Sy Hersh: U.S. Helped Plan Israeli Attack, Cheney "Convinced" Assault on Lebanon Could Serve as Prelude to Preemptive Attack on Iran
Amy Goodman at Democracy Now writes:
Investigative journalist Seymour Hersh reports in this week’s issue of the New Yorker that Israeli officials visited the White House earlier this summer to get a “green light” for an attack on Lebanon. The Bush administration approved, Hersh says, in part to remove Hezbollah as a deterrent to a potential US bombing of Iran.
Full story… including an interview with Seymour Hersh (transcript + optional MP3)
In related news Reuters newswire gives us this : ANALYSIS-US Mideast clout may be casualty of Lebanon war
JERUSALEM, Aug 14 (Reuters) – The Bush administration’s influence in the Middle East is in danger of becoming another casualty of the war in Lebanon, giving Iran a chance to build up its clout in the region. […] The Arab world is seething at how President George W. Bush, after promoting free elections in Lebanon, made no effort to stop Israel from weakening the new government by destroying much of the country’s infrastructure in a bid to cripple Hizbollah.
But there is also unease among Israelis at a brewing debate in Washington about the Jewish state’s value as a strategic ally against Iran, given the failure of its vaunted, U.S.-equipped military to subdue a small, Iranian-backed guerrilla army after a month of fighting.
“Iran comes out of this stronger, with the reflected glory of Hizbollah’s performance,” said Judith Kipper, a Middle East expert at the Council on Foreign Relations in Washington.
And, finally, from the Department of “winning hearts and minds”:
IDF general: Troops lacking food can steal from Lebanese stores
the IDF backtracked on the stealing thing: http://haaretz.com/hasen/spages/750463.html
And also the foreign ministry is denying the report.
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1154525873513&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull
The stealing thing is beautiful not becuase the general said troops could take food and water from stores (soldiers do that when they have to) but becuase this is the Army’s chief of Logistics and Supplies! He is saying: “why should I do my job when troops can steal?”
Heh John Brown. You’d make a great soldier.
Sy Hersch is not a reliable source. I understand that he has written numerous books but he is often wrong (along with many other “investigative journalists”)
I don’t think that smoke-cloud-enhancing Reuters is in a position to talk about maintaining credibility in the Middle East.
Amechad — Your remark is oh so limp (did you have to bite your tongue to refrain from calling him ‘self-loathing?’). Please, do document all of the times that Hersh’s intelligence has been ‘wrong.’
CK — I agree. Tzedikim make the best soldiers.
but smoot – as per jon stewart – before they enhanced the smoke, what did the pic look like? a barbecue over beirut?
Miriam writes:
“Please, do document all of the times that Hersh’s intelligence has been ‘wrong.’”
Here you go:
http://www.slate.com/?id=2058474
King Sy’s Mistakes
What Seymour Hersh got wrong.
By Scott Shuger
http://www.slate.com/id/2100717
What Went Wrong
The flaw in Seymour Hersh’s theory.
By Christopher Hitchens
http://www.cjr.org/issues/2003/4/hersh-sherman.asp
The Avenger
Sy Hersh, Then and Now
BY SCOTT SHERMAN
“Early in his research, Hersh came across an astonishing trove of handwritten documents about JFK — showing, for instance, that the president allegedly had paid hush money to Marilyn Monroe. But the people peddling the documents were charlatans, and most of the papers themselves were forgeries. Some of his peers tried to warn him. At one point Hersh called a Kennedy biographer, Richard Reeves for assistance. “When he said,” Reeves recalls, “that he had a ‘contract between JFK and Marilyn Monroe,’ I said that could not possibly be authentic, that whatever actually went on in those days, JFK was far too cautious (and sensible) to ever sign something like that. And I never heard from him again.”
Hersh removed the documents from the book shortly before it went to press, but the news media pounced on his credulousness. A long article about the controversy in The Washington Post began: “The strange and twisted saga of the JFK file is part cautionary tale, part slapstick farce, a story of deception and self-delusion in the service of commerce and journalism.”
And here is something from a fellow loony-leftist:
http://antiwar.com/hirsch/
Nuking Iran Is Not Off the Table
by Jorge Hirsch
“The (for any rational human being) bizarre possibility of a U.S. nuclear strike against Iran first reached public consciousness in early April 2006, when investigative reporter Seymour Hersh wrote in the New Yorker magazine that it was one of six plans being considered by the administration. Now Hersh reports that the plan is off the table. Hersh is wrong on both counts. The “nuclear option” against Iran was, and still is, the only game in town.”
These articles were really hard to find. I had to type “Hersh was wrong” in Google. Regardless, it seems folks on the left, right and center all think Hersh gets things wrong.
If Sy’s mysterious inside sources were right, we would have invaded Syria and Iran last year.
“Please, do document all of the times that Hersh’s intelligence has been ‘wrong.’”
Miriam, type “Hersh was wrong” without the quotes into Google and see what turns up. There are plenty of articles from the left, right and center.
http://www.slate.com/?id=2058474
King Sy’s MistakesWhat Seymour Hersh got wrong.
By Scott Shuger
http://www.slate.com/id/2100717
What Went Wrong
The flaw in Seymour Hersh’s theory.
By Christopher Hitchens
http://www.cjr.org/issues/2003/4/hersh-sherman.asp
The Avenger
Sy Hersh, Then and Now
BY SCOTT SHERMAN
“Early in his research, Hersh came across an astonishing trove of handwritten documents about JFK — showing, for instance, that the president allegedly had paid hush money to Marilyn Monroe. But the people peddling the documents were charlatans, and most of the papers themselves were forgeries. Some of his peers tried to warn him. At one point Hersh called a Kennedy biographer, Richard Reeves for assistance. “When he said,” Reeves recalls, “that he had a ‘contract between JFK and Marilyn Monroe,’ I said that could not possibly be authentic, that whatever actually went on in those days, JFK was far too cautious (and sensible) to ever sign something like that. And I never heard from him again.”
Miriam, type “hersh was wrong” into Google without the quotes. There is a lot there from writers on the left, right and center who think Hersh got things wrong.