To Provoke War, Cheney Considered Proposal To Dress Up Navy Seals As Iranians And....

[ThoughtCriminal]

Original Article

Speaking at the Campus Progress journalism conference earlier this month, Seymour Hersh — a Pulitzer-Prize winning journalist for The New Yorker — revealed that Bush administration officials held a meeting recently in the Vice President’s office to discuss ways to provoke a war with Iran.

In Hersh’s most recent article, he reports that this meeting occurred in the wake of the overblown incident in the Strait of Hormuz, when a U.S. carrier almost shot at a few small Iranian speedboats. The “meeting took place in the Vice-President’s office. ‘The subject was how to create a casus belli between Tehran and Washington,’” according to one of Hersh’s sources.

During the journalism conference event, I asked Hersh specifically about this meeting and if he could elaborate on what occurred. Hersh explained that, during the meeting in Cheney’s office, an idea was considered to dress up Navy Seals as Iranians, put them on fake Iranian speedboats, and shoot at them. This idea, intended to provoke an Iran war, was ultimately rejected:

HERSH: There was a dozen ideas proffered about how to trigger a war. The one that interested me the most was why don’t we build — we in our shipyard — build four or five boats that look like Iranian PT boats. Put Navy seals on them with a lot of arms. And next time one of our boats goes to the Straits of Hormuz, start a shoot-up.

Might cost some lives. And it was rejected because you can’t have Americans killing Americans. That’s the kind of — that’s the level of stuff we’re talking about. Provocation. But that was rejected.

Hersh argued that one of the things the Bush administration learned during the encounter in the Strait of Hormuz was that, “if you get the right incident, the American public will support” it.

“Look, is it high school? Yeah,” Hersh said. “Are we playing high school with you know 5,000 nuclear warheads in our arsenal? Yeah we are. We’re playing, you know, who’s the first guy to run off the highway with us and Iran.”




Transcript:

HERSH: There was a meeting. Among the items considered and rejected — which is why the New Yorker did not publish it, on grounds that it wasn’t accepted — one of the items was why not…

There was a dozen ideas proffered about how to trigger a war. The one that interested me the most was why don’t we build — we in our shipyard — build four or five boats that look like Iranian PT boats. Put Navy seals on them with a lot of arms. And next time one of our boats goes to the Straits of Hormuz, start a shoot-up. Might cost some lives.

And it was rejected because you can’t have Americans killing Americans. That’s the kind of — that’s the level of stuff we’re talking about. Provocation. But that was rejected.

So I can understand the argument for not writing something that was rejected — uh maybe. My attitude always towards editors is they’re mice training to be rats.

But the point is jejune, if you know what that means. Silly? Maybe. But potentially very lethal. Because one of the things they learned in the incident was the American public, if you get the right incident, the American public will support bang-bang-kiss-kiss. You know, we’re into it.

…What happened in the Gulf was, in the Straits, in early January, the President was just about to go to the Middle East for a visit. So that was one reason they wanted to gin it up. Get it going.

Look, is it high school? Yeah. Are we playing high school with you know 5,000 nuclear warheads in our arsenal? Yeah we are. We’re playing, you know, who’s the first guy to run off the highway with us and Iran.

[billamj]

More Alcoa stock, please.

[ThomasJ]

Surely you don't believe that garbage.

[K9346]

That is, quite possibly, the dumbest thing I have ever read on the internet......and that's saying alot.

[Lysander]

Originally Posted by K9346

That is, quite possibly, the dumbest thing I have ever read on the internet......and that's saying alot.

Maybe, he just wants a new My Lai to report on so badly . . ..

After all, isn't Iraq "just like" Viet Nam?

ETA (missed closing the /SARCASM tag. )

[tourrider]

...and Hersh got into the Veep's office for this meeting how?

[ThoughtCriminal]

Originally Posted by ThomasJ

Surely you don't believe that garbage.

Remember the Gulf of Tonkin? False flag operations are not new.

[ThomasJ]

Stop it, you're killing me.

[ThoughtCriminal]

I'm not saying I believe this took place. I'm only saying it would not surprise me given the history of this country talking about and doing things very similar. I wouldn't dismiss it outright.

[adymond]

AHHHHH! I need some duct tape. This is nuts. I thought I would not have to read crap like that on here. I am not saying our government would never manipulate us, but really does Iran need to do much more before SOMEONE vaporizes them. I don't think those evil bastards in the White House really need to help them along much.

Oh yeah and I don't think the Navy "almost shot at a few small Iranian speedboats." I thought they fired warning shots. I guess the author of that article forgot that the USS Cole was hit by a similarly small speedboat. Only it was packed with explosives. I guess they also forgot that the Iranian Republican Guard or whatever those yahoos are called use those boats and in the not too distant past captured a few (15) British Marines.