Re: [PEN-L] Iran Syria Policy and Operations Group

[soula avramidis]

I am of the opinion that regime in Iran will do itself in because it is more 
sectarian than anti imperialist, though it is both. and sectarianiasm conceals 
of course the inetrest of a small clique that hoards rents in a neo-mercaltisit 
structure that is in need of keeping its hold on deomestic markets whilst its 
growth elsewhere ie the gulf must be conducted on its own terms where it will 
surely confront the US at least at this level. four years have passed while US 
troops confront little oppositon in the south of iraq. they provided the US 
with the perfect divide and rule scheme.  anti iranian sentiemnt is now high in 
the muslim world. so the us in iraq has managed to destroy iraq and now it is 
turning the tables on iran.

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[PEN-L] Iran Syria Policy and Operations Group

[Yoshie Furuhashi]

US unit works quietly to counter Iran's sway
Backs dissidents, nearby nations

By Farah Stockman, Globe Staff  |  January 2, 2007

WASHINGTON -- For nearly a year, a select group of US officials has
been quietly coordinating actions to counter the looming threat of a
nuclear-armed Iran, including increasing the military capabilities of
Arab allies such as Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and
Bahrain.

The group, known as the Iran Syria Policy and Operations Group, or
ISOG, is also coordinating a host of other actions, which include
covert assistance to Iranian dissidents and building international
outrage toward Iran by publicizing its alleged role in a 1994
terrorist attack in Argentina, according to interviews with half a
dozen White House, Pentagon, and State Department officials who are
involved in the group's work.

Pentagon officials involved with the group intend to ask Congress as
early as February to increase funding for transfers of military
hardware to allies in the Persian Gulf and to accelerate plans for
joint military activities. The request, which is still being
formulated, is expected to include but not be limited to more
advanced-missile defense systems and early-warning radar to detect and
prevent Iranian missile strikes.

"There is the perception in the Gulf that Iran is really on the rise,"
said Emile El-Hokayem, research fellow at the Stimpson Center, a
Washington-based think tank. "Washington wants to prepare for a
potential show down."

The existence of ISOG reflects an intensification of the Bush
administration's planning on Iran. Syria, which has linked itself to
Iran through military pacts, is a lesser focus for the group. Its
workings have been so secretive that several officials in the State
Department's Near Eastern Affairs bureau said they were unaware it
existed.

The United States has repeatedly said its policy is not to overthrow
the Iranian regime, but one former US official who attended a meeting
during ISOG's initial phase eight months ago said in an interview that
he got the impression that regime change was a key goal of many of the
meetings' participants.

He said that some of the intelligence reports ordered by members of
the group were so highly classified that they were accessible to less
than a dozen people in the US government, suggesting that some of the
group's activities were far from routine.

But interviews with half a dozen current White House, Pentagon, and
State Department officials indicated that ISOG's aims are more modest.
Several said that as much as they would like to see the regimes in
Tehran and Damascus go, ongoing military activities in Iraq and
Afghanistan have limited their range of options. The main goal now,
they said, is Cold War style "containment" of Iran in the hopes that
Iranians one day will opt to change their own government.

The officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they
were not authorized to speak about the topic to the press, described
ISOG as an inter agency clearinghouse for ideas and strategies to roll
back the influence of Iran. Senior officials of the State Department,
White House, CIA, Treasury Department, and other agencies meet weekly
to report their day-to-day operations.

"It's really more operational, to provide a forum for ongoing
interagency group discussions on Iran and Syria, share ideas, and
follow things up week after week," said Kate Starr , a National
Security Council spokeswoman.

ISOG's work, which focuses on isolating and containing Iran, is
consistent with the administration's refusal to reach out
diplomatically to Iran and Syria, as the Iraq Study Group has
recommended.

"Iran is the key to everything at the strategic level -- the biggest
problem we have faced in a long time," said a senior State Department
official involved in ISOG, citing Iran's negative impact on Lebanon,
Israel, Iraq, Afghanistan, Israel, and the Palestinian territories.
"These are all things they are doing because they sense weakness [on
the part of the United States]. The best thing for us to project is
strength, not 'please talk to us.' "

ISOG was modeled after the Iraq Policy and Operations Group, set up in
2004 to shepherd information and coordinate US action in Iraq. ISOG
has raised eyebrows within the State Department for hiring
BearingPoint -- the same Washington-based private contracting firm
used by the Iraq group -- to handle its administrative work, rather
than State Department employees.

Some lower level State Department officials saw the decision to
outsource responsibility for scheduling meetings, record keeping, and
distributing reports as an effort to circumvent the normal diplomatic
machinery and provide extra secrecy for the group.

But State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said BearingPoint was
hired for its experience and good work on Iraq. He said that about a
dozen Bear