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Seymour Hersh: U.S. Conducting Covert Operations in Iran
For Possible Military Strike
Iraq Invasion Proponent Condoleezza Rice To Testify At Senate
Confirmation Hearing
Seymour Hersh: U.S. Conducting Covert Operations
in Iran For Possible Military Strike
We speak with investigative journalist Seymour Hersh who
is reporting that the Pentagon has already secretly sent in
forces to Iran to identify possible future military targets.
According to Hersh, the president has authorized the Pentagon
to send secret commando forces into as many as ten nations
in the Middle East and South Asia. The secret forces could
potentially carry out combat operations or even terrorist
acts. [includes rush
transcript - partial]
Just days before President George W Bush's second inauguration
in Washington, a new report reveals the Bush administration's
intentions for military action against another member of his
so-called axis-of-evil: Iran.
Investigative journalist Seymour Hersh is reporting
in The New Yorker magazine
that the Pentagon has already secretly sent in forces to Iran
to identify possible future military targets. Hersh wrote
that he had been repeatedly told by intelligence and military
officials, on condition of anonymity that "the next strategic
target was Iran."
One government consultant told Hersh "The civilians
in the Pentagon want to go into Iran and destroy as much of
the military infrastructure as possible." The secret
reconnaissance missions have been underway since at least
last summer with aided by Pakistan as well as Israel.
According to Hersh's article, the president has authorized
the Pentagon to sent secret commando forces into as many as
ten nations in the Middle East and South Asia. The secret
forces could potentially carry out combat operations or even
terrorist acts. Bush reportedly used the Pentagon for the
missions instead of the CIA to avoid having to report to Congress.
On Monday, the Pentagon criticized major aspects of the article,
saying in a written
statement "Hersh's article is so riddled with errors
of fundamental fact that the credibility of his entire piece
is destroyed." But President Bush told NBC News that
he would not rule out taking military action against Iran.
- Seymour Hersh, Pulitzer Prize winning journalist for
the New Yorker. His most recent article appears in this
week's New Yorker. It is entitled "The
Coming Wars: What the Pentagon Can Now Do in Secret."
He is the author of "Chain of Command: The Road from
9/11 to Abu Ghraib."
Iraq Invasion Proponent Condoleezza Rice To Testify
At Senate Confirmation Hearing
National Security adviser Condoleezza Rice will appear before
the Senate Foreign Relations Committee today for the start
of her confirmation hearing as Secretary of State. Rice is
a close confidante of President Bush and was one of the chief
backers of the invasion of Iraq. We speak with radio host
Laura Flanders, author of Bushwomen: Tales of a Cynical Species.
[includes rush
transcript - partial]
National Security adviser Condoleezza Rice will appear before
the Senate Foreign Relations Committee today for the start
of her confirmation hearing as Secretary of State.
Rice is a close confidante of President Bush and was one
of the chief backers of the invasion of Iraq. In the months
leading up to the war, she was one of the leading administration
officials who warned Iraq was harboring stockpiles of weapons
of mass destruction. The U.S. announced it ended the search
for WMDs last week.
Rice said Iraq tried to buy thousands of high-strength aluminum
tubes that were "only really suited for nuclear weapons
programs" and said U.S. intelligence suggested that Iraqis
had helped al Qaeda to develop chemical weapons.
In September 2002, Rice warned about Saddam Hussein's nuclear
threat by saying "We don't want the smoking gun to be
a mushroom cloud."
In the early years of her career, Rice taught at Stanford
and later rose to become the University's provost. She later
worked with national security adviser Brent Scowcroft under
President George HW Bush. When his son, then-Texas Gov. George
W. Bush declared his candidacy for the 2000 presidential race,
Rice was one of his most trusted advisers and served as one
of the 10 members on his hand-picked Presidential Exploratory
Committee.
President Bush wants Rice to be sworn in by Inauguration
Day. If so, she would become the fist female African-American
Secretary of State. Rice's position on race has frequently
come under criticism in the past. In January 2003, a report
in The Washington Post credited Rice with helping to shape
the administration's decision to challenge the affirmative
action admissions policy at the University of Michigan.
For a copy of today’s program, call 1 (800) 881 2359.
Our website is www.democracynow.org.
Our email address is mail@democracynow.org.
Democracy Now! is produced by Mike Burke, Sharif Abdel Kouddous,
Ana Nogueira, Elizabeth Press, Jeremy Scahill and Parvez Sharma.
Mike Di Filippo is our engineer.
Thanks also to Uri Galed, Angela Alston, Orlando Richards,
Simba Russeau, Johnny Sender, Rich Kim, Joe Murgio, John Randolph,
Chris Zucker, Karen Ranucci, Denis Moynihan, Eric Rweyemamu,
Jenny Filipazzo and Isis Phillips.
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