The NEW YORKER is set to unleash a new report by...Seymour M. Hersh....

Headlined "The Iraq Hawks," Hersh drops details of a new war plan for Iraq which is "now at the center of a furious debate in Washington."

Iraqi opposition leader Ahmed Chalabi and his Iraqi National Congress have "given the Bush Administration an updated war plan, which calls not only for bombing but for the deployment of thousands of American Special Forces troops," Hersh writes.

Hersh's expose is set for December 24 & 31 editions of the magazine.

There is "a second significant addition to the plan: the participation of Iran," which has agreed to permit opposition forces and their military equip ment to cross the Iranian border into southern Iraq.

The Iraqi National Congress has, with American approval, opened an office in Teheran.

"America's success in routing the Taliban has improved Chalabi's standing with some elements of Washington's defense community," Hersh writes.

One defense analyst tells Hersh, "They believe they have found the perfect model, and it works. The model is bombing, a modest insertion of Special Forces, plus an uprising."

The debate within the Bush Administration over what to do about Iraq has been sharp and personal, Hersh reports.

Pentagon officials "are at odds with the State Department," in particular with Richard Armitage, who signed a 1998 open letter to President Clinton that advocated American support for Iraqi insurgents but who "has now become, in private, an opponent of the revised Chalabi plan," Hersh reports.

Stephen Solarz, the former New York congressman who helped draft the 1998 letter, says, "September 11th changed the whole equation. Before then, an argument could be made that deterrence worked."

But many within the Administration are skeptical of Chalabi and his supporters. One senior Administration official tells Hersh that the Administration has no intention of allowing "a bunch of half-assed people to send foreigners into combat."

Referring to Chalabi and his supporters in and out of government, the official asks, "Who among them has ever smelled cordite? These are pissants who can't get the President's ear and have to blame someone else. We're not going to let them lead others down the garden path."

One former high-level intelligence official explains the pro-Chalabi group this way: "It's the revenge of the nerds....They won in Afghanistan when everybody said it wouldn't work, and it's got them in a euphoric mood of cockiness."

JERUSALEM -- AP, 16 December 2001: The head of Israel's Mossad intelligence agency said Sunday that Iran is pursuing development of nuclear and other non-conventional weapons but is sending occasional hints that it could someday reconcile with Israel.

"There are Iranians in high-standing positions of influence that are saying that if there is an Israeli-Palestinian agreement ... Iran will not stand in the way of that agreement," Ephraim Halevy said in a rare public speech. "There are even covert messages of the possibility of reconciliation."

"These are lone chords at the moment, and they are in no way joining to form a melody," Halevy added at a Tel Aviv conference on security. he didn't provide additional details.

However, he also stressed that Iran was attempting to develop nuclear and other weapons of mass destruction, as well as expanding its long-range missile program.

Iran and Israel have been bitter enemies for years, with Iran providing support for the militant Islamic group Hezbollah in Lebanon. Hezbollah fought for years against Israeli troops in south Lebanon.

Israel pulled its forces out of Lebanon last year, but Hezbollah still wages sporadic attacks over a disputed patch of territory along the border.

Halevy also described the U.S.-led campaign against international terrorism as an unprecedented development because of its focus on an organization - Osama bin Laden's al-Qaida network - rather than a sovereign state.

The campaign eventually could lead some countries, such as Iran and Syria, to end their support of radical groups accused of carrying out terrorism, Halevy said.

Halevy said that after the war in Afghanistan, international pressure could mount on Syrian President Bashar Assad to "bite the bullet," and crack down on radical groups.

The British-born Halevy is only the second Mossad chief to be identified by name. Until recent years, Israel's military censor prohibited publication of the Mossad chief's name or photograph.

Halevy spoke at a security conference last December in what was billed as the first ever public speech by the head of the Israeli intelligence agency.