Saudi Arabia and U.S. join forces against Iran

A covert action against Iran by the United States and Saudi Arabia? Could it be true? David Samuels at The Atlantic has an article, Grand Illusions, in which he writes:

Rice and her colleagues in the administration decided to embark on a daring and risky third course: a coordinated campaign, directed with the help of the intelligence services of Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Jordan, Israel, and the United Arab Emirates....The bill for the covert part of this activity, which has involved funding sectarian political movements and paramilitary groups in Iraq, Iran, Lebanon, and the Palestinian territories, is said to amount to more than $300 million. It is being paid by Saudi Arabia and other concerned Gulf states, for whom the combination of a hasty American withdrawal from Iraq and a nuclear-armed Iran means trouble.(more)

Michael Roston at The Raw Story , points out "Samuels' report echoes an earlier story by the New Yorker's Seymour Hersh."

They pointed to an upsurge in antigovernment guerrilla activity inside Iran, including a bomb in Zahedan, the economic center of the province of Baluchistan, that killed 11 soldiers in the elite Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps on February 14; the mysterious death of the Iranian scientist Ardashir Hosseinpour, who worked on uranium enrichment at the Isfahan nuclear facility; and the defection of a high-ranking Iranian general named Ali Asgari, a former deputy minister of defense who was also the Revolutionary Guard officer responsible for training and supplying Hezbollah during its war against the Israelis in southern Lebanon in the 1980s. (more)

Samuels quotes former Secretary of State George Shultz as saying. "But it’s not difficult for somebody to sabotage those refineries." This has shades of a recent episode of The Unit on CBS.

In December of 2005 Terrence Henry, also in The Atlantic, wrote "The Covert Option". His version had the United States and Israel joining forces:

In the debate over how to respond to Iran's pursuit of nuclear weapons, much attention has been paid to the "Osirak option"—a reference to Israel's successful 1981 air strike on Iraq's Osirak reactor, which was then on the verge of producing plutonium for a nuclear weapon. [snip]

Israel and perhaps the United States are likely to pursue it against the Iranian nuclear program over the next few years if current attempts to negotiate a solution with Iran fall apart.

A Tiny Revolution reports:

More recently, ABC reported the U.S. has "secretly encouraged and advised" an organization of Pakistanis operating inside Iran called Jundullah. Jundullah has "taken responsibility for the deaths and kidnappings of more than a dozen Iranian soldiers and officials." According to one of the experts quoted by ABC, Jundullah has been "executing them on camera." However:

U.S. officials say the U.S. relationship with Jundullah is arranged so that the U.S. provides no funding to the group, which would require an official presidential order or "finding" as well as congressional oversight.

Tribal sources tell ABC News that money for Jundullah is funneled to its youthful leader, Abd el Malik Regi, through Iranian exiles who have connections with European and Gulf states.

There are calls for investigations, much deriding Jay Rockefeller for not knowing what a writer for The Atlantic knows (or says he knows). Let me say, I'm all for covert operations. I don't know how much of this report is true, but I hope we are working behind the scenes. Iran must be stopped but that urgency has dropped from the headlines.

Covert: concealed; secret; disguised, ... Not openly practiced, avowed, engaged in, accumulated, or shown: covert military operations

If there are covert operations, then let's keep them that way, let's keep their funding out of the press, let's protect the lives of those involved.

Other reading:

One State, Not Two Is the Solution (by Khalid Amayreh), American Wars

US support for Israel soaring, Stand for Israel and the Israel Project's new poll, via JP

The Newshoggers, The Proxy War - Attacks On Iran
On the Contrary, US and Saudis Sponsoring anti-Iran Terrorism

Comments

[Debbie]

Madconductor, you can be sure if I had any real intelligence or information, I would certainly not print it here. I would want to protect our guys/gals.

While there are folks all around the world, and in the Middle East who read Right Truth, (even in Iran), I would not print anything that would hurt the effort.

Most of this is just speculation I think.

You are right, we haven't heard anything from the mouth of Ahmadinejad for too long. Must mean he's up to no good.

Although he did get in trouble for kissing the gloved hand of his ancient elementary school teacher. Shame on him for such public displays of affection. ha

How are things in Cajun country, and Alambama?

[madconductor]

Looks like you're on to something, Debbie. Though "keeping it out of the press" seems redundant - I consider blogs a part of the "press" - though far more friendlier than antique media. I suspect that ahmanutjob will speak to this shortly. Haven't heard anything outrageous from him in a while so it's time for him to fire the (loose) cannon.
Excellent post.

[Layla]

Great post Debbie and keep up the great work! I agree with you completely that all this should be kept out of the press. This need to know and expose anything and everything in the news is stupid.

[Debbie]

The enemy of my enemy is my friend??? It seems that is the word of the day in the Middle East.

[Steve Harkonnen]

VERY interesting; however, I can't imagine the Saudis getting involved, unless they have stark proof evidence that the Iranian government has been proven to be behind the plot to destroy certain Saudi refineries.

[spree]

Excellent catch!!! As usual, great post Debbie.