Sy Hersh: Iran-Contra "lesson learned" -Run op out of VP's Office

[Rose Siding]

The Bush Administration’s reliance on clandestine operations that have not been reported to Congress and its dealings with intermediaries with questionable agendas have recalled, for some in Washington, an earlier chapter in history. Two decades ago, the Reagan Administration attempted to fund the Nicaraguan contras illegally, with the help of secret arms sales to Iran. Saudi money was involved in what became known as the Iran-Contra scandal, and a few of the players back then—notably Prince Bandar and Elliott Abrams—are involved in today’s dealings.

Iran-Contra was the subject of an informal “lessons learned” discussion two years ago among veterans of the scandal. Abrams led the discussion. One conclusion was that even though the program was eventually exposed, it had been possible to execute it without telling Congress. As to what the experience taught them, in terms of future covert operations, the participants found: “One, you can’t trust our friends. Two, the C.I.A. has got to be totally out of it. Three, you can’t trust the uniformed military, and four, it’s got to be run out of the Vice-President’s office”—a reference to Cheney’s role, the former senior intelligence official said.

...

The Pentagon consultant added that one difficulty, in terms of oversight, was accounting for covert funds. “There are many, many pots of black money, scattered in many places and used all over the world on a variety of missions,” he said. The budgetary chaos in Iraq, where billions of dollars are unaccounted for, has made it a vehicle for such transactions, according to the former senior intelligence official and the retired four-star general.

“This goes back to Iran-Contra,” a former National Security Council aide told me. “And much of what they’re doing is to keep the agency out of it.” He said that Congress was not being briefed on the full extent of the U.S.-Saudi operations. And, he said, “The C.I.A. is asking, ‘What’s going on?’ They’re concerned, because they think it’s amateur hour.”

http://www.newyorker.com/fact/content/articles/070305fa_fact_hersh?page=5

[H2O Man]

1. Nominated.

This is an exceptionally important article, by one of the great journalists of our time. I strongly recommend that DUers read this.

Thank you for posting it.

[EFerrari]

33. This is a very important article. We've intuited the premise

for a long time. I'm glad someone put it into words and into print. :(

[unblock]

2. THIS is why they blew plame's cover. NOT revenge against joe

that was the cover story. the real reason was to destroy the cia's network on tracking wmds, because they have their own people, unaccountable and loyal to them.

petty revenge on a guy's wife? please!

[H2O Man]

3. Yes.

You are correct.

[fooj]

24. Bill gave Poppy a pass...

Now look at the troubles we are facing because of it. Accountability is key.

[hootinholler]

29. Which is why we must have impeachment hearings. n/t

[Swamp Rat]

9. Yep

[rodeodance]

21. Negroponte----- “wanted to do it by the book.”

The former senior intelligence official also told me that Negroponte did not want a repeat of his experience in the Reagan Administration, when he served as Ambassador to Honduras. “Negroponte said, ‘No way. I’m not going down that road again, with the N.S.C. running operations off the books, with no finding.’ ” (In the case of covert C.I.A. operations, the President must issue a written finding and inform Congress.) Negroponte stayed on as Deputy Secretary of State, he added, because “he believes he can influence the government in a positive way.”

The government consultant said that Negroponte shared the White House’s policy goals but “wanted to do it by the book.” The Pentagon consultant also told me that “there was a sense at the senior-ranks level that he wasn’t fully on board with the more adventurous clandestine initiatives.” It was also true, he said, that Negroponte “had problems with this Rube Goldberg policy contraption for fixing the Middle East.”

The Pentagon consultant added that one difficulty, in terms of oversight, was accounting for covert funds. “There are many, many pots of black money, scattered in many places and used all over the world on a variety of missions,” he said. The budgetary chaos in Iraq, where billions of dollars are unaccounted for, has made it a vehicle for such transactions, according to the former senior intelligence official and the retired four-star general.

“This goes back to Iran-Contra,” a former National Security Council aide told me. “And much of what they’re doing is to keep the agency out of it.” He said that Congress was not being briefed on the full extent of the U.S.-Saudi operations. And, he said, “The C.I.A. is asking, ‘What’s going on?’ They’re concerned, because they think it’s amateur hour.”

[NewJeffCT]

22. hmm, I wonder why Negroponte was transferred?

from intel czar to the #2 at State...

Amazing that it's turning out that John "Death Squad" Negroponte may actually be the one of the least evil of the bunch, and one of the few with a modicum of competence. (There were stories that he went to State because Condi was such a fracking disaster as a manager over there)

[blm]

26. Of course it was. Outing Plame's firm that was looking for armsdealing networks got too close.

Who here at DU really believes that Poppy Bush and his cronies woke up one day in Jan 1993 and decided to stop funding the drudealers, armstraders and weapon proliferators along with their global terror networks, just because he was no longer president?

And how many really believe that one of those armsdealers (Marc Rich) was really pardoned for being a tax evader?

Jack Quinn and Scooter Libby are the two lawyers who wanted rich pardoned.

[teriyaki jones]

4. K&R n/t

[jwirr]

5. At least we will know where the buck stops when we investigate.

[The Backlash Cometh]

6. "Amateur Hour"

If the CIA and the NSA want to put an end to the abuses coming out of the VP office, they can do it easily. Leak the transcripts, video or conversations from illegal wiretapping so that Fox News is left holding their Gob in the their hands.

[bonito]

7. kick &R

[unblock]

8. "if the cia and the nsa want ..." they could do any of a LARGE number of things

i remain baffled as to why the cia appears not to have fought back. i understand that the neocons have enough political control over the organization itself, but you would think there would be enough people or groups within the cia, someone would have done something by now, you'd think.

[The Backlash Cometh]

12. Jack Bauer would have known what to do.

How do you like me now, huh?

[Junkdrawer]

10. A NEW SY. HERSH....K&R

Thanks :hi:

[Blackhatjack]

11. And here is where the missing billions in Iraq intersect with NeoCon extragovernmental operations...

So many blackpots full of billions of dollars being used to subvert official government policy to accomplish the goals of the NeoCons and their corporate backers.

You don't drop a pallete of $12 billion American dollars into Iraq and wonder what happened to it. THere are people who know exactly where the $12 billion went and what is being done with it.

[ftr23532]

19. And then there's the missing $2.3 trillion

Oh where oh where http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gUKJNxdmX6Y">did it go?

[fooj]

25. Bingo.

[Gabi Hayes]

13. hersh coming up with Wolf in the next hour

wonder if they'll talk about Plame connection.....

[Auntie Bush]

14. A kick for Sy Hersh...a true American!

[frogcycle]

15. K&R

[Spazito]

16. Geez, listening to Sy Hersh's tone of voice on Wolf's show

scared the crap out of me. Near the end of the interview, his words AND tone of voice were so urgent, imo, he emphasized how serious his article is, etc.

I haven't finished reading his article but I am already VERY alarmed.

[Lasher]

37. I saw that too, it was quite profound

It was one of those 'I can't believe my ears' moments for me. I'm going to ask Jay to invite Hersh to testify before the Senate Intelligence Committee.

[omega minimo]

17. Who was Vice President during Iran/Contra?

[Spazito]

18. I am sure it is just "coincidence" the VP at the time was...

poppy bush. I was doing some research on Iran-Contra given Sy Hersh's article and found this interesting very interesting site:

The Iran-Contra Affair 20 Years On

Documents Spotlight Role of Reagan, Top Aides

Pentagon Nominee Robert Gates Among Many
Prominent Figures Involved in the Scandal

National Security Archive Electronic Briefing Book No. 210

Posted - November 24, 2006



http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB210/index.htm

[John Q. Citizen]

36. poppy claimed he "was out of the loop." but they just let him walk. And he

pardoned his accomplises.

[ktlyon]

38. he must have been in the bathroom at the time

he drinks a lot of tea, you know :bounce:

[Spazito]

20. Kick back to the front page!

Mr. Hersh's article is a MUST-READ and for those who did not see his interview on Blitzer's show, crooksandliars has it up along with the full transcript:

http://www.crooksandliars.com/2007/02/25/seymour-hersh-negroponte-iran-contra-fundsoh-my

[rodeodance]

23. .The New Yorker magazine reported in its latest issue that a special planning group

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070225/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/us_iran;_ylt=Am0GJxr27GIHm91hDI7f303MWM0F

.......The New Yorker magazine reported in its latest issue that a special planning group has been set up in the offices of the Joint Chiefs of Staff to develop a bombing plan against Iran that could be activated within 24 hours of Bush's orders. The author, Seymour Hersh, cited a former senior intelligence official as his source.

A Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman, said Sunday he know of no such planning group, the U.S. is not planning to go to war with Iran and "to suggest anything to the contrary is simply wrong, misleading and mischievous."

The top Republican on the House Armed Services Committee said U.S. intelligence long has focused on Iran, especially for its nuclear intentions.

"We have contingency plans around the world. We had contingency plans with the Soviet Union, and we had specific targets. That didn't mean that we were planning to strike the Soviet Union," said Rep. Duncan Hunter (news, bio, voting record), D-Calif.

He said Hersh interprets that "into an intent to attack Iran in the near future. That's not the case."

Rice appeared on "Fox News Sunday" and "This Week" on ABC. Hunter on "Late Edition" on CNN.

[scarletwoman]

28. WTF! Why does yahoo refer to Duncan Hunter as a DEMOCRAT?!?

...said Rep. Duncan Hunter, D-Calif.

Yet, just one paragraph above, it references "The top Republican on the House Armed Services Committee..." Don't these people have editors?

It really bugs me when "news" sources mis-identify Republicans as Democrats. And it happens way too often!

(And I realize that this is largely off-topic to the OP, but I was going to kick this thread up anyway, so I figured I may as air my gripe while I was at it.)

Voted to recommend as well...
sw

[progressoid]

27. Looks like a great read - markiing this one for later.

[Spazito]

30. Kick for the night/Oscar crowd!

:kick:

[EFerrari]

31. OMG. K&R

Of course it goes back to Iran-Contra. And thank God for The New Yorker and Vanity Fair for sponsoring actual JOURNALISM.

"Amateur Hour" :scared:

[EFerrari]

32. Second thought THIS IS WHY WE MUST IMPEACH!

If anyone had held St. Ronnie responsible, we wouldn't be here NOW, with these mofo recycled Iran-Contra bastards.

IMPEACH. INDICT. SAY GOODBYE, IT'S TIME TO GO!

[lyonn]

34. You pointed out one of the more interesting parts of Sy's

great article. This article is a must read. It makes your brain spin. It is like a maze of info.

[John Q. Citizen]

35. This part is interesting also.

Nasrallah said he believed that President Bush’s goal was “the drawing of a new map for the region. They want the partition of Iraq. Iraq is not on the edge of a civil war—there is a civil war. There is ethnic and sectarian cleansing. The daily killing and displacement which is taking place in Iraq aims at achieving three Iraqi parts, which will be sectarian and ethnically pure as a prelude to the partition of Iraq. Within one or two years at the most, there will be total Sunni areas, total Shiite areas, and total Kurdish areas. Even in Baghdad, there is a fear that it might be divided into two areas, one Sunni and one Shiite.”

He went on, “I can say that President Bush is lying when he says he does not want Iraq to be partitioned. All the facts occurring now on the ground make you swear he is dragging Iraq to partition. And a day will come when he will say, ‘I cannot do anything, since the Iraqis want the partition of their country and I honor the wishes of the people of Iraq.’ ”

Nasrallah said he believed that America also wanted to bring about the partition of Lebanon and of Syria. In Syria, he said, the result would be to push the country “into chaos and internal battles like in Iraq.” In Lebanon, “There will be a Sunni state, an Alawi state, a Christian state, and a Druze state.” But, he said, “I do not know if there will be a Shiite state.” Nasrallah told me that he suspected that one aim of the Israeli bombing of Lebanon last summer was “the destruction of Shiite areas and the displacement of Shiites from Lebanon. The idea was to have the Shiites of Lebanon and Syria flee to southern Iraq,” which is dominated by Shiites. “I am not sure, but I smell this,” he told me.