Anyone remember this 01/05 Hersh article? - The Coming Wars - Iran is next

[cyberpj]

(snip)

Bush and Cheney may have set the policy, but it is Rumsfeld who has directed its implementation and has absorbed much of the public criticism when things went wrong—whether it was prisoner abuse in Abu Ghraib or lack of sufficient armor plating for G.I.s’ vehicles in Iraq. Both Democratic and Republican lawmakers have called for Rumsfeld’s dismissal, and he is not widely admired inside the military. Nonetheless, his reappointment as Defense Secretary was never in doubt.

Rumsfeld will become even more important during the second term. In interviews with past and present intelligence and military officials, I was told that the agenda had been determined before the Presidential election, and much of it would be Rumsfeld’s responsibility. The war on terrorism would be expanded, and effectively placed under the Pentagon’s control. The President has signed a series of findings and executive orders authorizing secret commando groups and other Special Forces units to conduct covert operations against suspected terrorist targets in as many as ten nations in the Middle East and South Asia.

The President’s decision enables Rumsfeld to run the operations off the books—free from legal restrictions imposed on the C.I.A. Under current law, all C.I.A. covert activities overseas must be authorized by a Presidential finding and reported to the Senate and House intelligence committees. (The laws were enacted after a series of scandals in the nineteen-seventies involving C.I.A. domestic spying and attempted assassinations of foreign leaders.) “The Pentagon doesn’t feel obligated to report any of this to Congress,” the former high-level intelligence official said. “They don’t even call it ‘covert ops’—it’s too close to the C.I.A. phrase. In their view, it’s ‘black reconnaissance.’ They’re not even going to tell the cincs”—the regional American military commanders-in-chief. (The Defense Department and the White House did not respond to requests for comment on this story.)

In my interviews, I was repeatedly told that the next strategic target was Iran. “Everyone is saying, ‘You can’t be serious about targeting Iran. Look at Iraq,’ ” the former intelligence official told me. “But they say, ‘We’ve got some lessons learned—not militarily, but how we did it politically. We’re not going to rely on agency pissants.’ No loose ends, and that’s why the C.I.A. is out of there.”

http://www.newyorker.com/fact/content/?050124fa_fact

[leveymg]

1. Iran is the target of the black ops being targeted at London. It's not CIA

or even Mossad this time. There's likely some post-OSP special ops groups that's carrying this out under some bizarre interpretation of Rumsfeld's tasking.

I hope I'm wrong -- wouldn't be the first time. But, I was right about the unfortunate South Asian guy who was executed for wearing a heavy coat in July. Anyone know otherwise?

[FloridaPat]

2. Someone besides 4 regular citizens had to have enough clearance

to know about the practice the London underground was going to have. Just like 9-11.

[leveymg]

3. Would like to hear from some UK people. They know the details.

Most everyone there is still sleeping it off, unfortunately. Let's ask them tomorrow.