Seymour Hersh is a Pulitizer Prize winning investigative reporter for "The New Yorker" magazine. He won the Pulitizer Prize for exposing the the My Lai massacre during the Vietnam War.

Mr. Hersh was recently interviewed by Amy Goodman who is the co-founder, executive producer, and host of the radio show "Democracy Now." The following are excerpts from that interview.

Congressional leaders agreed to a request from President Bush last year to fund a major escalation of covert operations against Iran aimed at destabilizing Iran's leadership. This according to a new article by veteran investigative journalist Seymour Hersh in the New Yorker magazine.

The operations were set out in a highly classified Presidential Finding signed by Bush which, by law, must be made known to Democratic and Republican House and Senate leaders and ranking members of the intelligence committees. The plan allowed up to $400 million in covert spending for activities ranging from supporting dissident groups to spying on Iran's nuclear program.

According to Hersh, US Special Forces have been conducting cross-border operations from southern Iraq since last year. These have included seizing members of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard, and taking them to Iraq for interrogation, and the pursuit of so-called "high-value targets" who may be captured or killed.

While covert operations against Iran are not new, Hersh writes that the scale and the scope of the operations in Iran, which involve the CIA and the Joint Special Operations Command, have now been significantly expanded.

My note: So who knew about this? The law states that the president can ask for funding for top secret operations that only a select few members of congress are made aware of. This select few members of congress are known as the "Gang of Eight." Who are the current "Gang of Eight?"

Nancy Pelosi, (D) Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives
John Boehner, Republican House leader
Harry Reid, Democratic Senate leader
Mitch McConlell, Republican Senate leader
Silvestre Reyes (D), Chair of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence
Peter Hoekstra (R), Ranking Member of the House permanect Select Committe on Intelligence
John d. Rockefeller, IV (D), Chair of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence
Kit Bond(R) Ranking Member of the Senate Select Committe on Intelligence

Four Democrats and four Republicans, and none of them can talk about it or they are breaking the law.

Will we attack Iran? Israel hopes we do. After all, we seem to be acting as the "pit bull on a leash" for the Israeli government. The Israelis don't have the means to attack Iran, but we do. Even worse, should Israel attack Iran, the U.S. would join in to help Israel, its strongest alley in the Middle East.

Do we have the means to attack Iran? President Bush has positioned enough navy and air force assets in the region to facilitate the attack.

Seymour Hersh ended the interview with this scary possibility. If Obama is elected president, President Bush could attack Iran even as late as one week before Obama's inauguration. If McCain is elected president, the attack will take place within six months of his inauguration. Hersh quotes president Bush as saying, "I don't care what people think of me. I'm going to do the right thing."

Sounds like a done deal to me. I'll be holding my breath and praying we don't.