Secret missions in Iran?

[CapelDodger]

Hersch says the US has been conducting (with Pakistani assistance) secret intelligence-gathering missions in Iran to identify sites for possible strikes against a developing nuclear capability.

The Pakistanis don't have to go into Iran, they can just tell the CIA where they made their deliveries.

I don't think the Iranians are under any illusions about the US ability to identify targets and blow them up. They may well want the US to know what's where, so that a sensible calculation can be made of just how pissed-off the Chinese will be when a nuclear facility gets bombed up-wind of them. Not to mention India and Indo-China, which get their water from the Himalayas. A lot of bad feeling. And all, it will be said, at the behest of Israel ...

The Iranians are also well aware that there are a lot of Americans far from home, but right next to them, and already somewhat off-balance. I doubt they'd thank the White House for bombing Iran just now. Maybe next year, when most of them have got home.

 

[Bikewer]

A lot of what Hersch has to say in Chain of Command is echoed in Scheuer's Imperial Hubris. Scheuer goes on at some length about our relationship with the Pakistanis, who he says will put on a good show of looking for Al Qaeda, but not produce much results.

A bit of clandestine picture-snapping is a safe way to ingratiate yourself to the administration.