World Terrorism: News, History and Research Of A Changing World #6 Disinformation, Inc.

VEVAK learned its methodology from the Soviet KGB and many of the Islamist revolutionaries who supported Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini actually studied at Moscow's Patrice Lumumba Friendship University, the Oxford of terrorism. Documented Iranian alumni include the current Supreme Leader (the faqih) Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, under whose Velayat-e Faqih (Rule of the Islamic Jurisprudent) apparatus it has traditionally operated. Its current head is Cabinet Minister Hojatoleslam Gholam-Hussein Mohseni-Ezhei, a graduate of Qom's Haqqani School, noted for its extremist position advocating violence against enemies and strict clerical control of society and government. The Ministry is very well funded and its charge, like that of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (the Pasdaran) is to guard the revolutionary Islamic Iranian regime at all costs and under all contingencies.

From the KGB playbook, VEVAK learned the art of disinformation. It's not so difficult to learn: tell the truth 80% of the time and lie 20%. Depending on how well a VEVAK agent wants to cover his/her tracks, the ratio may go up to 90/10, but it never drops below the 80/20 mark as such would risk suspicion and possible detection. The regime in Teheran has gone to great lengths to place its agents in locations around the world. Many of these operatives have been educated in the West, including the U.K. and the United States. Iranian government agencies such as embassies, consulates, Islamic cultural centers, and airline offices regularly provide cover for the work of VEVAK agents who dress well and are clean shaven, and move comfortably within our society. In this country, because of the severance of diplomatic relations, the principal site of VEVAK activities begins at the offices of Iran's Permanent Mission to the UN in New York.

Teheran has worked diligently to place its operatives in important think tanks and government agencies in the West. Some of its personnel have been recruited while in prison through torture or more often through bribery, or a combination of both. Others are Islamist revolutionaries that have been set up to look like dissidents - often having been arrested and imprisoned, but released for “medical reasons”. The clue to detecting the fake “dissident” is to read carefully what he/she writes, and to ask why this vocal “dissident” was released from prison when other real dissidents have not been released, indeed have been grievously tortured and executed. Other agents have been placed in this country for over twenty-five years to slowly go through the system and rise to positions of academic prominence due to their knowledge of Farsi and Shia Islam or Islamist fundamentalism.

One of the usual tactics of VEVAK is to co-opt academia to its purposes. Using various forms of bribery, academics are bought to defend the Islamic Republic or slander its enemies. Another method is to assign bright students to train for academic posts as specialists in Iranian or Middle East affairs. Once established, such individuals are often consulted by our government as it tries to get a better idea of how it should deal with Iran. These academics then are in a position to skew the information, suggesting the utility of extended dialogue and negotiation, or the danger and futility of confronting a strong Iran or its proxies such as Hizballah (Hezbollah). These academics serve to shield the regime from an aggressive American or Western policy, and thereby buy more time for the regime to attain its goals, especially in regards to its nuclear weaponry and missile programs.

MOIS likes to use the media, especially electronic media, to its advantage. One of VEVAK's favorite tricks is setting up web sites that look like they are opposition sites but which are actually controlled by the regime. These sites often will be multilingual, including Farsi, German, Arabic French, and English. Some are crafted carefully and are very subtle in how they skew their information (e.g., Iran-Interlink, set up and run by Massoud Khodabandeh and his wife Ann Singleton from Leeds, England); others are less subtle, simply providing the regime's point of view on facts and events in the news (e.g., www.mujahedeen.com or www.mojahedin.ws). This latter group is aimed at the more gullible in our open society and unfortunately such a market exists. However, if one begins to do one's homework, asking careful questions, the material on these fake sites generally does not add up.

Let's examine a few examples of VEVAK's work in the United States. In late October, 2005, VEVAK sent three of its agents to Washington to stage a press event in which the principal Iranian resistance movement, the Mojahedin-e Khalq (MeK), was to be slandered. Veteran VEVAK agent Karim Haqi flew from Amsterdam to Canada where he was joined by VEVAK's Ottawa agents Amir-Hossein Kord Rostami and Mahin (Parvin-Mahrokh) Haji, and the three flew from Toronto to Washington. Fortunately the resistance had been tracking these three, informed the FBI of their presence in Washington, and when the three tried to hold a press conference, the resistance had people assigned to ask pointed questions of them so that they ended the interview prematurely and fled back to Canada.

Abolghasem Bayyenet is a member of the Iranian government. He serves as a trade expert for the Ministry of Commerce. But his background of study and service in the Foreign Ministry indicates that Bayyenet is more than just an economist or a suave and savvy businessman. In an article published in Global Politician on April 23, 2006, entitled “Is Regime Change Possible in Iran?”, Bayyenet leads his audience to think that he is a neutral observer, concerned lest the United States make an error in its assessment of Iran similar to the errors of intelligence and judgment that led to our 2003 invasion of Iraq, with its less than successful outcome. However, his carefully crafted bottom line is that the people of Iran are not going to support regime change and that hardliner President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad actually has achieved greater popularity than his predecessors because of his concern for the problems of the poor and his fight for economic and social justice. To the naive, Bayyenet makes Ahmadinejad sound positively saintly. Conveniently overlooked is the occurrence of over four thousand acts of protest, strikes, anti-regime rallies, riots, and even political assassinations by the people of Iran against the government in the year since Ahmadinejad assumed office. So too, the following facts are ignored: the sizeable flight of capital, the increase in unemployment, and the rising two-figure rate of inflation, all within this last year. Bayyenet is a regime apologist, and when one is familiar with the facts, his arguments ring very hollow. However, his English skills are excellent, and so the naОve might be beguiled by his commentary.

Mohsen Sazegara is VEVAK's “reformed revolutionary”. A student supporter of Khomeini before the 1979 revolution, Sazegara joined the “imam” on his return from exile and served in the government for a decade before supposedly growing disillusioned.

He formed several reformist newspapers but ran afoul of the hardliners in 2003 and was arrested and imprisoned by VEVAK. Following “hunger strikes”, Sazegara was released for health reasons and permitted to seek treatment abroad. Although critical of the government and particularly of Ahmadinejad and KhameneМ, Sazegara is yet more critical of opposition groups, leaving the impression that he favors internal regime change but sees no one to lead such a movement for the foreseeable future. His bottom line: no one is capable of doing what needs to be done, so we must bide our time. Very slick, but his shadow shows his likely remaining ties to the MOIS.

Gun at School:

http://search.news.yahoo.com/search/news/?fr=yalerts-keyword&c=&p=gun+at+school&ei=utf-8

1. JANITOR FACING SCHOOL GUN CHARGE Open this result in new window
Cambridge Evening News - Dec 18 7:12 AM
A SCHOOL caretaker has been suspended after being charged with brandishing a gun.
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2. Teen Charged With Bringing Gun To School Open this result in new window
The WBAL Channel - Dec 18 12:27 PM
BALTIMORE -- A student at a Northeast Baltimore high school was arrested Monday afternoon after school police said they found him in possession of a .32-caliber handgun.
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3. Student suspended for carrying pellet gun Open this result in new window
Palo Alto Weekly - 1 hour, 52 minutes ago
A Woodside High School student has been suspended and is in Hillcrest Juvenile Facility in Belmont after an unloaded pellet gun that resembled a 9-mm semi-automatic handgun was found in his backpack Dec. 6.
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4. Reed faces gun possession charges; Preliminary examinations waived in insurance fraud case Open this result in new window
The Daily Reporter - Dec 18 5:48 AM
COLDWATER — Former Pansophia Academy student, Jamie Lee Reed, 17, will face charges of possession of a gun at the school. Branch County District Court Judge David Coyle arraigned Reed on charges he had a .45-caliber silver pistol in a weapon-free school zone, a four-year felony.
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5. Student Brings Gun To School Open this result in new window
Fox21 - Dec 15 10:31 PM
A teenage girl in Spartanburg is being accused of carrying a gun to school. It happened at Carver Junior High off Church Street. School administrators put the school on lock down and tell us they found no other weapons.
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6. Student who turned in gun deserves fair treatment Open this result in new window
Chicago Sun-Times - Dec 17 3:25 AM
Although it appears that an eighth-grade student did the right thing when he handed over a pellet gun he found at school, school officials don't see it that way.
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7. Police say gun at Pacific school `isolated incident' Open this result in new window
Inside Bay Area - Dec 15 5:28 PM
Two brothers who were arrested Thursday for bringing a loaded gun onto the grounds of their Pacifica high school were not thought to be retaliating for an earlier incident this week, police said.
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8. PACIFICA / 2 students arrested when school finds gun Open this result in new window
San Francisco Chronicle - Dec 15 4:04 AM
Two Oceana High School students were arrested Thursday in Pacifica after school staffers found a loaded gun in the backpack of one of them. According to the Pacifica Police Department, both students, residents of San Francisco, were charged with...
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9. Suburb wrestles with weapons in schools Open this result in new window
Chicago Tribune - Dec 18 11:18 AM
The mother of a teenage boy kicked out of a Plainfield middle school after turning in a pellet gun he found called today for her child to be returned to classes, while school officials in the southwest suburb may consider expelling a kindergartner allegedly found with a penknife.
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10. Boy out of school after finding gun, giving it to staff Open this result in new window
The Naperville Sun - Dec 15 2:27 AM
JOLIET -- A Troy Middle School student will be home-schooled instead of being expelled for gun possession.
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Iran and the Obstructing Third
Ghassan Charbel Al-Hayat - 13/12/06//

http://english.daralhayat.com/opinion/OPED/12-2006/Article-20061213-7c07848f-c0a8-10ed-01e6-a3b9c1d1fa32/story.html

The Lebanese opposition adheres to its demand of obtaining the obstructing third of the cabinet, which it calls the "securing third'. Grabbing one third of the cabinet is tantamount to hold the power to prevent the government from convening, if it wanted. It would also entail the impossibility of taking any decision on any important matter without its consent. Under the Constitution, the government is considered illegitimate if one third of its members resign, which means that the one-third opposition is capable of thwarting the government once it finds it is in its interest.

Let us put Lebanon aside. What impedes solving some of the current regional crises is that Iran holds the obstructing third, namely, the demand that the US recognize its right to obtain this third. Some simple questions are sufficient to clarify this issue: can security and stability be achieved in Iraq without the approval of Iran? Can a government be installed in Mesopotamia without giving Tehran the obstructing third, if it is satisfied with such a quota? Can a US withdrawal from Iraq be arranged under reasonable or semi-reasonable conditions without the help of Iran, which has already offered assistance if Washington decides to withdraw? No Arab will ever rejoice either at seeing Iran holding such a large number of trump cards in the Iraqi scene or at Iraq becoming an arena like Lebanon.

Let us put Iraq aside. Can we see a Palestinian national unity government being formed without the approval of Iran? Can we settle a deal to release the Israeli soldier, Gilad Shalit, without addressing the Iranian obstructing third? Is it possible to arrange a sustained ceasefire against Iran's calculations, which can be characterized by ostensible flexibility or excessive intransigence, depending on the ongoing bickering and negotiation in the region? Embattled Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas should wait for the return of the envoy from Damascus and Tehran whenever he requests anything from his prime minister.

Whoever looks forward to possessing the obstructing third in the region should have a very important trump card in the conflict with Israel. A few days ago, Imam Khomeini made 'Jerusalem Day' an Iranian tradition. The relationship with Hezbollah allowed Iran to have a permanent presence on the borders of occupied Palestine. Launching Iranian-made missiles on northern Israel last summer came within the context of asserting the ability to use the power of this one third to threaten the security of Israel. Through the Iraqi file, southern Lebanon, the alliance with Syria and the camps of Gaza, Iran reminds the US of its ability to act as an obstacle, having proved its ability to cooperate in Afghanistan.

Through the attitudes, statements and practices, as well as uranium enrichment, Iran is trying to stage itself as the only power in the region by employing what it believes is its ability to hold the obstructing third in the security of oil, the region and Israel.

This means that it presents itself as a rival, or a partner, to the US presence in the region. Some believe that Iran goes beyond this dream by betting on filling a relatively larger part of the vacuum left by the Soviet Union in the region after its collapse and disintegration.

Iran's attempt to seize the obstructing third in the countries, files and the entire region is not a simple issue, as it affects other countries' security, interests and sensitivities, and disrupt the balance of the structure of the region.

It would not be to the Arabs' advantage to show enmity toward Iran, or to pay the price of either a confrontation or agreement between Tehran and Washington. The battle of the Iranian obstructing third is still in its early stages. Following up on its developments helps one understand the open hotbeds of tension in the region.

What a story...

The terrorist you've never heard of
Unlike alleged al-Qaida terrorist Jose Padilla, right-wing "dirty bomber" Demetrius Crocker was investigated and prosecuted the old-fashioned constitutional way.

By Alex Koppelman
Dec. 18, 2006 | In a Miami courtroom on Monday morning, defense lawyers for Jose Padilla, the American citizen accused of conspiring with al-Qaida, will argue what could be a landmark motion. Padilla's defense attorneys are asking the presiding judge to dismiss the case on the grounds of "outrageous government conduct." The abuse Padilla has endured while in custody, they contend, has so scarred him that he can no longer even discuss the case against him. They believe he has been rendered incompetent to stand trial.

The logic of the federal government's response to the defense motion was stunningly cold. The U.S. Attorney's office agrees that Padilla needs his competency evaluated. We didn't torture him, argue the representatives of the U.S. government, but if we did, and it made him crazy -- well, then, no claims he makes about said torture can be trusted. He is, after all, mentally incompetent.

Jonathan Turley, a professor of law at George Washington University who specializes in constitutional criminal procedure, calls this argument "bizarre."

"It would create a rather perverse incentive," marvels Turley. "As long as the government can force someone into mental incompetency they cannot face a motion for incompetency in court."

"It would seem," concludes Turley, with great understatement, "to invite abuse."

This shockingly cynical new tack is just the latest in the saga of moral and legal breakdown that is the Padilla case. On Dec. 4, the New York Times published graphic evidence to substantiate Padilla's claims of mistreatment. The paper ran old photos of Padilla while he was in Department of Defense custody wearing dark goggles, earmuffs and shackles, being led from his one-man cell to a dental appointment for a root canal. Padilla spent 1,307 days at the Naval Consolidated Brig in Charleston, S.C., where, his lawyers allege, he was kept in solitary, deprived of sleep, drugged with PCP or LSD, held in stress positions, and blindfolded, shackled and deafened on the few occasions he was allowed out of his 9-by-7-foot cell.

The Bush administration has defended its handling of Jose Padilla and other alleged terrorists in federal custody by arguing that the post-9/11 "war on terror" requires extraordinary methods. But while the Department of Justice has been tying itself in knots trying to justify the government's handling of Padilla, the nearly simultaneous -- and successful -- prosecution of another supposed "dirty bomber" in Tennessee stands as proof that the measures taken in the Padilla case are at best counterproductive. Without fanfare, and without any damage to the Constitution, 41-year-old Demetrius Crocker has been convicted of plotting to explode a bomb and release sarin gas outside a courthouse.

On Nov. 28 -- six days before the Times ran its photos of Padilla -- Demetrius "Van" Crocker was sentenced to 30 years in prison. David Kustoff, the United States Attorney for the Western District of Tennessee, where Crocker was prosecuted, tells Salon that "It was one of the preeminent anti-terrorism cases of 2006 nationwide." Whether or not that is true, few outside of the greater Memphis metropolitan area have ever heard of Crocker. Only one reporter, John Branston of the weekly Memphis Flyer, even covered his entire trial. What is certain is that in every particular his case is a study in contrasts with the prosecution of Jose Padilla.

According to court documents, the investigation of Demetrius Crocker began in early 2004, around the time he told a man named Lynn Adams that Timothy McVeigh "[did] things right." Adams, who had met the Mississippi-born farmhand through a mutual acquaintance, began to hear from Crocker about his plans for mass murder. A resident of rural Carroll County, Tenn., an hour northeast of Memphis, Crocker told Adams he wanted to kill the black population of nearby Jackson, Tenn., with mustard gas and explode a bomb outside a courthouse.

By then, Adams had learned a lot about Crocker's background: his previous membership in the neo-Nazi National Socialist Movement, his anti-government beliefs, his fascination with Adolf Hitler and idolization of Oklahoma City bomber McVeigh. "Fuck them. Let God sort them out," Crocker said when Adams asked if he was worried about killing innocent women and children.

Crocker, meanwhile, hadn't learned nearly as much about Adams. He didn't know, for example, that Adams was a former sheriff's deputy and a confidential informant for the Carroll County drug task force. At first, Adams didn't take Crocker seriously, but as their relationship progressed, Adams began believing Crocker was more than just talk.

At that point, the Carroll County Sheriff's Department passed the case on to the FBI. Steve Burroughs, an FBI agent, began working undercover. Posing as an employee at the Pine Bluff Arsenal in Arkansas, where some of the country's remaining chemical weapons are stored to await destruction, Burroughs offered to help Crocker obtain explosive materials. Without Burroughs' prompting, Crocker became more ambitious. He began talking about blowing up a radioactive bomb outside the U.S. Capitol.

There was an element of the fantastic in Crocker's plan; he hoped, he told Burroughs, to obtain the necessary plutonium for the dirty bomb he wanted to explode outside Congress by communicating with mail-order brides from Russia, one of whom would presumably put him in touch with a former KGB agent with access to nuclear material. His lawyers claimed he had an IQ of just 85.

But tapes of the conversations between Crocker and Burroughs reveal that Crocker knew what he was doing. He had made a version of Zyklon B, the gas used in the gas chambers in Nazi concentration camps, and he accurately described its manufacture. He had made nitroglycerin. He had the ingredients for a rudimentary bomb in his home, where he also kept several guns he told Burroughs he would use to kill any government agent sent to capture him.

Burroughs gave Crocker several opportunities to back out of the plan the two worked on together, but each time Crocker chose to press on. And had the materials Burroughs handed Crocker on the day the FBI finally arrested him been real, Crocker would have known what to do with them. With the fake C4 explosive and fake precursor to sarin gas Burroughs provided, it would have been a simple matter for Crocker to make the deadly nerve agent and release it outside a government building.

The U.S. Attorney's office repeatedly described Crocker as the McVeigh of West Tennessee. "He was Timothy McVeigh," said Kustoff after Crocker's conviction, "and every bit as scary." The jury deliberated just 45 minutes. On April 13, they found Crocker guilty of all five charges filed against him.

Next page: "The FBI agent was careful to make sure the plan was real and not a creation of the government"

http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2006/12/18/tennessee_terrorist/index.html

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