Armitage Source For "Attack Iran" Rumors?

By Cernig

Thanks to regular reader John Shreffler for pointing out this gem from the Asia Times' Muhammad Cohen:

NEW YORK - The George W Bush administration plans to launch an air strike against Iran within the next two months, an informed source tells Asia Times Online, echoing other reports that have surfaced in the media in the United States recently.

Two key US senators briefed on the attack planned to go public with their opposition to the move, according to the source, but their projected New York Times op-ed piece has yet to appear.

The source, a retired US career diplomat and former assistant secretary of state still active in the foreign affairs community, speaking anonymously, said last week that that the US plans an air strike against the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC). The air strike would target the headquarters of the IRGC's elite Quds force. With an estimated strength of up to 90,000 fighters, the Quds' stated mission is to spread Iran's revolution of 1979 throughout the region.

Targets could include IRGC garrisons in southern and southwestern Iran, near the border with Iraq.

...The source said the White House views the proposed air strike as a limited action to punish Iran for its involvement in Iraq. The source, an ambassador during the administration of president H W Bush, did not provide details on the types of weapons to be used in the attack, nor on the precise stage of planning at this time. It is not known whether the White House has already consulted with allies about the air strike, or if it plans to do so.

Details provided by the administration raised alarm bells on Capitol Hill, the source said. After receiving secret briefings on the planned air strike, Senator Diane Feinstein, Democrat of California, and Senator Richard Lugar, Republican of Indiana, said they would write a New York Times op-ed piece "within days", the source said last week, to express their opposition. Feinstein is a member of the Senate Intelligence Committee and Lugar is the ranking Republican on the Foreign Relations Committee.

Now, who could that source be but Richard L. Armitage - he of Plame-outing, Abu-Graibing, Data-mining, PNACing and Iran/Contra-ing fame? I wonder, does he have inside information he's leaking here or is he just shilling for the War Party again in trying to drum up a narrative for bombing Iran?

Update: Well, Senator Lugar has denied he ever was going to write an op-ed on this subject. And regular commenter Andy suggests another candidate for the "leak" - a guy by the name of Thomas R. Pickering.

Comments

[Charlie H.]

Armitage isn't a "retired US career diplomat".

Most of his career was spent in DOD.

Everything else looks plausible, but odds are if he was doing the leaking about an Iran attack (part of an Info Op for sure), he would choose a more mainstream conduit than Muhammad Cohen or Asia Times.

[Steve Hynd]

Hi Charlie,

Remember, this is only the latest report - there have been others saying the same thing over the past couple of weeks, beginning in Irsael. And Cohen used to be a US diplomat himself.

Regards, C

[Casual Observer]

Highly dubious story, imo, but easy enough to verify--ask Armitage, and the Senators in question.

[Steve Hynd]

Ask someone who was involved in Iran/Contra (and outing Plame) or two politicians whether somethings true...and believe them?

That sounds extraordinarily naive to me.

Regards, C

[JohnShreffler]

C,

Laura Rozen says that Sen. Lugar denied the op-ed end of this story. "Senator Lugar "wasn't briefed, there's no oped," says Andy Fischer, spokesman for the Indiana Republican who is vice chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee."

[Andy]

Not only was Armitage never a "career diplomat," he also never "retired" and he was never an assistant secretary of state (he was the deputy secretary). You might want to look at a guy named Pickering instead.

[Steve Hynd]

Hi Andy,

I assume you mean Thomas R. Pickering.

Hmmm...definitely possible. Do you have some insider info or is that just a good guess?

Regards, C

[Andy]

No insider info, just deduction from the premise in the article. From what I've been able to dig up, Pickering is the only one who meets all the "tests" as given in the article. That he was both an ambassador under GHWB AND an assistant secretary at some other point in his career make the list of possibles pretty short.