United for Peace of Pierce County, WA - We nonviolently oppose the reliance on unilateral military actions rather than cooperative diplomacy.

U.S. President George W. Bush "signed a secret finding authorizing a covert offensive against the Iranian regime that, according to those familiar with its contents, [is] 'unprecedented in its scope,'" CounterPunch reported Friday. -- Andrew Cockburn said the development means that the U.S. will now be able to provide "full support for the military arm of Mujahedin-e Khalq, the cultish Iranian opposition group, despite its enduring position on the State Department's list of terrorist groups," as well as "to Jundullah, or 'army of god,' the militant Sunni group in Iranian Baluchistan" and others as well, including Iranian Kurdish nationalists, and Ahwazi Arabs in southwestern Iran. -- In addition, "operations against Iran's Hezbollah allies in Lebanon will be stepped up, along with efforts to destabilize the Syrian regime." -- Democrats in Congress are going along: "An initial outlay of $300 million to finance implementation of the finding has been swiftly approved with bipartisan support." -- , who also reported Friday on a new version of a Jan. 6 incident in the Persian Gulf that nearly lead to a U.S.-Iran clash. -- Citing "CENTCOM sources," Cockburn said that then-CENTCOM commander Adm. Fallon "personally and explicitly ordered" the U.S. commander on the scene "not to shoot." -- "The White House, according to the staff officers, was 'absolutely furious' with Fallon for defusing the incident," Cockburn said. -- Adm. Fallon has since left, and Cockburn cited new signs of possible trouble ahead: "A Marine amphibious force, originally due to leave San Diego for the Persian Gulf in mid-June, has had its sailing date abruptly moved up to May 4. A scheduled meeting in Europe between French diplomats acting as intermediaries for the U.S. and Iranian representatives has been abruptly cancelled in the last two weeks. Petraeus is said to be at work on a master briefing for Congress to demonstrate conclusively that the Iranians are the source of our current troubles in Iraq, thanks to their support for the Shia militia currently under attack by U.S. forces in Baghdad." -- Cockburn added: "[D]espite the bellicose complaints, Petraeus has made little effort to seal the Iran-Iraq border, and in any case two thirds of U.S. casualties still come from Sunni insurgents. 'The Shia account for less than one third,' a recently returned member of the command staff in Baghdad familiar with the relevant intelligence told me, 'but if you want a war you have to sell it.'" -- (Half a day later, no other media source had reported any of Andrew Cockburn's claims.) ...

Six weeks ago, President Bush signed a secret finding authorizing a covert offensive against the Iranian regime that, according to those familiar with its contents, [is] "unprecedented in its scope."

Bush’s secret directive covers actions across a huge geographic area -- from Lebanon to Afghanistan -- but is also far more sweeping in the type of actions permitted under its guidelines -- up to and including the assassination of targeted officials. This widened scope clears the way, for example, for full support for the military arm of Mujahedin-e Khalq, the cultish Iranian opposition group, despite its enduring position on the State Department's list of terrorist groups.

Similarly, covert funds can now flow without restriction to Jundullah, or "army of god," the militant Sunni group in Iranian Baluchistan -- just across the Afghan border -- whose leader was featured not long ago on Dan Rather Reports cutting his brother in law's throat.

Other elements that will benefit from U.S. largesse and advice include Iranian Kurdish nationalists, as well the Ahwazi arabs of south west Iran. Further afield, operations against Iran's Hezbollah allies in Lebanon will be stepped up, along with efforts to destabilize the Syrian regime.

All this costs money, which in turn must be authorized by Congress, or at least by a few witting members of the intelligence committees. That has not proved a problem. An initial outlay of $300 million to finance implementation of the finding has been swiftly approved with bipartisan support, apparently regardless of the unpopularity of the current war and the perilous condition of the U.S. economy.

Until recently, the administration faced a serious obstacle to action against Iran in the form of CENTCOM commander Admiral William Fallon, who made no secret of his contempt for official determination to take us to war. In a widely publicized incident last January, Iranian patrol boats approached a U.S. ship in what the Pentagon described as a "taunting" manner. According to CENTCOM staff officers, the American commander on the spot was about to open fire. At that point, the U.S. was close to war. He desisted only when Fallon personally and explicitly ordered him not to shoot. The White House, according to the staff officers, was "absolutely furious" with Fallon for defusing the incident.

Fallon has since departed. His abrupt resignation in early March followed the publication of his unvarnished views on our policy of confrontation with Iran, something that is unlikely to happen to his replacement, George Bush's favorite general, David Petraeus.

Though Petraeus is not due to take formal command at CENTCOM until late summer, there are abundant signs that something may happen before then. A Marine amphibious force, originally due to leave San Diego for the Persian Gulf in mid-June, has had its sailing date abruptly moved up to May 4. A scheduled meeting in Europe between French diplomats acting as intermediaries for the U.S. and Iranian representatives has been abruptly cancelled in the last two weeks. Petraeus is said to be at work on a master briefing for Congress to demonstrate conclusively that the Iranians are the source of our current troubles in Iraq, thanks to their support for the Shia militia currently under attack by U.S. forces in Baghdad.

Interestingly, despite the bellicose complaints, Petraeus has made little effort to seal the Iran-Iraq border, and in any case two thirds of U.S. casualties still come from Sunni insurgents. "The Shia account for less than one third," a recently returned member of the command staff in Baghdad familiar with the relevant intelligence told me, "but if you want a war you have to sell it."

Even without the covert initiatives described above, the huge and growing armada currently on station in the Gulf is an impressive symbol of American power.

Sometime in the next two weeks, fleet radar operator may notice a blip on their screens that represents something rather more profound: America's growing financial weakness. The blip will be former Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin's plane commencing its descent into Abu Dhabi. Rubin's responsibility these days is to help keep Citigroup afloat despite a balance sheet still waterlogged, despite frantic bail out efforts by the Federal Reserve and others, by staggering losses in mortgage bonds. The Abu Dhabi Sovereign Wealth Fund injected $7.5 billion last November (albeit at a sub-prime interest rate of eleven percent,) but the bank's urgent need for fresh capital persists, and Abu Dhabi is where the money is.

Even if those radar operators pay no attention to Mr. Rubin's flight, and the ironic contrast it illustrates between American military power and financial weakness, others will, and not just in Tehran. There's not much a finding can do about that.

--Andrew Cockburn is a regular CounterPunch contributor. He lives in Washington, D.C. His most recent book is Rumsfeld: His Rise, Fall, and Catastrophic Legacy.

BAGHDAD -- An Iraqi delegation in Iran has confronted Iranian security officials with evidence that Tehran is providing support for Shi'ite militias battling Iraqi government forces, an Iraqi official said on Friday.

"They presented a list of names, training camps, and cells linked to Iran," Haidar al-Ibadi, a member of Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's Dawa party, told Reuters.

"The Iranians did not confess or admit anything. They claim they are not intervening in Iraq and they feel they are being unfairly blamed for everything going on Iraq," he said of the talks, which took place on Thursday.

Washington has long accused Tehran of backing Shi'ite militias, particularly fiery cleric Moqtada al-Sadr's Mehdi Army, providing them with weapons, funding, and training. It has displayed some of the weapons, including rockets and mortars.

The Shi'ite-led Iraqi government, however, has generally been more restrained in its criticism of its Shi'ite majority neighbor, which denies the charges and says it supports the government.

Maliki launched a crackdown on the Mehdi Army in the southern oil hub of Basra in late March, provoking a furious response by the militia in southern Iraq and Baghdad, including relentless volleys of Iranian-made rockets against the Green Zone government and diplomatic compound in the capital.

The U.S. military said this week that "very, very significant" amounts of Iranian weaponry had been found in Basra and Baghdad during the offensive. Some of those arms were made in 2008, a senior U.S. military official said on Friday.

The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said there had been a "sea change" in Baghdad's view of Iranian activity in Iraq since the discovery of the weapons.

"Basra changed it for the Iraqis. I'm not sure they believed it before. But they went to Basra and saw it first hand," he said.

Maliki's ruling United Iraqi Alliance, a coalition of Shi'ite Islamist parties, sent the delegation to Tehran to tell Iranian officials to stop backing the militias.

The delegation includes the deputy speaker of parliament, Khalid al-Attiya, Ali al-Adeeb, a lawmaker from Dawa, and Hadi al-Amari, a powerful figure in the Supreme Islamic Iraqi Council, one of the biggest Shi'ite parties in Iraq.

Iran's official IRNA news agency said Tehran wanted to help end fighting in its neighbor and welcomed the opportunity offered by the delegation's visit.

"Iranian officials will be holding talks with the delegation with a view to helping resolve the differences and clashes in Iraq," Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Mohammad Ali Hosseini was quoted late on Thursday as saying.

"Tehran has generally emphasized stability and security in Iraq and the invitation to the Iraqi delegation has been for this goal, and Iran's past measures has been to bring stability and security in Iraq," he said without giving more details.

Analysts say Tehran wants to keep a friendly, Shi'ite-led government in charge but wants to ensure rival Iraqi Shi'ite factions look to the Islamic Republic as a power broker.

They also say Iran wants a stable Iraq, after fighting a bloody war with its neighbor in the 1980s. But at the same time Iran does not want to give its long-time foe, the United States, an easy ride lest it considers military action in its row with Tehran.

Ibadi said the delegation had presented evidence showing that Mehdi Army leaders in Basra had escaped to Iran to avoid the assault by government troops.

"The delegation also carried evidence of the smuggling of weapons and training of individuals in Iran to enter later into Iraq," he said.

The senior U.S. military official said the delegation had taken with them photographs of the recently seized weapons with markings showing they originated in Iran, as well as testimony from detained militants who had received Iranian training.

In the talks, the delegation stressed Iran should have contacts only with the Iraqi government and not with other groups, Ibadi said.

"The Iranian side confirmed their support for the Iraqi government and the political process in Iraq and their readiness to ... help the government control outlaws," he said.

(Additional reporting by Dean Yates in Baghdad and Edmund Blair in Tehran, writing by Ross Colvin, editing by Sami Aboudi)