U.S. reported to mount covert operations in Iran
Monday, January 17, 2005
Pulitzer-Prize winner Seymour Hersh reported that covert operations to identify as many as 36 or more nuclear, chemical and missile potential targets in Iran have been carried out by U.S. Special Forces. By defining these as military missions, the Bush administration hopes to evade legal restrictions imposed on the CIA's covert activities overseas.
There are satellite photographs showing disputed nuclear facilities near Natanz and Arak. The International Atomic Energy Authority (IAEA) inspected these sites in early 2002 without finding conclusive evidence of military use, though traces of highly enriched material were found.
The covert missions have been ongoing for nearly a year, and have taken place in as many as ten Middle Eastern and South Asian nations. In return for his country's assistance, Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf is said to have received assurances that the US government will not demand for questioning Abdul Qadeer Khan, Pakistani nuclear scientist and creator of their nuclear bomb.
The Pentagon has strongly criticised the report, though without explicitly denying the existence of covert operations in Iran. According to the Pentagon spokesman "Mr. Hersh's article is so riddled with errors of fundamental fact that the credibility of his entire piece is destroyed."
He went on to state: "Mr. Hersh's source(s) feed him with rumor, innuendo, and assertions about meetings that never happened, programs that do not exist, and statements by officials that were never made."
Sources
- "US special forces 'inside Iran'" — BBC News, January 17, 2005 10:40 GMT
- Seymour M. Hersh. "THE COMING WARS -- What the Pentagon can now do in secret." — The New Yorker, January 17, 2005
- "New Yorker report: U.S. conducting secret missions in Iran" — Haaretz, January 16, 2005
- "U.S. Conducting Secret Missions Inside Iran" — Reuters, January 16, 2005
- "USA allegedly identifying targets for strike inside Iran" — Arab Monitor, January 16, 2005
- Massimo Calabresi. "Iran's Nuclear Threat" — Time, March 8, 2003
- David Ensor. "U.S. has photos of secret Iran nuclear sites" — CNN, December 13, 2002
- Richard L. Russell. "Iran in Iraq's shadow: dealing with Tehran's nuclear weapons bid" — LookSmart, Autumn, 2004
- An independent task force. "Iran: Time for a New Approach" — Council on Foreign Relations, January 05, 2005
- Lawrence DiRita. "Statement from Pentagon Spokesman Lawrence DiRita on Latest Seymour Hersh Article" — U.S. Department of Defence,
