More deep doo-do for Bush re: covert influencing the Iraq elections????

[housewolf]

This article is based on an upcoming New Yorker article by Seymour Hersh that raises a question about the admin ordering covert operations for the purpose of influencing the Iraq elections last January


Plan Called for Covert Aid in Iraq Vote

By DOUGLAS JEHL and DAVID E. SANGER
Published: July 17, 2005

<snip>

The article, by Seymour M. Hersh, reports that the administration proceeded with the covert plan over the Congressional objections. Several senior Bush administration officials disputed that, although they recalled renewed discussions within the administration last fall about how the United States might counter what was seen as extensive Iranian support to pro-Iranian Shiite parties.

Any clandestine American effort to influence the Iraqi elections, or to provide particular support to candidates or parties seen as amenable to working with the United States, would have run counter to the Bush administration's assertions that the vote would be free and unfettered.

Mr. Bush, in his public statements, has insisted that the United States will help promote conditions for democracy in the region but will live with whatever governments emerge in free elections.

The article cites unidentified former military and intelligence officials who said the administration went ahead with covert election activities in Iraq that "were conducted by retired C.I.A. officers and other non-government personnel, and used funds that were not necessarily appropriated by Congress." But it does not provide details and says, "the methods and the scope of the covert effort have been hard to discern."

<snip>

http://nytimes.com/2005/07/17/politics/17elect.html

[Media_Lies_Daily]

1. "Funds...not necessarily appropriated by Congress", usually means....

...funds that have been generated by the sale of weapons and/or drugs. They're not traceable by any budgetary oversight.

[me b zola]

2. Several billion missing $$ could have played a role as well. n/t

[Carolab]

5. Remember Hillary saying there were stacks of cash on board

the plane she took to Iraq--and they had absolutely NO idea what they were for?

[FreedomAngel82]

16. Interesting

I didn't know that. Very telling.

[FreedomAngel82]

15. I think so too

That was very strange of how that money went "missing." They claimed the money was laying in a backpack and it just disappeared. All that money in a back pack? Or maybe a check I guess.

[punpirate]

4. Lots of loose Iraqi money from before the invasion...

... and oil money afterwards floating around, and next to no accountability. Lots of possibilities there for funding.

[althecat]

23. The CIA has a weird kind of permanent ongoing budgetary approval...

.... plus it has no official balance sheet. Meaning that it can accumulate commercial assets at will and never report them. It has had this status for several decades...

There is no effective financial oversight of the CIA. Period.

[Carla in Ca]

3. Let's see, what could we call this...

How about this...

"We fix the elections over here so we don't have to fix the elections over there".
Bastards.





Mr. Dean, SRO in Utah...fabulous

[housewolf]

6. Good one!

That sums it up just about perfectly

[Quixote1818]

7. Wow! This could be big! And what a surprise! Who would have thought

the Bush administration would do such a thing? :sarcasm:

[evermind]

8. It's long been suspected that the January elections were cooked

with the help of the US - in particular I read that a lot of people doubted that the largest party did not win an outright majority.

The result as officially stated meant a much slower and more manipulable process was involved in selecting a president and ministers because everything had to be negotiated with the Kurdish representatives.

There were numerous stories of vote rigging at the time, but nothing that stuck in the international press.

If the story can be substantiated it should be really major because it totally undermines the sincerity of any WH claim to support democracy in Iraq (and, by implication, elsewhere).

[Boo Boo]

10. Yeah, Scott Ritter has made that accusation

Said that after the polls closed, there were irregular procedures (which I remember being reported, some kind of trouble with the count) and during this period there were votes switched or added to prevent the Shiites from gaining an outright majority.

[althecat]

11. There is zero effective monitoring as I recall..... no real observers

...on the ground due to the insurgency.

[FreedomAngel82]

18. They could've easily done it then

With nobody around to watch they could've easily done it. Why wasn't Jimmy Carter there to watch? His group does elections and I've heard alot of success stories.

[FreedomAngel82]

17. Of course

Don't the Shi'ites rule the majority in that country?

[Boo Boo]

21. Yeah, maybe "outright" was a poor choice of words

The purported goal was to prevent the Shiites from gaining a majority above a certain percentage so that they would have to enlist the other factions in forming a government rather than simply taking complete control.

[Peace Patriot]

9. I wish Seymour Hersh would take on the Bush regime's "covert...

...election activities" in the U.S. of A.

[FreedomAngel82]

19. I wish he would too

Maybe if enough people pressure him and he talks to people who have been on the ground in Ohio? (Like Palast and Fitarkis)

[housewolf]

20. This article is based on one by Seymour Hersh coming out this week

in the New Yorker, on this very subject

[DoYouEverWonder]

22. He's always been

a foreign affairs guy. I doubt if he can change his stripes at this point in life. Besides what Hersh covers is just as important.

[Catch22Dem]

12. Here's the problem with Sy Hersh...

Believe me, I KNOW how pretty much everything Sy has said has turned out to be absolutely true LONG before the rest of the media catches on. The problem is, most of my co-workers who know his name think he's just a muckraker because that's what the likes of HannityO'ReillyLimbaugh say. So, while Sy is out there fighting the good fight, * worshipers think he's a kook. It usually takes a while.

I say, keep at it Sy, eventually your words are heard by the masses, even if the rest of us have to sit on them for a while.

[ellenfl]

13. i don't remember where i heard it, but

i heard that bush tried but failed to influence the elections. you will remember that he opposed them initially . . . or at least the timing of them, possibly because he didn't have control yet.

ellen fl

[FreedomAngel82]

14. I have heard this

If you haven't visit http://www.gregpalast.com and watch his documentary on Iraq and oil. It's VERY telling and it shows that the Bush group had someone already in mind for putting in the government. Another puppet. But Bush was under a lot of pressure to hold "elections". I remember in the beginning hearing that Allwai had 4% but then a few days later Bush cried "fraud!" and a few days or so later Allwai had 14%. Funny how Bush knows all about fraud, right? The Bush family has been stealing elections in third world countries for YEARS. 2000 was their test plan to see if they can make it through here. Then once they did 2002 was a test plan for the machine's and 2004 was the big show. If you haven't go to pbs.org and watch the documentary "The Arichtect" on Karl Rove. In the first segment it's about the last election and is VERY telling.