The Bush administration’s committee for regime change in Iran
by Peter Symonds
An article published in the Boston Globe on January 2 has provided a glimpse into the preparations of the Bush administration for political provocations and a military attack against Iran. While the White House continues to maintain that it intends to resolve the ongoing confrontation with Iran diplomatically, a team of top officials from the Pentagon, State Department, Treasury, CIA and National Security Council has been working to strengthen US military alliances against Tehran, covertly finance Iranian dissidents and oppositional groups, and isolate Iran economically.
The Iran Syria Policy and Operations Group (ISOG), set up nearly a year ago, is modelled on the Iraq Policy and Operations Group established in 2004 to consolidate the US-led occupation of Iraq. Syria, as a close ally of Iran, has been included in the ISOG’s brief, but, according to the Globe, “is a lesser focus of the group”. Emile El-Hokayem, a research fellow at the Stimpson Centre, a US-based thinktank, told the newspaper: “There is a perception in the Gulf that Iran is really on the rise. Washington wants to prepare for a potential showdown.”
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The participation of Elliot Abrams as a co-chairman of the ISOG’s steering committee is further evidence of the group’s preparations for dirty operations against Iran. Abrams, an unabashed neo-conservative, was an active participant in the Reagan administration’s illegal arming of the right-wing Nicaraguan contras through the covert sale of weapons to Iran. He eventually admitted to lying under oath to cover up the Iran-contra scandal. This political gangster is now Bush’s deputy national security adviser with a special brief for “global democracy strategy”—that is, for undermining regimes targetted by the Bush administration.
Prior to taking maternity leave last year, Elizabeth Cheney, daughter of Vice President Dick Cheney, served as the ISOG’s co-chairwoman. She was in charge of the State Department’s Iranian Affairs office established last year to coordinate policy on Iran and dispense “pro-democracy” financing to Iranian opposition groups. Last February, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice requested a boost from $10 to $75 million for such activities. A senior State Department official told the Globe that this budget would double again in 2008.
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The ISOG plan would be run under the guise of an “election monitoring program” to avoid being formally designated as a covert action. It would operate through a foundation run by Amar Abdulhamid, a member of a Syrian opposition umbrella group known as the National Salvation Front (NSF). The NSF includes the fundamentalist Muslim Brotherhood and Syrian dissidents. According to Time, NSF representatives, including Abdulhamid, met at the White House twice last year for “exploratory” discussions.
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The most sinister aspect of the ISOG’s operations concerns the working group on military actions. Despite claiming that the US is seeking a diplomatic solution, senior Bush administration officials have repeatedly insisted that all options, including the military one, remain on the table. A series of articles by veteran American journalist Seymour Hersh in the New Yorker over the past two years has detailed the discussion in the Bush administration’s top circles of a military attack on Iran, including the possible use of nuclear weapons. His articles have also reported on Israeli and US activities inside Iran to identify potential targets and foster armed opposition by Kurdish, Azeri and other minorities.
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http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=viewArticle&code=SYM20070107&articleId=4366
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