State sponsors of terrorism

The blog world is all abuzz with Sy Hersh's latest in The New Yorker. Kevin Drum has as good of coverage as you will find on the topic.

While there is a great deal in the report, most stunning is that the WH, through the VPs office has began to financially support, without any Congressional knowledge or approval, al Qaeda linked groups simply because they oppose Shia groups in the Middle East .

That's right. Hersh alleges that the The United States of America is financially supporting terrorist who are linked to those who attacked us on September 11, 2001, because they oppose people who did not attack us.

This time, [a] U.S. government consultant told me, Bandar and other Saudis have assured the White House that "they will keep a very close eye on the religious fundamentalists. Their message to us was 'We've created this movement, and we can control it.' It's not that we don't want the Salafis to throw bombs; it's who they throw them at -- Hezbollah, Moqtada al-Sadr, Iran, and at the Syrians, if they continue to work with Hezbollah and Iran."

....During a conversation with me, [a] former Saudi diplomat...objected to the Lebanese and Saudi sponsorship of Sunni jihadists in Lebanon. "Salafis are sick and hateful, and I'm very much against the idea of flirting with them," he said. "They hate the Shiites, but they hate Americans more. If you try to outsmart them, they will outsmart us. It will be ugly."

....In an interview in Beirut, a senior official in the Siniora government acknowledged that there were Sunni jihadists operating inside Lebanon. "We have a liberal attitude that allows Al Qaeda types to have a presence here," he said. He related this to concerns that Iran or Syria might decide to turn Lebanon into a "theatre of conflict."

Kevin then observes,

Is this true? Who knows, since the sources mostly seem to be Hersh's usual anonymous cast of ex-spies, ex-consultants, and ex-diplomats. But the story is plausible. Having never really believed in the threat of non-state terrorist groups like al-Qaeda in the first place, the Bush administration may now have come full circle from 9/11, tacitly teaming up with Sunni jihadists in the hope that they'll help us take out the state-based terrorist threat of Iran -- after which, presumably, the jihadis will all go home to watch TV and raise their families. Just like they did after the Afghanistan war.

Clearly, much more needs to be done with this story. The report could be complete BS, but if it's true why wouldn't this be treason?

Sure, using the "T" word makes me shrill, but how would such activity be described by The Fox News Channel if it were President Kerry?

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