Bush Authorizes New Covert Action Against Iran

If it was a secret, it isn’t any longer. I will turn off ABC News and never watch again.
I consider ABC News Traders to the United States

Why, if it is covert, are you airing it and telling the Iranians what we are doing? Do you want more war and more killings of Americans? Let them do their job’s and keep your mouths shut.

Do you people believe in some things being important to the security of the United States of America? Do you even care that some of your reporting is putting our troops our citizens in foreign countries and even our way of life in danger? YOu can take care of things you don’t like without telling the whole world. Why don’t you help our country stay alive.

I think it is totally irresponsible for ABC News to air such a story. Keep your big mouths shut for once. You don’t report news, you are trying to create it. I won’t watch ABC News again!

What part of secret was so hard to comprehend? In the interest of national security, perhaps someone with a brain should have decided NOT to make this a story. FREEdom of the Press.. LOL.. tell me ABC, how much did Lincoln pay you to advertise on this web page?

The Neocons will be out of office shortly
I pray for that day every morning
They are truly evil on this Earth

What else needs to be said.
ABC was should now be UABC.
UnAmerican Broadcast Company.
Unbelievable.

David Reid: it’s spelled T-R-A-I-T-O-R.

ABC is unbelievable. Talk about compromising our troops and our intelligence gathering capabilities. Why don’t they just join up with the other side.

How is this relevent to tell me about?
I hope they do destabelize the government of Iran. The stoy would be if you had suggestions for readers to HELP you morons!

I for one appreciate ABC’s courage in letting Americans know what the government is up to. It’s the present insane US government, not the Iranian, that’s a threat to US citizens.

Thank goodness for Brian Ross, a very brave reporter in this nation of sheep.

I commend you for continuing to keep a watchful eye on our government.

The programing editors are idiots. Stop buying products advertised on ABC WORLD NEWS today!!!

Thats it! I’m done watching abc news! I’ll be the first to join you Stephen!

My husband and I are disappointed again that ABC News would put their own commercial interest (“scooping” a story)above America’s national security. Wouldn’t we rather be fighting a covert war to destabilze Iran than a war in the streets? If we were fighting a war in the streets in cities of Iran ABC would be bringing us the “dreadful” news every night.

who thinks abc news and others are part to blame for our soliders being killed for leaking to m u c h information.. think about it, dont you think the bad guys watch and read this crap?

I am deeply disappointed that your alleged news organization would broadcast to the enemy, an islamic state who hates freedom, Christians, and most of all, Americans. “Treason” is too kind of an adjective to apply to brian ross. I dare say you are no more American than the disgusting kouric wretch.
I would like to call you all a lot of bad names. Where is that imus guy when he might be of some use?
mes

You have to be one ignorant sucker to not have known the US was already in Iran. Bush and his criminal politicos are fostering giant increases in terrorism in the US. Just wait and see. He has caused more harm to the US than any other president in history. Now, we’ll all pay for it. God what morons these neo cons turned out to be.

we want responsible news networks like fox news!!!!!!!! they would never stoop this low.

This is no surprise. The CIA has been covert operations like this to other nations since its inception in 1946. Take Iran for example in 1953 they overthrew the democratically elected government and put the Shaw back in power. The CIA was uses to sabotage the Costa Rican government in the late 1950′s all for the benefit of the United Fruit Company. In 1973 the CIA helped organize a coup and put Augusto Pinochet in power in Chille, who by the way was a brutal dictator much like Stalin. There isn’t enough space to list all the morally and ethically wrongdoings of the CIA here. ABC deserves praise for exposing this latest action. The people have a right to know what their government is doing. This whole standoff with Iran has nothing to do with nukes or radical Muslim clerics. It is about money and corporate power.
To the naysayers here, I say educate yourself!

So, this government can’t keep a secret? It would seem that the current government is untrustworthy. It is high time we bring our troops home and tend to some of our own problems first. Maybe it is just me, but this gasoline price increase IS a National crisis. Why not tend to that first?

Now wait a minute. Let us not shoot the messenger. I for one – DO want to know what Bush and Cheney have planned against Iran. Remember the last time these two had a bright idea on how to deal with a middle-eastern nation? Here we are 3500 US and ‘lost count of the Iraqi body count..’ later!
When will you readers realize that you have a rogue regime in the white-house – that is NOT out to protect American interests! If it were – it would have looked after its own during Katrina, would never have authorized torture – and would never have gone overboard with illegal wiretapping!
Stop blaming the media for the complete brainless incompetence that is our current executive branch!

OH BE REAL! come on. “secret operations”, OBVIASLY telling john-Q public that ‘hey, we’re conducting secret propaganda missions in iran’ IS part of the secret propaganda mission; by letting Iran know that “hey, you want to fight a proxy/propaganda war with us, we’ll be fighting one back” Iran has admitted “secret propaganda missions” against the US and its allies, so why wouldnt we (the west) do the same. I think if you do your research and profile US forign policy properly, you’d already know that we’ve been ‘propagating’ iran for decades. Especially since the 90′s with Irans population boom and the replacement/removal of thier previous gov’ts. Its laughable to suggest that americas propaganda war in Iran is any “secret”.

By the way, THANK YOU ABCNEWS for keeping the public informed on the idiotic plans the Bush Administration has in place to further escalate the conflict in the middle east. Cheney is trying is hardest to start a war with Iran. The people of the US need to WAKE UP and put an end to this madness. We need more accountability in washington to prevent another Iraq from destroying the region.

Typical liberal activities, they sure love to destabilize our nation’s operations by publicizing “SECRET” information and aiding enemies of this nation. Treason sounds like the proper definition.

You have got to be kidding me. Every single person that has posted, and will post “Do you know the meaning of covert? ABC news is bad! I will never watch it again! I can’t believe you are broadcasting information to the enemy, Christians, and blah blah blah!” or something of the like, you need to do the human race a favor; wake up. You live in a society of lies and disinformation, THIS IS WHAT THE CIA HAS BEEN DOING TO THE AMERICAN PEOPLE FOR YEARS. Some of us Americans need to realize there are other people with rights just like us in this world. Every human being deserves to be truly free and sovereign. If we as a race cannot come together and realize this, end all conflict and war, end the stresses of everyday life, end hunger, then we are surely doomed. It is time we all take responsibilities for our own actions, we must eliminate the Lie in this world, and replace it with Truth!

Brian Ross, if you are aware of people in a position to know this kind of information and who are willing to give it out or sell it, you should be turning their names over to the CIA, NOT publishing their stories. But then you would have to be a bonified American to do that, wouldn’t you? If the American public doesn’t do something soon, there will be no more America to belong to. Before too long, we will be known as the Democratic American States of Islam!!!

The person who leaked this information, Dick Cheney, should be tried for treason.

For shame! Treason! The “secret war on Iran” sure isn’t a secret anymore. Do you think the Iranians don’t watch ABC News (and all the other anti-American “news outlets”)? The CIA was working to
PROTECT me and my family from these Middle-Eastern loonies, but thanks to Brian Ross’s self-righteous bean-spilling we can forget about that.

We cannot invade every country on the planet!! What is wrong with people who think America gets to control the world?? There are 6.5 BILLON people on this planet and we are only 300 million of that. We are not even 8% !!! Wake up! This is why they hate us and want to blow us up, because we go around blowing all of THEM up for OIL!

Note how many of the posters here support Bush’s violations of international law against Iran, and willingly condone more of the same with the illegal occupation of Iraq. And yet the sheep can only bellow “treason” at ABC News.
Bush has turned the Arab street against us; helped establish two training grounds for Al Qaeda on both sides of Iran; and willingly sends more of our sons and daughters to death in Iraq in a war of choice based on lies because he doesn’t have the balls to change course and rescue our military and national interests in the region. And yet the Stepford crowd can only yell about ABC’s alleged treason for reporting on something that was out in the open since March. Yeah, you guys are made for Bush

Why would any reasonable news agency act in a such away against their country. Shame on you !!! There are some things that are better left unturned.

I agree with those who find this kind of reporting treason. It really is. We need desperately to defeat these people…ABC isn’t helping…

George Bush is the best president we have ever had!!!!!

ABC news at it’s best. lets hope no Americans die over this this report.

Someone TOLD the media about this latest plan. What is this designed to do? How are we supposed to respond? If it’s to take our mind off the price of gas at the pump, it’s not going to work!

I cannot believe that you would even print a story like this. It indicates that your editors have a deep seated hatred for our nation.
I agree that this is an act of treason – To publish something like this is outrageous.

Outraged readers: do you honestly think this article would appear in the mainstream news if the Bush administration feared the disclosure of its “secret plan”? Consider the alternative.

Obviously publicizing the story nullifies any secrecy and alters Iranians to plan countermeasures. Iran has proven itself time and time again to be a dangerous and wily adversary as well as oppressor of it’s own population and for ABCnews to sabotage a CIA operation like this is the height of irresponsibility and lunacy. It’s as if they want US interests to be damaged and I am thoroughly disgusted.
If they were reporting on an action that took place last year and their actions wouldn’t put any operatives in the field in danger thats one thing, but this is apparently a fairly new operation. Even if the producers of the news show disagree with the policy, reporting it in this way puts the operatives involved in mortal peril. Peter Jennings was my favorite anchor growing up so I still watch ABC in honor of him, but I may never watching them again, what a lack of strategic sense….

Thank you ABC for doing your Constitutionally provisioned job of providing a check on a feckless administration. It certainly puts the bit of propaganda released in yesterdays issue of the Guardian in perspective, doesn’t it?

Traitors? I don’t think so! One of the many roles of the media in our society is to expose the conduct of our government.
Remember, revealing secret government operations has won journalism awards. Does the New York Times and Pulitzer ring a bell?

Good job,
You have to blow our cover again. What the hell is your problem? You are the cause of much of the strife in this land. I hope the tide will turn against the press one of these days, and it will. You will be the subject of a bread line. ABC is off for us and also your sponsors. They will be contacted. You people are stupid aren’t you.

The Bush administration is dangerous. Some of you in here are not very bright. $100 says Iran already knew this information.
We don’t need more wars. More people do not need to die.

Really? I cannot believe you would talk about this on the air… Who’s side are you on. Let them (CIA) do their jobs, stay out of it!

Great Report, that’s why they hate us, we support corrupted government like King of Jordan; Saudis royal family etc… in Mideast and try destabilize others.
Iranian already knew about this terrorist group who kills innocent people on city roads to create terror in Iran.
Ray

If ABC figured this out, I’m sure the Iranians knew already. Snooze.

Don’t sweat it, ABC. I remember all the screaming and yelling when Truman fired MacArthur. You’d have thought the world was coming to an end. Most of the posters yelling traitor, treason, etc. don’t have a clue about the rest of the world. Understandably they are scared after 9/11 and believe every word the God-annointed Bush Administration tosses out. If it sounds logical, they’ll believe it. But they have no understanding of Arabs, Muslims, or anything that is not western and, what’s even sadder, they don’t WANT to understand. So, you just go on and do your thing and don’t worry about the sheep. This country has survived worse than 9/11, Iraq, and BushCo (although not much worse) and it will continue to survive. Semper Fi…to the truth!

Good! You American like war,let the war come on!You only lost in two wars,can you remember?

Great job reporting – especially the synopsis of the Iran-Contra figures.

Need I remind everyone that we are not at war with Iran. As a matter of fact, Iran helped us in Afgahnistan. But our history with Iran has been to meddle in their afairs going all the way back to the 1950′s. Read “All the Shah’s Men” for a good history lesson on how our Gov’t turned it’s back on a Democratic movement, all for a few oil contracts.

Don’t you just love it… ABC News releases top secret info but convieneintly will not reveal the source of the info because of the “Sensitiveness of the information”. Why do liberals hate America so much?

For the love of god, why are these madmen still in power? Bush/Chaney and their cadre have been the worst scourge to ever exist on earth. For the sake of humanity we are required as human beings to remove these amoral fools from not-quite-elected power.

Thank God for ABC News and Brian Ross!

The release of this story is OUTRAGEOUS and if not criminal it should be!

Shame on you for airing this all in the name of ratings. I will turn off your news going forward.

I for one am glad ABC leaked this, and I hope it puts the kibosh on this operation. The CIA couldn’t destabilize a pogo stick.
Imagine if US agents got caught red-handed in Iran? Which they would do – count on it. Iran has the second best intelligence agency in the Middle East (hint: the #1 spot isn’t us either) and we know they’re just itching to catch somebody doing exactly what we propose to do – witness recent border stoppings, or the seizing of those British sailors.
So, our guys get caught. Do we go to the military option then? I realize most of the pro-war posters above are probably licking their chops over the prospect of unleashing armageddon on the Middle East but where the hell are you going to get your oil *then*, smart guys? Me, I like my planet and my country in one piece, and I have come to believe that if Bush isn’t stopped soon, the United States is going to snap like a brittle hip. Iraq will be our Afghanistan. (Well, technically Iraq and Afghanistan will be our Afghanistan.)
Consider where we stand. Thanks to Bush, Iran is in a position where they can destabilize *us*, without having to lift a finger.
And I hear they’re building a pipeline to China.

All those complaining about ABC News “spilling the beans” are so naive. The CIA sources who “spoke on condition of anonymity” were almost certainly authorized to speak to ABC.
Most of the time when we read news stories attributed to “unnamed sources”, we are consuming “leaks” that have in fact been deliberately orchestrated. These “leaks” may or may not be true, but the use of an “unnamed source” enhances their credibility. This enables the government to influence media coverage quite effectively, and allows the news media to pretend that it is engaged in investigative journalism rather than just parroting material that the government spoon-feeds it.

LOL, “Traders”, I bet my 10 year old could spell that right.

I think we’ve found the 25 percenters who have no interest in the evil performed in their name.

All of you need to quit fooling yourselves and see how much the actions of our government have destroyed our country. If we go to war with Iran, the American citizens on American soil may be the ones who end up dead as a result of the administration’s decision. If ABC had NOT released this information, would we be covering up the actions of government secrecy? Freedom of the press and freedom of speech are what makes a democracy a democracy. If the press does not continue to expose as much as they can, our government will not be held accountable for their actions and we will turn the clock back 50 years and repeat the McCarthy era of witch hunts and blind baseless accusations.

Wow. I’m amazed at the large number of people that commented on this story without basic spelling skills. I know, some of those are typos. Seriously, I can’t believe it. These people are your demographic. Congratulations.

U.S. terrorism against Iran goes all the way back to 1953. That was a fight over Iran’s oil. Looks like Bush is trying hard to get something started now.

Is this what passes for news now?
Wether this article is disinformation or a political undercutting on ABC’s behalf of OUR President’s policy or, if Mr. Ross and Mr. Esposito are correct, a perfectly LEGAL operation, one thing is certian. IT WAS A BAD CALL TO PRINT THIS ARTICLE. Tell us ABC what good can come of it?
And in case you haven’t heard this already – this article has made me sick thinking of all the AMERICAN’S you have put in jepordy by printing this disgrace of an article.

Great-it’s okay to expose some scandal in Washington, but not okay to take on Bush and Company?
I say bravo to Brian Ross and ABC for informing us about what the bright lights in Washington have in store for us.
Thanks ABC for some excellent reporting.

Everyone predicted that Bush would attempt to start a war with Iran. We’ve been saying it for months. There is nothing “secret” about it. Bush is a madman who must be stopped.

What’s wrong with this picture? ABC is a bunch of idiots.

dave…I’m sure you really care about dead soldiers.

Mr. Bush is the BEST PRESIDENT we could have. People either love him or hate him. That’s a good sign that he must be doing something right. At least he believes in God. You will never hear the potty talk out of his mouth like you can read on some of the above posts. Potty talk usually informs people of your un-intelligence. AND hopefully ABC is off limits to many homes after this traitorous report. IN GOD WE TRUST!

Thank you ABC for doing your job!!! It’s too bad you didn’t report anything like this when a certain brainwashed electorate thought Saddam Hussein was involved in 911. I have a feeling the ones complaining on here are the said electorate. Here’s hoping you keep the Fourth Estate mentality before the CIA gets us into another war without enough troops. I have a hunch the CIA has been siphoning off the $5-15 million a day in missing Iraqi oil to fund militias in Iran e.g Iran Contra. There’s a lead for you if you want to do some journalism.

Man I was getting worried reading all this brainwash, I’ m glad to discover that there are at least a couple good posts coming through. I thought it was a propaganda robot posting all thoes at first.

this is more proof that Washington is COMPLETELY out of control. I can only hope that next years election will see REAL CHANGE. We cannot vote for candidates pushed down our throats. We as citizens need to do our homework and organize political movements to un-do alot of the harm that has been done and plot a course for the future. If this does not happen, only more bloodshed will occur at home. I dont know if it will be in my lifetime, but eventually the subjugated will rise

Oh yes, let’s bring down Iran. Bringing down Iraq has been such great fun!

Absolute stupidity, ABC. Why not try and out the Iranian covert operations? You guys are so concerned with getting Bush Co. out of office that in that process you are harming us all, yourself included Mr. Ross. Most likely a Democrat will be in office next and do you think they will stop Iran with Pelosi-style hugs and kisses? No. They will have to do the same thing Bush is trying to do now to deal with the Iranians. Hopefully you idiots will learn to keep it quiet then.

You idiots at ABC are pathetic.I guess thats why I never watch you.

Loose lips sink ships. I guess ABC is just too darned arrogant to accept any responsibility for their actions. Wouldn’t it be refreshing if ABC started one of these stories with something like, “We accept that this report may potentially put the country at risk, and cost lives, but it is our judgement the sacrifice is necessary and in our (ABC’s) best interest”.

This is the equivalent of Nixon’s secret bombings of Cambodia. How did that turn out?

You guys just don’t get it.
Destabilizing Iran could eventually lead to Iranians that can live without religious oppression.
Granted, we do have some economic interest – but that’s how the world works, right now.
It’s not good, but it is what it is until people stop bitching about not having solutions for oil and start coming up with some.
And the American people start accepting some of those solutions.
Doing nothing while people are held under a theocratic thumb is unacceptable, and we were trying to do something good and meaningful about it.
And, honestly, if we don’t do something, no one else will.
That’s what being America means. Whether we want it to, or not.
And right now, we can’t do anything.
Thanks.
Thanks a lot.

BTW, my take on why Bush refuses to leave iraq is as follows…
My opinion is that we will “stay the course” in iraq until things get so out of control that we must start an emergency evacuation of all troops back to the US. The CATCH is that they wont have time to take all of their vehicles, choppers etc… and they will be left behind in iraq.
This sequence of events will lead to justification of spending more $$$ on rebuilding the next generation of military assets so the military -industrial complex continues full speed ahead

This Iran provocation is no surprise and you people know it. Everyone has been predicting that Bush would try and provoke a war with Iran. Bush must be stopped. He must be impeached!

Thank you ABC. For those who aren’t going to watch anymore… turn the channel. This administration is the worst in the history of this great land, Jimmy Carter got that right. For the media, be it you or anybody else to uncover yet another one of the actions, thats exactly what you are supposed to do. The media exposed the lies that got us into this premeditated illegal crap to begin with, funny how the “With us or against us” lost sheep seem to forget that.
It’s one thing to support the troops, it’s another to be a blind follower of lies. The checks and balances must be practiced and said, for the sake of our freedom… I mean, whats left of it.
Keep exposing… Democracy at work!
God bless the troops, God bless America.

And you, Bob, keep believing in fairies, M’kay?

If the media knows about this plan then Iranian intelligence already knew about it also. There’s no way the media is blowing the cover of secret CIA missions. If the media has access to the information, a civilian group, the cover has already been blown.

Hey Allen,
I am a conservative Christian, I don’t believe in fairies.
But I am sure you can write a good fictional book with the best of them. ;)

Obviously someone leaked this to ABC, and it may be that the White House leaked it as they did with Plume, because they want this news to get out, for reasons one can only guess at. Perhaps they want to emphasize the non lethal aspects of the covert operation Bush approved, so as to lull Iran into a false sense of security, when in fact a lethal operation is being planned or is even underway and this leak serves as a denial to our involvement in an illegal activity.
What I can say is there is very little in the way of investigative reporting being done by the US TV networks and cable news stations, they are all just propaganda stations for government, so we know about this because Big Brother wants us to know it.

Thanks for the heads-up I like to know what the evil Bush admin is doing in my name.

Hi! My name is Bob. I am a good robot. I don’t think any of us should know anything about how or why our country goes to war. All we need to know is there is no draft!

part of what keeps the nation’s democratic system at work is the ability for the press to disclose potentially false information to the public before the government acts irrationally.
there is no basis to go to war against iran, which is why the CIA is scrapping together moderately-incriminating (mind you, totally unrelated) bits of information, and then scaring the more impressionable members of the senate, administration, etc.
and to those who consider this story an act of treason, keep in mind a few words from our good friend ben franklin:
“There is no kind of dishonesty into which otherwise good people more easily and frequently fall than that of defrauding the government.”

I wonder how many of these strangely similar comments about supposed treachery were written by actual everyday citizens. One percent? Zero percent? This sure looks like a concerted effort to spam the boards.
Regardless, I have no idea how revealing such a thing would compromise our safety. That’s just silly.

So the CIA is blowing Plame’s operations?

Yoo hoo, dummies! The CIA puts this kind of information out on purpose, it does not “leak” through ABC News. Get a grip, OK? If the CIA was so incompetent that this stuff got out accidentaly ( it didn’t) then we ( not ABC News) are in deep doo doo.

Bravo to ABC! It is time the American people wake up to the fact that the biggest theat to freedom is the nutcases in the White House. War is about MONEY! Always was and always will be. But, with that said, I would really like to have all the military recruiters do their recruiting at evangelical churches on Sunday. The will find plenty of radical fundamentalists to fill their ranks.

So I guess you guys were also extremely upset with the Bush administration at the outing of a CIA officer, and have stopped supporting him as you have decided to boycott this news organization…

Bob – guess what? We are in deep doo doo, because this kind of operation IS covert, and people have to keep their mouths shut to keep our country safe. When they don’t, because they are pissed at their boss or disagree with a decision made by someone else on their team, then they leak it to news organizations that will print it. The world is a scary place, and the traitors in our midst will be the end of our freedom, not the enemy, because we can ONLY be defeated from within, and take a look at our current congress, both Dem’s and Repub’s, we ARE being defeated from within.

Did anyone consider that this type of covert activity is illegal and the CIA has no right to be doing this? Man am I glad I don’t live in the US anymore, you people are proving the world right- the US really does have its head up its…
Get a grip..do some research learn your history! The CIA has been doing this for years. See Iran 1953. It is the media’s job when it is not owned my the ruling class to expose illegal activity by a corrupt government.

“Bravo to ABC! It is time the American people wake up to the fact that the biggest threat to freedom is the nutcases in the White House. War is about MONEY! Always was and always will be.”
Really? How much did Clinton make when he bombed the snot out of Kosovo? What threat was Slobodan Milošević to our national security? What weapons of mass destruction did he possess?
Who would Jesus bomb? Same people Clinton did. War is not the answer, unless its a Democrat president waging it. Were you protesting Clinton during that time?
Liberal, leftist hypocrite.

Question is will they brand him an enemy combatant? Dana Preist got away with Abu Graib but they’ve introduced laws since there to harshly deal with intelligence leaks. I suspect someone’s going to want to know the sources for this article.

Mr. Ross and Mr. Esposito how could you be so irresponsible? Why do you insist on HELPING a terrorist regime that is a declared enemy of “The Great Satan(USA)”
This is a terrible lack of discretion !When CIA agents are captured in Iran as a result of this, are you going to write that story as well?
Don’t you realize this endangers the lives of Americans serving to protect our safety? Iran is no joke. Their mullahs have been wanting to bomb us for years. They have the terrorist networks to pull it off. Wake up! Stop helping to endanger American lives.

thanks to ABC news for airing yet more news of warm-mongering and violence-prodding by the nazis, i mean the neocons, in office. you wonder why 9/11 happened in the first place? because of these sorts of violent and misguided, arrogant actions by the western governments. let’s pray for a world of peace, not led by these adolescent violent bullies in office.
by the way patriotic lemmings, not one single terrorist on 9/11 was from iraq. not one. yet we’re in a war there. keep paying your taxes for war, lemmings, and watch our country go down the drain.
viva la free press forever!

ABC isn’t keeping the “public” informed, only people over 50. They have half the viewers from one or two decades ago and are decreasing faster as boomers are replaced with Gen XYZers.
Are vile leftist comments about Bush subject to “hate crimes” legislation?

Oh no! Now we’re going to try to discourage Bush from trying to find indirect ways of “attacking” other countries, and it’s treasonous. I didn’t realize that subtly attacking people who disagree with everyone else makes you a traitor. What is it that you want? The whole planet under Bush control, so he only gets his way?
So far, I haven’t seen a single good thing come from his policies, in Iraq or domestically. Or haven’t you noticed that the foreign currencies are stronger than ever, gas prices are higher than ever in history, and we have a failed “war” in Iraq, not to mention the fighting in Lebanon (again), the war in Afghanistan, and now a non-combat war with Iran.
World War 3 anyone? The War of religious nuts suicide bombing everyone to death?

“Are vile leftist comments about Bush subject to “hate crimes” legislation?”
On no, how could it ever be? You know the double standard that the left employs.
They left want separation of church and state, yet, Rev’s Sharpton and Jackson preach politics from their pulpits and they have yet to have their 501c3 status revoked.
If the left were not allowed to use the terms “idiots, fascist and nazi” they would lose 75% of their argument.

As an Iranian dissident living in Iran, I have to thank Bush decision on anything covert. As for the first time Mr. Bush words or actions do not give an excuse to the establishment to break hell loose to us here! Today Ms. Hale Esfandiari is in jail for 75 m.$ public allocation of funds to pressure the regime. I hope these entire decisions amount to a tiny effectiveness against the regime, since all who have suffered so far with all these policies have been ordinary people like me.

Um, “David Reid”; its spelled “TRAITORS” not “TRADERS”. Why does it always seem like the terms “conservative” “right-wing” and “unquestioning patriots” always go hand in hand with “ignorant”. If you are going to ignorantly accuse ABC News of being “TRAITORS” would you at least learn to spell it correctly?

The last time we authorized “covert operations” in Iran, we overthrew a democratically elected man by the name of Dr. Mohammed Mossadeq, who was anti-communist and pro-western. Mossadeq hit bump, though, when he decided to nationalize the oil fields, which angered British Petroleum to no end. BP influenced the CIA and British Intelligence to take Mossadeq out. The CIA then installed the Shah, a brutal dictator. The Shah was later overthrow by the current government. Revealing these plans is not treason, it is responsible reporting. The people have a right to know what the government is planning.

wow, i think i am going to start watching ABC news!! i was pretty sure that they were sold out like the rest of the networks for the last 10 years or so. thanks for the truth. while reading other people comments, i realized that all the ‘loyal bushies’ would probably stop watching abc news after this report, meaning that abc news has a chance to become a real news program one day. good night and good luck.

Since the mob apparently thinks this is acceptable behavior by our government, let them not be TOTAL HYPOCRITES and say it would therefore likewise be perfectly alright if Iran sponsored terrorist attacks from Mexico and Canada (as we do to Iran), or sent into the US a ton of counterfeit money to ‘destabilize’ our money supply (as we are again doing…) Something tells me the brainwashed semi-literate mob would change be singin’ a different tune then!
Thank you for printing the truth, ABC.

THANK YOU ABC for giving us this IMPORTANT information. I like to know when my country is trying to start another war. Bush should be impeached.

…that is to say ‘would be singin’ a different tune’…
It’s pretty clear where some people’s heads are at, when they think it’s a good thing to (further) limit their education because of their extreme personal biases. Ignorance is bliss!

I’ve been saving these comments for about 2 years now, when I first saw them:
Commandant of Iran’s elite Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, Major General Yahya Rahim Safavi, said on state television. “God willing, the 21st century will see the defeat of the U.S. and the Zionists, and the victory of freedom-seeking nations of the world. The final goal of the [1979] revolution is to create global Islamic rule and a regime of law to be led by the Imam Mahdi”.
The [Iranians] President’s chief strategist, Hassan Abbassi, has come up with a war plan based on the premise that “Britain is the mother of all evils” – the evils being America, Australia, New Zealand, Israel, the Gulf states and even Canada, all of whom are the malign progeny of the British Empire. “We have a strategy drawn up for the destruction of Anglo-Saxon civilization,” says Mr Abbassi. “There are 29 sensitive sites in the U.S. and in the West. We have already spied on these sites and we know how we are going to attack them… Once we have defeated the Anglo-Saxons the rest will run for cover.”
The IRGC chief warned that Iran was seeing through “critical days” and “fate-determining years”. He described the purpose of Iran’s 1979 Islamic revolution as the “Salvation of Muslims” from the hands of the “oppressive U.S. and Israel”.

After reading the comments, I am absolutely appalled that my fellow Americans could be so STUPID that they would BLINDLY follow convicted felons (like Abrams) who are attempting to provoke a war with Iran. With utter ignorance my fellow Americans have ignored the fact that the convicted felons advising Bush (like Abrams) are the very same people who have been planning this so called “covert” operation with the CIA. But this isn’t about exposing “covert” operations. — The only reason convicted felons (like Abrams) like to keep their programs secret is because everything they do is illegal. They don’t know how to engage in civilized behavior — you know, like DIPLOMACY? Convicted felons (like Abrams) only know how to enflame passions and bomb the shock and awe out of countries without provocation — just like the terrorists on 9/11. Why don’t you pusillanimous idiots educate yourselves, gain some courage, and check out a book about the Iran-Contra affair? Maybe — just maybe my fellow Americans will finally be able to direct their outrage at Bush instead of our poor shackled media oligopoly that rarely bothers to print the truth anymore. Is there anyone left in this country possessing even the slightest amount of morality or did you people bring children into the world so they can fight and die for Judeo-Christians and their bloody Republican wars — while the neocons reap the spoils of oil?

Haven’t we been trying to overthrow the Iranian government as it stands since 1979? The only thing more embarassing to me as an American than the hydrocephalic ramblings of the Good Germans of Limbaugh’s Basement Irregulars is the fact that none of these paragons of patriotism can spell. They think we are at war with everyone in the world at once, apparently, which explains a lot about the Bush presidency and its poor performance. If ABC were really going to tell us the truth Brian Ross would be explaining how our own government has been taken over by lunatic authoritarian Christianists and delusional Neo-Conservative smarty-pantses to the detriment of our economy, our safety, our health, and our standing in the world. The monsters we have spawned at home and abroad are a poor legacy for the works of our founders.

Goes to show who is the REAL terrorist nation!
CIA covert action – code name for: Government sponsored terrorism. i.e killing of innocent Iranian government/civilian officials.
911 was a blow-back!
Losers!

The press’s justification for printing secret and/or classified information has always been “the public has the right to know”.
Fine.
As a member of the public, I also want to know your sources. My right to know the information supercedes the desire to keep the information secret, doesn;t it?

Are other countries conducting covert operations in Iran besides the U.S.? I don’t think so and for good reason – that is now how they conduct their foreign policy. As for ABC, I will take their integrity any time over the twisted “spin” at Fox.

This intell obviously sources from veterans inside CIA gravely worried about the catastrophic, tunnel vision direction this war mongering administration is bent on taking.
Out of a sense of patriotism, these same sources informed us about Bush ignoring intensifying al Qaeda threats, false links between Saddam Hussein and 9/11, Iraqi WMD, Abu Ghraib, illegal NSA surveillance, black ops renditions and torture, etc.
It would be treason for a journalist to receive this information and not publicize it.
Those wishing to keep their heads buried in sand should just continue to accept everything Sean Hannity says as absolute truth. After all, ignorance is bliss and it doesn’t take much thought to remain uninformed and dogmatic.

To all the people complaining and telling ABC that they are “traitors” – please realize that there is no law against the press publishing state secrets. If members of government are careless enough to reveal secrets, that is their fault.
Anyways, I’m glad that this “secret” was revealed. As an open society, we, the people, need to know if our government is behaving in dangerous or provocative ways. Anyways, do you people honestly think that the Iranians don’t already know that such an intelligence operation is already underway? The Iranian elite may be a tad crazy, but they certainly aren’t stupid. This just reveals to US what THEY already know.

Is the 4th estate finally waking up and reporting on the Bush admin??? instead of parroting talking points…
I can’t believe there are so many idi*ts in America that still think we’re at war defending our freedom & way of life… don’t they know that the fascists of the petro-chemical & military-industrial-congressional complex are covertly running the country and using our military to move their agenda froward which is stealing resources of sovereign countries… this has been going on since the beginning of this country…

The ABC is correct in broadcasting this news.
The Iranian people do not want any more CIA interference in their country. The CIA overthrew a democratic government in Iran in 1953 and reinstalled the Shah who ruled brutally until 1979 when he was overthrown and followed by the present police state.
If Iran needs freeing, it is the Iranian people who must do it. Moreover, if the US wishes to support the Iranian people, why should it act covertly instead of openly.

Does anyone really think that this “secret” information got out without the knowledge of the government?
Most of the so-called leaks that are vilified as unpatriotic and helping the terrorists are often deliberately put out by someone or another within the government to further some policy.
Before the vitriol level here gets any higher, someone might consider this.
I wouldn’t put this past the current administration.
I’m amazed at the number of posters here just ready to form a lynch mob and go after Brian Ross. If I didn’t know better, I would think this was the Red Scare and the McCarthy era.
The Bush Administration may be inept but they have done one thing far better than the terrorists – they have instilled terror in the minds of the American public. Terrorism is a tactic. Apparently it is working far too well, and it is being used by both sides. The only ones not seemingly scared are the original terrorists. They’re doing just fine.

From a loyal and perpertual friend of the United States (Australia) who had its government turned over by the CIA in 1975 by precisely this method, my comment is that traitors to the USA or not, the people who broke this news are certainly heroes to the rest of the world.
The reason it is covert is because it is immoral and illegal. Not all the US does or has done has been admirable. That is the way things work.
Iran is no more a threat to the USA than Iraq was. Isn’t the wanton destruction of two countries enough? Anything to stop a third.

Those of us who have a little education know that a watchful press is the backbone of democracy. Those of you who chide this station for bringing you the truth about a very important matter would obviously rather be ignorant and selfish than see the truth about your so-called heroes at the top of the corporate ladder. Why do you defend them? The rich care nothing about you or our planet’s future.
Kudos to you, ABCNews, for forcing transparency upon the greatest group of liars who ever inhabited this Earth.

Kudos to ABC for having the courage to behave like true patriotic Americans. At this stage in America’s history, when the real terrorists and traitors live amongst us, sowing discord, clamoring for war, and fanatically rooting for Bush, every example of actual journalism is sorely needed.

Everyone, it’s time to start growing food at home. Oil has given us 80X the amount of food we were growing without it, and oil is running out.
If you can’t put 2 + 2 together to see that we will be facing fuel and food shortages soon, then maybe you didn’t evolve fast enough.
Good luck to you!

People who are criticizing abc for this “leakage” should try once more to graduate high school.
You can not have democracy without freedom of press.

To all those that are berating ABC:
Do you realize that much of the ‘secret’ information that you see being disclosed in national media is being done so on purpose, by the administration or other powers that be?
Releasing the information can be a valuable tool to the effort – or a political chip being played by the White House to show that action is being sought against the Iranians. This is a contentious time for the administration, and solidifying your base voting constituency is important for the ’08 elections.
Things aren’t as black and white as they seem.

I love it when conservatives call liberals “america-haters.” Liberals are fighting to keep the constitutional liberties that we’ve enjoyed for over 200 years. Conservatives, on the other hand, would gladly trade in their liberties so Uncle Sam can protect them from those bad people. Anyone ever heard the phrase “give me liberty or give me death?” Where’s your love of liberty? Clearly it’s gone.
Also, yes, there are over 6 billion people on this planet, to whomever was contesting that. It’s also more than 10,000 years old.

are you people CRAZY?!?!? its A GOOD thing that we are hearing about this. the Iranaian president said if we did anything, he would retaliate. Thank GOD FOR ABC NEWS FOR AIRING THIS! it should not be a secret! all the people who think so or would rather turn off their TV are saying ignorance is bliss. you idiot! turn on the TV and watch!

ABCNEWS should be ASHAMED
for not reporting this kind of thing throughout all of the Bush reign. If ABC had reported this well BEFORE Bush started this war we might still have a complete Democracy and a functioning government. Better late than never.

I cant believe ABC News has made this information public. This could cost people there lives! I will never watch ABC again….or patronize any of your sponsors. ABC News is a disgrace!!

uhh?… Im confused, why is there a report on covert operations by the C.I.A. Now I feel bad, I thought ABC News was the best in the business. Thanks for making me look bad.

So when are you going to attack and send us to heaven?

What a bunch of hypocrites. Empires crumble based upon their hypocrisy, double standards, corruption, avarice and greed. The United States under Bush and the corrupt Republican party is no exception.

WTF? Where do we get the authority to do such a thing. Now that it is out in the open–Can we say World War 3, boys and girls?–I thought you could!

Congratulations. Another meddling war in a country where we’ve done nothing but damage since 1950. They’re really going to love us this time, for sure, aren’t they?

I, too, commend you for continuing to keep a watchful eye on our government. Democracy cannot exist without a free press.

Why is it, that when U.S.A. activly destabalise another country its called intelligence gathering, and considered ok. When it happens to U.S.A. its called terrorism??? What a double standard. No wonder U.S.A. is hated world wide. Yankes go home, you are the problem.

I don’t understand why they are reporting a classified information. This is a shame for those people who leaked this information. This kind of news makes me throw up… im so disgusted after reading this news. This is SAD some people will do everything just to get notice.

wow i’m shocked Bush/Cheney has dibs on Iran now that they’ve botched Iraq… (not!)
and ABC is NOT liberal… far from it… it’s just that the media has gone so far right (see FOX news) that any sembence of rationality is looked on as blasphamy…
and look at all the pathetic calls for “total war”… how typically immature and full of hate… obviously these people have no idea what war does to soldiers, families, innocent civilians, and future generations who must deal with additional layers of fear and hatred their wars will create…
Bush/Cheney… creating a fresh supply of terrorists for our children to fight for generations to come…

my bad, only the first half was propaganda

Thank you dear Iranian representative!

I consider myself left of center on most political issues, however I think that abcnews reporting on this is irresponsible. The key words are secret and covert. It doesn’t help anyone to publish this type of information. I have to aggre that this type of reporting is dangerouse and and puts any covert operative at risk. why didn’t they just give the iranians names?

Every person who dies in a war is just like you. They have a mother and a father, they may have siblings. They have friends and lovers and many have children, just like you do. Hopes, Dreams, dirty fantasies. Every single person who dies in a war had just as rich of a life as you do. Or at least they did until War came along and ripped them from their world, leaving behind Greiving mothers, fathers, brothers, sisters, lovers, and orphaned children, who will go on to avenge the death of their parents by killing even more people, thus starting the entire cycle over again.
What bush, and his ilk cannot understand is that it is impossible to slaughter your way to world peace.

Thank you, ABC, for giving me SOME ACTUAL NEWS instead of the usual candy-coated pablum that most of the ignorant ignoramus’s posting here are used to ignoring. Please continue your coverage of these strange, foreign concepts known as “Truth” and “Facts”.

If this is not a declaration of war then I don’t know how you can think of this?
US is spreading terrorism the same wahy they did in the 80s, the result of supporting fanatic bastards in the 80s was the Al-Qaida who killed 1000s of Americans.
How many Americans will die when these Jundullah guys get rid of Iran and point their guns at the arch enemy of Islam in their mind: Israel/US?
Have you guys learned anything from history?
Terrorism breed terrorism and in the end, even though you win your short term goals, you loose in the long term.

Sorry I havn’t got the time nor inclination to read all these commnents. All I want to say is that the Bush/Cheney clique is fighting a desperate and doomed battle. They have the capability to destroy nations and kill millions of innocent people, but it surely won’t get them anywhere. So what is the use of all this killing. It’s good to see that the American people are gradually waking up (majority in Congress) and realising that only “regime change” in the White House will safe many American soldiers from certain death and being maimed for life as a result of these criminal adventures of a bunch of psychotic thugs.

Thank you ABC for reporting it. At least still some democracy.
Who’s the enemy there? Iran, Iraq? what else, aren’t you tired of wars? As far as I am concerned the US is their own enemy, what if the Iranians would do the same to the US? what would be your reaction? defend I guess, so guess what will come next? more blood and everlasting wars!

Good job ABC, fine pice of jurnalistic coverege you produced there, jurnalism is an art when the finest material comes out, since the plot is dishonest then I don’t see it as an act of a trator.
If bush would want to take a fart on everyone and he would place it on the national security act as clasified then I see no problem exposing it.
Peace is achived by building bridges , not distoing them.
Sorry for my crappy english, I’m europian…
By the way I think most of them who posted here are gov agents or people payed by them since bush aproval rate in united states is under 29%
If I were the jurnalist who blew this opened I would change my cell phone also, you know, phone tapping and stuff.
Good luck America….Ron Paul for president, cheers.

Ah, good old ABC. A glaring example of why we in the military refer to the National Media Establishment by its acronym — N.M.E. Say it fast, out loud — N-M-E — and you’ll get the point.

We are at war with Iran, We have always been at war with Iran.
Are you people blind?

I think the vast majority of the posters has a serieus lapse in judgement. Do you really think the only source of intelligence for the Iranians is ABC news? Get real. Not to mention this leaky is probably deliberate. The US gov has been following these tactics for decades now. It would be nice if the Americans finaly came up with some real evidence. There was a lack of it in Iraq and what was presented seemed vague at best.But ofcourse the evidence itself is a matter of national security and there for cannot be shown to the pyublic, riiiiiight

If ABC News learned about it then so could anyone with more than a passing interest. Remember when newsweek reported that Saddam was about to invade Kuwait a month before the “surprise attack” happened? God speed to the messenger as far as I am concerned.

As this is information which has been reported previously there are several possible explanations for its reappearance at this time:
1) it is an attempt to sabotage next week´s meeting between American and Iranian diplomats. Hardliners on the US side collude with their Iranian counterparts in an attempt to block further talks.
2) it is an attempt to provoke hot-heads on the Iranian side into actions we can then trumpet as proof of Iran´s threat and thereby justify increasing pressure on Iran.
3) it is an attempt by those who remember the “secret” bombing of Cambodia to reduce the likelihood we wander into another such morass. As if the Cambodians then or the Iranians now were unaware of what is happening. SECRET means secret from the American public, not those who are on the receiving end of our actions.
4) it is an attempt to divert attention from further expansion of American forces in Iraq. Those who support the US occupation will see this as carrying the fight to the enemy while those who oppose it will focus on this issue rather than the continued troop build-up.
5) it is an attempt to provoke attacks on the American media as “treasonous” and “un-American”, making the media the focus of interest and ire rather than the substance of what they are reporting. This is the use of mis-direction at a time when the current administration has been having a more difficult time with the press, and serves as a warning that the dogs can be turned loose against them.
Whatever your preferred explanation, none of us should believe for a minute that this is news to the Iranians. So we should ask why we are expected to pretend that it is, and who wants us to go shoot the messenger.

Not wanting to know the truth? Is that the new low the American public has sunken to? Ya, stick your head uner the ground and pretend nothing evil is done by your government. Then you can come back a couple of years later and say the American nation was not guilty, it was the government that mislead us (the phoney grounds to invade Iraq, a vivid example). In a democracy, since people elect their goverments, they are as guilty as the elected government in the cruelties commited by that government.

Thank ABC-
We need someone to look into this administration, I think someone forgot to tell the President, he is not the King!

Does it ever occur to any of you people that it was intelligence agents who passed this information to Ross/ABC? Maybe they had a reason for doing that.
I haven’t heard a peep out of the usually howling W.H. about this “leak.”
Besides, the powers that be, in Iran, know that there either is a covert plan in action or there will be. They aren’t stupid.

The neocons willed the comments with their “Don’t try to convince me with facts” rhetoric. They conveniently forget the last interverntio in Iran in 1953 and all the ill will that it brought.

Why do news organizations feel that they have a right to broadcast every secret operation they uncover. This type of reporting provides comfort to our enemies knowing that they will have advance warning of any movement by the United States.
Imagine how our country would be different if the british had known about every covert operation or every planned attack during the first and second world war was broadcast on television before being carried out.
Stop sharing American secrets with the enemy because true Americans want covert operations to remain just that – covert.

Folks this absolutely insane. WE have just declared war on Iran—why is nobody getting this? Do you think that the people of Iran, China, and Russia are just going to say “Oh, its alright. it’s covert!”?? The Bush administration needs to be stopped or we all had better dust off the bomb and fallout shelters!

Wow! People wake up and realize a feint when you see one! The reason ABC won’t be in trouble is that this story is a plant – a misdirection play designed to have the Iranians second guess each other. That’s how the CIA works by creating doubt and confusion with the enemy. Your “outrage” serves as good cover for this project. I can’t be the only Tom Clancy reader out there!!!

Once again the U.S. media lie. Bush isn’t trying to pressure Iran to stop supporting Iraq’s insurgents. Nor is he interested in Iran’s feeble nuclear program.
Bush wants to pressure Iran into pressuring the Iranian supported Maliki government in Iraq into signing off on the oil legislation that would give total control of Iraq’s resources to the major oil companies. Only in the Amewrican media is this fact completely hidden. Its all about rich corporations and their lust for oil. Everything Bush does is geared only for that.

ABC news call it “a coordinated campaign of propaganda, disinformation and manipulation of currency.”
Hmm … might be what the media and Federal Reserveve have been doing to us here in AMerica for years.
Asume nothing bceause what our government is doing is broken.

Looks like some Americans want to be the last to know what their government is doing.
These activities, including operatives within Iran, have ongoing for sometime. They have been reported in the international and this will be no surprise to the Iranians.
It is a significant problem when these operations also include elements design to deceive the American people and influence the political process.
For example, a major initiative to place false stories in the Iraqi media was also designed to misinform and influence Americans.

Oh yeah that’s right the government should just conduct any action they want without OVERSIGHT. That’s why there was Iran Contra, that’s why there are secret weapons sales to Israel that’s why Haliburton could sell Nuclear technology to Iran in the 90′s that why the CIA could fund and arm Bin Laden during the Russian occupation, that’s why Eisenhower could overthrow the existing Iranian regime and on and on. Thing that’s different now is these folks are capable of fighting back on our soil now. You folks are a pissa, you are the types that believe our leaders (who are supposed to answer to us) are somehow magically endowed, they know better than us what to do in all situations so they should be left to do whatever they want unchecked and in secret. History shows that those actions have done nothing but muck things up on the world stage, kill millions of innocents and foment blind hatred for us in the world. I commend ABC for telling the truth. That is unless they were just releasing pre timed information on behalf of the government. Wake up people and do your research. Go fill up your suv’s and buy more stickers for same. M

Again lies and propaganda — these are the same old tool of this aministration. Good job ABC. It is not treasonous to exposed an operation with evil intentions.

If anyone has a question on how this is going to turn out, I suggest you read All the Shah’s Men. This crazy barking through the fence needs to stop. We, the left ignorant masses, just continue to suffer this back and forth sniping. We’re laughing at a joke we don’t truly get.

If there is any treason, its the “official” who leaked it. Not that its a suprise, since we do this kind of stuff daily. Americans are naive if they think we maintain our position by only playing fair. The fact that this story was reported indicated a security leak INSIDE the government that needs to be fixed. Iran already knows what we’re doing anyway…its expected…we’ve done it to everyone who opposed us since the first world war.

Is it any wonder that the entire world hates the U.S. Your government can’t stop sticking its nose where it doesn’t belong. All you care about is money you are the evil empire. You cause more death and destruction in this world than any other government. Then the kicker….you say you’re a Christian nation. What a hypocritical joke.

Good point. It seems we had a nice group come through here calling this article traiterous. The funny part is that you guys (the ones slamming this article) don’t realize that nothing would be released to you that they don’t want the enemy to know. The fact that “you guys” think that you are more privileged than others to have access to clasified information is completely outrageous. You need to realize that they would keep it secret unless they wanted it to leak. Aside from this you guys must also understand that this is American sponsored terrorism. They are letting us know exactly what type of stuff we’re doing to other people and most americans seem to be so dumb that they can’t even recognize that they are being fooled and taken complete advantage of. This is terrorism and if another country even published something like about the US this they would most likely consider it a declaration of war and immediately commence combat operations.
I got this from wikipedia shown below. Take a close look.
____________________________________
As a form of unconventional warfare, terrorism is sometimes used when attempting to force political change by: convincing a government or population to agree to demands to avoid future harm or fear of harm, destabilization of an existing government, motivating a disgruntled population to join an uprising, escalating a conflict in the hopes of disrupting the status quo, expressing a grievance, or drawing attention to a cause.

Meh, I think we are being too hard on ABCNews. If this info was really that secret or that critical it would never have been leaked or ABC would be tried for treason or the leak would have been mysteriously run over by a bus or something. Perhaps this is misinformation or is good in another way… It forces Iran to increase resources to counter this news broadcast or do nothing and risk its truth… either way it’s not good for Iran. I do think the media should keep their mouth shut about “so-called” secret operations for our National Security though… and all the people who think these types of reports are keeping tabs on the government are nieve and deluded.

Dutch news services report a substantial US fleet ( 9 ship among which 2 carriersand 17000 people) in the Gulf. Iran was not notified but this was done to ‘reassure allies’ This is the biggest excersise since 2003. This either seems to be a attempt to cower Iran in to submission or a prelude to a downright attack. And about the so called nuclear weapons. The US has by far the largest arsenal of them and has been the ONLY country to use them against a, civilian, target. Not once but at 2 seperate occasions. The problem here is that Iran cannot and will not fight a head on war with the US. As shown in the past guerilla attacks ( now called terrorism) are a far more effective way of dealing with the matter. Look at Iraq. Their army was destroyed in days, but the guerilla war has been lasting for 6 years and shows no sign of abating. The US have no right to shove their values down the throat of the rest of the world, least of all by ( military) force.

Nice going. You would have probably revealed D-Day plans to the Germans too. Or sided with Imperial Japan as a misunderstood nation. You’re an awful American and poor human being.

ABC you did it again. How can you report on and give fuel to a country like Iran. Don’t you know they would do anything todestroy us. Our President has to make decisions to protect our country all the time.
We as Americans don’t need to know everything that is done for our protection. Why do you continue with your reporting to add fuel to these people that want to destroy us. It is irresponsible reporting on your part.
ABC news you are a disgrace to what we call freedom of the press. You have just lost a viewer.
Linda in Missouri

What secret? We knew it was comming. Duba want a war to end all wars he knows that by ending the world he will make God come faster! You folks don’t understand G.W. is the Antichrist and you follow him blindly. You will be our undoing. I Thank ABC for lettig the cat out of the bag not that we didn’t expect it.

Of course you would quote CAIR, an organization already committed to helping terrorist groups. Were this WWII, you would be tried for treason! ANYTHING to get Bush, huh?!!

ABC, you should be ashamed of yourselves. Seriously. Secret. Covert. What part of those things don’t you understand. Getting a scoop isn’t the most important thing in the world. What happened to journalistic ethics.
I wish Abe Lincoln was our president, because he knew how to handle reporters like you. Bush is too much of a wimp. Lincoln would have treated you like what you are: traitors. And now I’ll have to switch back to watching NBC.

Does anybody else here besides me find it the least bit hypocritical that ABC REFUSED to publish the DC Madam’s client list, yet they’ll expose National Secrets at the drop of a hat?
Anybody else want another media outlet to dig & find out which ABC exec was on the Madam’s client list?
And to the idiots on here who are saying “great job, ABC!,” you’ll be the first ones to hear Allahu Akbar just before they cut off YOUR idiot heads! Do you morons not realize or see through your Bush rage that the Islamofascists want to kill all of us? They don’t care if you hate Bush. They want to kill you just as bad. Jihad knows no political lines.

Thanks ABC for the transparency that is most offend lacking thus aiding the self serving hatred policies that serve the corrupt military industrial complex and its flag waving morons. We need to protect our country from this kind of wrong governace. No wonder we are so unpopular.

Read all about the shameful 1953 US coup against Iran’s democratically-elected Prime Minister in the now declassified “after action” CIA report at http://partners.nytimes.com/library/world/mideast/041600iran-cia-index.html …
…and Americans wonder why “they” hate us? They don’t hate “us”; they hate what our government has done to them and so many others in the US government’s bid to construct and defend a global empire. And now it’s doing it again. What’s the surprise?
“The Central Intelligence Agency’s secret history of its covert operation to overthrow Iran’s government in 1953 offers an inside look at how the agency stumbled into success, despite a series of mishaps that derailed its original plans.
“Written in 1954 by one of the coup’s chief planners, the history details how United States and British officials plotted the military coup that returned the shah of Iran to power and toppled Iran’s elected prime minister, an ardent nationalist.”

Yay. I hope ABC news ruined it for the government! Tell Iran everything! Good. Anyone supporting an Iran invasion is insane.

One of the worst things Baby Boomers did to this country was to make treason mainstream & this is only more proof of why. Airing information that helps a government thats activly trying tpo bring about a 2nd holocaust is not only low but absolutely disgusting.
Its been said that there is a special place in hell for traitors. ABC better hope thats wrong.
Bush isnt at war morons, the country is.

For all those who think ABC has exposed a “secret”: Do you really think this is news to the Iranian government?
The U.S. was responsible for overthrowing the democratic Iranian regime in the 50s in order to usher in the dictatorial rule of the Shah. And you may be sure that the Iranian politicians are well aware of this.
It is only a large majority of the American people who remain ignorant of their government’s activities. Unfortunately, from the comments here it appears that quite a few people like it that way.
So much for democracy.

Hey, David Reid:
When the US government classifies its “covert” actions against other countries, the aim is to keep the action secret FROM THE AMERICAN PEOPLE!!! For example, the “secret” US bombing of Cambodia and Laos was NOT a secret to the Cambodian or Laotians. It was a secret to the American people.
The Iranian people KNOW what the US government did to Iran from 1953 until now– it’s the AMERICAN PEOPLE who live in the dark.

Newsflash, people! Covert wars have never been legal under the United States Constitution. Freedom of Speech and Freedom of the Press are. Look it up.
Keeping classified military operations secret in a Congressionally approved war is of course vital and justified for logistic and tactical reasons and for the safety of our troops. However, allowing a rogue administration to behave recklessly, starting covert wars without public oversight and the implicit legal consent of Congress is insane and morally bankrupt.
The world is not being made safer with these actions.

Hey, David Reid:
When the US government classifies its “covert” actions against other countries, the aim is to keep the action secret FROM THE AMERICAN PEOPLE!!! For example, the “secret” US bombing of Cambodia and Laos was NOT a secret to the Cambodians or Laotians. It was a secret to the American people.
The Iranian people KNOW what the US government did to Iran from 1953 until now– it’s the AMERICAN PEOPLE who live in the dark.

Main stream media has supported the current administration’s illegal occupation and genocide strategies in the Middle East. I commend Brian Ross et al for their reporting on this important story. Why do the majority of Americans want peace? Why does this administration want war? This administration does not represent the values of American society. Bring our troops home. Ron Paul for President 2008.

Thank You ABC. Great story. But is it not better to have the President Destabilize over there so he doesnt destabilize over here.

More nonsense from the freepers. For those of you out in the heartland who get their “news” from Fox, how about joining the rest of the reality-based community?
The only people out there who didn’t know about this were you guys. The BBC and even IRIB, the Iranian Broadcasting Company, has been reporting on this story for months and months now.
Let me share even more details with you (ohmygod).
The American government has launched black propaganda clandestine radio services pretending to be pro-Iranian, but which are in fact paid for by American taxpayers which insert occasional doubt and inconsistencies into their newscasts so as to seed doubt as to the veracity of the Iranian position on world affairs.
The BBC has been reporting on, and even interviewing Iranian citizens who watched covert American agents being dropped into Iran under cover of darkness, right down to their Twix bar wrappers being scattered around and found by Iranians the next morning. These “insertions” have been happening for months. People in Djibouti, Fiji, Zimbabwe, and Laos have been hearing these news reports on the BBC for quite some time. In fact, the only ones out there who don’t know about it are the average Fox News viewers. Do yourselves a favor and start watching news.
The CIA has paid off a variety of front groups, not just to infiltrate through Jundullah, but through maintenance and parts suppliers intending to disrupt domestic Iranian gas refining, a major weak spot for the Iranians who are oil rich and gas poor. Radio Netherlands has done a variety of reports on this, and because TeamFailure was in charge, it wasn’t hard to uncover.
When you put an idiot like Dubya at the top with his team of cronies and failures, all based on a fundamental misunderstanding of how to influence the Middle East (it was the CIA that gave us the current hard-line fanatical Iranian regime in the first place), Brian Ross is just doing a public service in exposing one more Katrina-like failure waiting to happen.
And for those planning to “boycott,” like you spent any time with ABC News before this. Your ignorance makes it quite plain where you get your idea of news.

The last thing this country needs is to be gouged even more at the gas pumps for yet more oil cartel profits.
Destabilizing one of the largest oil exporters would do just that.
There needs to be an end to the never-ending hairbrained schemes that have banrupted this country for the personal profits of out of touch political manipulators.
2008 won’t come too soon.
Good article. Well done.

Why are we at war with Iran? What did Iran steal from the USA?
We can deal with Viet Nam, where 50,000 were killed by the current government, but we are at war with Iraq because about 100 people were held hostage. Should we want to be at peace with everybody?

ABC, I cant believe you guys a traitors. Whoever decided it was a good idea to run this story, should be thrown into jail. Any executives that knew about this, ahould also be thrown into jail. This is absolutly ridiculous. Do you know what treason is? You people make me sick. Im telling every member of my large family to NEVER watch ABC ever again.

This presidential authorization of covert action is a declaration of war against Iran. I guess maintaining two bloody and unending occupations- Afghanistan and Iraq- and securing the enmity of three quarters of the world isn’t enough for Bush and Cheney. This is madness.

Unbelievable that the editors at ABC made a conscious decision to sell out the their own country. I would say you should be ashamed for publishing this information, but it is obvious no one there is capable of the feeling.

Just what the world doesn’t need: another civil war in the Middle East.
The fascists won’t stop until the entire world is in flames.

Explain to me any possible reason for this report! Do you hate your country? Is your personal vendetta against the current administration overwhelmed you? Are you in league with Islamic terroists? Are you a “sleeper” agent? Just how far are you going to go to make sure we do not prevail over terroists who wish us dead!

Not to sound perjorative, but you “ABC’s committing treason” people are idiots. As inconvenient as it might be to the current administration, we’re a democracy. One of the things that means is that whether or not we go to war is _our_ decision, not the White House’s unilateral right. Congress (our representatives) is the only body that can declare war. Congress – and we the people who elect congress – can’t make good decisions about whether or not to go to war without all the facts. If and when we have to decide whether to go to war with Iran, the fact that Iran might be mad at us because the President’s been secretly trying to destabilize their government ought to be on the table. Thanks very much to ABC for this report.

All these people who are attacking ABC News for reporting this story are missing the point. Who gave the U.S. the right to determine what government another sovereign nation has? Even Iranians who oppose the clerical regime are going to be against this intrusion into their nation’s affairs. Besides, the U.S. tried this approach in Iran before, in the 1950s, and look what it resulted in.

These are all paid poster for the Bush administration. Part of the neo con fascist movement has been to supress the media. The american people have every right to know when a war is being started in our names. We are talking the murder of people, human beings to secure our priorities. Americans have a right to know when and where this will occur. We have a right to be part of the debate to kill people in our names and in our defense. To do otherwise is against democracy.
So, the true american patriots, the true democratic thinkers do not support the efforts of this president. His approval rating is the lowest of any president in history…and anyone who would believe that these post represent the majority are not facing reality.
Don’t be fooled, this is propaganda.

Why would any responsible US news organization air such a secret report? What possible benefit could this be to our struggling war efforts? Only great benefits to our enemies! I thought C. Gibson, at least, had more integrity, and better sense, than this!
My respect for ABC News can’t go much lower!

Oh please, this Iran destablization plan has been widely reported in many forms for the last 3-years. Its an open secret. I’d bet the insiders in the CIA leaked this to make it an issue to prevent it from getting too far. They want to sink this neo-con fantasy. Iran’s internal affairs are really none of our business and the US government is incapable of shaping events to get the outcome they want. Look at their last project in Iraq – how’d that turn out?

While we’re on the topic of national security and CIA secrecy, I’m sure those who criticize ABC for leaking this info are just as emotional to the Treasonous actions of this administration when they leaked Valarie Plume’s name to the press.

Treason ? This is EXACTLY why the terrorists despise us, not becuase of our freedom. This is the same policy we have pursued for decades – overthrow by discreet CIA ops. Who overthrew the elected government of Iran in the 50′s and installed one of the most murderous dictators this century – why our CIA of course.
It is time Americans stop believing we have the right to do as we please around the world. If one wishes to engage the enemy, how about engaging in some talk. Tough to find a resolution if you refuse to talk to someone, plus continue to call them evil. No one ever looks at it from the other side, imagine you were an Iranian. Yes, must do right by our country, but we also have to start treating the rest of the world as real people. Want to end the war on terror, stop these policies which just continue to make everyone hate us.
I have an idea – sit down at a table and talk to the Iranians. Maybe even mention we made a big mistake when we overthrew their last government and installed the Shah.
Treason – no, if this is true (could be psyops), I believe it was leaked to try and stop a policy which will do nothing but lead to war.
It is time for a new paradigm in which we actually start trying to live , even in the tiniest of ways, as evolved beings. Yes, defend ourselves, but stop treating the world as our little toy which we feel we can do as we please. I am a disabled vet, I served my country. This is NOT the country I served. We treat the Constitution as if it is in the way instead of the most sacred document it is.
You guys keep on wishing for covert ops to overthrow governments, you will always have terrorists and this way you can always live in fear AND allow our “leaders” to shred the Constitution and rule us by fear.
We are not a Nation under God, we are a nation under fear, and it is by design

Iran effectively declared war on us in 1979. They support the militias, both Sunni and Sha’, in Iraq that kill American troops, they openly support Hamas and Hezbollah and have an informal relationship with al Qaeda who have killed Americans including 241 Marines in Lebanon and almost 3000 civilian in the Twin Towers, and they are working toward nuclear weapons and have openly declared they will use them on Israel. So the President issues a secret order to undermine the government and your and other media outlets print the story given to you by anti-Bush intelligence members or former members. I fault the President for not arresting these people. It is past time that the media pay a penalty for subversion of our war efforts. If we had Democratic President Woodrow Wilson in office, you would now be in jail. But alas, Mr. Bush is more civilized; lucky for you and your ilk.

opinion in your country seems to be downright therapeutic in regard to your government’s activities (both GOP & Dem). Why on earth would you call the media traitors when the illegal activities are perpetrated by your government… I don’t need to get into it here… and I realize opinion is divided (everyone else says your government is horrible, rogue, etc. – you say it isn’t) and I realize that complete un-bias is impossible… but come on. think from someone… anyone else’s perspective for a second.
Still… you’re the ones rocketing to the poor house while your fat cats get fatter. enjoy.

Shhh! C’mon Brian don’t you understand if you tell the Iranians that we’re trying to overthrow their democraticlly elected government (again) they’re going to get angry with us.
Remeber it’s not the US’ criminal acts that are the problem it’s the knowledge of our criminal acts that are the problem.

American mainstream media, including ABC, is essentially a propaganda arm of the intelligence community and corporate interests. Clearly, the Administration wanted this information released, probably in an ongoing effort to further provoke Iran into doing something stupid, which Bush/Cheney can then immediately use to justify our invasion of yet another sovereign (oil rich) nation. Of added propaganda benefit, judging by most of the comments here, it is also provoking the small minority of war sympathizers who still support the failed war in Iraq. This is the Bush/Cheney modus operandi — make people hate each other more and give people something else to fear.

I would like ABC to openly share their sources with the American public. And, that ABC would do so without the typical media MO that treats leakers like heroes (which they aren’t). We deserve to know who these people are and what rationale they are giving for commiting the crime of revealing classified information. I also doubt that this network would vigorously pursue such reporting if the White House was run by a president more in tune with the leftist views of the ABC newsroom. I recall several attempts by people to share about the ramshackle state of defense during the 90′s that were essentially ignored by ABC and other networks.

I don’t watch ABC for the simple fact that it supports Bushies, and has released propaganda before…Don’t you folks recognize “Smoke and mirrors”? They wouldn’t let anything like this to be released, unless Bush-Chaney purposely allowed it…Don’t believe everything you read.

I’ve not watched ABC news in 10 years and this is just another example of why. If you have any proof it is illegal, submit it. Otherwise shut the hell up.
P.S. since you are ignorant of history, Abrams got sent up for withholding information, and the Iran contra issue was about bypassing the Boland amendment, a specific law related to disallowing funding “for the purpose of overthrowing the Government of Nicaragua.”
Is there a similar law in relation to Iran? If not, then there is absolutely no corollary here with Iran-Contra.

Thank you ABC. Reporting this story is NOT treacherous! Americans need to WAKE UP and research the US Foreign Policy, which IS unconstitutional AND treacherous. Destabilizing other countries is what makes them hate us, and it makes the world more dangerous.
Thank you for the TRUTH!

Are the anti-American commenters here unable to understand that convert actions like this happen in the real world and have been going on since the beginning of organized states? Incredible that they claim not to. Since when is claiming to be a naive waif ever been a sign of wisdom?
No matter which party holds the presidency, the US is going to plan such actions against it’s perceived enemies. And, every other nation on earth is doing the same thing. Do you think that other intel agencies sit around making daisy chains? Of course, Western MSM sources subject us to a news blackout about much of the world as part of our own domestic political tussle.
The fact that this news has been leaked is just evidence that of an American domestic dispute between the Democrat/MSM alliance against Bush and Co. Of course, the fact that Democrat/MSM types think that squealing like little girls makes for a convincing argument is good reason to root against them.

Treasonous, traitorous ‘news’ stories like this one are the reason that we need to restrict ownership of American Broadcasters to Americans. International corporations are serving a different interest.

I don’t believe much of what is said in the TV news and less of what this Administration says, but I have come to the conclusion that we can not walk out of Iraq there for we need to put hundreds of thousands of more troops into Iraq to bring some sort of peace there to do this I think we have to prepare for a draft. We can not leave the region after the mess we created there we have to stabilize it which may take generations. God help us for our democracy building if that is what they want to call it.

The geniuses (probably Republicans) who are angry at ABC for reporting this obviously don’t keep up with the news, because this has been reported by other news services many times for at least the last year. We have been supporting terrorists to attack Iran, & have had operations inside the country. Not to mention half the Navy off of their coast. Iran is more aware of what the US is doing to it, so there is no secret, just uninformed idiots complaining.

Oh yeah, I forgot to add that Iran took the sheeple hostage while nobel prize winning jimmy carter was president.

Yet another example of the “Liberal / Left New Media” and Democrats actively working to undermine the War on Terror. No secret is safe with them, nor was the 3000 dead on 911 enough for them. The US Consitution, gives the President of the USA, as Commander and Chief the full authority to Protect the USA from “ALL” enemies

Wow there are a bunch of idiots on this board.
Anybody ever bother to check what the legality of attempting to destabilze a democratic government is?
Anybody ever bother to check to see if the claims that Iran was funding the civil war in Iraq?
Anybody bother to check to see how much our supposed ally Saudi Arabia funds the extremists in Iraq?
The administration has lied constantly in 7 years.
Why is anybody wanting anything they do to be secret? We need to know what they are doing because they will hide anything they can whenever they can.
Shame on all of you for NOT wanting this out in the open. It’s okay to give names of operatives when they contradict you but not okay to show when they are doing illegal acts? At least ABC didn’t say when or how these operatives were working and tell you who they were. That beats the administration’s actions.
So tell us this, who is the bigger traitor. Someone that tells you about an operation to illegally destabilize a country that we are not at war with or someone that tells you the name of an operative that had been undercover for 10 or more years and so destroys her ability to function and all her connections? How far back did ABC’s actions put the CIA compared to Cheney’s? When you folks can tell me how ABC was worse than Cheney setting up his aid to be a fall guy and destroying a valuable asset to US intelligence, I’ll believe you to be more than just a bunch of idiots.

Treasonous?? GIVE ME A BREAK. What Bush & Co are doing have consistently been doing is what amounts to treason. What ABC has done is outstanding. I don’t know about any of you losers, but personally I WANT to know when my elected officials take it upon themselves to meddle yet again in a foreign country.
RULE NUMBER ONE: STOP MEDDLING IN OTHER CCOUNTRIES. It’s that easy. Just stop.
RULE NUMBER TWO: IMPEACH THESE CLOWNS

Matt, yep iran is such a non-threat that they took 15 of your sailors hostage.

SHAME ON YOU ABC.

Brian,
Thank you for alerting me to the activities of the CIA in my country, which I was in no way aware of until I you reported upon it. I have sent you a nice silk red tie as a token of my appreciation. I look forward to seeing you wear it on your broadcast. Take good care of yourself. I am
Sincerely Yours
-M
ps MU-HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

I’ve not watched ABC news in 10 years and this is just another example of why. If you have any proof it is illegal, submit it.
P.S. Regarding Iran Contra:
Abrams got sent up for withholding information, and the Iran contra issue was about bypassing the Boland amendment, a specific law related to disallowing funding “for the purpose of overthrowing the Government of Nicaragua” and about bypassing stated Administration policy.
Is there a similar law in relation to Iran? If not, then there is absolutely no corollary here with Iran-Contra.

I guess more people have the same point of view as I do, that this is just wrong. but you won’t think that because you truly believe that what you are doing is right. we can never verify what you are reporting is accurate but we have to take your word and annonymous source for what it’s worth.
I believe that one of the biggest problem with our country right now is that we believe everything the news reports and not question what they report.

It’s startling, when you think about this story, that more news reporters aren’t murdered. It says a lot about the restraint and law abiding nature of patriotic Americans.
This point undercuts the world view of the liberals that control every aspect of the network news in this country, in three ways:
1. Christian conservatives are the same dangerous zealots as Islamist fascists (if this were true, no one at ABC would still have their head attached).
2. Guns kill people. America: lots of guns, and Brian Ross can still file this report with complete confidence that he’ll make it home alive, unless he runs into a fellow liberal in D.C., in need of a fix.
3. The Bush Administration has rolled back freedom of speech and right of dissent, and has “created a climate of fear” in the U.S. And yet…Brian Ross lives and writes this, as we speak. Bill Keller throws Long Island dinner parties. Tim Robbins walks the streets and directs plays depicting Nazis in the White House.
Some climate of fear.

Others have said it better….ABC’s betrayal of the US has been duly noted and I will stop watching ABC news. ABC has shown me that they don’t care about the future safety of this country or its citizens. With news that Iran and Syria are arming and helping terrorists kill American soldiers, reporting this news ABC has now made itself an accomplice to terrorism. Is it any wonder that news programs like ABC are tanking in the ratings?
Good bye

Here we go again. Does anyone ever learn?
CIA toppled Dr. Musaddaq’s elected government and brought the Shah to power, and to date the US is viewed as a meddling power opposed to the Iranian people (people, not government) based on that “incident”.
What do you expect the Iranians to do when they learn of plans of disinformation, propaganda, and actions against Iranian economy?
Weak governments with crippled economies can’t reason with the powres that causes its weakness. Is the US trying to resolve the stand-off with Iran or just set in motion the events that would lead to a war?
Haven’t war-mongering neocons killed enough people already? Is there ever enough blood for you people?

You mean in addition to his secret wars on the US tax payer and our cival liberties?

john gress – “He-ran, when it was his turn to step up to the plate and defend this contry. He recieved five deferments during the Vietnam war. Plus, he just has an affinity for shooting people. Bush wasn’t far behind, hiding under a barstool somewhere, when he was supposed to be doing National Guard duty.”
I guess you’re voting for the only military veteran running right now: McCain.

To all of you accusing ABC of treason:
You people are pathetically ignorant. You people are part of the real problem that threatens our country.
Let me explain it to you fools:
1. We have not declared war against Iran.
2. Therefore it is NOT treason to reveal this information.
3. The Bush warmongers are trying to get us into a ANOTHER disastrous war, this time with Iran.
4. If they succeed, this would HUGELY increase the terrorism threat to us.
5. Bush lied us into war ONCE ALREADY.
6. Bush has HUGELY increased the terrorism threat to us ONCE ALREADY.
7. How FREAKIN STUPID can you people remain before you finally start to wise up?

Your network, and those like you, are this nation’s enemy! I pray for your humiliation and that all of you will know your own shame! There doesn’t seem to be much ‘shame’ in this culture anymore. There………I’ve prayed for my enemies.

Hey, folks!
20 years ago the CIA helped support rebels in Afghanistan in their conflict with the Soviet Union. One of the people the CIA helped and encouraged? A guy named Usama bin Laden. That worked out well, huh?
Sorry, but Americans have the right to know what the government is doing in our name. Because in the long run — as 9/11 shows — we pay.

ABC’s report by Brian Ross has given me one more reason to quit listening to ABC. CBS and NBC were already off my “favorites” list.
I’ve noticed that the liberals making comments cannot seem to stop name-calling when referring to those who agree with me. I prefer to take the high road and just say that they are pitiful in their hatred for our President and his administration. Hate will consume them, ultimately.

Wake up America! This “secret” was not discovered by ABC-it was released to make you think our government is doing something about Iran – just like the pictures of the Navy strike group crossing into the Gulf during the day. Do you think Iran, or any other country, gets it’s news from the US media (ABC is as anti-Bush as Fox News is)? Do you think that covert actions are just now underway in Iran – or anywhere?

The real problem here is that government sponsored terrorism is real. Maybe George Bush and his croney’s need to look in a mirror when they say the word Terrorist. The USA has a long history of terrorist acts and this is another. There is a way out. Support Ron Paul for President in 08 and return the power to the people of this great REPUBLIC!! http://www.infowars.com

Proud of yourselves ABC? idiots.

I thought we are living in the USA and not Soviet Union where these kind of reports were secret or are we living in the United Soviet America where we do not tolerate the reports of our goverment secrets in the name of security and Patriotism. That’s exactly how Soviet Russia became so totalitarian. Support it my fellow country men if you want to live in a secret society where everyone spies on everyone else.

I for one am glad ABC has reported on this story. Often when government action like this is kept “secret,” it’s meant to be that way to hide it from citizens, not foreigners.

What is wrong with Americans. Keep your mouth shut. Quit telling the enemy what we’re doing. In war time there should be restrictions on freedom of the press…because they(the Press) sure don’t know who the good guys are.

I cried after reading these responses. What will it take to make our country more united?

Could this be payback by the CIA for Valerie Plame? Interesting…

Most of the commentors here are truly missing the boat. After reading the ABC report about what has been on the net in bits and pieces for years, does anyone wonder why we have so many enemies in the world? Isn’t it interesting that any country that differs with us politically AND IS A MAJOR PLAYER IN THE OIL MARKET, we either attack or covertly try to topple their government? People writing about ABC divulging secrets and others writing about LOOSE LIPS probably drive HUGE SUV’s and only care about stealing oil from the middle east or where ever else the U.S. can get it by SHOCK and AWE bombing and killing innocent civilians. We were attacked on 9/11 because of both overt and covert actions on countries. Sure innocent people died on 9/11, but the number is miniscule in comparison to innocent Iraq deaths over the past four years and the anticipated deaths that will occur in Iran.
How sad.

If there is a proxy war underway in the region, it is by Iran against both Israel and the U.S. Whatever response both of those nations under take is justified and long overdue.

Let’s see:
1) Reagan sold weapons to Saddam Hussein;
2) Reagan sold weapons to Iran;
3) W’s grandpoppy, Prescott Bush, did deals with the Nazi’s.
4) Iran’s democratic government was overthrown with the help of the CIA in 1953. GHWB was soon to be fast-tracked into the CIA by his Skull-And-Bones pals, including Averill Harriman, who was involved with the 1953 plotting. The CIA helping to overthrow a government in no different than terrorism. They are just better funded.
Wake up! Propoganda and secrets are to keep you in the dark, not the Iranians.

THE C.I.A. IS TOTALLY CORUPT!
Just look what happened to George Tenent! He got the medal of freedom for standing by while made-up claims started the 2nd Iraq War. Claims he knew weren’t real. George H.W. Bush was director of the CIA from 1976–1977 and, when president, pardoned Elliot Abrams after he was convicted for withholding information about the CIA’s failed-attempt to destabilize Nicaragua’s government. The CIA has two jobs, gathering intelligence and disseminating propaganda. Which do you think this story is?
Wake up and stop falling for the same tricks over and over again. The CIA always lies.

Why should countries like Iran spend their money on intelligence capabilities when our beloved free press does their work for them? They can spend that money to accelerate their nuclear program! Way to go ABC- hope you’re getting some kind of remuneration from Iran, because you are sure carrying the water for them. Not sure who ranks lower in my estimation anymore- lawyers or reporters! Hey, here’s a novel idea- how about “investigating” something that might help our nation’s security as opposed to harming it. Or is that something you’re incapable of doing anymore?

For all of you who would prefer to live in the Bush-Cheney Dictatorship with all its secretive actions and lies,
This is for all you good Christian sheeples. Everyone is an enemy until they submit to the Globalist demands and become slaves to them.
Its called the New World Order…
We live in a dirty and dangerous world. There are some things the general public does not need to know, and shouldn’t. I believe democracy flourishes when the government can take legitimate steps to keep its secrets and when the press can decide whether to print what it knows.
…Katherine Graham, editor of the Washington Post…
“Enemies are necessary for the wheels of the U.S. military machine to turn. ”
“It is the function of the CIA to keep the world unstable, and to propagandize and teach the American people to hate, so we will let the Establishment spend any amount of money on arms.”
– John Stockwell, former CIA official and author
Rense.com
Thirdworldtraveler.com
Indymedia.org

I have watched ABC News for as long I can remember, however after learning of this crime you have committed today I vow to never, ever watch your news broadcast again. Brian Ross and anyone else who is responsible for divulging this classified and highly sensitive information should be tried for sedition. ABC News, should have exercised some discretion when the disgruntled CIA officials leaked this information. ABC News, you bastards are among what I would deem “The Enemy Within”. This is a good example of why Fox News beats you in the ratings week in week out. ABC News, you all should be ashamed of yourselves and furthermore I am disgusted with what you have become.

The last time the CIA meddled in Iranian affairs it put the Shah in power. How did that work out, my fellow Americans?
The CIA isn’t America! Bush isn’t America! The Republican Party isn’t America! And I’ll be a traitor to that Party any day of the week! They’ve already bankrupted this country with two failed wars for profit in the Middle East. But this is no surprise. Conservative Americans have already shown how much they’re against the democratic process here in the U.S. so why would they want it to happen in Iran? Good luck, George. Really earning that $400,000 a year. As for those of you suppoting this program: you’re a bunch of slaves.

ABC NEWS has officially become the National Inquirer of the national news media. The powers that be should have squashed this story before it ever left their desks. For the sake of a juicy story and to embarrass the Bush administration they have endangered our troops, national security, and the effectiveness of our CIA. Whoever leaked these facts should be charged with treason, as well as the reporter and ABC news. We don’t need Bin Laden as an enemy. We have ABC news, Brian Ross, and whoever leaked the facts to them.

Since the U.S. has not formally declared war on Iran and Iran hasn’t declared war on us, isn’t a Presidential Directive authorizing acts of war on a sovereign nation a usurpation of Congress’ unique power to declare war? If so, who’s the traitor (Note to Mr. Reid: It’s the N.Y. Stock Exchange who are ‘Traders to the world’)the corrupt, undemocratic, imperialists who head our government or the brave whistle blowers and reporters who suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous right-wing idiots in an attempt to save our democracy by telling the unwilling the truths they don’t want to hear?
Unfortunately, the tone of the preceding comments suggests that feelings of paranoia, delusions of grandiosity, rage, and the certitude that immoral actions are justifiable that only comes from delusional beliefs in mythical supreme beings bestowing their blessings on whatever actions their ‘believers’ wish to believe are justified by ‘divine revelation’ indicate that we can only expect more of the same leading, in a self-reinforcing cycle, to more and greater intolerance, provocative actions, denial, and ultimately, more insecurity for everyone on the planet.
Enjoy…

Didn’t Scooter Libby go to jail for “revealing” far less important information? Oh, thats right, he wasn’t trying to “save the country from the crazy neo-cons” he was trying to get a “covert operator” killed. You libs make me sick, you are so dishonest. Brian Ross is a traitor, plain and simple. He gave state secrets regarding national security to the enemy during a time of war. He and the leakers should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law (death penalty). I know we have been doin covert ops in Iran, we would be stupid not to, but you dont come out and confirm it. Making the other side wonder if something happened by coincidence or by invisible hands makes the other side waste man power and assets. But Brian Ross and the fine folks (traitorous scumbags) at ABC don’t see it that way. They, and the liberal democrats, see this war as a political game to be used to acquire more power. U.S. security be damned. I wonder why the covert actions of the Clinton administration were never leaked, or reported? Where is the body count from Kosovo? Instead of giving away national security secrets, maybe Brian Ross should be looking into how many jihadists were let in to Fort Dix by the Clinton administration. We know that wont happen because they favorite little socialist Hillary could have to answer some tough questions and they cant have that. To Brian Ross and the rest of the liberal, pansy, blame America first crowd: keep feeding the crocodile and hoping he eats you last.

Matt, yes, the Iranians did probably “staged it” – planned it – and knew what they were doing. If there was no internationally recognized border, didn’t it occur to you that the Iranians over reacted? The Royal Navy has been operating in that area for over four years now on a UN mandated naval patrol. Yes, I do know what the NNPT says and that didn’t stop North Korea who ratified it from breaking it then withdrawing from it. Yes, I do think Putin and the Russians would provide them with nuclear weapons factories for 1.) money (most importantly), 2.) regional destabilization, and 3.) the likely targets of any nuclear weapons would be Israel and the US not Russia. Finally, I think you can hold a discussion here without resorting to “pathetic moron” or “sheep.”

Thank you, thank you, ABC News – and please keep it up. This reporting does not reflect anti-Bush bias, but pro-American bias. As opposed to Bush’s policies and such “black-ops” operations, ABC’s reporting of such shenanigans promotes US interests by keeping our supposedly democratic system properly informed. They are the true patriots here, not Bush and his supporters.

It is unreal that ABC news would in anyway share this type of information. There is news that should be shared and news that should not. This type of reporting can bring harm to US Civilians, Freinds and by all means military forces. What are you thinking. This will be the last time I visit your site and I will suggest the same to all of my collegues.

I see civil war in America’s future. Looks like things should get real interesting should it happen.

The British and Americans already have insurgents inside Iran. Terrorist acts of this nature are unlawful and those responsible should be held to account if only in the interests of world peace.

“manipulation of Iran’s currency and international financial transactions”…?
Sounds like an undeclared war. No wonder the Mid-East hates our guts and wants to run us out of their neighborhood.

Please check your ABC archives for June 5, 1944. Did you protect our right to know by broadcasting our plans for D-Day? Boy there’s a scoop I bet you’re kicking yourself for missing.
Any of your brave reporters reporting on the “secret” plans that Iran has for this country?

I think Iran has more threat from us (America) than we from Iran. We have occupied (by military means) the region to its east and west. Is Bush government scared of Iran that they have to do thing covertly? Or they making decision covertly because they are doing something wrong which is not acceptable by other nations.

Once again media has decided to try to make or influence events instead of strictly reporting. I don’t know when you received your “Top Secret” clearances, but you should know by now what can and can’t be safely reported. Unfortunately you aren’t alone. The British press effectively squashed Prince Harry’s chance to serve his country by reporting his unit, where he was going to be located–everything except his address and room number! Then have the balls to scream privilege when it is decided it is too dangerous for his troop to have him in the country. The media everywhere needs to take a step back and evaluate where they are going. When does the “Need to know” trump common sense, laws governing sensitive government information, and sensitivity to other human beings? The fact that there were enough people in government willing to “leak” this information proves that there was oversite by other agencies, that this was not just the idea of one person. Why does the nonelected media who feel they are forced to report this more important than the more informed elected officials who obviously had some differences of opinion.

Bravo ABC!! This thread makes me sad to think that some people will never learn not to react like violent madmen until we have lost half the world to nuclear war. WAKE UP! The nuclear monster is out again and all you people think about is invading another country for oil!?

Iranians already know this. ABC isn’t letting anything out of the bag for them. They are, though, telling the American public something they might not know. I for one want to know what my government is up to.

Stupid, stupid Americans. Can anyone on here tell me the last time a covert or overt CIA operation like this was successful or beneficial to our country? And, you trust the inherently incompetent Bush Admin to carry out such a policy effectively? Please! We tried this before people? Remember the Shah? That went over real well, didn’t it? The American people have a right to know what crap is being carried out in ‘our names’ (read: multinational corporations). Wake up people. Iran is not our enemy. Iran had nothing to do with 9/11. They’re not even arab for pete’s sake! The muslim extremists who want to harm us are Sunni. Iranians are Shia and the Shia are the ones fighting Al Qaeda and Sunni extremists in Iraq. We should be making alliances with them, not threatening them. 1 Million Iranians took to the streets of Tehran after 9/11 to condemn the attack and show support for the US. 70% of the population is under 30 and very pro-western. They were reforming their gov’t and had elected a president, Khatami, who was working to reform their gov’t.

It’s always amused me:
Reporting on a “SECRET” program intended to protect the US is considered “newsworthy” enough to risk the disruption of the program, even at the cost of national security.
However, outing “current and former” supposedly-turstworthy people who have access to this information, and who give it to a complicit press to publish, oh, no! – - that’s considered foul play.
The Press say:
Exposing secret security plans = good
Exposing oath-violators who leak = bad
Clearly explains which side the Press is on, don’t it?

your reason of reporting this was what? Why would you report this about a covert operation? Thanks for helping the enemy on what is going on. ABC is totally irresponsible!

It’s interesting how many anti-semites are defending ABC over this.

Wow. Something keeps bringing the right-wing whack jobs to this site. Did someone splash a bunch of scent-of-Rush-Limbaugh around?

In the name of getting the story first, ABC News reports on this issues.
I’m one to keep a very tight grip on my tongue, but this one is justified.
“YOU BUNCH OF IDIOTS”
Shame on you all.

“ABC found out, don’t you think Iran already knew?” This illogic is sprinkled through the comments approving ABC’s reporting of information that results in benefits to Iran to the detriment of America.
The statement would only be true if the traitors at the CIA told Iranian officials (which would not suprise me in the least) as well as ABC.
If you are ignorant or dim enough to believe that Iran just somehow *knows* everything the US is doing or going to do, then explain why the CIA source/traitors had to tell ABC – why didn’t Iran just announce it to the world?
Also, did it ever occur to you that maybe Iran is – like the UN fears – building nuclear weapons? They have made it clear they wish to destroy Israel and have made it clear they will support terrorism against Americans and Europeans. It doesn’t take a nuclear scientist to figure it out from there.
ABC should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law as should the traitors at the CIA.
The two of them have doomed what is probably the most peaceful and effective method of dealing with Iran’s nuclear weapons program. If we have to go to war against Iran, ABC carries a lion’s share of the blame.

Lets do the math:
We attacked Iraq WITHOUT provocation and here are the numbers.
It has cost us HUNDREDS OF BILLIONS of dollars, yet, three digits with 9 zeroes after it – and it might be a trillion before we are done.
We have lost over 3,000 brave americans as well as probably 1,000 contractors and other coalition troops.
One university in the U.S. estimates that over 500,000 INNOCENT Iraqi’s have died.
On the other side of the coin, large oil companies such as Exxon, BP, Conoco Phillips, and Valero are making sinful profits.
Oh, and what are we paying at the pump now?
Who are these wars for? The only interests winning are the oil companies.
The soldiers are not…
nor are their families.
nor are the Iraqi’s or soon the Iranians…
nor are average Americans who are shelling out big bucks for gasoline.
Our governments actions are both COVERT and OVERT.
The oil companies are making their profits OVERTLY.
How very, very, very, sad.
KC

IRAN HAS NOT ATTACKED US! These types of “black ops” are illegal. Also, Iran is about ten years away from being able to create nuclear (or is that nucular) weapons. We need someone to hold the treasonous people in the Bush admin. accountable. Why can’t we just find Osama and kill him. Remember, HE attacked us on 9-11. One of the many roles of the press is act as political watchdog.

We hire folks whose job it is to provide checks and balances to the executive branch of government but they have done such a horrible job that one scarce knows where to begin to throw rocks becuase it’s a “target rich environment.”
CONGRESS is that “hired help” and if they would perform the functions envisioned by the founding fathers, instead of playing politics and grandstanding on petty issues (and adding pork to each bill that crosses their desks) then maybe the press would have nothing to print. A political revolution is brewing because more and more people are growing impatient with a two party system which concentrates most of it’s time on gaining and holding power instead of acting in the interests of the people. Congressman fear voting the conscience because they know to do so is political suicide and every politician is, at heart, more concerned about staying in office than they are about the good of the nation. To be blunt, both parties are obsolete and ineffectual except at perpetuating their own existence. Congress and the President are merely “hired help” to serve the people but they have become an aristocracy and elitist cligue that serves the corporations and pressure groups who fund their reelection committees.
The thing that should be the solution to the problems have become the problem.

We need to impeach this presidency as soon as possible before the world sees another nuclear catastrophe. I don’t care who is right or who is wrong, we need to settle down people, or else it will be NUCLEAR.

Hey Berto, Iran has been fighting a proxy war with the U.S. since the Ayatollah Khomeni, et al took the U.S. Embassy staff hostages. Wake up and read your history!

If ABC News is reporting this, it must not be much of a secret. Don’t you think that Iran already knows about this? It is remarkable that people would blame the media for secrets that members of this Administration choose to let out and ignore a series of actions by the same Administration that should be considered “High crimes and misdemeanors” at the minimum and treason at its most honest. Not only has the Bush Regime stolen two consecutive elections, it has broken the constitution in its privacy violations, and lied to the public about the reasons for the war in the first place. What should be seen as more problematic is the Bush Regime’s SUPPORT for Sunni-based insurgent groups linked to AL-QAEDA, as reported by Seymour Hersch, to promote the division of the Muslim world along sectarian lines. Just like all the misinformation of Reagan “being tough” with Iran when he really did nothing but appease the enemy by selling them arms, Bush is appearing “tough” when dealing with Al-Qaeda, when he is really lending support to both sides of the Sunni/Shia divide, being all too careful that the Persiann Shia do not win. Divide and conquer, it is the classic Imperialistic strategy, I just wish that either our brainwashed populace understood it or that our leaders were honest to the citizenry about their actions and their intent.

The headline on the web site main page, “Bush Authorizes Secret War” is so horribly misleading. I can’t believe ABC actually posted it. I have been against this administration’s policies, for the most part, since the beginning, but even this is something I can’t abide by. To say he’s waging a “secret war” when it’s really just a back alley propaganda campaign is embarassing.

Again, everybody in the media was up in arms about Valerie Plame, but they seem to have no problem disseminating actual important classified material. Why is they guy who leaved this information being pursued as vigorously as Scooter Libby was?
Not the first time Brian Ross and ABC have pulled a stunt like this. So I’mnot surprised, but I sure wonder when we’re going to start trying people for releasing classified materials again.

Mark: Apples and organges. American human resources (spies) and foreign informants were put at risk by the outing of Plame. That’s the difference. Also, the Administration leaked that information. Wouldn’t you expect government officials to have more respect for our intelligence personnel than the media would have?

We are already in one war we are loosing that our current President lied to get us into, now your faulting ABC for trying to stop the madman from getting into another war we cant win, Bravo ABC I will continue to watch you every night.

I guess Bush isn’t satiated by all the Iraqis that he’s killed, all the Iraqis that he’s turned into refugees, all the Iraqis that he’s detained and tortured.
Apparently, his appetite requires that he inflict the same gross brutalities upon Iranians. The bloodlust of Americans that support such criminal policies is going to have terrible consequences for all of us.

“No care for the nation your company takes its name from. If you read Iran Daily (which is Gov. controlled), they leak NOTHING to risk making their government look bad.”
I don’t think we want to follow Iran’s lead on how to run a free country.

Nobody who has an IQ above 80 should believe many of the comments on this post. Most of the naysayers were posted by the same 1 or 2 people, repeatedly.
As for the article itself, this isn’t really “news”, the U.S. has long engaged in destabilizing governments around the world. Everybody knows that, even if Americans are too stupid to realize what it means.

what about “destabilizing a government” of an intependent, foreign country??? is anyone on this site disturbed by this? a wonderful example/confirmation of what the usa is doing all over the world (i.e. eastern europe). how very sad!

Whoever is involved in leaking and publishing this story should be tried for treason. What part of “secret” do they not understand? This harms our country and our military in harm’s way. You should be ashamed.

is treason still a crime in this country? just wondering.

What part of ABC being traitor when they report on state secrets don’t they understand. After this latest report I won’t watch ABC news, either nationally or locally again.

I hope you realize the American blood on your hands for reporting a story like this. Let’s just start writing down all the names of your sponsers right now… they won’t get any of my dollars EVER again, and you should be tried for treason…

You people make me sick. Remember America? Remember the Constitution? Remember freedom of the press? And here you are, talking about treason and imposing “reasonable press controls.” Dispicable.
I don’t trust the American government as far as I can throw them, not this administration or any other. I love America, I’m grateful for the service of those in power, but do I /trust/ them? Absolutely not!
Everybody who wants to give the government a free pass to do whatever it wants without public scrutiny: you are what is wrong with this country, and you are why we are weakening. Stop blaming other people and take some responsibility.

To all of you yahoos accusing ABC of treason – - Continue in your Sgt. Schultz existence of “I know nothing” while relying blindly on the good faith and competence of a government which has already demonstrated its bad faith and gross incompetence. Let’s get involved in one conflict after another -it is so much fun to watch on tv, and to give oneself over to the dreams of killing those Afghanis, those Iraqis, those Palestinians, those Lebanese. For God’s sake don’t allow anyone to get in the way of our grand aims for squashing all those who oppose the will of the Grand Viziers in the White House.

Ya’ know how some people put those home security company signs in their front yards? Well, shhh!!, come closer.. *wispers* some of those people don’t actually have home security systems!
I wonder why they put the signs in the FRONT yard?
(I hope the security companies don’t sue me for treason)

Who’s side are you on? You do know that the Iranians are working on nukes, don’t you? Maybe, if the first one they detonate in this country is at ABC headquarters, you’ll reconsider your position.
Thanks for betraying our country.
Mart in Chicago

I find it really sad to think that some people hate the current administration so much that they would be willing to betray their country and undermine the security of regions in the middle east, who could become annihilated if Iran got nukes. You hate bush so bad that you are willing to risk the lives of millions of innocents just to make him look bad. When Iran turns the middle east into a blackened wasteland i hope that you will think its worth it, since you made bush and america look bad.

The media being a pack of liberals are happy to report on information that will get our operatives and troops killed, they then go on a finger pointing campaign to place the blame for the deaths somewhere else.

Your reporting reveals your alliances and your priorities.
Question: If you had knowledge of a “secret” plan which included locations of specific high-value American targets, would you print it knowing that they would be attacked?
Answer: Yes, you would.
DISNEY & ABC SHOULD BE INDICTED FOR TREASON!

As always the blame America first America is the root of all evil crowd are praising ABC for committing treason. Touting the First Amendment as if it had no constitutional restrictions and making the patently false assertion that the Bush administration is nothing but criminals attempting to start another war.
Only a mind completely devoid of reasoning capability or logic accepts as fact that all situations can be negotiated peacefully without having ever need resort to violence. Until the day that human life can be sustained without the need to ingest the tissue of another living creature whether plant or animal this will continue to be a fantasy unapproachable in anything resembling reality. Eat or be eaten, kill or be killed, the face of the beast that liberal/socialists can no more look upon than a shadow can survive in direct light.
Iran has made no secret that it intends to bring about the destruction of the United States, Israel and Great Britain. The notion that we are somehow meddling in the affairs of a nation that is and has been committed to our destruction since 1979 is a foolish notion at best and a suicidal notion at worst.
Nations like individuals have distinct personalities; Iran’s is that of an Islamic Jihadist totally committed to world domination under an Islamic caliphate no less so than Hitler’s Nazi Germany under the banner of Aryan supremacy.
Anyone who believes that the United States actions to defend itself against such a emanate threat are misguided unwarranted or illegal clearly has lost the capacity for logical rational discourse and lives in a psychotic fantasy where any and all threats can be negotiated away regardless of the cost of such negations.

Isn’t this outright treason?
I, for one, will not watch ABC news ever again. I think we should all call their sponsors and boycott. If IMUS can be run off the air for a stupid comment, maybe ABC can be forced to reform for posting CIA leaked reports.
I can’t believe the stupidity of this kind of report.

ABC News. Good job! It’s about time the ignorant American people be educated of the actions of the dumb and stupid government and leader, Mr. Bush.
Stupid government.

I want all the blind supporters of this Govt to be the first in line for microchipping when that gets rolled out. You are tools being manipulated by fear to give up your rights (whats left of them). Look at how you want to shut down the press. Look how you want people to “shut up”. Things are not what they seem. And to the person that commented about my favoring the DNC – wrong again. BOTH SIDES ARE PART OF A MUCH LARGER PLAN TO IMPRISON YOU. First your mind (They already have a bunch of you there) then anybody that truly stands for LIBERTY. Clinton started rolling back freedoms after Oklahoma and now Bush is going full bore. It’s not even Clinton/Bush – it’s the people behind them. The press is in on it. Anyway – back to my original point. I want all you blind supporters of Global Fascism to be the first in line for your microchip implant. They will do it on others first (for your protection) then on you. Don’t you get it – you are the enemy. You are the one they are lying too. You are the one they hold information from. You are the ones they don’t want informed. Personally I hope everyone here stands up against implants, finger scans, etc.. I really do but if our eyes and minds are closed we’re going to get duped every time. Get ready because you have just about lost your country, your freedom and your Liberty – Sam

Key here is that you just gave Iran a VALID reason for cracking down on dissidents.
You do know they just imprisoned an American Grandmother who went over to visit her daughter?
Thanks ABC, you just validated the paranoia of that regime.

Good story – Brian. Though the numerous posters on this page condemn you this is exactly the kind of work that journalists are supposed to do. And – although it’s a ‘surprise’ to insular Americans what this adminstration does there isn’t to anyone else – anywhere. Iran hasn’t attacked anyone since like, oh, the 17th century. Same can’t be said for the US.

This bumper sticker mentality of “Bush Lied People Died” is so much B.S. The facts of the matter are we were without weapons inspectors in Iraq for 4 years because Saddam had kicked them out. REMEMBER? Even before that, he wouldn’t allow certain areas to be inspected. Given his history are we to assume he was playing checkers for 4 years? The original Gulf War ended with a ceasefire approved with certain conditions attached by the UN. REMEMBER? We then went into Iraq after the violation of 1 resolution after another over a period of years and the firing on our aircraft almost daily in the No Fly Zones. REMEMBER? As for this latest leak by ABC, I wonder how much the mullas paid Brian Ross for this information?

I am more concerned about the propaganda, manipulation, disinformation, and manipulation of oil prices that the Bush Administration has fed to the American people. Why should I worry about some covert operation in Iran when there are many more covert operations going on in the US that are weakening our Constitutional protections?
The posters on this board are all up in arms and more concerned about ABC News “spilling secrets” and “committing treason” than they are concerned about the crimes that the Bush syndicate has committed on a daily basis against the American people.
That just goes to show how ignorant most Americans really are.

Thank you ABC. These Neo-Cons are determined to start a war anyway they can. Perhaps we can stop them. I pray that nothing happens until they are out of office. they are a danger to
all people who pray for peace.

This is ridiculous reporting! I just don’t understand why citizens of this country would publicly reveal leaked secrets about military strategy and sleep at night. If you hate our country so much please LEAVE.

Yep, and it’s because of those Blood Soaked War Mongels that you have the right to Freedom of Speech.

WHO is paying ABC news to conduct a campaign of revealing Military Secrets of the United States. Is ABC trying to undermine the ability of the US Military to protect Americans? What more treasonous criminal act could ABC possibly engage in that would top this. Will ABC be encouraging American Children to be come suicide bombers next? Or will ABC be sending in its own reporters to try to assassinate American officials. Where does it end? ABC needs to be shut down ASAP, and its editors and news reporters sent to Guantanamo Bay for interrogation with water boarding and German Shepherds snapping at their gentiles.
I guess ABC never leaned the old adage that “you don’t xxxx where you eat”. I hope the ABC network is shuttered for good after this latest in a long string of intentional and malicious national security breaches.
ABC now has the same meaning as Benedict Arnold.

On this comment board, I can’t help but notice the correlation between right-wing extremist comments and bad spelling! Karl Rove seems to be getting his wish: keeping people so ignorant they’re willing to do his bidding.
This is not news, people. For months now, the Bush administration has been running covert ops inside southern Iran with the help of communist-leaning terrorist group MEK – Mujahadeen al Khalq (this is precisely the kind of group we’re supposed be fighting in this so-called war on terror). These covert ops have already been well-documented (through Congressional and other sources), so it’s no big secret.
Those of us who get our news from sources other than mainstream network news have known about these covert ops practically since they began. And we know that the Iranians also know exactly what the Bush Administration is doing.
In the face of all this covert aggression, Iran has shown incredible restraint by not retaliating – because they know full well if they do, they’ll be handing the neocons the causus belli they’ve been frantically searching for to get their war with Iran.
Anyone who thinks this is some big scoop by ABC to betray the administration for ratings is also demonstrating ttheir ignorance. If the Bush administration didn’t want ABC to cover this story, it wouldn’t have happened. The Bushies wanted mainstream media to cover this story to further irritate the Iranian government in the hopes that they would react in some way to pave the way for the current tension to escalate into full-out war.
ABC’s televised version of this story repeated “we are not going to bomb Iran” many times. What they really meant was, “not yet, anyway.”
Wise up, people!

you know that anything that shows up in american print is used against our troops. why do this? even if they knew, by putting it out there gives them license to kill more americans covertly.
shame on you, vera principe

‘traders to the US’
Offhand I’m just guessing Iran’s educational system is better than America’s educational system.

Shame on you for your traitorous reporting of official secrets. I will make it a point to not patronize any of your advertisers.

I am going to ditto an earlier comment: “Thank goodness for Brian Ross, a very brave reporter in this nation of sheep.” Finally, mainstream news is waking up and finding the courage to report on the increasing corruption in this administration, which will truly stop at nothing. The propaganda, according to the majority of these comments, sadly seems to be quite effective. The Dark Ages really are upon us. It is time to wake up, people.

I will no longer watch the treasonist ABC or use abcnews.com. You people have no clue or a sense of history. Remember,” loose lips sink ships “….ABC is responisble for endangering the lives of our brave citizens who work to make our great country safe.

It’s because of these Blood Soaked War Mongrels that your freedom of speech is being taken away!! They do nothing for the American People. It’s all about POWER, MONEY, and Greed. You speak against your government, you are considered a Terrorist. Why do you think nobody is protesting? Congress does not even know what there signing half the time or they are not there to vote. Bush and his shadows do what they want.

For you morons that can’t even spell “traitor” or “treason”:
ABC IS ONLY REPORTING WHAT THE BUSH ADMINISTRATION WANTS THE IRANIANS TO KNOW!
THERE HASN’T BEEN A REAL “LEAK” OF ANY SIGNIFICANT SECRET INFO SINCE THE PENTAGON PAPERS 30 YEARS AGO.
THIS IS ALL A PART OF BUSH TRYING TO GET SOME LEVERAGE OVER THE IRANIANS DURING THE UPCOMING MEETING IN IRAQ ON 5/28.

Did any of you stop to think that if the “The sources, who spoke on the condition of anonymity” had not said anything then there would be no news to report. It is not ABC’s fault, it is the sources who are being tresonous. Think before pointing the finger.

We cannot resolve anything with Iran diplomatically. Iran is an Islamic based nation. They believe that Christians and Jews are infadels and either have to be converted or killed. The president of Iran has already said the Israel must be wiped off the map. That would take care of most of the Jews. Then they’d look to the US because we are mostly Christians and Jews. WAKE UP AMERICA!!! DOnt you see what’s happening!!

The most frightening thing about this is that it’s very evident how the majority of Americans support the administration’s efforts to secure American hegemony through lies, deception and military might. I hope this is not true, but I fear that it is.

ABC is a slave/tool of the government
I don’t believe that this secret was
“uncovered”. Our shameless, arrogant
functionally delusional bush/cheney
team uses ABC as an outlet for its
propaganda. Nothing is what it seems
behind their closed doors. They want
to control all the oil and will do
whatever it takes. Americans are so
easily manipulated through fear that
they don’t see the oil play. I
can’t believe how many can’t spell!
Trader? Shaw?

Thanks for the information. U.S. citizens need to know what kind of wacko, imperialist and terrorizing plans our government is planning against other nations.

Kudos for ABC News for breaking this story. The Federal Government of the United States of America is in the business of taking care of the American people. How can the people know if the government is doing the right thing when it is a secret? Remember, government answers to citizens, not the other way around. We are the bosses and we decide what the government can and cannot do. The most patriotic thing a citizen can do is make sure their government is working on the right issues. Right now, the issues at home are much greater than the issues abroad. Stop spending money in the Middle East and start spending it on middle and lower income AMERICANS!

I find it interesting the responses to the subject article in that ,from what I have read over the past number of years, that we have been there doing this so why is it news? It apparently is nothing newsy at all? I understand the challenge it presents to Americans who would not knowingly compromise our security but this simply is not new so far as I can understand. You think they do not know we are in there? They have already made mention of this,they are not blind nor stupid. This is neither an endorsement of them or any other potentially enemy country just a statement of conditions of which the entire world has become aware.

All you have to do is ask yourself: Exactly what has this Government done for you lately and specifically what has current administration done for you?
Record Debt
5 – 6 % inflation counting gas prices
Endless War
Fear Mongering
Globalization – The New World Order – As Stated in the bible!
NAFTA and CAFTA
Illusionary Security – Both our Boarders are still unsecured even after 5 years of Republican RULE and September 11, 2001.
Warrant less Wiretapping – By the NSA!
Presidential Signing statements allowing the president to bypass laws – a record 700+ of them.
Slanderous Political attacks – Slander is a Sin in the bible
Lied about the War
Deliberately misguiding Americans in war
Appointing Attorney Generals without Congressional Approval
Who are the traitors?

Listen-up.. IF you have ears to hear..
NOTHING happens in government by ACCIDENT. NOW do you get it??…Or are you yet JUST another BUSH elector???
You DO know that THIS country we’ll lose
through YOUR lack of brains..take some more(!).. and continue to live in denial.

Information is like water in this internet age. It flows freely wherever it’s able. Take for example the conservative websites: “Wake Up America” and “Ambassadors of Christ” which both notes the negative reaction on the above article and calls those selfsame people to further comment that ABC is a traitor.
How wrongheaded they are to do so.
The press must remain free in order for citizens to regulate the government. We must be able to hear and see into the shadowy areas of the government in order to evaluate and guide it. It is, after all, our responsibility as our government’s employers to know what it is doing. We cannot, and should not, abdicate that duty nor deny the sources that keep us informed.
Further nothing in the article gives out information specific enough to directly and immediately cost lives. It simply spreads information that is obvious in the Middle East to us in America. If it is broadcast on Iranian TV, it isn’t much of a secret over there.
Must it be a secret to the people of the US? Must we be kept further in the dark than the Iranian people? Is it truly the wish of the people calling ABC traitorous that we must be less informed than citizens of other countries? What a chilling, irresponsible and unAmerican idea.

Keep up the good work! Thank you for genuine reporting ABC! I’m glad to see you bring important things like this to the public light.

Once again you show no sense of reponsibility with what is news worthy.
Sad to see how slanted you guys are.

Geoff:
Last time I checked the briefings about the weapons and the Iranians found in Iraq was not secret. So how does that argument fly???
Jeannie:
Yeah Iran has only been working on nuclear weapons since we invaded Iraq. Wow, that kind of thinking is actually dangerous.
Oh great now the truthers have shown up. This debate is bringing out the best from both sides. Hey truthers how is the steel can’t be melted by fire thing working for you????
I love how the left defends itself, name calling, and trying to drown out any discussion that doesn’t agree with them. Yeah every one but the left are idiots, brainwashed, can’t spell, can’t read, any derogatory comment they can think of. They resort to derogatory personal attacks when they are wrong. Bush is an idiot, then so is Kerry. Bush was a draft Dodger, then so was Clinton. Bush started a war we didn’t need to be involved in, so did Clinton. Hypocrites, hypocrites hypocrites.
Democrats are you so against the war because you know you’ll surrender and have the blood of millions on your hands like what you did to the Vietnamese and Cambodians?? Troops were out, but the Dems had to go further and cut funding, thus showing NV we would not support our friends. The slaughter was legendary, the killing fields stretched for miles. That is the legacy of the Democratic party.

Is the battle for the next “scoop” so relentless that ABC NEWS continues to prostitute itself in such a way as to willingly give the enemies of our nation information (whether confirmed or just inuendo)of classified programs of our intelligence agencies? As a citizen and a recent retiree of our military, I am appalled at the unresponsible actions of your news personnel. You are putting the lives of our nation’s men and women in jeopardy by your actions. I wonder if anyone at ABC ever reflects on their moral standing with regard to possibly causing “grave” damage to our national security. A free nation we are and the First Amendment is a valued right of our citizens, but unresponsible release of such information puts our nation at risk. I hope you will reconsider your stand on these issues before publishing them.

I applaud your efforts to report the actual news and not just what is put in front of you. I would have liked to see more coverage of the NSPD 51 and HSPD-20 doctrines that Bush has now drawn up to position himself Supreme Ruler in the event of a “catastrophe.” Many people argue that you’re giving away secrets to Iran by publishing this report. Truth is: Iran is not a 3rd world country that is living off rice and beans. They have a very competant government and spy agencies that probably knew this information before it was broadcast. Shame on all the people here that support Bush’s war crimes. And yes, under International Law, the invasion of Iraq was a war crime. I can’t wait for the day to see this administration punished for all of it’s war mongoring throughout the Middle East.

IF YOU DON’T LIKE IT HERE MOVE TO FRANCE! YOU’LL FIT RIGHT IN! MATTER OF FACT TAKE ABC, NY TIMES& ANY OTHER LIBS THAT THINK LIKE YOU DO ALONG WITH YOU!
GO BUSH.FRED THOMPSON IN FOR 2008 &2012!!

You morons criticizing ABC for revealing this are the real traitors! The United States should not be, as much as you conservatives may wish it, an evil empire. By supporting the government’s unreasonable interference into other countries affairs you reveal yourselves to be the real traitors amongst us.
You don’t like ABC reporting this? Go live in another country.

my point of view is that our military should be for national defense and not national offense… The idea of “pre-emptive war” is recognized internationally as inethical. Here is what we need to do as a nation:
1) THe citizens need to stand up for themselves and DEMAND govt transparency. AS someone else pointed out before, the govt. is the people’s tool not the other way around. Each american has a responsibility to force a change in the current political environment
2) Funding for the military should be scaled back significantly. As I mentioned earlier the military should be for defensive purposes. Seeing as we have a significant stockpile of nukes ready to go at a moments notice, I dont see any organized countries lining up to attack us anytime soon.
3) The US needs to ban arms sales to foriegn countries – this includes israel.
4) The insurance system and healthcare needs govt oversight.
5) Social security needs to be phased out and eventually abadoned altogether

ABC operations should be shut down and investigated.

There’s no upside to this for ABC. If they are printing it and it is accurate, they are traitors. If they are printing this and it is disinformation, they are dupes and patsies. Either way, there was no way in hell this report should have ever gone out.

Bravo for revealing this back channel effort of the Bush administration to drag us into an expanded war in the Middle East.
Of course this “leak” could easily be a setup from the machiavellian mind of Cheney or Rove just to discredit ABC News (remeber the trashing of Dan Rather). If this is the case I wonder what ABC is setting on that deserves a trashing.

All of you who ASSUME ABC-TV was the “decider” in airing this information are fools. If the Bush administration didn’t want this info leaked to the press, it wouldn’t have been. The responsibility and blame rests with our traitorous president and vice-president who are itching to attack Iran and also to stay in office past their term via the war powers clause. America wake up and smell the coffee! Impeach Bush-Cheney now! They are not protecting America, they are endangering us.

Angry: I can’t believe the U.S. would endanger more troop’s lives by trying to escalate it’s already shaky relationship with Iran.
Proud American: You’re the reason the country is in the shape it’s in now. You don’t care about the freedom that America once stood for. The freedoms that the Administration takes away day by day.

A “campaign of propaganda, disinformation” Um is this article part of that?

” The freedoms that the Administration takes away day by day.
Posted by: Tyranny B. | May 23, 2007 12:32:33 PM”
Name one.
I dare you.

The only reason it needs to be kept secret is so that Americans don’t have to live with the burning shame of fighting terrorism with one hand and funding terrorists with the other.
Everyone else knows what is going on.

Don’t be angry with ABC for reporting on relevant items like this one. You people are just angry because it’s getting harder and harder for you to keep your heads in the sand. The people in our government have ulterior motives which have nothing to do with the citizens of this country. They are endangering us, not protecting us.

Some people need to look up the definition of “terrorism”. The CIA does not sponsor terrorism, and trying to make a comparison is foolish.
ABC, you are not only anti-Bush but also anti-American. Is there anything you won’t publish?

anonymouse:
Just one? um ok.
Right to privacy.
just let me know if you want more.
I dare you.

Just anouther reason I don’t watch or listen to ABC.

Brian Ross and Richard Esposito are traitors and should face justice, including a firing squad!

Why is it that the far left has to resort to making comments about the education of others?
I’ve never understood that. “He made a spelling mistake, lets all point and laugh” I don’t get it. That doesn’t necessarily make the argument any less viable and there are plenty of educated individuals on both sides of the issues including this one.

This looks like Larry Johnson again. He leaked Plame’s status as a CIA operatons officer, paramilitarily trained. He confirmed her status to the ‘farm’ and their training together. He also leaked she was an Iranian specialist just beofre the Iran deak was announced at the State Department.
So, Plame became an Iraq and Iran specialist. She moved into that region after 95′/96′ and bought her way into the region using ‘others’ she had ‘outed.’ It should be obvious she used ‘other’s files’ to move into the region alot like Ames did with his work killing KGB agents. Her work is now dated and confrimed by Larry and Jim, who just wanted people to understand she was an Iraqi and Iranian specialist.

Jeannie:
Iran was evil before we said they were. Their foreign policy is to fund and train terrorists groups, and then send them to destabilize a region. The promote chaos, death, and destruction. 241 Marines died because of Iran. What were the Marines doing, attacking Iran? No, a peace keeping mission to keep the religious minorities in Beirut from being slaughtered. They storm our embassy and hold US citizens for 444 days. They interrogated and tortured the Marine security detail during that time. Yes just because Bush called them evil that was when they started being evil, the very second he said it. Stop reading the doctored history books on campus, read some of the actual stories from the people that were there. I hate to tell you this, but the US is not the cause of evil in the world.

Instead of giving us the “scoop” why don’t you just send this information directly to Iran. This way they can have the reason to harm U.S. Military personnel and civilians. Jesus Christ you folks are morons! Freedom of the press has gone too far in so far as idiots who let known such things. All you did is feed fuel to the fire for these islamic demons.

To all the morons who are screaming treason about this article, get a life!
Your President from hell, if left to his own devices, will likely ignite the entire Middle East in a war against the US.
You are a minority. Shut up instead of cheering on the biggest blunderer and most criminal president in US history.
You should be thrown in jail, along with the war criminals in the WH and the Administration, for crimes againsdt humanity.

Um, guys. Did you realize that the current batch of theocratic extremist fatheads now in charge of Iran are their precisely because the CIA destabalized the last democratically elected government of Iran? See, we overthrew their president and installed the Shah who practiced torture and quashed dissent who was then overthrow by the present crop of wackos who, strange as it may seem, had a real bug up their boadacious backsides regarding the good ol’ U S of A. And siccing Saddam Hussein on them (and providing him with WMDs) didn’t sit too well with them either.
And, humiliating as the Carter hostage crisis was, did you know that Iran is the only Muslim country in the MIddle East where America is regarded favorably?
But let’s destablize Iran again. After all, it’s so hard to argue with success.

Good for abc – I don’t know if most Americans are as dumb as these comments seem to indicate – but wake up fellow citizens, you have a rotten government and if msm reveals even a fraction of what they are up to, then hallelujah and glory be!
Iran has not attacked America.
Iraq did not attack America.
Afghanistan did not attack America.
Get it????
Try not to totally buy into the propaganda. I hate to bust your bubble, but we are now the bad guys. Our fearless leaders want their oil – not too hard to figure out, unless you have tomato paste for brains.

All these people that are buying into this crap about Iran attacking America probably still believe the Democratic Republic of Vietnam attacked our ships in the Gulf of Tonkin. It’s called propaganda. And it’s seems to be working just fine on the majority of Americans. Oh, by the way, I’m still waiting on those WMD to surface in Iraq. Do you think that was propaganda? Why would the U.N. not approve action if they thought that Iraq had WMD? Fact is, they knew that Iraq had no such weapons. No weapons = No approval. Propaganda that the American people swallowed hook, line and sinker.

What an interesting response. Especially the sound-alike versions all coming in at the same time. Must have been churned up by some right-wing talking head.
Of course, this was leaked. If it’s “treason” it’s the old-fashioned kind: trickle-down treason from the top.
There are negotiations beginning this week between Iran and the US to determine how cooperative efforts can work in Iraq and Afghanistan.
This is the big stick before the speak-softly part in the negotiations.
And there’s not a person around with open ears who hasn’t known for several years that we have Blackwater mercenaries on the ground in Iran doing far more de-stabilization than dropping leaflets of lies.

Funny how right-wing conservative jerkwads get their panties in a bunch over the exposure of criminal behavior, but they seem to have no problem with the actual crimes! In addition, many of these same right wing-nuts have serious learning disabilities when it comes to spelling. Sad, but true. Such is the Republican base.

this is crazy the head idiot is pushing us into another war that we cannot fund with dollars or lives
this posturing could easily get out of control and the only winners in this situation would be chenney, bush and hallburton wise up america

Secret? Don’t you objectors to the story think that people around the world, especially those who have been at the mercy of U.S. intervention in the past, remember anything? Exactly how does this compromise anyone’s safety in this country? Don’t you people think that the release of the National Security Strategy of 2002 or the Project for a New American Century by the government and their advisors themselves puts us at danger? The record speaks for itself. The record is well known outside of your friendly little neighborhoods. People around the world have been observing our actions for years, thats why everyone hates us. This “leak” cannot possibly be a surprise to anyone in Iran.

You are all over reacting. If it really was secret, ABC would not have found out about it. Do you really think Iran does not already know we are doing this? There is a high likelihood that this was leaked by the administration to send a message to Iran and try to gain leverage. Stop wrapping yourself in the flag and tossing the “traitor” label to make yourself feel good.

“I hate newspapermen. They come into camp and pick up their camp rumors and print them as facts. I regard them as spies, which, in truth, they are. If I killed them all there would be news from Hell before breakfast.”
William Tecumseh Sherman

80% of all intelligence is gathered from public sources….of course we’re spying, we’re spying on everybody, including ourselves…..

dont be stupid ,if someone parks a dozen warships off the coast of your country its not a secret

Courageous. Keep digging!

people,
do you honestly think that if ABC knows about this and reports it agents of Iran don’t know about it already themselves, most likely before ABC did?
the traitors to this country are Bush/Cheney and co…wake up…

We are all idiots, the neo-cons, the bleeding heart liberals, the moderates, the self interested leftist press, the information leaking CIA, the Bushies, the many like me who bother to post responses to this article. The West is going to lose to itself, read Amir Taheri if you really want to know what is going on in ME.

This admin wants war with Iran, and they’ll do all they can to pull it off before leaving office after the next election…. it does them nothing but good to leave a burden that makes their replacements look bad and provides a cash-cow too. Gas prices are up on the news of these manuevers: who benefits? You?

“Free media is a gift, appreciate it”. as posted by “Just a German Guy”
Actually “Just a German Guy” it is a RIGHT not a gift and I am sure we here all cherish that RIGHT. Unfortunately that RIGHT is often abused.
ABC abused that right.

To all the Christians on this borad, enjoy your Armageddon. Good luck winning that one. Myself and others who live in reality will have no part in it. Attacking Iran was never about nuclear non-proliferation, it is about money and oil, it is about bringing The Rapture, it is about continuing chaos. Why else would this administration take the word of Evangelical leaders seriously? What happens when extremist religion is intertwined with secular governments? We are ruled by a King in this country, the sooner those 28% realize this, the sooner this global nightmare can end. Sometimes one side just needs to start shutting up before they do something really, really stupid. Provoking a war with Iran, a war that will surely lead to the use of nuclear weapons, is going to destroy us all.

How can any of you criticize ABC when national security and constitutional law are flagrantly ignored by the Bush Gangsters.
Bless you ABC fo running this story.
This thread is basically a gathering of empty talking skulls.
Conservatives need to learn to spell, and speak, and think for themselves without cues from King Gearge and their fellow illiterates.

You liberals hate Bush so much, your willing to hurt this country just to try to make him look bad!

Im glad it was brought out, and Bush has been doing the same thing here in the USA,..against us,, US the americans,..,
he has made himself dictator,..,

We have “secret wars”.
Everyone else who might do the same to the western world, are “terrorists”.
More idiocy that makes the rest of the world mistrust and disrespect us.
I love the country.
But the leadership and their policies are disgusting.

I just had a funny thought.
Reactionary leftists believe Michael Moore and Noam Chomsky.

As A vet and as a current contractor in the middle east, I can assure you that by telling the enemy of any proposed plan, you only prolong the war. I am all for the 1st amendment but to me, this boarders treason. I dont think I will be watching ABC News any longer.

Stuff like this gets leaked for a reason. What do you do when the entire military and intelligence community think any action against Iran is a BAD idea on so many levels; strategic, political, logistical, and philosophical, let alone the impact to our economy, that they don’t wan’t to do it in the interest of The United States and the world? They leak it to the press to get popular support against it.
All this treason nonsense comes directly from the Idiocracy. If we had known and could have stopped big oil/CIA/MI-6 from creating a coup and installing the Shah in ’53 just so BP could pump oil out of Iran, we would NOT be in this situation, we would not have backed Saddam in the 10 year Iran-Iraq war, etc. The real treason to our lost soldiers is the hydrocarbon law/agreement we are shoving down Iraqs’ throat. PSA’s for oil, mission accomplished.
TREASON? Standing by while our constitution is re written in signing statements is treason.

Good thing we didn’t have Ross and ABC leaking the Normandy invasion plans.
Also, interesting comments from a Brit who would be speaking German, save for us yanks. History shows British colonialism wasn’t the palace of perfection either. Not to worry. Next time you’re in trouble, which tends to happen on your side of the pond, we’ll be there. Yes, out of own self interest but also because…hey, we’re family.

Funny how the libs scream about the “outing” of Valarie Plame and say it endangered her, yet they think that ABC breaking this story is patriotic and good since it hurts the Bush Adminstration and kills American service men and women. Not to mention the number of our CIA who have now been put at risk by this ignorance. Here is my wish for you liberal anti-american haters. I Hope the terrorists come for you next.

one does not need to read Chomsky, watch Moore, or even listen to Democratic politicians to know that Bush/Cheney are nothing more than liars and traitors to the flag of the highest order…
one merely needs to think critically about it, and not believe everything their president tells them a priori…

PcTech, I disagree, I do not think ABC News is a traitor. Was it in poor taste and wrong for them to come forward with this story? Yes absolutely but it wasn’t treasonous for them to do it.

What if another country executed these same covert operations against the United States because they do not like our regime or the fact that we have nuclear weapons? Would we not consider that an act of war? Would we not consider those actions immoral and offensive? Why is it that we think the United States can conduct such operations and maintain the moral “high ground”? Why is it that the United States refuses to see itself in the same light as it sees the rest of the world? Why is it that the United States believes it can do no wrong?

How can you possibly think these sort of stories are HELPFUL to the United States – you are giving our enemies information that they nor us needed to know – do you think that was an “American” thing to do? I DON’T! shame, shame, shame on you!

hush….now don’t tell anyone….but don’t you think we don’t have ‘covert operations’ going on in China, North Korea etc,etc… as they have these going on in our USA! This is the reality of the world we live in and it’s no big secret to all parties concerned.

Ted:
Get real the worst President was Carter, every one in the world knows it.

I am very happy to see this article. keep up the good work.

ABCNews did it’s job: now if only Congress and the rest of us will do ours…

Posted by: mike | May 23, 2007 1:28:06 PM
I bet you believe that Mumia Abu-Jamal is innocent, too.

Bless you for posting this. It’s the most patriotic thing you could do; the liars and thieves in power must be exposed and rooted out. In the final judgement, stories like this will be deemed heroic. Don’t let the meatheads shout you down.

I just want everyone to be killed equally.

Given that the covert plan involves supporting non-elected groups in Iran who are using force to attempt to destabilize a legitimately elected foreign government (Iran), doesn’t this mean that the US is now supporting terrorists? And, according to Bush, supporting terrorism is just as bad as terrorism itself. Or is the US exempt from this logic when the US is the one supporting terrorism?

It’s important for the news to cover this. Those who complain are idioits, I wish ABC news would have informed us about Bush’s faulty information before going invading Iraq, totally messing up the region, et cetera.
The CIA has always screwed things up with their secret operations. It’s about time there is some accountability.

If you think the Iranians are unaware of these efforts you people are as stupid as you are naive. As far as Bush is concerned anything that undermines the moron is a good thing. He’s the guy personally responsible for the deaths of 3,500 US troops and hundreds of thousands of Iraqis, not to mention that fact that he’s turned their country into a haven for terrorists everywhere. What a loser! The worst President ever and a disgrace to the human race.
Well done Brian Ross and ABC for keeping tabs on the liars, criminals and murderers in the White House. That’s why you’re #1!

Why is it that the United States believes it can do no wrong?
Posted by: Brett
Because the baby-boomers and their surviving parents are still, STILL cocky about WWII. Get over yourselves dammit.

Americans are not idiots… they are role model of the world. We look up to America as beacon of democracy who walk their talk… not lies. Cheers to the citizen of America, it’s hard when one is fooled by their own… you have to do better than this … it’s very insulting. To ABC News more power….

you’re right liz… the whole world is sunshine & lollipops. if only i were a critical thinker i would realize that. so did you hear that 1/4 off muslim youth in america think that suicide bombing is ok? they must be critical thinkers.
Posted by: jb
Hey, only 58 out of 1010 responded to that question. Statistically, the information held in that figure is no where near siginificant (unless they had p-values over .10, but that goes against anything statistics are used for). It shouldn’t have even been in the final figures of the poll, but it was, and people have been misusing it all day. Ironic how you used that to talk down to critical thinkers.

Q for the libs: so if a person repeatedly states that their main goal in life is to kill you… you wouldn’t do anything?

the United States of America did, in fact, support and assist Sadaam Hussein in his war against Iran…the good ole’ US of A also provided him with the technical knowledge and assisted him in procuring his first WMD…

Our name-calling friends who like to roll the “treason” tag out there (Thanks, Ann Coulter!) fail to realize that media filling the role being displayed by Brian Ross here is one of the biggest safeguards between what we enjoy and living in a nation with a secret government unanswerable to its own people.
That was the short-term situation we fell into immediately after 9/11 that allowed the Iraq war to be launched without the right questions being publicly asked in the first place. It would have been “unpatriotic” to do so. Have we not learned the lesson from that, particularly when it comes to matters of this administration and their judgment?
The key paragraph in Ross’ report was that Cheney was pushing for military action, and it appears we’ve avoided that for now. That actually qualifies as good news for our country, for once. This kind of covert action goes on all the time among all countries — it’s the unwritten rule of international relations. The fact we aren’t going to escalate is a good thing.

You are the same people who succeded in hanging Scooter Libby out to dry for outing a CIA agent. That CIA agent’s identy wasn’t even covert. Then you turn around and do this!!! My God, what a double standard you have.
“Drive By Media”…just about sums it up!

When is the Government going to arrest these reporters, editors and managers that knowingly provide aide and comfort to our enemies? This needs to be investigated and all involved need to be arrested and charged with treason. No news media should print any information it knows to be classified, period. If they do all individuals involved should be arrested and charged with treason and/or subversion. A spy is still a spy if he gives the information over to the public so it is no longer secret.

This info was leaked on purpose so that it would get reported…come on people…

Let’s think for a minute…
If the press got access to SECRET information, who leaked it? Who are the REAL traitors?

Perhaps those of you who are flaming because this was printed should go read a little about something called psychological operations. Propaganda, misinformation, and disinformation are all part of the game, and you can believe they are counting on the bad guys reading this.

To all you reactionary leftists out there hurling their deluded “Bush is a criminal” hallucinations, do you realize that ABC publishing this is, you know, actually a crime?

just to sum up:
Bush/Cheney, Inc. = criminals, traitors, and war profiteers…arrest them and put them on trial…dispense justice as it should be dispensed in such cases…

Why do you folks find it necessary to expose national secrets and make them public? I find your acts to be treasonous and you should be held accountable for those actions, just like every person is held accountable for their actions. Those who leak sensitive information should be prosecuted and then executed for being stupid and for being just downright dumb.

shhhh, Brian this is a secret shhhhh. See all those warships in the gulf shhhh be quiet. While Amandidadog is watching the water front we are going to sneak up from behind BAM a neutron right up his behind. Now make sure you don’t say anything about this on the evening news shhhhhh, America can trust you Brian

actually, if we were to leave the ME entirely right now it would be a much easier job to go back in…if we leave right now, the various factions at each other’s throats there will settle the issue themselves, years and years of fighting (that’s what the people, the leaders, and the clerics over there want to do) amongst themselves that will leave the eventual victor worn down in men, materiel, and desire to fight…
then we step back in and sweep up the mess like so much broken cutlery, their ability to wage war against us degraded beyond resistance to our power which has only grown in the 10-20 years this has gone on, during which time we build up and shepherd our resources, continue developing our already overwhelming technological advantage in the realm of waging war…
ironically, this is ultimately the grand design of the neo-cons…if only they were smart enough to figure out how to implement their own vision…of course, that’s why most of them are gone now…

Brian Ross should be CONGRATULATED for his bravery in reporting on this. The people need to know what is going on behind the scenes so we aren’t tricked into another preemptive strike against an independent nation. This plan has been approved by Elliot Abrams. As reported herre, in 1991, Abrams and Bush-Crony John Negroponte were found guilty of lying to Congress about the genocide of some 300,000 innocent Central Americans. Why would he act any differently in accordance to Iran?

There seems to be quite a few posters out there who are of the opinion that ABC was in the right and correct for publishing this article.
What you seem to not be taking into account is the fact that your sons, daughters, fathers, mothers, friends, etc. are all endangered by this information leak.
How are YOU benefitting from this information? How are you a better person, better served, or a better American by knowing the information in this report?
You’re not. It is not your responsibility to know because YOU are not in the business of international relations. If you WANTED to be, you should have taken up that trade.
How is IRAN benefitting from this information? It gives them leverage, it gives them reason to be more paranoid than they already are regarding Americans in their country. It gives Islamic Extremism a reason to kill more people.
Iran is NOT a friendly country to the US. They are developing nuclear weapons, they are covertly affecting the crisis in Iraq. They are supplying weapons to several terrorist organizations including propping up organizations like Hamas and Al Qaeda.
I don’t agree with a war with Iran (and wish we could bring our troops home soon, as well), but ABC’s reckless reporting is going to get people killed.
People WILL DIE because of this report.
That is not “Freedom of Speech”, that is betrayal to the American people.
I will no longer watch ABC programming.
~Dubya

Thank you to ABC and the reporters for the courage to report this story! The Bush administration is the biggest lying, war-mongering criminal element on the planet and they must be stopped! IMPEACH NOW! Wake up all you people who are defending them… They do NOT have the best interests of the American people in mind. I’m not sure why you can’t figure that out with the constant lying and all of the scandals that seem to come up every week. I know it’s hard to admit that our government is made up of lying criminals, but the sooner we all realize it and change things, the better!

Why do we always fear and use this fear to hate and protect. Why not love and use this love to make a peaceful, loving world…. we call each other names but in the end … we want peace… we do not want our poor soldiers to die without just cause … a death that is not significant… these soldiers are heroes … no choice but to honor their duties eventhough the choice may be wrong. Diplomacy can be an answer. A hand reaching out to understand fellow human beings on the other side of the world is a step.

stopthesecretleakings:
hopefully when the American government quits betraying it’s people and quits sending it’s troops needlessly into Iraq. Seriouly … why are we there? To free their people? Seems as if they love their freedom to blow each other up at will. Glad we freed them. Now they can fight each other no holds barred. Go USA! Conquer!

Thanks for exposing the crooked Bush administration. As for all teh glory right wingers on here who seem tobe so pro-covert action. It would not be so funny if not so sad. If these guys cant keep a secret then the secret SHOULD be exposed.
The truth can never be locked away forever. THANKS for the journalism, ABC is getting it’s groove back!
KUDOS!,
John

I KNOW LETS MAKE A QUILT AND SOME BROWNIES SEND IT TO IRAN WITH A LETTER SAYING WERE SORRY! TALK ABOUT IT OVER A GLASS OF WARM MILK!HAVE GROUP HUG. THEN THEY WILL STOP TRYING TO MAKE NUKES AND START MAKING CAREBEARS FOR ALL CHILDREN OF THE WORLD!
THEN WE CAN GO TO SLEEP WITH A WARM FUZZY FEELING!

I get the feeling there are a bunch of government shills posting comments on this article. Infrequently do I see so many comments all saying just about the same thing. I give the American public much more credit then this. Many of us know what our earlier meddling in Iran has caused. Many Iranians despise our government for overthrowing an elected leader & replacing him with the dictatorial Shah of Iran. They fought hard to overthrow him & get their freedom back. But here we go again, repeating our same mistakes, creating yet even more blowback for future generations to deal with.

Kudos to Brian Ross. This is called responsible reporting, people.
And c’mon – are you all so stupid to think that this article is going to threaten our national security? HAHA! If ABC got a hold of this info, you can bet your tush that the Iranians have known about it.
The American public deserves to know exactly what dirty games the US government is playing.

I believe that the US is the best yup yup.

talk about treasonous, what about using the armed forces and looting the federal treasury to inflate your own business interests? but then again this is done for those dead servicemen & women isn’t it????

Keep up the good work ABC, don’t mind the bush supporting conservatives, if they still support bush & Co it is obvious they are just sheep being led to slaughter. America does not rule the earth and need to treat countries with respect.

The one problem I find with the story is there is a lot of guesses and assumtions. They say they get thier information from sorces that don’t want there names given. The quotes with peoples names in them are not from anyone who would actually be privy to that information. So where is innocent til proven guilty? For all we know most of this was made up!

Thank you ABC for supporting the very concept of democracy. please continue, as our government structure DEMANDS an informed populous.
And to those acting as if the Iranians are only now going to assume covert operations on their soil: grow up. there are no important secrets exposed here. no names, no specific places, no methods, no nothing.
Yeesh.

Yarah wrote: “You will never hear the potty talk out of his [Pres. Bush's] mouth like you can read on some of the above posts. Potty talk usually informs people of your un-intelligence.”
I guess you never heard from Fox News that Bush said that the Constitution was “just a g-d-damned piece of paper”, and Cheney yelled to Sen. Patrick Leahy on the Senate floor – “Go f-ck yourself!!!”
If that’s not “potty talk”, I don’t know what is.
Thanks, Brian, for great coverage. We need the truth. We need to stop this dangerous Bush cabal.

This “information” was likely leaked on purpose by the administration. They do tend to do that, you know. It’s often used as a strategy to try to throw their “enemy” off track.
FUERA BUSH!

Praise to Brian Ross and Richard Esposito! Thank you undermining your nation’s security in order to defend Islamists. It almost seems unfair that many Islamists look forward to sawing your head off with the rest of the infidels.

Thank you, thank you, thank you ABC!!! Your reporting allows our freedom-loving government to reduce costs in the espionage gathering area. You are great, Brian!!!!
Thanks to you, we will have more success killing the imperialist infidels who try to put our free and happy people into chains!!!

Thank you for bringing this to light. In a democracy the role of a courageous press is precisely to expose such actions.
Do we seriously think covert means no one knows anything? The only people who don’t know what is going on are the “innocent Americans.” Those who are affected by these covert black operations are fully aware as they experience the end result of these policies. The bombings in the city of Ahvaz and in Baluchestan, the uprising of Kurds and Azeris are squarely blamed by Iranians on the U.S. and the British covert operations. The majority of Iranians do not support foreign interference in their internal affairs. They were fully aware of the 1953 CIA coup in Iran nearly 50 years before Americans knew any of it – they experienced it.
It is utter naiveté of the American public to support such policies. Beyond the fact that these operations are often illegal, dangerous, anti-democratic, and most likely unconstitutional, the U.S. is working with shady groups of extremist and fundamentalists such as Jundallah (Read Seymour Hersh’s Redirection.) This will come back to haunt us the same way al-Qaeda did. In our zeal to get rid of the Soviets in Afghanistan, we befriended and supported this very shady group that ultimately turned against us.
The role of a genuine diplomatic effort should be to bring all factions of a society together. If the U.S. has the best for Iran in mind, it would not incite violence among different groups of Iranians, but by engaging them diplomatically ensuring that all Iranians — Arabs, Azeris, Kurds, Balouch, monarchists, left, right, secular, Mojaheddin, and even fundamentalists can voice their differences non-violently.

The American public needs to be reminded that even though a country or an entity is enriching uranium that it does not need much time to do this to make a dirty bomb.

After reading a variety of comments posted, both positive and negative, I have but only a few comments to make, although they may grow rather lengthy.
First, while we all possess our first amendment rights, there comes a time when we should hinder it for the protection of not only our soldiers, but also ourselves. I am just baffled that a select few responses on this board have suggested that our government is filled with a bunch of “neo-cons,” when in fact, something terribly catastrophic happens they will be the first to blame our government for inaction, while at the same time criticizing them for acting in the present. The word Shariah comes to mind if nothing is done to prevent it from being imposed. Have these critics heard what certain extremist view-points were touting in London about a month ago; that they will make the country look like that of Nagasaki and Hiroshima? I for one would not like to see that kind of threat being expressed within our own country, however, due to our strong alliance with Britain we must support not only them, but also ourselves from the growing ideology of these extremist mindsets. Women especially should be concerned after the many political gains they have made throughout the years, because if Shariah does prevail, all the rights they have earned over the past century will be wiped away and no longer will they have a say in any matter. The way these extremists work is they are divided into small factions, not linked to one main organization, but rather sub-sects of different groups paid to work on behalf of the main organization. They bring down nation-states (for those who only get their news from TV and not from books, this means a country, or state, or group of states) by attacking the order of the main governing power through small, strategically planned attacks. For instance, lets say it costs an extremist $2,000 to blow up a pipeline containing oil, it disrupts the flow of business and the economy not only of the country in which it is produced, but also those who purchase the oil. These profits can range to almost $25 million or beyond. So if it only costs them two grand to cause a rift in the world market worth a cost of 25 million or more a day, you do the math; the extremists’ payoff is nearly $24 million and effectively disrupts a nation-state in providing for its citizens, leaving the government crippled to do anything. So while the threat may not be on our doorstep or imminent in effecting us, American citizens, add all these little problems up and you will get a big one. I for one believe that preventative measures and much more effective than our defensive measures.
Secondly, I would like to break it down for those who are not in favor of this War in Iraq and the reprucussions we could inevitably face. The world has become a business (think globalism, globalization, and the increased interconnectedness or the world’s markets) run by money. The more you have of it, the more authority you have, the more one country can do above another. Now I ask, what is a businesses chief motive? The answer to that quesiton is to yeild a profit to better improve that business. Right? Yes. Now lets extend this analogy a little farther. If a country is a business, and a business’ motive is to yeild more profit to run itself more efficiently and effectively, they need somewhere to yeild this from otherwise a business can and will be overtaken by other competing businesses in power and authority, as well as no longer hold the title (or monopoloy of that industry). A business needs to and will do anything in its power to prevent it from being overtaken, therefore our country, a business, needs to extend its power over its competitors – in this case an extremist ideology shadowed by the Muslim religion – to prevent itself from being overtaken, which is why we are in Iraq combatting our competitor.
Although, I am not expressing that Bush has done everything correctly or effectively, he has not waivered as the American public’s opinion has waivered in our support for the war. We have about 150,000 – 200,000 soldiers fighting on behalf of our population that is 300 million? Don’t those numbers seem a little off? I think so – that is not even a percent of our population! Americans have become so accustomed to the freedoms so graciously fought for throughout these years that forgot that freedom comes at a cost, that we, as citizens have to fight to not only earn, but also maintain our freedoms. Running, purified water, electricity at the flip of a switch, gas, cars, movies, etc. I mean the list could go on and on, but to sum it all up, we have become spoiled with riches. We have only fought half the battle; just because we have earned our freedom does not mean the battle is over. We have to fight to maintain and protect what we have earned before it is snatched away from underneath us. Go back fifty years, when you had figures such as ‘Rosy the Riviter’ or ‘Uncle Sam,’ and days when one could not eat bread, or days when one could not fill up their gas tank. These requests were not too much to ask of the American public, but do you think anything like this could happen today? I , a 21 year old man, do not think we could ever see it because we have become a selfish society that is no longer concerned with the whole, but only ourselves. We have become so programmed to criticize our own government because the media tells us to and the rest of the world does to – what happened to us, our nation, American citizenry being the leaders of the world? What happened to our stance as role-models to the world – not just our country, but our citizens. No longer are we role-models, but act as role-models to ourselves (young, teenage girls envying the likes of the now jail-bound Paris Hilton) instead of acting as role-models for the women, both young and old, to the rest of the world. Men are included in this as well.
While I am not, and let me repeat this for those who just like to skim, I AM NOT calling that we do not criticize our government, because criticism is warranted for a more efficiented democracy. However, when criticism is the sole action being taken, then something must change. Remember what it is like to be an American, and that we are, in fact, still Americans even though we do not act like it. We are leaders, we are free, and that we must maintain this stance. It is not just our government that is at fault for all the problems we posses, but rather a combination of our own wrongdoings, as well as our governments. To claim otherwise is unwarranted – we own a third of the national debt, foreign nations own a third, and our government owns a third. Don’t believe me – do the research.
Finally, all my comments have been grounded on the texts I have recently read, of which I advise those who are so harsh and critical of our government to read and not listen to just what Wolf Blitzer or Lou Dobss or anyone else tells us. You CANNOT learn all your knowledge from TV – there are ALWAYS other motives involved than just presenting the news: money, ratings, face-value of an anchor, etc.
Read the following:
- Game Strategy (Dixit & Skeath)
- Nemesis: The Last Days of the Am.
Republic (Johnson)
- The Collapse of Globalism (Saul)
Let the debating begin.

Once again, ABC and the media cannot wait to expose our country’s secrets to our enemies. Their hate for the Bush administration is so great they will do anything… even betray our soldiers and our country.
Shameful. Treasonous.
ABC deserves all the scorn that can be heaped upon it.
G. Croft
Dallas, Texas

Anyone that actually studies our constitution will be glad for the information that you have released. As far as I can tell from reading the posts, not only do most Americans not care about reading the Constitution they wouldn’t understand it anyways. Please support our troops by saving their lives, not being an emotional idiot. A real man or woman wouldn’t vote for Hillary!
!!GO RON PAUL!!

The U.S.’ biggest problems in the Middle East — from the hostage crisis to 9/11 to Iraq — are deeply connected to “blowback’ from past U.S. covert operations in the region (overthrow of Mossadegh; covert support for Osama bin Laden).
We cannot continue these same failed actions and expect different results; it’s the definition of insanity. Thank you for running this story; please don’t let Bush’s willfully blind supporters intimidate you; we’ve paid with too many lives already.

Kudos to ABC for revealing this info to the public. Why are we meddling with Iran? Is it because of our own security or, lets be honest, is it really for Israel? When will our politicians stop meddling in other people’s affairs? Iran is NOT a threat to the US. Iraq had no links to 9/11. You people who are threatening to boycott ABC over revealing this sad news are plain stupid. Can’t you see the blowback in this sort of activity? Who are you loyal to? The US or Israel? If you think Iran in a threat to the US, you need remedial education or you need to move to Israel. Who needs a police state when misguided citizens do all the work for the the gov’t? Wake up people and smell the coffee. The people running our gov’t belong in jail for their hand in killing thousands or Iraqis and US Soldiers needlessly. Now you trust them to do a better job in Iran. Nothing surprises me anymore than the American propensity for gullibility and mindlessness. And yes, I am saying this because I really love the US, unlike the knee-jerk idiots posting admonishments to ABC.

Who’s to say the CIA or Whitehouse didn’t want this information released. They may want Iran to do something stupid and give us reason to attack?

Self-preservation has been the basis for which all nations are partially based, and if it is necessary for those to wipe out the self-preservation of others to advance their own, they will do such. Look at history, especially the Eastern European nations who have fought not only amongst themselves, but also the larger domineering ideologies that have controlled them past and present – they WILL do anything to make themselves known. In terms of game strategy, this is called an unrational player – they do not play by the same known rules as would a rational player.
And secondly, why would anyone want to wait for us to be hit with a nuke? Or even have the possibility hanging over us? Even if Ahmadinejad was foolish enough to make this mistake, who is to say he he would not hit American Allies as well, knowing there would be numerous reprucussions of retaliation? What if their were multiple nuclear bombs that went off in our country, effectively sizing our country down in a matter of minutes? Would we even be capable of a response? Do you not think he wouldn’t try to strategically hit the functioning body of our government?

So if people don’t agree with the left/Democrats/”main stream” media then we’re semi-literate, un educated? What happened to the peace, love and tolerance preached from that side of the political spectrum.

dan, if it was so important for Plame to stay undercover, why did her husband bother to mention her employer, the CIA, and its role in sending him to Africa in his New York Times op-ed. If it was so important for the safety of his wife, his family, and other operatives, he would have at least left the CIA out of his article. Sounds like a no brainer to me. His cavelierness about her status probably says a lot about how covert she really was.

I am sure our covert operatives appreciate you endangering their lives.

“Who’s to say the CIA or Whitehouse didn’t want this information released. They may want Iran to do something stupid and give us reason to attack?
Posted by: Matt | May 23, 2007 3:39:36 PM”
Do you mean like attacking our soldiers in Iraq?
Oh, wait.
They’re doing that already.

Just a side note. When wars are fought people die, civilians and soldiers. Have we become so far detached from reality that to have a little under 4,000 soldiers die in a matter of a little more than five years to be viewed as a completely senile statistic? Look at past wars, because this statistic blows them out of the water. This is a new type of warfare.
More so, since when did war mean you play by the rules? Don’t you go to war because those players are not playing by the rules? And the use of the word rules is ambigously used here; you follow the rules of those who can enforce them; whether that is morally/ethically wrong is not the question, the question is that is this not reality; how life really works?

Praises to ABC for not bowing to requests to limit reported information to only material acceptable to the present administration. Thankfully, there are reporters willing to tell the real story rather than only polished phrases of the white house press secretary. Didn’t we learn our lesson with the pre-Iraq bull and how we just HAD to invade (with shock and awe) or suffer dire consequences??? And now they’re setting the table for an expanded mideastern “presence”… We need reporters to dig for the actions that lay below the surface in order to prevent a repeat performance.

Is it kinda Harrison Bergeron in here, or is it just me? These other comments tell you everything you need to know about why American politics takes place on a fifth-grade level of sophistication.

It’s people like the media that has gotten us soldiers our gear and protection, but it’s also media that gets our soldiers killed. believe me, I am a soldier in Iraq and I have seen that crap. Because of the mediainnocent soldiers are put behind bars and because of the media this war is taking so long. If the media wasn’t here we would be getting iraq done faster. Because of the media a soldier got put away to jail for doing something un-lawful but that unlawful was for the good that saved hunreds o troops. Only because the media an the people of america knew about it because of the media he had to be senanced and put away to jail because he didn’t fallow the Janeva convention codes……Thanx Media, for making my life, and the soldiers of Iraq harder for us…..

What is this bussiness about we are at war. Did Congress declare war? The U. S. invaded a soverign country and you are now a forign occupation. I hope Iran and Iraq get together and throw you out before you kill another 600,000 innocent people. I am a veteran but I am ashamed to be a American.

Germany and Japan were aggressor states with the combined might to destroy the US and the US way of life…Iran/Iraq are not…the comparison is invalid…
as far as how long the “left” or the “right” or American people in general are willing to occupy another country, I believe that if the cause is deemed just and correct by the people, as it was in WWII, the people can and will sustain a long involvement…when the cause is questionable or just outright wrong like we had in Vietnam and Iraq, you find people jumping ship once they see the lie revealed, and rightly so…

That’ll show those Afghan Terrorists!

If the Iranian government DOES supply weapons to Iraqi terrorists, they are doing more than just undermining our policy and agenda in the Middle East. Supplying weapons to kill American troops should be considered a direct attack against us. If one American died because of the result of Iranian action (or failure to intervene), It should be considered a act of war.

Geez, I find it absolutely incredulous the number of people who posted on here, saying that ABC News is a traitor organization and should be taken off the airwaves, and other such ridiculous statements — Get a clue, people!! I hope you don’t really think for one second that the above news story was about a secret CIA operation in Iran!! The part that should scare the pants off you (but apparently doesn’t) is the fact that the current administration continues to operate in its own interests, NOT those of the majority of the American people, in illegal and irrational moves, not sanctified, approved or even considered by other branches of government.
The attempted impeachment of Bill Clinton for having an extramarital affair now parallels the Middle Eastern practice of chopping off the hand of a boy caught stealing a loaf of bread at the market!! When are the American people going to wake up and realize what kind of major criminals are running the White House, let alone the country??? What the hell do they have to do before Americans see how badly we need to get rid of these guys? How many more soldiers will die in a war that stands for the American right to control the world for their own selfish interests, NOT the fight against terrorists???
Those looking for security risks and grave dangers to the United States of America need look no further than Pennsylvania Avenue!!
Anyone who believes the war in Irag is anything more than the fight for control of Iraqi oil is living in a cave!!

Gee I guess it’s not a secret anymore.Just a thought om my part about our govt taking action against a leader who has shown nothing but contempt for international laws or conventions,and has sworn to wipe Israel off the face of the earth with his newfound weapons.Maybe keeping something like this on the down low until after some action had taken place might put you on the side of the US for once.Question for Brian,who are you going to write for when the real thugs of the world take over?Do you really think they will allow you or any other “journalist” to live longer than 15 minutes once they win?It appears that you must be ready to find out.Good luck Brian Mike Cady

Contempt for international law? Iran is not the only one, don’t have to look very far for a good example of that.

Hi ABC guys you deleted my earlier post last night. why it did not reveld any secrets like they are aquising you on this blog.
all i said was that Brian Ross’s report is part of the same campaign he is describing if western media is reporting it it is because CIA wants them to, but like i said it would’nt work it will have another blowback , which that will be presented as an slamdunk by some squre head,
this the same guys who did the 1953 job and they got the blowback in 1979 havent’ learned yet

I think this time someone will be going to jail. ScrewDriver you need to get your news from other sources. It’s called the CIA. Iran is YOUR enemy, as well. This is treason. In many nations, it is also often considered treason to attempt or conspire to overthrow the government, even if no foreign country is aided or involved by such an endeavour. This has compromised Iranians working at banks and newspapers in Iran. I would guess at least ten people have been murdered along with their families. It is hard to believe so many of you hate your counrty so much.

For starters, why would any news outlet print a story regarding a CIA operation? Its a very dangerous thing to do at the least and could very easily be construed as traitorous.
Iran is an enemy so long as it continually allows its weapons to be smuggled into Iraq, so long as it continues to pursue nuclear ______ in defiance of the UN, so long as its leader advocates the destruction of an entire nation.
And Maybe I missed something post-WW2 but is America not The World Power? I guess I just happened to actually pay attention in History but it seems that we are the first World Power that isn’t imperialistic, oppressive and we are very very open to diplomacy.

Treason is a capital offense, and I wish our government would prosecute to the LIMIT OF THE LAW those who betray us–those who get wealthy from what our country has to offer and then stab us in the back.

Congrats ABC!! Thanks for reporting the truth. With your continued help we can bring down this administration and America as well. America must be put into its place and hopefully with our media’s help we will become an impotent third world country in my lifetime!

Plame gets “outed” and now can’t be seen without a consultation with her publicist. Poor girl. But some clown can announce to the enemy our secret plans, likely resulting in a true security failure, and nothing comes of it? When is the president going to show backbone with our enemies that are within? Treason laws were put in place for a reason.

“When is the president going to show backbone with our enemies that are within? ”
When he stops authorizing the leaks for his own gain…Didn’t he say that he was going to go after whoever “leaked” Plame’s info? OH WAIT, he must have forgotten that was his own initiative. That must be why he’s already pardoned himself and his cronies from any possible war crimes associated with our War of Terror.

Once again the majority does not understand the importance of this type of message. The Bush Administration is conducting itself in ways that are harmful to Americans by repeating bad habits of the past that have caused those in the Middle East to dislike. Bad foriegn policy and American ignorance will once again cause our country to be hated by the world. Keep up the good work ABC

And so, Oliver, YOU of course are not one of that number. Nice use of hyperbole, by the way.

Many of the previous comments contain such blind patriotism and unwavering nationalistic views of America that it reminds me of the situation in Germany under Hitler, where many Germans were led to believe their country to be “number one”, and the fundamentalist movement in the Middle East, where a small amount of Muslims wish to orchestrate a Holy War against the West. The question is not whether American national security is being compromised, or whether American lives are put in danger. The questions are whether a covert operation conducted within a sovereign nation, in this case Iran, is moral or legal. And secondly, is the integrity of the U.S. Government compromised as a result of this action. I would have to say yes, and such an operation conducted inside Iranian territory when war HASN’T been declared is illegal.

Dorks! It’s obvious the Administration decided to leak this now FOR DOMESTIC POLITICAL REASONS, to mollify everybody who believes we should just bomb the Iranians to hell and gone. Here’s the money quote:
Current and former intelligence officials say the approval of the covert action means the Bush administration, for the time being, has decided not to pursue a military option against Iran.
“Vice President Cheney helped to lead the side favoring a military strike,” said former CIA official Riedel, “but I think they have come to the conclusion that a military strike has more downsides than upsides.”
The Iranians will protest, the American right will simmer down, and we will go back to business as usual.

Yeah — lot’s of propagandists on here. Hardly a secret! This might be a new finding, but Bush and the US have doing black ops in Iram for well over a year, and it’s been reported all along in the foreign press — and Iran has been complaining about it. Americans are the ones that Bush and gang try to keep in the dark.

What a bunch of idiots!!! Stupid Americans, don’t you realise we are the laughing stock of the world!!

What you fail to understand Carl Z. is that the rest of the world knows what our government is up to, and the American public are the blind sheep who believe the lies this administration is putting forth. We are not attacked because our media being informed, we are attacked because of the conduct of our government.

I hope this article and our government’s covert operations in Iran (and elsewhere) get full exposure.
If you’re interested in getting more info on our nation’s war-driven appetite please read Scahill’s “Blackwater”.
To attack Iran would be an absolute disaster.

If Tokyo Ross were a true journalist and not a political hack he would be writing an article exposing the treasonous Bush-haters in the State Dept. who keep leaking classified info. We spent several years entertaining those out to get Karl Rove only to find that what was done was not a crime at all. Outing a desk-jockey at the CIA who was already out is quite different from leaking classified information on black-ops and endangering lives for political gain.
If only Bill Clinton would’ve dispatched the CIA to infiltrate and disrupt Al Qaeda like Bush was attempting to do with Iran the world would be a different place.
While no one will change the minds of those who have lost all sense of reason and have hated Bush since 2000, you must confess that you would be the first one slamming Bush had he not been doing this as Iran pursues nukes. Watch as the President’s approval rating goes up, because Americans are glad the battle is being waged in Iran by non-military means.

I believe ABC is irresponsible and a traitor. Why would ABC tell Iran of all countries of our “secret” plans? It beyond belief. I make a pledge to never watch ABC again, ever.

Stop it everyone. This is disinformation to confuse the Iranian leadership. The C.I.A has been known to use our media to send mixed messages. Chances are an attack on Iran is imminent and were just trying to catch them with their guard down.

It is good for this to be reported. As Ron Paul has pointed out, the Constitution has no room for this kind of action taken by our gov’t against another. This kind of course is what the CIA, an unconstitutional agency, has taken since its beginning as the OSS. If anyone bothers to research covert (black) operations by the fed gov’t, they will find type of actions happening as a matter of unconstitutional foreign policy (Vietnam for instance and Korea). Thanks for your time and happy researching.

So much for a “Covert” operation. Thanks.

Bravo for ABC! Have people become so jaded that they cannot see the problem in the actions of the porpaganda?
“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. ”
Do people not see that we ourselves as Americans Citizens have been victims of such presidential propaganda and misinformation from the onset of Iraq that is costing our soldiers lives and our tax payers billions in private contractors to Halliburton or KBR and Blackwater? While our soldiers were denied a 3.5% raise? And the hypocrit asks for more funding…and to continue this occupation in Iraq whie the big oil companies fight the Iraqi parliament for a fair production sharing agreement. Any one who wants to knock ABC for giving you the facts, should go do their homework, starting with PSA’s. Good job ABC!

It is painfully obvious how uninformed many of these commentators truly are. We are not at war with Iran. If true these CIA actions are illegal by International Treaties. Our CIA has become a modern Praetorien Guard. 100 years of war lead the Roman Republic to the appointments of Emperor for life and the Pax Romana which did not stop the decline of Rome. If our Nation is to endure we must restore the rule of constitional law and domestic tranquility so that civil public discourse and not the Congressional Military Industrial Complex can chart the future of our society.

It is painfully obvious how uninformed many of these commentators truly are. We are not at war with Iran. If true these CIA actions are illegal by International Treaties. Our CIA has become a modern Praetorian Guard. 100 years of war lead the Roman Republic to the appointments of Emperor for life and the Pax Romana which did not stop the decline of Rome. If our Nation is to endure we must restore the rule of constitional law and domestic tranquility so that civil public discourse and not the Congressional Military Industrial Complex can chart the future of our society.

Since when does Bush listen to Congress anyway? Since when does he consult anyone besides Cheney and Karl Rove on any decision?
Americans are under the false impression that a war must be “declared” before it’s real.
Wrong.

Has it occured to any1 that this is common sense stuff. Im surprised the general population of bloggers responding to this as being traitorous by ABCNews. It aint secret by no means, anyone who knows anything has this already figured out. You all dont know anything about world events, politics, government/military action or probably what goes on right under your noses do you? This isnt about terrorism, ITS ALL ABOUT THE NEW WORLD ORDER!!!

Why are you endangering our soldiers? And us citizens for that matter? This is treason!

The point of destabilizing Iran is? We won’t nuke them. We will just infiltrate and destabilize them! Not TALK to them!!
By picking a war with Iran, he will have reason to stay in Iraq indefinitely, won’t he?
Meanwhile, Bush says bin Laden is orchestrating things in Iraq. Again.
How about getting out of Iraq, leaving Iran alone, and going after bin Laden? Oh yea, the oil!
It is not helpful to skew ABC for letting this out. It is indefensible of Bush to do this! Apparently the CIA thinks it is a bad idea too! Enough to let the information out so that someone with some sense can expose these crazy people in the White House who are bent destroying our country’s military and our reputation in the world.

thank u ABC news!! this is information that Americans need to know! and to all u who are offended by it are idiots!

I am asking all my friends and family to request immediate charges be brought against ABC and especially these reporters for leaking top secret information that could jeopardize an ongoing government investigation. They should immediately tried as traitors and should be found guilty of such. They have betrayed this country and should be closed down immediately. Freedom of the press stops when the lives of individuals are threatened by the information released.
These ‘journalists’ have stepped over the line, and have shown no journalistic prudence. May the Lord protect our agents that have now been betrayed by our media.

I would like to know why doing this isn’t TREASON. ABC News has proven once again that there is no honor there. No patriotism. Nothing.
I will never watch ABC again.

I hope ABC news is the first to get suicide bombed as a result of spewing this crap. That sound you hear is the sound of millions of TV’s switching the channel to Fox News.

I applaud ABC for publishing this. Unlike the NYT and some of their brethran, hey are to be applauded for speaking up and telling the American people –nay, the world — what it needs to know. An ignorant population is one easily manipulated — like many of those who have posted here.

Good Lord, if ABC News knows about this you can bet at least 1,000 people in Washington — and Tehran — also know. God Forbid the citizens know what the lowliest grunt in the state department discarded as old intelligence weeks ago!
I applaud ABC for going with this story. The general tenor and tone of the fascistic posts — the ones threatening to shoot Brian Ross, for example — is that impinging on the ignorance of the chronically under-informed is tantamount to treason. No, blind acceptance of whatever leaders do or say is a worse sort of treason: A treason not of a current regime, but of our philosophical ideals. You might recall that our founding luminaries ran from the noose; they did not brandish it. Democracies run on knowledge. Theocracies run on blind faith and fear of vigilante violence. I want to know what the government, such as it is under Bush, does in my name.
(p.s. The post that accuses Ross and ABC of being ‘Traders’ kind of says it all.)

It’s interesting to find soooo many NeoCon and Right-wing type comments to this blog. (ohh excuse me, I meant “Patriotic” type comments) Many more than I have noticed in most blogs in recent months or years. Perhaps the mainstream media is starting to turn back left and making you “Constitution-ignorant” folks a little nervous. If you’d read once in awhile (other than crap science books pedaled by some televangelist), you’d find that our wonderful CIA has been doing this sort of thing since it’s formal inception (actually,in other forms, before). They have done little to destabilize countries that don’t have abundant natural resources, despite having despotic governments (like oil)…they devastate and plunder countries that do (CIA has strong armed for Exxon and Shell Oil in Ecuador, for example, helping put down uprisings due to the complete devastation of the indigenous people’s only supply of water, food, and means of survival …Iraq for another…the list is long) Very likely they are in Venezuela right now….oooohhh no….I may have given away another secret. I understand WHY other countries hate us…they aren’t jealous, they’ve just had enough of ignorant,self-righteous money grubbing American hypocrisy….I fear for our soldiers, too…I fear that they’ll be stuck fighting to fill our SUV’s with gas for God knows how long
while WE, yes, WE sit in our comfy chairs and type nasty remarks to each other on a blog.

Now I understand how Bush became president in the first place – what a bunch of succers (on both sides)! This story, while true, is an obvious plant. This, together with the pugnacious naval actions in the gulf is intended to generate tensions in advance of the upcoming talks with Iran, and to ensure that no progress toward peace is made. Bush wants war with Iran and will do anything to get it.
Also, please note that “covert” does not necessarily mean “secret”; the focus is usually on deniability. Covert acts against Iran are no more a secret from Iran than similar act against Venezuela are to Chavez, or the U-2 flights were to the Soviets, etc, etc. Most covert programs are secret only from John Q Public.
And please stop calling Iran “the enemy” They, like the Iraqis, are Bush’s enemies, not ours. Our Constitution gives Congress the task of deciding who our enemies are, not the president. Bush is the traitor here; Brian Ross is merely Bush’s stooge.

Thanks Brian for revealing more of the warlike schemes of GWB. An informed public is the basis of democracy. GWB should start trying to talk to Iran and others, like James Baker recently suggested. We might achieve a lot more that way.
Mike O’Meara

Thank you Monte for pointing out something that everybody else missed, and knowing the right, they will completly ignore it so I will reread it from the Constitution:

ABC is just a bunch of stupid fucks.

“ABC News is coming under heavy criticism for its exclusive report revealing a purported CIA covert operation designed to destabilize the government of Iran.”
YEAAAH! SCREW you ABC! AND I HOPE THEY HANG YOU BY YOUR RAISIN LIKE BALLS!
Maybe NOW you’ll show just A FUCKIN RESPONSIBILITY IN YOUR REPORTING!

Oh joy, and then when Iran is provoked into a reactionary position, we’ll be told “see, they’re bag” and “their envy of our freedoms” caused the attack. Hence, it is then justified that we invade their nation being that we’re totally innocent bystanders; rightous Christians attacked by the evil Muslims.
This is a false flag set-up all the way people; open your eyes and stop the madness!

I’d like to see Mr Brian Ross strung up by his ball.

yeah bushes fault. right. Even though Iran hated us since Jimmy “I’m losing my mind” Carter (D), Ronald Reagan (R), george Bush 1 (R), Billy “I love all women, but my wife” Clinton (D) and george Bush 2 (D). People who don’t understand the concept of secret and eliminating a country who calls you satan and wants to destroy you and your allies, needs to go back to sipping their starbucks coffee and let good men take care of business and keep them safe and sound every night. Good-Bye ABC!

ANY NEW COVERT ACTS ABC CAN TELL ME ABOUT?
ARE THERE ANY TOP SECRET PLANS ABC WANTS TO UNLEASH TO THE WORLD?
PLEEEASSE! TELL ME, TELL ME NOW!!!!
Are you THIS desperate for ratings???
And yes I agree with the poster above. Brian Ross should be hung by his balls.

Okay. I’m wrong.

It is obvious this can’t be that covert. If it was on the condition of confentility the reporter would never have posted it. He would lose his source forever.
There is either an intentional leak or someone there is something so foul going on that they(CIA) felt it had to be leaked.

The only thing I can do to punish ABC news is to remove abcnews.com from my favorites and boycott
ABC news advertisers…. hopefully, the government will file charges against the treasonous parties….
I couldn’t believe my eyes when I read the disclosure at a time when there is a serious risk of war with Iran over nuclear weapons…. the leaders of Iran are very dangerious and ABC news will no doubt run a story somday when Iran nukes Israel or Long Beach or who knows where…. disgusting

Wow, to read all these right wingers … look, YOU guys are traitors. You hate America, its freedom of the press and democracy, a government form that requires public oversight to function. Leave. I don’t give a damn how Christian you claim to be, but you’ll be more at home in Saudi Arabia, a country that caters to your line of thinking.

To whom it may concern,
I just wanted to say congratulations, to the half-witted, morally deprived, traitor who broke the story of the U.S. covert, non-lethal efforts to derail and hinder the production of weapons grade plutonium, by a country currently lead by a psychopath (Iran). Nice work. While I am completely on the left side of the political fence, you have single handedly aroused an anger within me that I normally reserve for only the most depraved of individuals (pedophiles). I am hereby renouncing my negative opinion on capital punishment. I sincerely hope that a nondescript white van, with tinted windows, pulls up alongside the guilty party within your midst, to deposits them into the middle of a military trial in which they are summarily found guilty of treason, and shot or hung in a public execution. My new opinion that will be reflected in the below survey will now show that I no longer consider you to be an unbiased, responsible news source. You now are truly flying with the ducks (aka Fox News). I dare you to show this comment on the air. You have my full permission to use my full name on any of your broadcasts; please do.
Sincerely,
Henry J. Meyer
California

And you believed that ABC revealed a secret and wanted to jeopardize our men overthere? You fools! ABC will not reveal anything unless somebeody up there figured it is good to release the information as a contrelled leak. Mind you, this so called “exposure” help the bush administration scare the Iranians while doing literally nothing to actually harm them. Stop these old tired games. there are no leaks that are not controlled by the top, except perhaps for my “leak” in the restroom.

This is what journalism is. We deserve to know what junk the government is doing, especially if it is as bad as invading on the sovereignty of another state!

Media cannot be trusted.

5-23-2007, It seems that you have taken a side in our war on terror. To bad it wasn’t the side that favors life and liberty. ‘passing leaked secret information during a war, tsk tsk.

We have been doing this for years. I’m surprised by how many posters are ignorant of this fact. Do you really think the president signs off on every covert mission? Do you really think this is a surprise to Iran? This report was purposely leaked. Read between the lines people. Think for yourself.

Why hate ABC? If it wasn’t supposed to leak then hate those at CIA who did it. If it was deliberately leaked then ABC did a good job. There are so many things under the surface we don’t know about, hating a news network for giving out info is just childish.

Bush/Cheney are intigating terrorist acts against Iranian citizens and the great patriots commenting here are calling ABC traitorous? Can you reason at all? The CIA is supposed to spy on people to find those wishing to harm us. They’re not supposed to be involved in instigating violence against others. Destabilizing Iran will only cause more havoc in the Middle East and that’s what will get more of our troops killed. This behavior by Bush/Cheney is what’s traitorous, and might even turn our allies against us, then the WHOLE world will hate us. Think, people.

Great. Now North Korea can pounce when we’re not looking. Way to keep your head in the game, George.

ABC = Cocksucking traitors.

Who would trust first– the Media or the Government

Evidently 9-11 was not enough to show the mainsteam media that radical Islamists have declared war on the United States. Did you ever think that you are giving away State secrets that put our country at risk all for your network’s pursuit of ratings? Ratings that will sell enough toothpaste, soap ,viagra and other garbage to keep your sponsors happy. If you had printed like secrets circa 1941 you and your scumbag producers would have been run out of town or put in jail where you belong.

The liberal media will do anything to bring down the Bush presidency. What I don’t understand is why these traitors both at the media and inside the government are sent to Gitmo with the rest of their friends.
Also Libs, if youall are so believing of Algore’s rantings, why aren’t youall moving inland. Seems like the NYT, ABC, NBC, all your LI and Cape Cod houses will soon be underwater. That is, if youall truly believed Algore nutcase ranting.
I never fully understood Bill Clinton until I heard Shillary screaming. Poor fellow. No wonder he has to put the moves on Rush’s women.

This is nothing new. It is another deliberate misinformation sanctioned by the White House and CIA. The Iranian people already know about these mind games and CIA ‘covert’ activities.In fact, these so-called deliberate ‘leaks’ make the Iranian people forget their ill feelings against the present regime and instead support it against foreign invasion. Regime change in Iran will come from within without the outside support. Therefore, the US should back off if they really want regime change in Iran and not the Iranian OIL.

Nicola?
Clinton put the moves on Rush’s women. I got the rest of the post.
I don’t agree but at ;east I understand it. You lost me on the last pragraph there.
I know I should leave well enough alone, but I just couldn’t resist.

What ABC did was traitorous. No excuses, no justifications.
ABC has forfeited any rights to be viewed in my home.
Whenever I learn of those advertising on ABC-TV, I will do business with their competitors. This is a tall order, but I still love my country.
Shame on anyone still working for ABC-TV. My grandchildren’s future is more important than TV ratings.

What a bunch of idiots THIS kind of black operation is exactly what created Terrorism in the middle East at the first place WE destabalise these countries for decades ;
The U.S removed Mossadec of Iran in the 50′s (with the CIA) and placed a ruthless dictator American puppet the SHA of Iran who killed and tortured thousands of them with his agency the “SAVAC” trained by the CIA the result……all what was left were religious fanatics….Aliatola….american haters….Wondering why ???? By the way the man in Charge of Iran Today grew up under the Sha’s rule…his speech about Israel was not translated propally he said “the Fanatic Zionist rulers of Israel must be removed” and was translated by the CIA propaganda department like this “We must destroy Israel” you idiots fox news sheep deserve the government that you have.
Thanks to the CIA (an agency not created to protect the American people but to protect and defend the interrest of the self appointed ruling elite and to maintain U.S corporations Status Quo in crushing any country who chalange the US Empire…The CIA was created in 1947 with the colaboration of former Nazis under the secret operation named “paper clip” President Kennedy wanted to make serious changes to the agency we all know what happened…)
It is incredible that the same ignorant war mongers idiots who seems outraged that a free press expose these kind of under cover ” war starter” operations DID NOT SAY ANYTHING WHEN Mr Robert NOVACK GAVE AWAY THE NAME OF A CIA AGENT JUST TO BURN HER BECAUSE SHE WAS COMING UP WITH INTELLIGENCE INFORMATIONS CONTRADICTING THE BUSH ADMINISTRATION PRECOCEIVED VUES (and they were indeed wrong)
The CIA knows for months that IRAN do not have nuclear weapons yet..and like everybody else would like to get some…Israel have 200 war heads you do not say anything Pakistan ( WHERE Osama Bin Laden is if he is still alive) have many nuclear war heads and YOU idiots say NOTHING You just support actions which eventually will create another conflict….after failing in Iraq (or did they ? we are stuck there for at least 10 years…You phony patriots out there must be happy…sitting on your fat asses waving your American flag made in communist China)…..The amount of young American killed in Iraq doubled this year so is HALIBURTON STOCK VALUE….Dick Chenney ows 400.000 shares ….not an incentive to build peace in the world
MORRONS YOU WILL NEVER LEARN…

How, exactly, is this revelation helpful? I suppose the more free-thinking Iranians get arrested and jailed as a result, and the more American lives are endangered, the more sensational and therefore the more attractive the news–from ABC’s point of view, that is.

Thank you ABC for telling the people what their government is doing behind their backs. I think it’s important here to pat ABC on the back for this one. For once, a large network is willing to publish the truth. Thank you.
As for the operation… the American people know all about your kind Mr. Bush… we dont like it. Not one bit.
The average American people would not approve of such hostility to any nation.
We are a peaceful people, and would like to remain allys with the world. SO STOP KILLING PEOPLE IN OUR NAME!

To all the idots, i will remember what you said here today. When the muslems are killing your stupid ass, just for being white americans. And to Janet, no wonder no one trust a stupid woman in goverment any more. you have to be the most stupid woman on planet earth.

I hope they hall your asses into Federal Court. You are the vain and elitist “useful idiots’ of the Bush-deranged Democratic Party. I joyfully enjoy the continued decay of the drive-by media. But its not happening fast enough! Maybe the Mullahs well finally do it.

It’s interesting the number of the hate-America crowd that supports ABC while any patriot would question ABC’s actions.
These are ABC’s supporters. Always question Bush (only becasue he’s not a Dem – Clinton got a pass…), and never question the CIA? Hello? Is there any gray cells left?
I wonder if George Soros has bought ABC? Nah, he doesn’t have to – their on the same channel….

Posted by: Mike | May 23, 2007 10:15:56 PM
You’ll remember nothing. You live in the United States of Amnesia. Oceania has always been at war Eastasia.
“We’re an empire now, and when we act, we create our own reality. And while you’re studying that reality–judiciously, as you will–we’ll act again, creating other new realities, which you can study too, and that’s how things will sort out. We’re history’s actors…and you, all of you, will be left to just study what we do.” For those who didn’t like it, another Bush adviser explained, “Let me clue you in. We don’t care. You see, you’re outnumbered two to one by folks in the big, wide middle of America, busy working people who don’t read the New York Times or Washington Post or the LA Times.”

This is ridiculous. Its not like President Bush has authorized the assassination of Ahmenijiad, know I misspelled it, and I know that the Freedom of the Press is pretty much an absolute power. Should be limited because absolute power does corrupt absolutely. But that is not the point. You have leaked information that has hurt your cause. Most likely it will force Iran to act before we pull out and then we will have to invade that country as well to “stabilize” the region. Most people will oppose it, but congress will have to approve it or be blamed by future generations for letting a fascist islamic state to take over the region.

You Americans don’t forget what American stands for: freedom, which includes freedom of news. Don’t let fear defeat you. Freedom is your best defence. And in the matter of fact, I don’t think this report gives any information that Iranian government hasn’t already know.

Operations like this are nothing new, especially pertaining to Iran. If you go back and look at history, you will see that we have had several operations of overthrowing or altering governments we disagree with. (some have been used against democratic nations such as Iran in 1953) I think it is sad that this nation is so hypocritical by saying that we support democracy. The truth is that we will support any nation, regardless of what type of government they have, if we are able to get something out of it. Take Uzbekistan for instance, where we supported a dictatorship because in return we were able to station troops. I guess on the bright side, we can be thankful for this operation being non-lethal. Operation AJAX which took place in 1953, involved blowing up mosques and killing Iranian civilians, which was then blamed on Iran’s Prime Minister in an attempt to overthrow him. (operations such as these are known as false flag operations–also look up operation Northwoods, which proposed attacks planned by the Johnson administration on US soil) Thank you ABC for publishing this, and the only treacherous group is the Bush administration for not listening to the intelligence community. (I think your sources are getting payback for what Bush did to Tenet)

Man…with all this posts i am quite sure that the only thing secret here is that the americans were the only ones not aware of this kind of operations conducted by the CIA and other agencies. The Iranian government and the Iranian people know it, the Europeans know it…all except the American people…long live Jesusland and all their morons.

Treason

Jeezus, are you people TOTAL IDIOTS? Airing a story like this is absolutely stupid. I hope you all lose your jobs and have to beg on the street

As an Chinese, I think I know what a terrible situation it is when the press and media is controlled by the government. We never know what the government is doing exactly, how the officials are elected or appointed, how the big decisions are made, or how our money is spent. I admire your freedom and democracy very much. Please treasure it. It could go away very easily, especially when you are defeated by the fear of getting killed or hurt.

ABC for a change did a peace of real journalism….you idiots phony patriots out there sitting on you fat asses watching FOX NEWS propaganda have no clue ….WHERE were you when Robert Novack gave the name of a CIA agent (Valery Plame) just because what she found made the Bush administration wrong about WMD in IRAQ (she was right big time )…
This type of cover operations is exactly WHAT CREATED TERRORISM IN THE MIDDLE EAST…..if you think that they are conducted to protect you or the constitution of the United States YOU ARE IGNORANT AND POLITICALLY NAIVE…THE CIA TRAINED AND FINANCED THE MUJAH HADDEEN IN Aghanistan who later one were called Al Qaeda….
We ,with these kind of operations CREATING TERRORISM…..IN order to manipulate the masses into total submission “State sponsored Terrorism” is the favorite fascist tool….we provoque a conflict”covertly” then the targetted country react in attacking you “Overtly” in this case terrorist attacks
and the victim who do not know that they are victim of some type of blowback (occasionaly it is an inside job) demand their government to declare War….sounds familiar…..9/11… then attack on Afghanistan then Iraq (which had nothing to do with 9/11 but was targetted way in advance) then accusing Iran to help Iraq (conflict created by our own policies at the first place) in order to attack Iran…then provoking Syria secretly and accusing Syria to help Iran…this has no end….state of perpetual War make the people obediant and fearful…allowing government (in this case the U.S…in the past it was Germany )
to eliminate little by little the Constitution in consolidating Power, creating basically …a dictature
JUST READ THE PATRIOT ACT….Look at the amount of concentration of power created around the Federal Government…..We are getting closer and closer to what Communist Russia was….Controlled Press…..Corporations working hand to hand with government writting laws only to their advantage and against the interrest of the consummers….they nationalised private companies we give Federal agencies business to private contractors who act like Government agencies it is FASCISM….The different branches of government basically become ONE….NO OPPOSITION ALLOWED…..THE WAR ON TERROR BEING USE AS AN EXCUSE…..All they have to do is to maintain the state of war…..and you idiots wave your “made in China” american Flag and scream …..yes master give us more War….get the Terrorists…..
Political problems…..Military solutions….Plain Wrong….you never learn from history….obviousely

I just had my last interaction with ABC. What you have done is treasonous. I will not watch ABC nor go to ABC websites again. This is the same thing as yelling FIRE in a crowded theater. You can’t hide behind the first amendment on this one.

people need to realize that the enemy is the iranian government, not the iranian people.
its like the rest of the world blaming the war in iraq on all americans and not just those supporting the war.

Amurika Uberalis!

“Traitorous?”

Like Iran or anyone else on the short list is clueless that they are under the microscope or subject to the usual foreign policy, and if someone leaked it to ABC or any other media, how do we know who knows and who doesn’t?
Apparently, the Whitehouse is like a sieve, how about finding the leaker.

“Also briefed on the CIA proposal, according to intelligence sources, were National Security Advisor Steve Hadley and Deputy National Security Advisor Elliott Abrams.
“The entire plan has been blessed by Abrams, in particular”….
He is Baaaaaaaaaaaaack!
No bible and cake this time around!
No siiiiirrrrrrr……..
But wait!
He is A FELON!
Only in America.

If JoJo doesn’t have the intellectual capacity or desire to refute what I posted and support what he/she posted then I have no problem with anyone else giving it a shot. And please don’t run off and start the crying neocon crap of “mommy, mommy, they are picking on us”. If you don’t have the guts to stand up for our country then get out of the way, sit down and shut up. Like somebody else said – back to American Idol.
Ron Paul for President!!!!

The real enemy is the Bush cabal. Get ready for WWIII. And where will Bush, Cheney and all of their ilk be when they have submerged this country into permanent war, (which was always the desired goal)???? Fat and happy far away from any real turmoil. All of the commenters who are supporting this administration are too bewildered as well as ignorant to be capable of acknowledging the truth. But they will have to learn the hard way, when one day not too far off in the future, the Constitution and this country no longer exists.
Wake up people–Rome is burning.

I now vow never to watch your news programming ever again in my household or in my office ABC. I am also going to write to every sponsor I see on your website. As an Air Force Officer I am appalled at this type of “reporting.” I hope your reporters are subpoenaed and forced to reveal the person entrusted with our national security secrets who leaked this information. Secret information is just that – SECRET – because it can cause grave harm to the United States. Who needs spies when we have irresponsible journalism like yours.

“Stop changing something that I have writened on here”.
Priceless.

ABC News: You have several responses here applauding this treasonous action. Use your best reportorial skills as you read them and you will see that most of these are not fans of the United States of America. Some of them you don’t even have to read between the lines. This should tell you something about what you have done to the security of the country that has given you this liberty. It does not come without responsibility.
Who convinced you that TV News ratings were worth endangering our families and friends, especially those voluntarily under arms in the Mideast on our behalf?

The bleating sheep on this bulletin board apparently don’t grasp the importance of a free press in a democratic society.
If you want government-sanctioned pablum, people, keep your TV’s tuned to FOX News.
Nice work, ABC and Brian Ross.
Wish we had more scoops like this before Bush & Co. fooled America into supporting the bogus war in Iraq.

How dare you broadcast that information! I hope your producers, reporters and execs get sent to Guantanamo Bay for life. You are an embarrassment to Americans everywhere.

ABC should never be allowed to report news again. Shame on you.

I swear I remember a time when Americans didn’t hate each other… Dear god, the Republicans can hardly wait to throw out the words “traitor” and “UnAmerican” and it’s like they want to put anyone who doesn’t agree with them into a gas chamber. Have you ever looked into a mirror, or listened to how you talk about other Americans? Is it that you just want someone to hate?

Traitors…I will never watch ABC again…

Shame on you! Just because the White House didn’t specifically say not to publish this, the word “covert” should have alerted you to the fact that this was not fodder for your Evening Slop!
Look over your shoulder…I hope you see the FBI on your heels!

I think it was i good idea to broadcast that info because it might scare them it might be a risky shot

Glad to see the 28% are well-represented here tonight.

An open question to all you conservative kooks:
Why do you live in such fear of the world? You come off like a bunch of trembling cowards, constantly in fear of “being attacked” by “people who want to kill us.”
Grow a pair, wouldja?
Real Americans are not ready to give up the Constitution and Free Press just because you’re afraid of third world bad guys.
Besides, don’t you have Jesus watching over you?

Wow, you people are frickin’ stupid. It’s BS like this that causes everyone in the world to hate our beloved country. Don’t tell me any of you actually SUPPORTED something like this.
I applaud you ABC, if this really is accurate, for your excellent reporting. Love my country, hate my government. It’s stuff like this that show that we need a change up top. But for now it’s time to turn on FOX and watch the fake news. :D

Ed,
You are the traitor because you are ignoring the destruction of our country. Again, please try to disprove anything I included in my first post. And please try to find one that is a liberal link.
Here is what real conservatives are saying about the satanic bush bunch…
Howard Phillips, Chairman of The Conservative Caucus, a non-partisan public policy action organization founded in 1974, issued the following statement concerning the nationwide defeat of Republican candidates for the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives:
“The November 7 election results are, to a significant degree, attributable to the policies of the Bush Administration in many areas, in addition to Iraq. These include:
advocacy of amnesty for illegal aliens,
failure to enforce existing immigration laws which require penalization of corporations which hire illegal aliens,
promotion of a North American Union (NAU) scheme to merge the United States with Canada and Mexico,
historically high subsidies to Planned Parenthood,
appointment of open homosexuals to key positions,
massive expansion of the Federal role in education,
increased funding of the United Nations,
expansion of foreign aid,
failure to move forward deployment effectively of a ballistic missile defense,
budget busting expansion of non-defense Federal spending and massive increases in annual deficits and the overall national debt,
trade policies which have undermined America’s manufacturing base and placed millions of American jobs at risk,
approval of anti-family FDA policies such as authority for the distribution of RU-486 and over-the-counter sales of “morning after” contraceptives,
approval of threats to U.S. civil liberties, including elements of the Patriot Act,
signing into law the McCain-Feingold election regulation bill in clear violation of the First Amendment to the Constitution.
“The tragedy is that the Republican Congressional leadership in the House and Senate, by and large, rubber stamped unconstitutional Bush Administration policies, instead of fulfilling responsibilities of oversight and independent judgment as intended by the framers of the U.S. Constitution which made the Legislative Branch of our government primary in our Federal system.
The despicable, disgraceful, destructive Presidency of George W. Bush was highlighted today (November 18, 2006) with a picture which appeared on the front page of hundreds of newspapers all over America showing the President of the United States in front of a Communist Vietnamese flag and a statue of Ho Chi Minh in opposition to whom tens of thousands of Americans gave their lives.
President Bush is not dumb, but he is a fool, and his Presidency has been one of the most destructive in American history.
Bush’s behavior makes America contemptible in the eyes of those who despise us.
http://www.howardphillips.com/
As everyone except for a dwindling band of Bush supporters now knows, the US is in a terrible situation in Iraq from which it cannot extract itself. For Bush and Cheney, their own pride and delusion are more compelling than US casualties, the destruction of Iraq and its people, and the inflaming of sectarian strife and anti-American violence throughout the Middle East.
Congress is complicit in the great strategic blunder. Republican flag-wavers led Americans like lemmings into the abyss. The Democrats have already abandoned the electorate that gave them Control of Congress six months ago in the false hope that the Democrats would corral the White House Moron and lead America out of the abyss.
Like the Republicans, the Democrats serve the few special-interest groups that benefit, or believe that they benefit, from the war. By now we all know who these groups are: the oil industry, the military-security complex, and the Israel Lobby, AIPAC. This contrived war, based on lies and deception, serves no other interest.
There is no longer any question whatsoever, not a single sliver of doubt, that Americans were deceived into this disastrous war. The President of the United States lied to the American people, as did the Vice President, the National Security Advisor, the Secretary of State, the Secretary of Defense, the Deputy Secretary of Defense, the Undersecretary of Defense, as did every neoconservative in the Bush administration, think tanks, and media.
The fact that the American people were lied to and deceived does not absolve them from blame. The lie was transparent, the logic nonexistent, the true facts available and easy to discover.
America failed, because the American people failed. The American people failed, because their self-righteousness and their hubris made them easy saps for deception.
Even now after five years of a disastrous policy, Republicans cannot accept the facts about the US invasion and failed occupation of Iraq. At the recent “debate” between Republican presidential candidates in South Carolina, US Representative Ron Paul dared to tell the truth. Rep. Paul said that our difficulties in the Middle East are “blowback” from our government’s determined attempts to exercise hegemony over the Middle East.
Republican presidential candidate Rudy Giuliani, a person who sunk so low as to frame innocents while serving as US Attorney in order to boost his name recognition, played the self-righteous card to extreme. How dare Ron Paul suggest that US policy toward Muslims has anything whatsoever to do with attacks on the US! With all the outrage he could muster, Giuliani asked Rep. Paul “to withdraw that comment and tell us that he didn’t really mean that.”
The thunderous applause from the Republican audience to Giuliani’s put-down of the only honest person present underlines that the Republican Party is incapable of leadership to end a futile and lost war that under international standards is a war crime, an unprovoked naked aggression based entirely on lies, deception and a secret agenda.
At other times, the Republican audience applauded in support of torture and greeted John McCain’s protest against the practice with cold silence.
In the opening years of the 21st century the Republicans have made it clear that they are willing to sacrifice the US Constitution and Bill of Rights in order to wage “war against terrorism.” This willingness makes the Republican Party a more dangerous threat to Americans than Muslim terrorists. Muslim terrorists cannot destroy our country’s reputation, trash our civil liberties and wreck our system of accountable government, but the Republican Party has done a thorough job of it.
The Democratic Party is complicit in the Republican Party’s crimes, but unlike the Republican electorate, the Democratic electorate does not support the occupation, the domestic police state measures, and the Bush administration’s decision to send more combat troops to Iraq. Although none of the current frontrunners for the Democratic presidential nomination are independent of the special interests that benefit from the war, it might still be possible for a Democrat to emerge who will represent the Democratic electorate instead of the special interests.
Republican support for Bush’s contrived war against Iraq has diminished the Republican Party. Intelligent and decent people have abandoned the party, which has morphed into a Brownshirt Party with which fewer people are willing to be associated. The diminished Republican ranks will make it difficult for the party to steal any more elections.
Paul Craig Roberts [send him mail] wrote the Kemp-Roth bill and was Assistant Secretary of the Treasury in the Reagan administration. He was Associate Editor of the Wall Street Journal editorial page and Contributing Editor of National Review
http://lewrockwell.com/
Thank you Brian for your support and working to keep Americans free from the enemy – neocons.

REJOICE, FELLOW REPUBLICANS!
THE RAPTURE IS COMING!!!!!

Have you forgotten?
The same group (Islamic Fascists) of people that tried to take out the WTC in the 90′s and succeeded in 2001 are now going to have access to Nukes.
What is your plan to stop them?
Will they stop if we get out of Iraq? No. Will they stop if we get out of the Middle East? Maybe, but only if we allow them to kill several million Jews after we leave. Sorry, that would just be for starters – after that, we are up next.
I just wish someone had the wisdom to stop the Nazis early on.

It’s a little frightening how many people actually think such terrible thoughts about Muslisms in the Middle East. I don’t think there are more than a handful of people in America that truly understand what it is to live in constant fear of being murdered, captured, tortured, or perhaps the same happening to your family members or friends. The Middle East is a volatile area, and letting the CIA waltz in and try to cause MORE instability is quite possibly one of the WORST ideas the Bush administration has come up with to date.
Thank you for bringing this to light, we need to know what our government is up to so that we can remove the psychopaths from power and replace them with people that won’t try to create more wars where our brave men and women in uniform will be needlessly murdered.

Your right Nemo, I’m just a frickin’ stupid fool

To criticize Bush is to criticize America. To criticize America is treason. Most of the commentators should be tried and (at the very least) sent to prison. I see no difference between Brian Williams and Osama bin Laden.