Hersh: US funding opposition forces in Iran

Seymour Hersh's new article in the New Yorker adds credence to Iran's claims of US involvement in Iran.

Iranian leaders have long blamed the US and other foreign powers of supporting the opposition forces operating in the ethnic regions of Iran's periphery, and Hersh specifically points to Baluchi groups like Jondallah, Arab groups in Khuzestan, Kurdish Pezhak (Pjak), and the MKO as likely recipients of US funding and support.

Hersh also quotes Air Force Col. Sam Gardiner, Vali Nasr, and Bob Baer on the problems with taking such a course.

Baer criticizes the idea of funding Sunni-fundamentalist groups like Jondallah as counterproductive and likens it to the funding of Afghan militants (and by extension Al Qaeda) in the 1980s.

Nasr speaks of the ineffectiveness of trying to foment ethnic unrest in Iran, arguing "“You can always find some activist groups that will go and kill a policeman, but working with the minorities will backfire, and alienate the majority of the population.”

Gardiner sums up how US involvement is being perceived by Iran's leaders and how it's actually used to their advantage: “This is new, and it’s an escalation—a ratcheting up of tensions. It rallies support for the regime and shows the people that there is a continuing threat from the ‘Great Satan.’ ”

Another problem with supporting such ethnic-based militant groups is that they often have operations and interests in more than one country. This is the case with the Kurds and the Baluchis, the latter being involved in attacks against the Pakistani state. If such groups are funded, armed, or empowered, it is unlikely that they will only operate within the parameters designated by the US.

The US can hardly afford to support movements that would also destabilize its allies in the region, especially Pakistan. And supporting Kurdish separatists will do nothing for Iraq's long-term stability--nor that of its neighbor, Turkey.