Kabir,
I saw through the lies. Cornelius here thinks he is talking to fools. Problem is that there are not many people around anymore who will buy into this propaganda machinery. If you want to defend Zionism, go to Israel.
J.Joh
-----Original Message-----
From: Kabir Njaay <[log in to unmask]>
To: [log in to unmask]
Sent: Mon, 28 May 2007 3:49 pm
Subject: Re: Corneliuos and his zionist propaganda agenda
>Â
>Â
>Â
> "...I was merely responding very mildly to these two anti-Semitic postingsÂ
> and without rancour.Â
>Â
> "Palestine: Israeli Killing Fields"Â
> "Bush authorises covert CIA operations to destabilise Iran"..."Â
Â
Â
Jabou,Â
Â
I hope you noticed the lie buried in the above statement; there was nothingÂ
"anti-Semitic" in that posting and just for transparency sake, it's copiedÂ
below. One must be hallucinating to call this "anti-Semitic":Â
Â
Bush authorises covert CIA operations to destabilise IranÂ
Â
http://www.wsws.org/articles/2007/may2007/iran-m25.shtmlÂ
Â
By Peter SymondsÂ
Â
25 May 2007Â
Â
An ABC News report on Tuesday provided further evidence that the BushÂ
administration is actively engaged in a covert campaign of destabilisationÂ
aimed at "regime change" in Iran.Â
Â
According to the American television network, Bush signed a formalÂ
"non-lethal presidential finding" earlier this year authorising "a CIA planÂ
that reportedly includes a coordinated campaign of propaganda,Â
disinformation and manipulation of Iran's currency and internationalÂ
financial transactions".Â
Â
Based on information from unnamed former and current CIA officials, ABC NewsÂ
reported that Bush approved the plan "about the time that [Admiral William]Â
Fallon took over [as head of the Pentagon's Central Command]"—that is, aboutÂ
mid-March. It also stated that National Security Adviser Steve Hadley andÂ
Deputy National Security Adviser Elliott Abrams both gave the green lightÂ
for the operation.Â
Â
The timing of the plan coincides with a steady stream of articles,Â
prominently placed in the media, highlighting Tehran's crackdown on women'sÂ
dress, arrest of dissidents, alleged nuclear weapons programs and supportÂ
for anti-occupation militia operating inside neighbouring Iraq. While it isÂ
impossible to know how many of these reports are direct CIA "plants," theyÂ
point to a concerted campaign of propaganda and disinformation. Whatever theÂ
impact inside Iran, such stories serve to poison public opinion in the USÂ
and internationally in preparation for a possible military strike.Â
Â
ABC News was at pains to point out that "approval of the covert action meansÂ
the Bush administration, for the time being, has decided not to pursue aÂ
military option against Iran". Retired CIA official Bruce Riedel said thatÂ
in the internal White House debate, "Vice President [Dick] Cheney helped toÂ
lead the side favouring a military strike but I think they have come to theÂ
conclusion that a military strike has more downsides than upsides."Â
Â
These reassurances count for nothing. The US navy continues to maintain twoÂ
aircraft carrier battle groups in the Persian Gulf, which have the capacityÂ
to mount a sustained air assault on Iran. During his visit to the MiddleÂ
East earlier this month, Cheney pointedly declared on the deck of the USSÂ
John C. Stennis, just 150 miles off the Iranian coast, "We'll stand withÂ
others to prevent Iran from gaining nuclear weapons and dominating theÂ
region."Â
Â
The US fleet began extensive exercises in the Persian Gulf on Wednesday, inÂ
a move designed to intensify the pressure on Iran as a UN deadline passedÂ
for Tehran to shut down its uranium enrichment program. Bush has neverÂ
withdrawn his menacing threat that "all options are on the table"—in otherÂ
words, if diplomatic bullying and covert operations fail, the militaryÂ
option remains.Â
Â
It would also be wrong to conclude that covert operations are confined toÂ
the CIA. According to a number of media reports, including detailed articlesÂ
from veteran investigative journalist Seymour Hersh, the Pentagon and otherÂ
US agencies have been actively targetting Iran since at least 2004. UnlikeÂ
the CIA, which—formally at least—requires a presidential finding to mountÂ
"black" operations, the US military has, under Bush, increasingly engaged inÂ
its own covert activities, including the dispatch of special forces unitsÂ
inside Iran, without any congressional oversight.Â
Â
There is nothing particularly secret about the Bush administration'sÂ
campaign for "regime change". Last year Secretary of State Condoleezza RiceÂ
sought and received $75 million for anti-Iranian propaganda broadcasts andÂ
to fund opposition groups inside and outside Iran. In 2005, the figure wasÂ
just $10 million. Rice also established an Iranian Affairs office last year,Â
initially headed by Elizabeth Cheney, the vice president's daughter, toÂ
coordinate policy and provide "pro-democracy funding" for opponents of theÂ
regime. The *Boston Globe* reported in January that a team of top officialsÂ
from the Pentagon, State Department, CIA, Treasury and National SecurityÂ
Council, known as the Iran Syria Policy and Operations Group (ISOG), hadÂ
been working for some time to strengthen military alliances against Iran,Â
finance Iranian dissidents and undermine the country economically.Â
Â
*US backing for anti-Iranian militias*Â
Â
While the approved CIA activities may at present be "non-lethal," the sameÂ
cannot be said of all US activities inside Iran. In his article lastÂ
November entitled "The Next Act: Is a damaged Administration less likely toÂ
attack Iran, or more?", Hersh provided evidence that the Pentagon wasÂ
covertly supporting minority Kurdish, Azeri and Baluchi tribal groups as aÂ
means of undermining Tehran's authority in northern and southeastern Iran.Â
In particular, the US military was collaborating with Israel in backing aÂ
Kurdish armed group—the Party for Free Life—based in northern Iraq to fomentÂ
opposition inside the Kurdish regions of Iran and to spy on "targets insideÂ
Iran of interest to the US".Â
Â
A series of ABC News reports last month stated that the US was activelyÂ
backing Jundullah, an armed Baluchi group based in Pakistan, to carry outÂ
cross-border attacks inside Iran. It reported on April 3 that the militiaÂ
had been "secretly encouraged and advised by American officials since 2005".Â
The group was responsible for the bomb blasts in the southeastern city ofÂ
Zahedran in February that killed 11 members of the Iranian RevolutionaryÂ
Guard.Â
Â
Alexis Debat, a senior fellow on counterterrorism at the Nixon Centre, toldÂ
ABC News that* *Jundullah leader Abd el Malik Regi "used to fight with theÂ
Taliban. He's part drug smuggler, part Taliban, part Sunni activist."Â
According to this week's report, US officials deny any "direct funding" ofÂ
Jundullah but "say the leader of Jundullah was in regular contact with USÂ
officials." In other words, in its efforts to bring about "regime change" inÂ
Iran, the Bush administration is collaborating with Sunni extremistsÂ
associated with the Taliban, which is the main target of the US "war onÂ
terror" in neighbouring Afghanistan.Â
Â
In his most recent article, in February, entitled "The Redirection," HershÂ
says the Bush administration has enlisted the support of the Saudi monarchyÂ
and other Sunni states such as Jordan in a bid to counter the influence ofÂ
Shiite Iran across the Middle East. As the article points out, the US mightÂ
not be "directly funding" groups like Jundullah and other Sunni extremistÂ
militia, but autocratic Saudi Arabia is able to secretly provide largeÂ
amounts of money, as it did to Al Qaeda in the 1980s in the CIA's warÂ
against the Soviet-backed regime in Afghanistan.Â
Â
Hersh also highlighted the role of Deputy National Security Adviser ElliottÂ
Abrams, a prominent neo-conservative who was an active participant in theÂ
Reagan administration's illegal arming of the right-wing Nicaraguan contrasÂ
through the covert sale of weapons to Iran in the 1980s. Abrams eventuallyÂ
pled guilty to lying under oath to cover up the Iran-contra scandal. HisÂ
past crimes were no hindrance, however, to his appointment by Bush as deputyÂ
national security adviser with a special brief for "global democracyÂ
strategy"—that is, for undermining regimes targetted by the administration.Â
Â
According to Hersh's sources, Abrams has used his experiences to bypassÂ
congressional oversight of a series of clandestine operations, not onlyÂ
inside Iran, but directed against pro-Iranian groups such as Hezbollah inÂ
Lebanon. Access to funds appears to have been no problem, as a PentagonÂ
consultant explained: "There are many, many pots of black money, scatteredÂ
in many places and used all over the world on a variety of missions." OtherÂ
US officials pointed out that the billions of dollars unaccounted for duringÂ
the first months of the US occupation of Iraq had been "a vehicle for suchÂ
transactions".Â
Â
*Iran reacts*Â
Â
Commenting to ABC News about Bush's secret presidential finding, Vali Nasr,Â
a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, warned: "I thinkÂ
everybody in the region knows that there is a proxy war already afoot withÂ
the United States supporting anti-Iranian elements in the region as well asÂ
opposition groups within Iran. And this covert action is now being escalatedÂ
by the new US directive, and that can very quickly lead to IranianÂ
retaliation and a cycle of escalation can follow."Â
Â
A senior US State Department official admitted to the *Washington Post* thatÂ
the US was funding oppositionists, albeit indirectly. "We saw early on theÂ
problem we would pose if we tried to support them directly. We didn't wantÂ
to get them into hot water. That's why we're doing it through thirdÂ
countries," he said.Â
Â
Already the Iranian government has seized on the US campaign to justify itsÂ
own political witch-hunt, including the roundup of political opponents asÂ
"spies" and "US agents". US-based Human Rights Watch analyst Hadi GhaemiÂ
told the *Washington Post* last month: "Dozens of Iranian activists areÂ
paying the price since the announcement of the $75 million and practicallyÂ
everyone who has been detained over the past year has been interrogatedÂ
about receiving this money. They [the authorities] are obsessed with theÂ
perception that the US is fuelling a velvet revolution through this money."Â
Â
A broad range of activists have been detained and interrogated, includingÂ
teachers, women's rights campaigners, labour organisers, students,Â
journalists and intellectuals. "When the US announces its support for civilÂ
society movements, it becomes a ready tool for the Iranian government to useÂ
against independent activists. It's really been counterproductive," FaribaÂ
Davoodi Mohajer, a women's rights activist, told the newspaper.Â
Â
Several visiting foreign academics and journalists have also been caught upÂ
in the security dragnet, including Radio Farda correspondent Parnaz AzimaÂ
and Haleh Esfandiari, from Washington's Woodrow Wilson Centre. Both holdÂ
dual US-Iranian citizenship and were visiting family members in Iran.Â
Esfandiari, who has become something of a cause célèbre in American rulingÂ
circles, was formally detained on May 8, after being prevented from leavingÂ
the country, and has been accused of trying to foment a "soft revolution"Â
and spying for the US and Israel.Â
Â
While the Iranian regime has offered no evidence to justify its repressiveÂ
measures, the outrage expressed by the Bush administration and congressionalÂ
Democrats is completely hypocritical. Secretary of State Rice declared lastÂ
week that Esfandiari should be released immediately, saying her caseÂ
demonstrated that the Iranian regime "does not treat its people... veryÂ
well." State Department spokesman Sean McCormack dismissed IranianÂ
accusations that the academic was seeking to overthrow the IranianÂ
government as "poppycock" and "utter nonsense".Â
Â
Whether or not Esfandiari is involved, Rice's perspective is certainlyÂ
"regime change" in Tehran. Moreover, with the complicity of the Democrats,Â
the Bush administration has arbitrarily detained without trial, and in manyÂ
cases tortured, thousands of people in Iraq, Afghanistan and the US itself,Â
including five Iranian officials seized from an Iranian liaison office inÂ
northern Iraq in January.Â
Â
The campaign for "regime change" in Iran has nothing to do with defendingÂ
"democracy" or the political rights of the Iranian population. Its soleÂ
purpose is to advance US strategic and economic interests. Iran not onlyÂ
contains huge reserves of oil and gas, it sits at the strategic crossroadsÂ
of the resource-rich regions of Central Asia and the Middle East.Â
Â
US and Iranian officials are due to meet next week in Baghdad to discuss theÂ
deteriorating security situation confronting American occupation forces inÂ
Iraq. The meeting is unlikely to ease the escalating tensions between theÂ
two countries.Â
Â
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