"WASHINGTON, August 22 (RIA Novosti) - The United States could deliver a military strike against Iran within the next six months, a former CIA officer told Fox News.
In an interview Tuesday the U.S. TV channel asked Robert Baer, a former CIA field officer assigned to the Middle East, whether the U.S. was preparing for military action against Iran, citing Baer's column for Time Magazine on August 18, where he suggested that Washington officials expect an attack within the next six months.
"I've taken an informal poll inside the government," Baer told Fox. "The feeling is we will hit the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps [IRGC]."
He said the George W. Bush administration is convinced "that the Iranians are interfering in Iraq and the rest of the Gulf," but what his sources anticipate is "not exactly a war." "We won't see American troops cross the border," said Baer. "If this is going to happen, it is going to happen very quickly and it is going to surprise a lot of people."
There were recent reports that Washington would put Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard - the largest branch of Iran's military, separate from the rest of the army - on the terrorism list.
Baer said the U.S. military suspects that the Revolutionary Guard is the main supplier of sophisticated improvised explosive devices (IEDs) to insurgents killing coalition forces in Iraq and Afghanistan.
He also said there is a belief among neo-conservative elements in the Bush administration that the Revolutionary Guard is an obstacle to democratic and a friendly Iran.
"IRGC IED's are a casus belli for this administration. There will be an attack on Iran," Baer quoted an anonymous White House source as saying......"
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