Administration plans covert ops and disinformation to deal with Iranian threat

By Aussiegirl

According to this article in the Asia Times, the administration is working to make it appear that Turkey is cooperating in an air strike against Iranian nuclear targets, however this appears to be merely disinformation to put pressure on the Iranians. It seems doubtful if the Iranians will feel any pressure from such tactics. It also appears that the administration has settled for the time being at least, on a policy of disabling Iran's nuclear facilities through commando raids and sabotage. Let's hope we start seeing reports of strange "accidents" and mysterious explosions emanating from Iran. John Batchelor reported on his show that there have been mysterious explosions which happened in a town that was being visited by Ahmadinejad. Taking him out would be the simplest solution.

Asia Times Online :: Middle East News, Iraq, Iran current affairs

Jushua Kurlantzick of The New Republic wrote in Gentleman's Quarterly in May that top officials had adopted a new strategy of "deterrence and disruption" toward Iran in the autumn of 2004 that was aimed ultimately at covert operations by special forces to damage nuclear sites, according to a government official.

Kurlantzick's source confirmed, in effect, an earlier report by Seymour Hersh in The New Yorker that the administration had approved conducting covert probes by reconnaissance missions in Iran to identify potential nuclear sites as targets for later military strikes. But it suggested any such strikes would be by commando teams rather than from the air.

"You'll start seeing reports of an 'accidental gas leak' at Natanz," an Iranian nuclear facility, the official was quoted as saying.

The choice of covert operations instead of air strikes in administration planning reflected the serious downside associated with an overt attack on Iran. Administration policymakers were concerned about the likelihood of Iranian retaliation - in Iraq, Afghanistan or elsewhere in the Middle East - for an open military air attack against Iranian targets.