Covert Action
Seymour Hersh has a long history of helping break important stories: the My Lai massacre in Vietnam, the C.I.A.'s illegal spying against Americans, the abuse of prisoners at Abu Ghraib, and many more. In the July 7 New Yorker, Hersh returns with another scoop. His "Preparing the Battlefield" details how Congress has approved funding for a Bush administration secret request to escalate covert operations in Iran. With his usual meticulousness, Hersh reports that clandestine operations designed to destabilize Iran's leadership have been expanding since last summer as a possible prelude to war. The story is full of unnamed source (like most stories about covert actions), but given Hersh's track record, there's little doubt about its accuracy. www.newyorker.com/reporting/2008/07/07/080707fa_fact_hersh?currentPage=all
In other covert action, Mark Mazzetti and David Rohde have a fascinating story in Monday's New York Times about how U.S. efforts to combat Al Qaeda forces in Pakistan have been delayed by political and bureaucratic infighting. Their "Amid Policy Disputes, Qaeda Grows in Pakistan " lets us know why Osama bin Laden and his allies have been able to regroup and regain strength in the mountains near the Pakistan-Afghanistan border. www.nytimes.com/2008/06/30/washington/30tribal.html?_r=1&hp=&adxnnl=1&oref=slogin&adxnnlx=1214832575-3xiSNODXs27PwzHNX3kx3A