CIA gets go-ahead to take on Hezbollah
By Toby Harnden, Telegraph Group
Washington: US agents are poised to take covert action against the Lebanese group Hezbollah.
The Central Intelligence Agency has been authorised to move against it as part of a secret plan by US President George W Bush to help the Lebanese Government halt the spread of Iranian influence.
Senators and congressmen have been briefed on the classified "non-lethal presidential finding" that allows the CIA to provide financial and logistical support to Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Siniora.
The finding was signed by Bush before Christmas after discussions between his aides. Details of its existence, known only to a small circle of White House officials, intelligence officials and members of Congress, have been passed to The Daily Telegraph.
It authorises the CIA and other agencies to fund anti-Hezbollah groups in Leb-anon and pay for activists supporting the Siniora Government. The secrecy of the finding means that US involvement is officially deniable.
The Bush administration hopes that the Siniora Government, severely weakened after its war with Israel last year, will become a bulwark against the growing power of Shiites, championed by Iran and Syria.
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Pertinent Links:
1) CIA gets go-ahead to take on Hezbollah
Thursday, January 11, 2007
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