Attack on Iran Would Only Stifle Democracy, Iranian-American Journalist

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Editor's Note: Iranian-American journalists warn that a U.S. attack on Iran would only give the repressive mullahs an excuse to crack down on the Iranian dissident movement.

SAN FRANCISCO--Iranian-American media are dismayed though not surprised by the news that the Bush administration is undertaking covert actions in Iran. They warn that an attack on Iran would not promote democracy there or in the Middle East.

Writing in the Jan. 20 issue of the New Yorker, leading investigative writer Seymour Hersh charged that the close circle of neoconservatives in the government have solidified their power by sidelining the CIA, launched covert intelligence-gathering within Iran through the Pentagon and developed a plan to attack and remove Tehran's nuclear capability.

The CIA had reportedly concluded, based on computer simulation and war games, that attacking Iran would not work, putting the agency out of step with the Bush administration. The administration attacked Hersh's story as inaccurate but did not deny the existence of a strike plan.

Prominent figures in the Iranian-American media found Hersh's story credible. Hossein Hedjazi, program director of KIRN-AM 670 in Los Angeles, says, "The neocons want to control the Middle East. They will not shy away from any action that gives them power and control." He says the neocons include Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz, Undersecretary of Defense Doug Feith and Vice President Dick Cheney.

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