Our friends, the autocoprophagic neocons, are still working tirelessly toward Clusterfuck-alypse Now in the Middle East. Hersh:

The Bush Administration, in both its public diplomacy and its covert operations, has significantly shifted its Middle East strategy. The “redirection,” as some inside the White House have called the new strategy, has brought the United States closer to an open confrontation with Iran and, in parts of the region, propelled it into a widening sectarian conflict between Shiite and Sunni Muslims.

Ah. “Redirection…” Some might call it a “do over”, but that would be harsh. “Redirection” meaning “what happened was exactly the opposite of what we said would happen”:

From the Administration’s perspective, the most profound—and unintended—strategic consequence [“unintended” only if chaos is not the plan] of the Iraq war is the empowerment of Iran. … To undermine Iran … the U.S. has also taken part in clandestine operations aimed at Iran and its ally Syria. A by-product of these activities has been the bolstering of Sunni extremist groups that espouse a militant vision of Islam and are hostile to America and sympathetic to Al Qaeda.

Oh-kay. I’d always thought that Al Qaeda was the main threat, but I guess that’s just post-9/11 thinking. And what does a DFH like me know anyhow?

The clandestine operations have been kept secret, in some cases, by leaving the execution or the funding to the Saudis, or by finding other ways to work around the normal congressional appropriations process, current and former officials close to the Administration said.

Republicans just don’t learn, do they? No oversight, no accountability, and another Iran-Contra in the making, with an “off-the-shelf” covert operations capability. Fuck, why don’t we just make Ollie North head of the DOD and have done with it?

So guess who’s in charge of the “redirection”?  Read more