The Bush Admin Whack Iran Lobby (Mother Jones and others)

[chill_wind]

AKA "The Iran Directorate" aka "The Iran Steering Group" ?

Who they are-- and what they are up to.

This is a repost of a journal entry I made in September. Seems timely as ever and worth re-visiting for those interested who hadn't read it.

DU discussion in more detail:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x2871945

original article:
http://www.motherjones.com/news/update/2006/09/iran.html

Exiles peddling back-channel intelligence, upstart advocacy groups pressing for regime change, administration hawks intent on remaking the Middle East—the scene in Washington is looking eerily familiar as the Iran standoff grows more tense. Instead of Ahmad Chalabi, we have the likes of Iran-Contra arms-dealer Manucher Ghorbanifar. A new Iran directorate inside the Pentagon features some of the same people who brought you the Iraq intel-cherrypicking operation at the Office of Special Plans. Whether calling for outright regime change or pushing “democracy promotion” initiatives to undermine the Iranian government, an expanding cast of characters has emerged to promote confrontation between the U.S. and Iran. What follows is an abridged list of the individuals and organizations agitating to bring down the mullahs.

(....)

And you thought the OSP was defunct........

U.S. Moves to Weaken Iran

A campaign to promote democracy and fund dissidents prompts speculation that the administration's goal is to change the regime.

By Laura Rozen
Special to The Times
5/19/06 "Los Angeles Times"


(...) The State Department also is planning to send 15 foreign service officers to countries neighboring Iran and to capitals with large Iranian exile populations to serve as "Iran watchers."

At the Pentagon, the new Iranian directorate has been set up inside its policy shop, which previously housed the Office of Special Plans. (snip)

Pentagon spokesman Lt. Col. Barry Venable declined to name the acting director of the new Iran office and would say only that the appointee was a "career civil servant." Among those staffing or advising the Iranian directorate are three veterans of the Office of Special Plans: Abram N. Shulsky, its former director; John Trigilio, a Defense Intelligence Agency analyst; and Ladan Archin, an Iran specialist.



full story: http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article13111.htm