Congress approved expansion of covert ops against Iran – report
Washington, 29 June (IranVNC)—The US Congress last year approved a request from President George W. Bush for up to $400 million to expand covert operations against Iran in an effort to destabilize the Iranian government, according to an article published on The New Yorker magazine’s website today.
By: IranVNC
Published: Sunday, June 29, 2008
17:20GMT—1:20PM/EST
US – IRAN – COVERT – OPERATIONS
Washington, 29 June (IranVNC)—The US Congress last year approved a request from President George W. Bush for up to $400 million to expand covert operations against Iran in an effort to destabilize the Iranian government, according to an article published on The New Yorker magazine’s website today.
Reporter Seymour Hersh quoted unnamed current and former military, intelligence and congressional sources as saying that the covert activities were described in a highly classified Presidential Finding signed by the President and approved by lawmakers late last year.
“The finding was focused on undermining Iran’s nuclear ambitions and trying to undermine the government through regime change,” Hersh quoted one source as saying.
The source added that the expanded operations involved “working with opposition groups and passing money,” and explained that the activities included supporting Baluchi opposition groups in Iran’s southeast, according to the report.
According to the article, covert operations against Iran were “not new,” and the U.S. had been conducting cross-border raids from Iraq into Iran since last year.
Such activities have included detaining and interrogating members of the Quds force, and the pursuit of “high-value targets” as part of Bush’s “War on Terror,” Hersh wrote.
But US Ambassador to Iraq, Ryan Crocker today denied that the United States had been involved in any such activities.
“I can tell you flatly that US forces are not operating across the Iraqi border into Iran, in the South or anywhere,” he said from Baghdad in an interview with CNN.
The Presidential Finding was signed and approved near the same time that the US Director of National Intelligence issued its National Intelligence Estimate, which judged that Iran had halted its nuclear weapons development program in 2003.
Iran says its current nuclear program is aimed solely at gaining the ability to generate nuclear power, but the U.S. and allies suspect the Islamic Republic is seeking to build an atomic bomb.
Sources: The New Yorker, CNN
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