Iranian Alert - January 17, 2005 - US Special forces 'on the ground' in Iran

US Special forces 'on the ground' in Iran

Ian Traynor
Monday January 17, 2005
The Guardian

American special forces have been on the ground inside Iran scouting for US air strike targets for suspected nuclear weapons sites, according to the renowned US investigative journalist Seymour Hersh.

In an article in the latest edition of the New Yorker, Mr Hersh, who was the first to uncover the US human rights abuses against Iraqi detainees at Abu Ghraib prison last year, reports that Pakistan, under a deal with Washington, has been supplying information on Iranian military sites and on its nuclear programme, enabling the US to conduct covert ground and air reconnaissance of Iranian targets should the escalating row over Iran's nuclear ambitions come to a head.

Acting on information from Pakistani scientists knowledgeable about Iran's nuclear programme, Mr Hersh reported, US commandos have penetrated territory in eastern Iran seeking to pinpoint underground installations suspected of being nuclear weapons sites.

The report in the New Yorker said the Americans have been conducting secret reconnaissance missions over and inside Iran since last summer with a view to identifying up to 40 possible targets for striking should the dispute over Iran turn violent.

"This is a war against terrorism and Iraq is just one campaign," Mr Hersh quotes one former US intelligence official as saying. "The Bush administration is looking at this as a huge war zone. Next we're going to have the Iranian campaign."

Another unnamed source described as a consultant close to the Pentagon said: "The civilians in the Pentagon want to go into Iran and destroy as much of the military infrastructure as possible."

That appeared to be a reference to noted "neocons" in Washington such as the defence secretary, Donald Rumsfeld, his deputy, Paul Wolfowitz, and others. Arguments about Iran's suspected nuclear programme have been raging for the past 20 months since it was discovered that Tehran had been conducting secret nuclear activities for 18 years in violation of its international treaty obligations.

The International Atomic Energy Agency in Vienna has had inspectors in the country throughout the period. While finding much that is suspect, the inspectors have not found any proof of a clandestine nuclear bomb programme.

The IAEA chief, Mohamed ElBaradei, has infuriated the Bush administration over his even-handed dealings with Iran, while the Europeans - Britain, Germany, and France - have been pursuing a parallel diplomatic track that has won grudging agreement from Tehran to freeze its uranium enrichment activities.

Mr Hersh reported that the US campaign against Iran is being assisted by Pakistan under a deal that sees Islamabad provide information in return for reducing the pressure on Abdul Qadeer Khan, the disgraced metallurgist who is the father of Pakistan's nuclear bomb and who was revealed last year to be the head of the biggest international nuclear smuggling racket uncovered.

Since confessing his activities and being placed under house arrest almost a year ago, Khan has been incommunicado. Despite heavy pressure, IAEA inspectors and US officials, according to knowledgeable diplomats, have been denied all access to the man who supplied Iran, Libya and North Korea with nuclear equipment and expertise.

After months of being denied permission, IAEA inspectors last week gained access to the Parchin military facilities outside Tehran which the Americans contend has been a centre for Iranian attempts to refine missile technology for nuclear purposes, although experts agree that Iran does not yet have a nuclear capability.

A White House aide, Dan Bartlett, sought to weaken the claims in the New Yorker. The report, he told CNN, was "riddled with inaccuracies." he added: "I don't believe that some of the conclusions he's drawing are based on fact."

From His Majesty Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi's last will and testament, written shortly before his death :

"I will trust the faith of my nation to its Constitution. This sacred document is a priceless grant, passed on to our nation as a graceful aftermath of the 1906 Constitutional Revolution. For that very reason, safeguarding it - respecting its principles which signify the territorial integrity, the independence of our nation, along with the foundation of the national will based upon our historical heritage and spiritual beliefs - is a collective duty for every Iranian including my own son.

In the like manner that the essence of every young Iranian is filled with sentiments of national pride, I hope that my son by focusing on the truth, heeds the lessons of this painful and arduous experience in history - a lesson which my nation has paid a very dear price for - and with his sincere faith in the Almighty God and the support of the kind hearted people of Iran, regains the integrity of his nation's sacred tri-color flag. I trust the faith of my young successor to the Creator and the noble people of Iran. That, is my last wish."

I agree that Seymour Hersh is not necessarily a credible news source. In fact, the report that American special forces are in Iran is old news to me. I remember reading in the summer of 2004 that American and Israeli covert operations teams were being sent in to Iran. I think I read that in several news sources at the time, not the least of which was the Jerusalem Post, which is my favorite Israeli newspaper (and a credible news source, IMHO). It's my hope that now that Hersh has reported it, that it's a large-scale operation. Best-case scenario is that we establish the capability of doing some sabotage in the near future. Say, attempt to simultaneously (meaning within a 24-hr period) sabotage every target we know of, but don't say a word about it. Should Iran retaliate (say, on American forces in Iraq, or in Israel), it would give us the international advantage of not appearing to be warmongers. But I hope we couldn't care less what the rest of the world (read: Europe) thinks of us.

In my opinion, we have to do something. Helping along regime change would be ideal. By all accounts, Iran will have the bomb by the end of 2007. Other reports, probably more accurate, suggest they may have it by the end of 2005. Irsaeli intelligence suggests they might have it by early summer. But the truth is, we really don't know. Which means we need to get going. If the White House has a real Iran policy, the public hasn't been informed. They don't need to tell us details (and it's probably best that they don't, as much as we would like to know them!), but we (and the Iranian people, most of all!) need to be made aware of it. I'll be mighty disappointed if the State of the Union doesn't talk about Iran more than one sentence, if that much. Iraq received a paragraph, maybe two, in 2002. Iraq deserves the foreign-policy spotlight, but know this - Iran is next. Either regime change happens in Iran, or Iran tries to effect regime change somewhere else.

Finally, take note of the White House and the Pentagon's response to Hersh's story. They didn't quite say that the story is flat-out wrong and total nonsense. They blasted the story for sure. But they didn't quite deny it.

Reading the CNN account, at least they do the favor of making Hersh's biases crystal-clear. Suffice it to say, he's not a neocon.

But surely no one here thinks that we don't have any assets inside Iran!

Recounts of an Italian tourist who recently visited Iran

I think tourists are so important for changing the world point of view about Iran..because we only can report exact news of Iran. Often television, newspaper and also internet say only that Iran is a terrorist country, without democracy and supporting Al-Qaeda, the big ghost... But the reality is a bit different... they don't say that Iranian people are also kind and hospitable or Iran has millenary history and culture (that you can find out in its many archaeological places) or the majority of population is against the regime and is waiting for an American invasion (!). I know that for you it's a bit different because you was born there, had grown there, are living there and maybe you'll die there but we are not talking about living in Iran but going there only for tourism. That's make the difference.

Peace. Leida

You're surprised about Iranian awating for an American invasion? It's the reality..Last summer I spoke with a lot of people, young and old, students, taxi drivers, commerciants, ecc. and when I asked them why they don't do anything against the government, they answered me that they don't have any leader (because the regime killed them) and without a leader any revolution isn't possible and most of them said me that they hope in an American invasion like the Iraqi one..I was so...incredoulus because I've seen what the Iraqi invasion produced, but they were so convinced..they say that only America can help them to destroy the regime. I said them that in my opinion it's fundamental an internal popolar rebellion to drive away the Ayatollahs and American invasion is not the solution, but they didn't hear me. In my opinion is because of the insucces of the Islamic revolution: Khomeini promised a lot of things to Iranians but then he didn't work to help his people. Now the way of life in Iran is changed in better from 10-15 years ago and is still changing (very slowly) without any other bloody revolution, so they think the situation could be changed gradually or only with an American invasion, but without another revolution...It's terrible but it's the reality. And I can't judge them because I've never lived in a dictatorship.

Peace, Leida

source: orkut.com

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US Special forces 'on the ground' in Iran