Covert Ops in Iran, Torture in the U.S.A., and the Fox News Effect

The New York Times is reporting this evening on remarkably open details of the covert operations that have been going on in Iran, aimed at disrupting the nuclear program. There are some scary time estimates in the story, but I think they are just that -- estimates.

Secondly, Fox News and its allies (Dick Cheney, Charles Krauthammer) are calling for more torture in the U.S. to try to prevent another terrorist attack, according to direct quotes included in this blog post from Andrew Sullivan. I literally had to leave the room a couple of days ago when my father-in-law was watching Fox News -- the opinions were so predictable and so alarmist that I literally couldn't stand to watch the network.

How about a boycott of Fox News until they return to some standard of responsible journalism? I know everyone thinks that CNN and the NYT are just as biased, but the fact is, they aren't. Fox News is reactionary, not just right wing, and they are destroying any potential for civil debate in this country.

Case in Point -- Iranian analyst jailed

Iranian officials, even if they wanted to engage, have been hamstrung because of the protests, Iranian analysts said. "It is the internal crisis that really worries our leaders. They can't speak with one voice in the international community at this point," said Mashallah Shamsolvaezin during a phone interview conducted before he was arrested Tuesday in Tehran for unknown reasons. He said there will be no compromise with the West as long as Iran's internal political crisis continues.

Here's the full article discussing President Obama's apparent tack on Iran. Here's a link to Amnesty International.

Here's a relatively thoughtful blog post on Iran from Andrew Sullivan. Better than "the decade that sucked" or whatever from Time, anyway.

"Business as Usual" in Iran

This background story appeared a couple days ago on the BBC website. I think it's useful to those of us who are just now "learning our enemy" in Iran. An Iranian cleric is now calling for a trial of British embassy employees - possibly 1 or 2 -- who are accused of meddling in Iranian politics and fomenting the protests over the disputed election.

Iranian Revolution?

Two items from the Times caught my attention: Friday's column from David Brooks and the cartoon above. I have been reading Mr. Brooks's column and referring to it quite a bit, but I think this column is right on target, so I linked to him again.