<a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml;jsessionid=2ZP5HZLPAT52TQFIQMFCFFOAVCBQYIV0?xml=/news/2007/01/10/wleb10.xml">http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml;jsessionid=2ZP5HZLPAT52TQFIQMFCFFOAVCBQYIV0?xml=/news/2007/01/10/wleb10.xml
</a><br><br><p class="story2">The
Central Intelligence Agency has been authorised to take covert action
against Hizbollah as part of a secret plan by President George W. Bush
to help the Lebanese government prevent the spread of Iranian
influence. Senators and congressmen have been briefed on the classified
"non-lethal presidential finding" that allows the CIA to provide
financial and logistical support to the prime minister, Fouad Siniora.</p><p class="story2">
The finding was signed by Mr Bush before Christmas after discussions
between his aides and Saudi Arabian officials. Details of its
existence, known only to a small circle of White House officials,
intelligence officials and members of Congress, have been passed to The
Daily Telegraph.</p><p class="story2">
It authorises the CIA and other US intelligence agencies to fund
anti-Hizbollah groups in Lebanon and pay for activists who support the
Siniora government. The secrecy of the finding means that US
involvement in the activities is officially deniable.</p><p class="story2">
The Bush administration hopes Mr Siniora's government, severely
weakened after its war with Israel last year, will become a bulwark
against the growing power of the Shia sect of Islam, championed by Iran
and Syria, since the fall of Saddam Hussein.</p><p class="story2"> Mr
Bush's move is at the centre of a fresh drive by America, supported by
the Sunni states of Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Egypt as well as Israel,
to stop Iranian hegemony in the Middle East emerging from the collapse
of Iraq.</p><p class="story2"> The finding, drawn up at the White House
by National Security Council (NSC) officials, is a sign of Mr Bush's
growing alarm at the threat posed by Iran, which has infiltrated the
Iraqi government and is training Shia insurgents as well as supplying
them with roadside bombs.</p><p class="story2"> A former US government
official said: "Siniora's under siege there and we are always looking
for ways to help allies. As Richard Armitage [a former deputy US
secretary of state] said, Hizbollah is the A-team of terrorism and
certainly Iran and Syria have not let up in their support of the group."</p><p class="story2">
Prince Bandar bin-Sultan, the former Saudi Arabian ambassador to
Washington, is understood to have been closely involved in the decision
to prop up Mr Siniora's administration and the Israeli government,
which views Iran as its chief enemy, has also been supportive.</p><p class="story2">
"There's a feeling both in Jerusalem and in Riyadh that the anti-Sunni
tilt in the region has gone too far," said an intelligence source. "By
removing Saddam, we've shifted things in favour of the Shia and this is
a counter-balancing exercise.</p><p class="story2"> Prince Bandar, now
King Abdullah's national security adviser, made several trips to
Washington and held meetings with Elliot Abrams, the senior Middle East
official on the NSC.</p><p class="story2"> Prince Turki al-Faisal
resigned abruptly as ambassador to Washington last month. Intelligence
sources said that a principal reason for this was his belief he had
been undermined by Prince Bandar, who had not told him of the Lebanon
plan or even that he was visiting Washington.</p><p class="story2"> As
a quid pro quo to the Sunni Arab states, Mr Bush and Ehud Olmert, the
Israeli prime minister, have agreed to work harder to re-start
negotiations about a peace deal with the Palestinians.</p><p class="story2">
According to the Swoop website (<a href="http://theswoop.net">theswoop.net</a>), which contains briefings
on diplomatic and intelligence matters: "US officials point to the
Israeli release of some tax monies owed to the Palestinian Authority as
the first fruits of this approach.</p><p class="story2"> Reuel Marc
Gerecht, a former clandestine CIA officer, said that such a finding
would involve "various steps and types of non-military activity" agreed
to by the Lebanese. "It takes two to tango. You're only those things
that the Lebanese themselves would want you to do," he said.</p><p class="story2">
Bush administration officials have spoken of their desire to promote
"mainstream" Arab states and have even spoken of the existence of a
"Sunni crescent" in the Middle East. But there is tension between this
policy and the support for Nouri al-Maliki's Shia-led government in
Iraq, which has links to Shia death squads and Iran.</p><p class="story2">
"The administration is reaping its own whirlwind after Iraq," said the
intelligence source. "For 50 years the US preferred stability over
legitimacy in the Middle East and now it's got neither. It's a
situation replete with ironies."</p><p class="story2"><a href="mailto:toby.harnden@telegraph.co.uk" lang="en.uk">toby.harnden@telegraph.co.uk</a></p><p class="small"></p>
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