Re****t: U.S. 'preparing the battlefield' in Iran

WA****NGTON (CNN) -- The Bush administration has launched a "significant
escalation" of covert operations in Iran, sending U.S. commandos to spy on
the country's nuclear facilities and undermine the Islamic republic's
government, journalist Seymour Hersh said Sunday.
An Iranian flag flies outside the building containing the reactor of
Bushehr nuclear power plant, south of Tehran.

White House, CIA and State Department officials declined comment on
Hersh's re****t, which appears in this week's issue of The New Yorker.

Hersh told CNN's "Late Edition with Wolf Blitzer" that Congress has
authorized up to $400 million to fund the secret campaign, which involves
U.S. special operations troops and Iranian dissidents.

President Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney have rejected findings from
U.S. intelligence agencies that Iran has halted a clandestine effort to
build a nuclear bomb and "do not want to leave Iran in place with a
nuclear program," Hersh said.

"They believe that their mission is to make sure that before they get out
of office next year, either Iran is attacked or it stops its weapons
program," Hersh said.

http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/meast/06/29/us.iran/