Is CIA Involved In Iran's Election Unrest?

Middle East Online ^ | June 18, 2009

[Strategy]

TEHRAN - There is a valid possibility that CIA is playing a sinister role behind the scenes to exploit the current Iranian election protests to destabilise the country, observers said.

The CIA secret programme involves playing the media (especially websites) as well as having secret agents on the ground in Iran, they add.

In May 2007, ABC News reported that the CIA has received secret presidential (Bush) approval to mount a covert "black" operation to destabilize the Iranian government, citing officials in the intelligence community.

The sources, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said Bush has signed a "nonlethal presidential finding" that puts into motion a CIA plan that reportedly includes a coordinated campaign of propaganda, disinformation and manipulation of Iran's currency and international financial transactions.

[b4its2late]

They planted the seeds over the past 8 years no doubt. But Obama just brought out the weed whacker.

[Abathar]

I certainly won’t shed a tear if they are...

[TADSLOS]

I certainly hope so.

[never4get]

of course, that is it...The civil unrest has nothing to do with the general population being oppressed by a ruthless medieval, Islamo fascist regime....No, that would never cause people to be pissed off.

[Puppage]

There is a valid possibility that CIA is playing a sinister role behind the scenes...

Sinister is it now? Not from where I am sitting.

[BGHater]

‘a coordinated campaign of propaganda, disinformation and manipulation of Iran’s currency and international financial transactions.’

or

‘a coordinated campaign of propaganda, disinformation and manipulation of America’s currency and international financial transactions.’

Lol. It works both ways.

[rhombus]

broken link?

[Migraine]

I couldn’t make the link to the story work; but, to the question in the headline, the answer is “no”. baraq would have cancelled any Bush policy on covert sabotage in Iran.

So, has there been organized foment from outside the country? Yes. From where? The Russians. They’re ready for a do-over of 1979-80, when they got bogged down en route to “mitigating the chaos” on their border. I believe the Russians have some 75,000+ of their citizens inside Iran, which provides the perfect excuse, a la Georgia/Ossetia last summer.

Do I wish we could claim credit? Yes. But no such luck.

[BlueNgold]

Is CIA Involved In Iran's Election Unrest?

I certainly hope so... Isn't that part of their job?

[thefactor]

as another poster said, can you imagine what a CIA SOG team with silenced .22's could do from the rooftops?

bye-bye state security forces and riot police.

[monday]

This is BS Iranian propaganda. They are only saying that to discredit the opposition.

[Texas Fossil]

Not on Obozo’s watch.

[Deb]

This is so great. Obama bends into a pretzel to keep from saying anything negative about the election and he bumps his pointy head on the reality of mid-east propaganda.

President Dumbo, this will cost you nothing...THE BAD GUYS LIE NO MATTER WHAT YOU DO!!!!

Maybe you should rethink all the anti-American garbage you've eaten for the past 44 years and start talking up your country. Worth a shot.

[mimaw]

It’s Bush’s fault don’t you know?

[SJackson]

Middle East and terrorism, occasional political and Jewish issues Ping List. High Volume

If you'd like to be on or off, please FR mail me.

..................

In May 2007, ABC News reported that the CIA has received secret presidential (Bush) approval to mount a covert "black" operation to destabilize the Iranian government,

If so, bet BHO ends it.

[SolidWood]

What a load of bullcrap. The CIA couldn’t even piss a hole in the snow, much less mobilize millions of Iranians. Who is the CIA agent anyway? Musavi? LOL.

Bravo sierra like the article above is the kind of propaganda Ahmadinejad uses to discredit opponents.

[Costumed Vigilante]

Ask Nancy Pelosi.

[mvpel]

A-jad must be getting desperate to shut down the protests - threats aren’t working, so he’s trying to paint the millions people marching in the streets as stooges of the CIA.

[SolidWood]

Correct. The same BS lie that is peddled even by Americans, and bragging CIA agents themselves (Kim Roosevelt), that the Iranians who ousted Mossadegh and rooted for the Shah and General Zahedi, were CIA paid.

The actual CIA coup via General Nassiri against Mossadegh failed, that’s why the Shah had to flee for Italy.

It was nationalistic Iranians who didn’t want Mossadeghs usurpation who came out in support of General Zahedi the legitimate Prime Minister and ousted Mossadegh and enabling the Shah’s return.

Calling your opponents “CIA or British stooges” is an time-proven and frequent insult... regardless of that the fact that the above “article” doesn’t even cite, not even specificates, the ominous “sources” is an indication that it is bollocks.

[Tolik]

So it’s Bush fault after all?!

[Eleutheria5]

Lordy, NOOOOO! Keep those Iranians stable! How will they finish building the bomb if they also have to stomp out protests and arrest dissidents? You know how many good nuclear physicists and engineers have been taken out of the line to torture people? It’s a crime, I tell you!

[Churchillspirit]

I would rather not know.

But if they are.....GOD SPEED!

[cricket]

Are they or aren’t they. . .Obama will have to poll first. . .

[longtermmemmory]

If this was true the NYT would have revealed all the secrets, home addresses of the agents, and democrats would be on TV blaming gwbush and rush limbaugh.

(john mccain would demand an investigation, meghan mccain would be writing stories about homosexual iranians in the iranian government, and david letterman would still be appologizing for his next palin joke)

[annalex]

Corrected link

First Published 2009-06-18


Is the operation to destabilize Iran still on?

 
Is CIA involved in Iran's election unrest?

 
Observers: Bush-era CIA campaign of propaganda, disinformation on Iran could still be still active.

 
TEHRAN - There is a valid possibility that CIA is playing a sinister role behind the scenes to exploit the current Iranian election protests to destabilise the country, observers said.

The CIA secret programme involves playing the media (especially websites) as well as having secret agents on the ground in Iran, they add.

In May 2007, ABC News reported that the CIA has received secret presidential (Bush) approval to mount a covert "black" operation to destabilize the Iranian government, citing officials in the intelligence community.

The sources, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said Bush has signed a "nonlethal presidential finding" that puts into motion a CIA plan that reportedly includes a coordinated campaign of propaganda, disinformation and manipulation of Iran's currency and international financial transactions.

The CIA was allowed to supply communications equipment which would enable opposition groups in Iran to work together and bypass internet censorship by the government.

The White House does not usually comment on intelligence matters.

Under the law, the CIA needs an official presidential finding to carry out such covert actions. But the CIA is permitted to mount covert "collection" operations without a presidential finding.

Terror against Tehran

The "nonlethal" aspect of the presidential finding means CIA officers may not use deadly force in carrying out the secret operations against Iran.

Still, some fear that even a nonlethal covert CIA program carries great risks.

As earlier reported on the Blotter on ABCNews.com, the United States has supported and encouraged an Iranian militant group, Jundullah, that has conducted deadly raids inside Iran from bases on the rugged Iran-Pakistan-Afghanistan "tri-border region."

US officials deny any "direct funding" of Jundullah groups but say the leader of Jundullah was in regular contact with US officials.

Spying and funding

Reports also suggest that the so called US "National Endowment for Democracy" has been involved in funding candidates favourable to the US in many countries.

Observers say their interference could very well include Iran in 2009.

Roxana Saberi, a US-Iranian journalist who was recently released after being charged for spying for the US in Iran, is said to have been convicted of spying in part because she had a copy of a confidential Iranian report on the war in Iraq.

Her lawyer, Saleh Nikbakht, said that she had copied the report "out of curiosity."

Saberi had admitted that she had copied the document two years ago but said she had not passed it on to the Americans as the Iranian prosecutors had claimed. She had apologised, saying it had been a mistake to take the report.

Observers say there is no reason to believe that there has been a change of CIA policy towards Iran.

Iran strikes back

Iran Wednesday said it had identified websites run by companies it said were backed by the US and British secret services.

"We warn those who propagate riots and spread rumours that our legal action against them will cost them dearly, especially since some of the youth of this land were killed by the thugs' action, so we urge them to delete such material from their sites," a statement said.

"It shows the animosity of the Western media towards the Iranian people," it added.

Iran said the sites had been "identified" and were "financially and technically sponsored by Canadian and American firms which are backed by the US and British intelligence services."

Iran on Wednesday accused some foreign media outlets of becoming the "mouthpiece of rioters."

"The presence of hundreds of foreign media (personnel) during the last election and their observation of the existing realities alongside the successful experience in the past 30 years in organising elections is a symbol of utter transparency in the election process," the foreign ministry said.

"But some countries, in an uncalculated, hasty and rude reaction towards the illegal gatherings, have supported them contrary to democratic principles and regulations and have become the mouthpiece of the rioters' movement."

The ministry also warned the foreign media to change its "approach towards Iranian events."

"...The chess players will monitor their behaviour and at the appropriate time, without any doubt, checkmate the enemies of Iran's national unity."

The statement carried by the ISNA news agency was directed to "interfering comments by some Western countries, officials and media."

Twitter takes part

The US government took the unusual step of asking Twitter to delay a planned maintenance outage because of its use as a communications tool by Iranians following their disputed election, a US senior official said Tuesday.

The request highlighted the Obama administration's Web-savvy and the power of social networks such as Twitter and Facebook in organizing protests over the election results in the face of a ban by Iranian authorities on other media.

But it also seemed to run counter to Obama's public efforts not to appear to be meddling in Iran's internal affairs.

A State Department official in Washington said Twitter had been asked to delay Monday's shutdown because it was being used as "an important means of communications" in Iran.

The official told reporters on condition of anonymity that Twitter was all the more important because the Iranian government had shut down other websites, cell phones, and newspapers.

Twitter co-founder Biz Stone, in a blog post, noted the State Department request but said the decision to delay the outage was made with Twitter's network provider, NTT America.

State Department spokesman Ian Kelly said meanwhile that the United States does not intend to meddle in Iranian politics. "We don't want to be seen as interfering," he said.

"We're of course monitoring the situation through a number of different media, including social media networks like Facebook and Twitter," he said.

[mono]

I hope so, too. That is their job.

[Travis T. OJustice]

If so, it would be one of the few uses of my tax money I find justifiable.

[Eleutheria5]

Spreading misinformation and propaganda? That’s the MSM’s job!

[dervish]

1. This is an Arab anti-US site spreading anti-US conspiracy propaganda. You should post a warning about the source

2. Your link is broken

http://www.middle-east-online.com/english/?id=32842

[dervish]

see my post #30.

This site is an ant-US Arab propaganda site.

In the Jerusalem Post today there are two articles about Iran accusing Israel of causing the election crisis through Twitter and planning terror attacks on Iranian Mosques, the old ‘outside agitator’ ploy to deflect attention from the real crisis.

Same with this article.

[TADSLOS]

Exactly. I want my full money’s worth as a taxpayer.

[NY Attitude]

I do not believe a word of it. It smells exactly what it is; BS!

[The Wizard]

the question should be: is the CIA involved with Obama

[M. Espinola]

With Obama it’s highly unlikely, but wishful thing toward overthrowing the despotic anti-Western Islamic régime.

[arthurus]

The page cannot be found

[attiladhun2]

The CIA in NEVER in favor of regime change, and prefers to deal with dictators. The current unrest in Iran has virtually nothing to do with the CIA. After all, democracies are messy, it is much easier to deal with strongmen, thugs, and oligarchs.

[GOPJ]

I doubt it. If we were good enough to pull this off - the Mullahs would have been gone years ago ... along with North Korea.

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

ROFL!

[G8 Diplomat]

[gleeaikin]

If they are let’s hope they do a better job than they did with Tora Bora. Imagine, losing the maps to the caves there when they “wanted”? to find Bin Laden.

[Republic of Texas]

God, I hope so.

[airborne]

Doubtful.

They’re too busy with their real enemy. Dick Cheney.

[ErnstStavroBlofeld]

I hope so. This is a golden opportunity for both the CIA and Mossad cooperate to bring some change.

[Steve Van Doorn]

The bad guys are not lying in Obama’s eyes. Bush’s fault!

[ScottinVA]

Hopefully the CIA IS involved, but I doubt it. However, it would be a great opportunity to conduct a dis-information campaign, such as dropping hints that two very high members of the supreme council are on the payroll. They’ll eat themselves over it.

[PghBaldy]

I wonder what Soros thinks? Is HE involved? Obama hurt the protestors a lot by claiming the CIA was involved in coup before. It was stupid.

[GVnana]

Sounds like mullah propaganda to me.

[redgolum]

I hope not.

Because we will not back up the students when the tanks start rolling in.

[gargoyle]

...Yes...