of Iran's economy is more than enough proof. What is wrong with these people and how in god's name did they get into power? I don't remember C&L covering this recent action by congress very much(and I hope its not because democrats in congress love this piece of legislation).
but its proof that our problem is not "republicans" or "democrats"- but its a government wildly out of control.
LibertyLover @ 33:
People could stop thinking of themselves as citizens. No citizens = no "government" = no more evil from "government".
"Citizens"/"voters" are evil's little helpers.
Didn't Chavez have an alliance with Iran, The stupid white collar asswipes rethugs are surrpunded. I think all we have to do is get out of the way. You hear me?
Theguy @ 97:
Thank you. When is crooksandliars going to cover this bill.
WHEN!?!
WHEN!?!
HELLO--- IS THERE ANYBODY THERE? Not that the readers of crooks and liars are going to all stop the bill. But everyone in Whoville should at least start screaming before the blockade bill is passed. I'm not just writing this because I want to be a crank. I am scared of HR 362 and I want to feel like progressives are at least attempting to stop it.
More important to worry about the Isralies!!
steveboces @ 101:
This bill HR 362 came out of a meeting in Israel.
This seems to me how the bill came about.
The plan was most likely hatched when Bush visited Israel. After his meeting with Olmert both men were all smiles and Olmert came out of their meeting confident that the U.S. would confront Iran.
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/126416
Later Nancy Pelosi met with Olmert and they discussed the plan. Pelosi has denied that the request for a blockade was made by Olmert.
http://www.reuters.com/article/latestCrisis/idUSN21431390
After Pelosi came back AIPAC launched their hundreds of lobbyists to push bill HR 362 and SR 580
http://www.ajc.org/c.ijITI2PHKoG/b.1122051/k.8A96/Action_Center/siteapps…
The campaign has been very successful keeping under the media radar and gathering 208 cosponsors in the House.
http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/6/25/1838/11009
Once the bill passes, then the arch-duke will lie dead and events will quicken.
Oh. Just for clarification on the crazy, uncontrollable Israel theory. Israel has to go over Iraq to bomb Iran. That means they have to get our approval. Ergo any attack by Israel is an attack by the United States. Therefore Israel is not the problem unless you think that Israel runs our foreign policy which I disagree with. AIPAC has colluded with the Left Behind Jesus freaks and the military industrial complex. Therefore they appear to be all powerful but they are the lobby/bureaucratic wing of War Inc. Obviously the War Inc. theory is not complete but I think it captures more of the variation than Mearsheimer and Walt.
The tail does not wag the dog.
I regret having to say this but.....the assholes who are pushing for eternal war (and who control just about everything that happens now) are not going to let Obama become President.
I really wish he'd be smart enough to avoid the bait of a trip to Iraq.
Orange Tom @ 103:
It occurred to me. Who provides security for Obama besides the Secret Service? Is it Blackwater? I can't think of an organization that would have more motivation to kill Obama than Blackwater. It might shut down their Iraq party.
These "might" be examples of this program:
http://www.presstv.com/Detail.aspx?id=55678§ionid=351020101
http://www.presstv.com/Detail.aspx?id=56168§ionid=351020101
http://www.presstv.com/Detail.aspx?id=56759§ionid=351020101
http://www.presstv.com/Detail.aspx?id=57123§ionid=351020101
Comments are closed on this entry