Good Hint That Hersh Was On To Something

Hersh's "We Wus Robbing the Iraqi Elections" hasn't gotten that much attention. Partly, of course, it's been a big news week. Partly I suspect it's  because whatever the shenangins, it's not like our favored man--apparently Allawi--is now sitting in the prime minister's desk. (I get into the screwy cost-benefit ratio here.)  And then there's the little problem that Hersh seems to be largely peddling in second-hand info.

Look through the piece and you'll have trouble finding any quotes from people who were directly  involved in the actual operation. Instead, what we get is a lot of seemingly second-second accounts, from people who might not even be in the loop. For instance:

A Pentagon consultant who deals with the senior military leadership acknowledged that the American authorities in Iraq “did an operation” to try to influence the results of the election. “They had to,” he said. “They were trying to make a case that Allawi was popular, and he had no juice.” A government consultant with close ties to the Pentagon’s civilian leaders said, “We didn’t want to take a chance.”

I was informed by several former military and intelligence officials that the activities were kept, in part, “off the books”—they were conducted by retired C.I.A. officers and other non-government personnel, and used funds that were not necessarily appropriated by Congress.

But I actually think Hersh is on to something. Why? Because there's plenty of real smoke. I'm not talking about the charges of actual ballot-stuffing--Hersh  really doesn't have evidence that the U.S. was involved with that. He's basically just passing along rumors there.

But secretly funding our man Allawi, that's a different issue. It's the one I buy.  The regional  head of one U.S.-funding election NGO (N.D.I.) mentioned to Hersh that Allawi "had huge resources, although nothing was flowing through normal channels." That brought me back to this dropped-in-the-middle-of nowhere reference from a January Time piece about the then-impending elections:

And so, as Iraqis prepare to go to the polls, the candidate into whom Washington has poured its support is waging an all-out blitz to hang on to the job he calls "horrible." He's the most visible campaigner in Iraq, using the money and media access that accrue to an incumbent like any other savvy politician anywhere. He is all over the airwaves in everything from hourly ads on radio and government TV to a glowing seven-part series on "the man and his country" broadcast in prime time on the popular Dubai channel al-Arabiya.

Here's what I asked at the time: "Where's the money coming from?" Obviously, one possibility is that he was, ahem, borrowing from government coffers. I think Hersh has explained the other possibility.

P.S. Funny that Time just mentions off-handedly that Allawi was the candidate "into whom Washington has poured its support." Was this one of those no-so-secret secrets?

P.P.S. Here's the bigger potential scoop that Hersh, again, doesn't nail. But it's front page fodder for another day:

Former military and intelligence officials told me, the White House promulgated a highly classified Presidential “finding” authorizing the C.I.A. to provide money and other support covertly to political candidates in certain countries who, in the Administration’s view, were seeking to spread democracy. “The finding was general,” a recently retired high-level C.I.A. official told me. “But there’s no doubt that Baghdad was a stop on the way. The process is under the control of the C.I.A. and the Defense Department.”

So we're  now blessing other countries with this particular brand of democracy promotion? Who knew  when the president talked about "people yearning democracy" he would take such a...pro-active position. Of course, it's such a savvy position because allegations of American-funding are always so helpful for pro-democracy politicians.

Comments

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This is an off-topic comment about two previous posts you made:

1)on that WSJ article on the state dept. memo being classified top to bottom w/Plame's ID being part of the classified info, it is a freebie now. Scroll down to your post on it and you'll find a link in the comments.
2)you had two postings on a speech by a Lt. Gen. saying the language of this War on Terra is wrong and needs to change as is how the war is executed:
That, too, is now freely available on-line, or at least a story on it is:
http://defense.iwpnewsstand.com/newsstand_special.asp

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?
Wha' Happened?

Too much was cut out of part two:
A link:
http://defense.iwpnewsstand.com/newsstand_special.asp

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Anh. Screwit. I thought most of the first comment wasn't posted. NOW is appears it was posted. So sorry for being redundant, Charlie.