Reuters
Posted: 2:51 am
June 30, 2008
Congressional leaders agreed late last year to President Bush's funding request for a major escalation of covert operations against Iran aimed at destabilizing its leadership, says a published report.
Funding for the covert operation requested by Bush was approved for up to $400 million, according to this week's edition of the New Yorker magazine.
The report centers on a highly classified Presidential Finding signed by Bush, which by US law must be made known to Democratic and Republican House and Senate leaders and ranking members of the intelligence committees.
"The Finding was focused on undermining Iran's nuclear ambitions and trying to undermine the government through regime change," the article cited a person familiar with its contents as saying, and involved "working with opposition groups and passing money."
Clandestine operations against Iran are not new. US Special Operations Forces have been conducting cross-border operations from southern Iraq since last year, the article said.
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