Vanguard: America's Secret War With Iran (Video)

Pjak and pkk freedom fighters for right of kurds and they fihg only agains soldiers!!!

Hey Vanguard, how about an update, please???? With the change of administration in the US, I would like to know what the situation is with proxy fighters today? Is the US funding them? Thank you!

http://story.re

İts a great story,regardless of views, the bravery of Mariana is what i highly appreciate. a few journalists have courage to cover that area.

İ believe the EX-CİA operative speech was the worst in this report. he was talking totally as a turkish personnel.

Great programme, shows Yankee hypocracy that they back the Kurds in Iran, and yet oppose them in Iraq and Turkey

brave journalist. Thank you for bringing us reality, well done mariana

It was interesting seeing a slice of Kurdish life. I sympathize with the Kurds, and hope they someday get a country of their own at peace with their oppressors in Iran, Iraq, Turkey, and Syria. There was zero proof of the premise of the story, which is the alleged backing of these groups by the US.

The war economy is here. It's just going to get worse.

ANOTHER WONDERFUL VIDEO REPORT FROM MARIANA. WE SHOULD NOT SUPPORT TURKEY BY GIVING THEM ARMS AND BOMBS AND SPY PLANES. WE SHOULD GIVE THOSE MONIES TO THE GUERILLAS FIGHTING AGAINST IRAN. WE SHOULD ALSO PROTECT THE GUERILLAS ANY WAY WE CAN, AND FIGHT AGAINST TURKEY ALSO IF THEY CONTINUE TO SUPPORT IRAN. MARIANA, YOU ARE ALWAYS PUTTING YOURSELF IN DANGER. AT LEAST HAVE A CHILD. YOU ARE SO INTELLIGENT AND BEAUTIFUL. KAJ LOVES YOU AND SO DOES JESUS MY SAVIOR!!!

The West have decieved and poisioned there own people by legalising and promoting alcohol as a luxury and now they are trying to spread the disease to Alcohol free countries such as Iran. How on earth does alcohol liberate people? What is one of the major causes of diseases today in the World? Wake up people

It is very ironic how America claims to be fighting terrorism when they actually support it at the same time. This is the greatest example of Hypocrisy. America might have the PKK on their terrorist list but they support them regardless, they don't care if they are "allies" with Turkey. All they want to do is divide and conquer like all colonial empires have done throughout history. America's goal along with all other European Imperialists for the past 100 years is to have complete control of the Middle East and supporting small rebel militant groups in the region is one of their low cowardly ways of achieving power in the region. The puppets such as the pkk and many others go along with it because it also suits their interests because they want to claim land for themselves. These terrorists aren't freedom fighters as they claim to be if they were they would only target authorities not innocent civilians as they do in Turkey and in Iran. And on top of that they call themselves Muslims. Under 100 years ago it was the same situation where this time Russia was supporting the Armenian rebels in Turkey, who were also killing civilians because they also wanted their own land. And because of the fact that those rebels lost and got deported, they made up a lie about there had been a genocide, where in actual fact the Turkish people were the ones who were being massacred. America is tagging on to this lie to support the Armenians today just as another strategy to divide Turkey and control the region. Same happened in Cyprus 30 years ago when the Greek Cypriot terrorists and the Greek Army were trying to ethnically cleanse the Turkish Cypriots, but yet again the Truth is being hidden by these European imperialists by supporting their fellow christians so they can meet their interest by dividing the region and controlling. Its funny how they say the West says it wants to promote and bring democracy to the region, when in reality all they are doing to bring this democracy is killing millions upon millions of innocent people just to get what they and what they want is not democracy. Wake up people, your OWN governments are deceiving YOU on every field, not just in world politics.

Finally honest reporting! I originally started watching Current because Vanguard was more in depth than other news and had the footage to back it up. Please keep up the good work.

I am sooooo tired of this story pull it already,Please! If we do have a war it will be because of outside f ing countrys and I don't think we should kill for Israel. I know this is not popular but F it.

I think it's great if we are supporting them. It's about time we get some pay back for Iran's 30 years of supporting terrorism. Now all we need to do is insert about 100 green berets in the area to really get things going!!

While I found this episode extremely compelling and informative (especially about how these guerrilla groups operate on a daily basis), the main premise (the proxy war with Iran) is based on speculation.

So the US offered its support to at least one nonviolent Kurdish group, and an ex-CIA operative holds the *opinion* that the US is supporting violent/terrorist groups. That's the bottom line, and it's irresponsible to claim that you've uncovered any sort of proof.

I thoroughly enjoy Vanguard and will keep watching. I just hope that viewers look at what's presented critically and the journalists at Vanguard will resist the urge to spin a story to make it seem more shocking.

The US offered support to a *Marxist* Iranian opposition group, and 20% of the members of the violent group are women? The story was interesting enough without the US-funded terrorist group proxy war claim.

Amazing Pod... Makes Me Appreciate How Fragile The World Is, And To Live This New Day To It's Fullest

To be honest, I dont know if i can conclusively say this is good or bad journalism, it simply is. but i do think it's pretty funny that people are saying it's such bad journalism, i mean unless we have some really awesome professional journalists making these comments, here. Last I checked I certainaly wasn't a professional journalist, so I'll just praise the fact that these reporters have a skill, not to mention a good-paying job that i don't. I'm not going to flaunt some superiority complex that makes me think I'm better then them and thus can judge their journalism as horrible.

What a great story! It is informative and quite compelling. The truth of such matters needs to be disclosed.

This is yellow journalism plain and simple... I started to fillet the reporting point for point, but honestly it is not worth it, especially with how long ago this was released.

Irresponsible reporting like this leads to larger wars... you should consult history, the Spanish American war was a direct result of this exact same irresponsible BS. Do you think we need to provoke Iran any more? I am going to assume you do not... so why in the world would you produce this? Why would you produce this with such weak inflammatory evidence? What in the world were you thinking?

Someone else commented that this is why liberal media is viewed as anti-American, and i can not refute that, but more importantly, this is why other nations require their media to have approval before airing something... so that the buffoons do not exacerbate problems, or circumvent the actions being taken on them. In case you do not get it... It does not matter if you think that this is the right or wrong way of dealing with this, which to your credit, it is/would be the wrong approach... the only thing you will accomplish by reporting on it though, even if you had not taken a yellow journalistic route, is making the situation far worse.

Journalism comes with ethics and a great degree of responsibility, and you have failed miserably in both departments with this piece... and I have to agree with whom ever it was that said it first... this borders on the realms of treason... and at the very least breaks the ethical code that denounces the endangerment of others.

The Islamic region of the world seems so troubled but that's due to the so many different groups of people in that area and all of them have been fighting for control of eachother for thousands of years. I, for one, support the U.S. military's actions if, and only if, they are in support of bringing all the cultures in that area of the workld their own nation. In otherwords, the military should only be used to promote peace in non-negotiable circumstances. We shouldnt have even gotten involded in Iraq and taken out the government. We were only looking for the Taliban. I know Im not the only one who gets pissed off at the people in charge of the U.S. but if you want to fight a war with a country, DON'T USE PROXY ARMIES, USE YOUR OWN.

very nice piece of work

Amazing, love it.

Good Journalism, Congratulations.
I speak Turkish and realised a slight glitch in translation; when Mariana speaks to "Chekdar" the PJAK commander of that particular area in Kandil she asks something to the effect " did you enter into iran to attack" , Chekdar does not want to answer and Mariana asks again" where do you attack" and Chekdar replies in Turkish "Wherever we are told to" ; not what the subtitle says " wherever we want to" ..I feel this answer makes the difference, considering the film is based on "US support" for PJAK
Regards

WOW...This is amazing..so much information i had to watch it twice...thanks alot, i can't wait for more:-)

http://www.flickr.com/photos/kombizz/3586821935/

Very good.

I am not disagreeing with the idea that the US might, indeed, be fighting a proxy war with Iran, but it is EXTREMELY irresponsible of you to title this piece "American's Secret War with Iran."

I watched the piece and I think you did a good job as an expose, but - while the IMPLICATION is that the US is involved somehow with PJAK - you have provided NO PROOF.

Direct interviews with PJAK do not state that the US is supporting them and PJAK does not show up on the document you exhibit in the piece.

Finally, it is only Robert Baer's OPINION that the US is at war with Iran.

There is NO PROOF in your piece that the US is fighting a proxy war with Iran.

(It would have been much more accurate - and still as provocative - to call it "Is America Secretly at War with Iran?")

Ultimately, this fact discredits your veracity as a journalist - something that can negate all of the work that you've done if those who cover up US policies ever attacked your piece.

I would suggest simply retitling it so that the work truly represents the QUESTION you are raising instead of teasing your audience that you are providing a proof for an ASSERTION.

Stevre Hochman

just watched this video. One comment sticks in my head, The young people in Iran want to be free! I guess there is a little more to the protest that are going on than voter fraud!

This was really intense........ it makes me wounder what else is going on.......

real life tv

This is why Vanguard journalism is great. They show the truth wherever it is. It's the way all media should be.

Most of us would be blown away by what goes on behind those "closed door" meetings

Why am I not surprised to see this.. Hasn't the U.S. learned from it's past mistakes of supporting terrorist groups in other parts of the world. such as taliban and al-quida in afghanistan.

Thanks Mariana. You are a BRAVE soul to go deep into the truth of this conflict.

I prefer Current TV to American mainstream media. Can you guess why? Current offers REAL News! Thanks Again!

When is the US gov't going to learn that the enemy of your enemy ain't necessarily your friend????!!!! We are going deeper into the Mideast/SW Asia quicksand.

Come on what about those hard hitting Octomom stories on every Cable News outlet, not to mention what used to be the big 3. LOL

Is there any way do do so much as move your damn mouse without the damn video dumping cache and restarting? ITS TOTALLY ANNOYING!

Thank you for sharing

Another great Vanguard, Its interesting to see how our countries are willing to adjust their ethical values on terrorism when its in their favour.

One man's terrorist is another man's freedom fighter.

Thanks to all the Vanguard team, you have finally managed to get me off my ass and into actually doing things that may make a difference.

I'm glad you covered this. For some reason this doesn't get talked about alot. Hersh has written about it. It's been in the New Yorker, The Atlantic and on PBS's FRONTLINE and yet nobody seems to be getting the message. I'm not certain people care about the wars we are in right now across the world. Defacto proxy war in at least 6 countries. It's all related to energy strategy either for us or our allies as well. Disgusting. New administration, no "change" in strategy.

Mariana Van Zeller: intelligent, beautiful, and ernest. I love Vangaurd, everyone is reporting on stimulating off-beat topics and issues. Topics and issues that are only off-beat because we have become accustomed to crap journalism. I'd like to say that Vangaurd is doing great things for CurrentTV, but essentially Vangaurd IS CurrentTV.

im watching America,s secret war for the second time today and being the wife of a Marine whos already been to Iraq, the idea that my husband could be deployed again to another country in turmoil frightens me. But its worse to think that America could premote terrorism while claiming to fight it.

Well i don't know what to say.

This country and other contries have put us through alot of shit...and what i really mean is the politics & the generals that want to see destruction. (My opinion* for anyone that has to curse me out for thinking this way...)

I love Vanguard. Where else can you get this kind of journalism where the news crew is abroad and talking to nearly all the types of people involved despite the obvious dangers

Jesus is the only answer. no matter what the question. pray for our Christian brothers and sisters in these dark times. we are the hunted in the world of the eyes but as Jesus strived for "to be in the world not of the world". this is my only answer to survival.

They need Jesus to save them from the parochial attributes in America!
Vote Tammany! Native pride!

I have a good friend named Farhad who was thrown out of Iran two decades ago after the last Shah was over thrown. He has been living in exile in America as a man without a country. He lets no one know his true country of orgin b/c of the racism of his small Arizona town. I cannot understand why the world is such a dark place. Why must we all live like exiles even in our own countries? Why I am labeled as a terrorist threat by my country b/c of the books I read--- the very reason why my friend was thrown out of his country? Don't they realize that we all want freedom? We want love? We want understanding? I think artists and poets and women are the best hope for the world b/c we understand humanity. We appreciate beauty that transends politics and religious idolitry.

If the USA is relying on the PJAK in this video then the USA should enter into diplomacy with Iran because the PJAK in this video can't even hold a village. How can anyone expect them to hold large swath of Iran?

at beginning of this video the map is wrong,,the map of Türkiye is not like this..southeast of Türkiye is our own region ...
yani soruyorum size kim bu haritayı çizme cürretine sahip!!!
Asla Amerikanın oyununa gelmeyeceğiz, biz Türküyle Kürdüyle beraber bu vatanı , Türkiye Cumhuriyetini kurduk ve de yaşatacağız...Biz bu oyuna gelmeyeceğiz!!!!
all turks and kurds are sisters and brothers, no one can change this..pkk or pjak are the game of america against tuks and irans..but we, as kurds and turks never believe to this gametheory..we are happy to live together!!!!!!just there is some provacation which is supported by US....

We -the United States- OWE the Kurds. We basically screwed them after making false promises and then hanging them out to dry. We should back them at every step. They have a much much better case for a state of their own than Israel. Besides,"the west" still remembers the honour of Saladin the Kurd. The mussulmaniacs of fundamentalist Iran have it coming!
RAH! Kurd women warriors! Rah!

=
When will our consciences grow so tender that we will act to prevent human misery rather than avenge it? : Eleanor Roosevelt

Hello,

Thanks for posting this. I randomly decided to watch Current TV one day and saw this during the Vanguard session.

It was a very refreshing, raw look at Iran & the US's relationship. I did not know how ignorant I was about relations in the Middle East (specifically regarding Iran) until I saw this. Thanks again to Mariana and her team...this was journalism at it's best, I believe.

-b

You guys are a bunch of geeks. and that lady is the approxy. she sounds like A quaker.

Great work, I hope you guys can continue to follow up on this.

Good piece of journalism right here..

Showing videos of the techniques we are using in the middle of a war almost sounds like treason. We are in a global war against terrorism. We are officialy at war in the country this is being filmed. Propaganda is a tool of our armed forces. Not much is fair in war, it is horrific! Let our boys do what they need to do. They have great leaders who are morally sound. Mistakes will be made I just hope the media doesn't use these mistakes to undermine our troops by turning people against the U.S.

I want to first and foremost praise your bravery. These words are not written for flattery, they are simply recognition of your work as a journalist and my observation that you are willing to put your life on the line in pursuit of answers. It is obvious that this project must have been important to you and I want to acknowledge that it was worthy of the hard work you put into it.
As a Kurdish American political activist and an expert in the field of Iranian politics, I couldn’t just look at this wonderful piece of work without an analysis. I know that when you set out on your journey to the Kurdish region, you already had a hypothesis. From what I understood, you were somewhat convinced that the U.S is carrying out a proxy war on Iran using Kurdish oppositional groups. In your report you set out to prove it. I think that often when we have a hypothesis, our thought process is skewed in that particular direction, and we dissect the facts in our favor in order to prove our point, but this very notion biases our report and can be problematic. The conclusion could have been entirely different if you had gone to meet PJAK under a different hypothesis.
The fact that the United States is willing to use any means at their disposal to achieve their ends is no secret. They use me as an expert in my field, you in yours. In a globalized world of information, we are only bound to be exploited as pieces in the chess game of high politics; however, that does not mean that decades of Kurdish liberation movement can be reduced down to CIA operations.
As a final note, I wanted to thank you for bringing this very important and urgent topic to the forefront of political discussion.

Azad Moradian
Chair of Kurdish American Committee for Democracy in Iran- KNCNA

While the topic that you pose is certainly interesting and uncover a fact that most Americans are oblivious to the story, the story certainly seems one-sided.

Iran has been at "war" with the United States since 1979 and the holding of our embassy personnel as hostages. This was an act of war, since our "soil" was invaded. The next shot at America happened with the death of 241 Marines in Lebanon which has been traced back to Iran through federal court documents.

The idea that Iran is killing U.S. soldiers in Iraq and we would not back up those undermining the Iranian regime is almost comedic in nature. We backed up dissident groups during the "Cold War."

Do you believe that we should only engage the enemy overtly and only with American soldiers? What do you think will happen to these dissidents if they do not receive some type of support?

What should we do with a country that has committed acts of war against the West and has been responsible for more American deaths through terrorism than any other country?

I applaud the report and the journey that you made but can you please leave the "slant" out of the reporting?

Thanks for great TV!

we should send them AR-15s

Go to liveleak.com and do a search for IED if your against the war on Iraq. There's a reason were there. There's a reason we can send American news reporters there. Because Bush invaded.

Great idea for a pod, unfortunately no hard facts to back up the storyline. It seems as though you guys went there with a storyline in mind, and when you could not find factual evidence to support it, continued with it anyway.

While I would certainly not be surprised to learn that the U.S. would fund groups like PJAK, but one ex CIAs assertion that this is going on is simply not enough. Everyone interviewed on the front line of course denied funding, and without even circumstantial evidence of U.S. funding, the main premise of the idea is weak at best.

I do love the watching the Vanguard series and agree that they bring many stories to the forefront that are not being reported on. However, I would say that the title and promotion of this pod was misleading at best, and really not an example of good journalism.

Please stay on it though, I am sure there IS a story here, it just seem that this one wasn't fully developed yet. Keep pushing the envelope, just make sure the story has enough legs to air!

Thank You!

I would have to say that this is a fantastic video. However I fail to see the direct correlation with the u.s. supporting the terrorist group(pjak). I understand that if we were supporting them especially financially then their people nor ours would admit it. Its a great pod.

Outstanding, independent news gathering, but should go farther. Take more time to elicit a response from the U.S. gov't, don't just quote paperwork and legislation. And why would a former CIA operative out his gov't in such a way? An axe to grind? Is he then the best source to use?

Flawed, but still fresh and interesting journalism.

Wonderful piece. Brave and brilliant.
I'm curious to know if we are technically at war with china as well? If you extend the proxy definition to a few degrees of separation we are. Although, that could lead us to declare that WWIII has already begun.

Interesting, but more reporting needed. Taking rebel groups at face value is suspect. I hope there is a follow up.

You are very brave and this is very informative in its conception. However, everything is slanted against the USA when obviously people are expecting the USA to come to their aid from all over the world since we have the reputation of doing that. I don't think we can afford that politically, financially anymore. It is sad because so many people are oppressed in the world...China, Iran,Africa. We simply cannot save the world until we can save ourselves....

This was exceptional. I would either urge you, Mariana, to obtain some weapons training, or never, ever pick up a gun again.

It was a most impressive piece of work. keep up the good work. Portugal is proud of you.

fantastic pod, lesson of real journalism

your pods are always my favorite to watch, and no its not because you're gorgeous =P

To summarize:

-There are small bands of Kurds with AK-47s and grenades in the Iran/Turkey/Iraq boarder representing a people frequently slaughtered by the surrounding nations.

-There are radio/TV/print news broadcasted from this region in solidarity with the democratic or marxist populist views of the Iranian youth.

-These disenfranchised Kurds, some of them exiled from Iran at threat of death, are either running missions to promote the end of persecution of women and minorities and/or running from the armies of Turkey and Iran and killing their soldiers when they are encountered.

-A talking head standing in front of a bookcase implies that this group of Kurds attacks civilians indiscriminately (based on their designation as a terrorist group), a point that is never even questioned despite no evidence of the fact by a journalist who actually joined their ranks.

-This same guy thousands of miles away also states in absolute terms that Americans are funding them.

Thus we assume three things contradicted by actually traveling to the region and meeting the Kurds 1) These Kurds do not have a just and noble cause worth the US supporting, 2) These Kurds are carrying out terrorist acts and 3) the US is financially supporting these Kurds.

What kind of conclusion is this by the documentary? If you are going to trust without reservation some talking head in the states, why did you go to the war torn region and actually meet these people in the first place? There is nothing in this documentary that actually supports the title of the program except one person's jaundiced opinion.

Therefore this is PURE bias and the reason the Left is considered anti-American by people with half a brain.

this is seriously the first time you people have heard of this?

very interesting and well done.

Amazing work as always D and M.

Mariana, this was an amazing pod. you and Darren really put yourselves out there in very dangerous situations to bring us this report.

Thank you, keep it up and I can't wait to see the rest of the season.

what in the hell was that??!!! it may have been a daring attempt ... but the title is completely misleading ... "Kurdish resistance against Iran" might have been an optimal title ... it did nothing wrt the title given presently ... this is just what we call "masala title"

Terrible journalist work. No one on the camera confirms any financial aid from USA and no one can name anyone who got any financial assistance. There are no US soldiers there or arms. Support is political only.
Instead of looking how to bash US. Why don’t you go to S. Ossetia and see what Russians are doing to Georgians over there.
America has a lot of support amongst Iranian youth. Report about that and don’t make up stuff that no one confirms or has any facts to it.
Terrible work again.

Perhaps I missed it, but I'd be curious as to who is funding Ibrahim's operation if the US isn't. It would be interesting to know which other groups are putting funding into groups like his.

thank you for this episode of vanguard is amazing. i think we're making the same mistakes of the past; one should be enough................................

now THERE is a report. very informative. get this information out!

stunning, breathtaking, moving, eye-opening, mesmerizing, poignant... really, there are not enough adjectives to describe this pod.

Great pod. Vanguard is the reason I started coming to Current. The reporters and teams that make these pods bring actual news to the attention of the public and that makes them true heroes.

I hold "Vanguard" work in as high esteem as the excellent "Frontline" series on PBS.
This episode represents why.
The more I know, the more I want to know and the less I have to fear.

It makes one wonder why other journalists aren't covering things in such amazing undercover depth. Nice job!