Could missing Iranian spark war?
hailhailkc
Posts: 582
http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1601814,00.html
By Robert Baer (former CIA field officer)
've tried my best to find out what happened to the man who could spark a war with Iran, but he seems to have disappeared like a diamond in an inkwell. And it makes me nervous.
General Ali Reza Asgari, a former intelligence officer in Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and deputy defense minister until 2005, was last seen in public around December 7 in Istanbul. Iran says Israel and the United States kidnapped him, presumably to coerce him into telling lies about Iran. The Washington Post has reported he is in U.S. custody, spilling his guts, and more recently the New York Times reported that the German defense minister, when asked about Asgari's whereabouts, said "I cannot say anything on this issue." But both the U.S. and Israel deny having him, let alone kidnapping him.
Normally, vanished intelligence officers barely merit one short paragraph on page eight. Asgari is different, though. As the IRGC commander in Lebanon in the late '80s and early '90s, he knows dirty secrets, secrets that could be used to justify going to war with Iran. Asgari was in the IRGC's chain of command when it was kidnapping and assassinating Westerners in Lebanon in the '80s. Asgari knows a lot about other IRGC-ordered, Lebanon-based terrorist attacks, including the October 1983 Marine barracks bombing in Beirut and the 1996 bombing of Khobar Towers in Saudi Arabia.
As IRGC commander in Lebanon, Asgari was also one of Hizballah's stepfathers. In the late '80s and early '90s, he was Hizballah Secretary General's Hasan Nasrallah's primary Iranian contact, and certainly in a position now to provide evidence of Nasrallah's involvement in terrorism. Asgari was the primary Iranian contact for one of the world's most lethal and capable terrorists, 'Imad Fa'iz Mughniyah. Mughniyah is indicted in the U.S. for the 1985 hijacking of TWA Flight 847 and the murder of a Navy diver.
The bad news for Hizballah and Iran doesn't end there. Asgari would be able to tell us about Hizballah's secret military commanders, its overseas networks, and possibly its cells in the U.S. A friend close to Hizballah's leadership tells me Hizballah has gone to battle quarters, concluding Asgari's "kidnapping" is a prelude for its next round with Israel.
The more important question is what Asgari's possible defection would mean for this Administration's plans for Iran. Nothing is certain when it comes to Iran, but here's what I think we should look for: If Asgari resurfaces in the next couple months with a detailed, convincing bill of indictment against Iran and Hizballah (unlike Khalid Sheikh Mohammed's supposed confession), we should expect a confrontation. For instance, in the late '80s Hizballah, under IRGC orders, sent plastic explosives to secret cells around the world. Only one shipment was intercepted. The others are presumably still in place. If Asgari helps us dig one up, the Administration has a propaganda weapon it never had going into the Iraq war.
On the other hand, if Asgari remains in his inkwell, the Bush Administration may have decided to leave Iran alone.
Robert Baer, a former CIA field officer assigned to the Middle East, is the author of See No Evil and, most recently, the novel Blow the House Down
By Robert Baer (former CIA field officer)
've tried my best to find out what happened to the man who could spark a war with Iran, but he seems to have disappeared like a diamond in an inkwell. And it makes me nervous.
General Ali Reza Asgari, a former intelligence officer in Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and deputy defense minister until 2005, was last seen in public around December 7 in Istanbul. Iran says Israel and the United States kidnapped him, presumably to coerce him into telling lies about Iran. The Washington Post has reported he is in U.S. custody, spilling his guts, and more recently the New York Times reported that the German defense minister, when asked about Asgari's whereabouts, said "I cannot say anything on this issue." But both the U.S. and Israel deny having him, let alone kidnapping him.
Normally, vanished intelligence officers barely merit one short paragraph on page eight. Asgari is different, though. As the IRGC commander in Lebanon in the late '80s and early '90s, he knows dirty secrets, secrets that could be used to justify going to war with Iran. Asgari was in the IRGC's chain of command when it was kidnapping and assassinating Westerners in Lebanon in the '80s. Asgari knows a lot about other IRGC-ordered, Lebanon-based terrorist attacks, including the October 1983 Marine barracks bombing in Beirut and the 1996 bombing of Khobar Towers in Saudi Arabia.
As IRGC commander in Lebanon, Asgari was also one of Hizballah's stepfathers. In the late '80s and early '90s, he was Hizballah Secretary General's Hasan Nasrallah's primary Iranian contact, and certainly in a position now to provide evidence of Nasrallah's involvement in terrorism. Asgari was the primary Iranian contact for one of the world's most lethal and capable terrorists, 'Imad Fa'iz Mughniyah. Mughniyah is indicted in the U.S. for the 1985 hijacking of TWA Flight 847 and the murder of a Navy diver.
The bad news for Hizballah and Iran doesn't end there. Asgari would be able to tell us about Hizballah's secret military commanders, its overseas networks, and possibly its cells in the U.S. A friend close to Hizballah's leadership tells me Hizballah has gone to battle quarters, concluding Asgari's "kidnapping" is a prelude for its next round with Israel.
The more important question is what Asgari's possible defection would mean for this Administration's plans for Iran. Nothing is certain when it comes to Iran, but here's what I think we should look for: If Asgari resurfaces in the next couple months with a detailed, convincing bill of indictment against Iran and Hizballah (unlike Khalid Sheikh Mohammed's supposed confession), we should expect a confrontation. For instance, in the late '80s Hizballah, under IRGC orders, sent plastic explosives to secret cells around the world. Only one shipment was intercepted. The others are presumably still in place. If Asgari helps us dig one up, the Administration has a propaganda weapon it never had going into the Iraq war.
On the other hand, if Asgari remains in his inkwell, the Bush Administration may have decided to leave Iran alone.
Robert Baer, a former CIA field officer assigned to the Middle East, is the author of See No Evil and, most recently, the novel Blow the House Down
MOSSAD NATO Alphabet Stations (E10)
High Traffic ART EZI FTJ JSR KPA PCD SYN ULX VLB YHF
Low Traffic CIO MIW
Non Traffic ABC BAY FDU GBZ HNC NDP OEM ROV TMS ZWL
High Traffic ART EZI FTJ JSR KPA PCD SYN ULX VLB YHF
Low Traffic CIO MIW
Non Traffic ABC BAY FDU GBZ HNC NDP OEM ROV TMS ZWL
Post edited by Unknown User on
0
Comments
Iran seizes 15 British Navy personnel
By Aref Mohammed1 hour, 1 minute ago
Iranian forces seized 15 British Royal Navy personnel who had searched a merchant ship on Friday, Britain said, triggering a diplomatic crisis at a time of heightened tensions over Tehran's nuclear ambitions.
Britain said the incident took place in Iraqi waters, where it routinely searches merchant vessels with UN permission.
In London, Foreign Office Permanent Undersecretary Sir Peter Ricketts summoned Iranian ambassador Rasoul Movahedian. A spokesman said: "The meeting was brisk but cordial. Sir Peter demanded the safe return of our personnel and equipment."
The incident took place a day after Iran launched a week of naval war games along its coast, including the narrow northern reaches of the Gulf which control access to the vast oil reserves of Iraq, Iran and Kuwait.
"This may well be a misunderstanding. We're certainly treating it as such at the moment. We're looking for the mistake to be corrected," said a British government source.
The United Nations Security Council is expected to vote on Saturday on a resolution to impose new sanctions against Iran over its refusal to halt uranium enrichment.
Iranian officials could not immediately be reached for comment. The embassy in London was closed for a holiday.
Oil prices rose by about a percent to above $62 a barrel after the incident.
Britain's Defense Ministry said the 15 were engaged in "routine boarding operations" when they were captured.
"The boarding party had completed a successful inspection of a merchant ship when they and their two boats were surrounded and escorted by Iranian vessels into Iranian territorial waters," it said in a statement.
NO VIOLENCE
Unlike the United States, Britain has diplomatic relations with Iran. But London backs Washington's calls for tough sanctions against Iran unless it abandons nuclear plans which the Western countries believe are aimed at producing weapons.
The two countries also accuse Iran of fomenting violence in Iraq. Iran insists its nuclear plans are peaceful and denies it supports militia in Iraq.
"Hopefully there has been a mistake that has been made and we will see early clarification and an early release of my people," Commodore Nick Lambert, commander of the British fleet in the area, said in a television interview aboard HMS Cornwall.
"There was no fighting, no engagement of weapons, anything like that, it was entirely peaceful. We have been assured from the scant communication we have had with the Iranians at a tactical level that the 15 people are safely in their hands."
An Iraqi fisherman in Basra, who asked not to be named, told Reuters he had seen the incident in the Shatt al-Arab waterway that marks the southern stretch of Iraq's border with Iran.
He said Western military personnel on two small boats had boarded a ship in the Siban area of the waterway, near the al-Faw peninsula that leads into the northern Gulf. At least two Iranian vessels appeared on the scene and detained them.
British Royal Navy personnel include both sailors and marines, who make up boarding parties for ship searches as part of a mission that also includes U.S. and Australian forces. Washington said no U.S. military personnel were involved.
The incident was similar to one in 2004 in which eight British servicemen spent three nights in the hands of Iranian Revolutionary Guards before being released unharmed.
In that incident, the Iranians accused them of crossing into Iranian waters, which Britain disputed.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070323/ts_nm/iraq_iran_britain_dc_11
was like a picture
of a sunny day
“We can complain because rose bushes have thorns, or rejoice because thorn bushes have roses.”
― Abraham Lincoln
That's the intended plan... get it?
and reveling in it's loyalty. It's made by forming coalitions
over specific principles, goals, and policies.
http://i36.tinypic.com/66j31x.jpg
(\__/)
( o.O)
(")_(")
I think this might work. Both of these assholes are way too uptight and coincidentally (or not), neither drinks. A couple of good shots to unwind them just may do the trick.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UdeCl1ZDYwo