Plays Does Not Play Well With Others

We just cannot mind our business or keep our hands to ourselves.

The CIA has received secret presidential approval to mount a covert "black" operation to destabilize the Iranian government, current and former officials in the intelligence community tell the Blotter on ABCNews.com.



The sources, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitive nature of the subject, say President Bush has signed a "nonlethal presidential finding" that puts into motion a CIA plan that reportedly includes a coordinated campaign of propaganda, disinformation and manipulation of Iran's currency and international financial transactions.



"I can't confirm or deny whether such a program exists or whether the president signed it, but it would be consistent with an overall American approach trying to find ways to put pressure on the regime," said Bruce Riedel, a recently retired CIA senior official who dealt with Iran and other countries in the region.

Had we not gone half-cocked into Iraq, scaring everyone one in the region and heightening animosity towards us, we probably wouldn't have seen the current Iranian regime come into power in the first place. People only elect nutjobs and "hard liners" when they feel threatened (funny there are no more red, orange or yellow alerts here since the 2004 election). We got "crazy" in Iran because we acted "crazy." (Oh, and I'm not convinced that Ahmadinejad is all that crazy - not when compared to someone who is in denial that Iraq is an utter and complete disaster and failure).

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