Reflections on the "New American" Revolution
Monday, July 18, 2005
Report of Covert Aid to Iraqi Candidates
In the months before the Iraqi elections in January, President Bush approved a plan to provide covert support to certain Iraqi candidates and political parties but rescinded the proposal because of congressional opposition, current and former government officials said Saturday.
In a statement issued in response to questions about a report in the next issue of the New Yorker magazine, Frederick Jones, the spokesman for the National Security Council, said that "in the final analysis, the president determined and the United States government adopted a policy that we would not try -- and did not try -- to influence the outcome of the Iraqi election by covertly helping individual candidates for office."
The New Yorker article, by Seymour M. Hersh, reports that the administration proceeded with the covert plan over the congressional objections.
Several senior Bush administration officials disputed that, although they recalled renewed discussions within the administration last fall about how the United States might counter what was seen as extensive Iranian support to pro- Iranian Shiite parties.
Any clandestine U.S. effort to influence the Iraqi elections, or to provide particular support to candidates or parties seen as amenable to working with the United States, would have run counter to Bush's assertions that the vote would be free and unfettered.
The article cites unidentified former military and intelligence officials who said the administration had gone ahead with covert election activities in Iraq that "were conducted by retired CIA officers and other nongovernment personnel, and used funds that were not necessarily appropriated by Congress." But it does not provide details and says "the methods and the scope of the covert effort have been hard to discern."
Rep. Jane Harman, D-Rancho Palos Verdes (Los Angeles County), the senior Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, issued a statement saying that she could not discuss classified information, adding, "Congress was consulted about the administration's posture in the Iraqi election. I was personally consulted. But if the administration did what is alleged, that would be a violation of the covert action requirements, and that would be deeply troubling."
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