Seymour Hersh: Obama’s Iran policy is a ‘political game’ to ‘look tough’

The Obama administration is set to announce another round of sanctions on Iran today, following this month’s International Atomic Energy Agency report on Iran’s alleged nuclear program. An important interview broadcast today on Democracy Now! has veteran investigative journalist Seymour Hersh putting recent developments over Iran into context.

Hersh argues that U.S. policy on Iran is driven by electoral concerns, and that the Israeli leadership should be watched very closely for what they do on Iran.

Excerpts from the conversation:

Hersh:…This president has said nothing about what’s going on in Tahrir Square again. We’re mute. He’s been mute on this kind of bellicosity. But my understanding is that, purely from inside information, is that he does understand the issues more. I think it’s right now a political game being played by him to look tough. You know, everybody’s chasing, you know, the independent vote. I don’t know why—what’s so important to go after people that can’t decide whether they’re Democrats or Republicans, but that seems to be the name of the game.

[…]

Hersh: What makes me nervous is Barak and Bibi, Bibi Netanyahu, are together on this. They’re not always together on many things. They both agree, and that’s worrisome because, again, it’s a political issue there. Everybody—the country is moving quickly to the right, Israel is, obviously. And I can just tell you that I’ve also talked—unfortunately, the ground rules are so lousy in Israel, I can’t write it, but I’ve talked to very senior intelligence people in Iran—in Israel, rather. If you notice, you don’t hear that much about it, but the former head of Mossad, Meir Dagan, who left—who was the guy that orchestrated the attempted assassinations in Dubai, etc.—no dove—has been vehement about the foolishness of attempting to go after Iran, on the grounds that it’s not clear what they have. They’re certainly far away from a bomb. Israel has been saying for 20 years they’re, you know, six months away from making a bomb.

Hersh’s most recent piece for the New Yorker is a definitive debunking of the recent IAEA report, which has been trumpeted in U.S. and Israeli media as further proof of Iran developing nuclear weapons. Hersh says, not so fast:

The new report, therefore, leaves us where we’ve been since 2002, when George Bush declared Iran to be a member of the Axis of Evil—with lots of belligerent talk but no definitive evidence of a nuclear-weapons program.