Posted on 12/17/2006 4:03:30 PM PST by DAVEY CROCKETT
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.
http://www.ocnus.net/artman/publish/article_27144.shtml
http://us.f532.mail.yahoo.com/ym/ShowLetter?Idx=1245&Search=&YY=78111&y5beta=yes&y5beta=yes&order=down&sort=date&pos=24
Top U.S. intelligence analyst rebuked
http://wpherald.com/articles/3177/1/Top-US-intelligence-analyst-rebuked/Criticized-over-relationship-with-convicted-spy.html
Top U.S. intelligence analyst rebuked
Criticized over relationship with convicted spy
By Bill Gertz
The Washington Times
WASHINGTON -- A senior U.S. intelligence analyst has been formally
criticized for "poor judgment" after writing a letter and e-mails in
support of a convicted former Defense Intelligence Agency analyst, U.S.
intelligence officials said.
Lonnie Henley, the deputy national intelligence officer (NIO) for East
Asia, was given a letter of reprimand several months ago after an
investigation within the Office of the Director of National
Intelligence
(DNI).
Mr. Henley, who could not be reached for comment, was a close friend
and
protege of former DIA analyst Ronald Montaperto, who was convicted in
June on espionage charges that included supplying secrets to Chinese
military intelligence. Mr. Henley wrote a letter to the judge
supporting
Montaperto, and an e-mail that criticized the FBI investigation of the
former analyst.
DNI spokesman Carl Kropf declined to comment on the reprimand, noting
that it was an administrative matter.
"The issue has been appropriately addressed within the Office of the
Director of National Intelligence," Mr. Kropf said.
Montaperto pleaded guilty in June to charges related to illegally
storing classified documents. As part of a sting operation that led to
his conviction, Montaperto admitted passing "top-secret" and "secret"
information to two Chinese military intelligence officers. He was
sentenced to three months in prison.
Montaperto's admissions of passing highly classified data to the
Chinese
coincided with the loss of a major U.S. electronic eavesdropping
operation against China in the late 1980s, U.S. officials said.
Mr. Henley is in line for promotion to the top post of NIO for East
Asia, but the appointment could be derailed by the reprimand, officials
familiar with the internal inquiry said.
Mr. Henley is favored for the job by National Intelligence Council
Chairman Thomas Fingar, who officials say shares the views of Mr.
Henley
and Montaperto on China.
The current NIO for East Asia, James J. Shinn, is set to take a job in
the defense secretary's office.
The letter of reprimand was similar to the punishments received in two
other cases of bad judgment within the National Intelligence Council,
of
which NIOs are a part.
Lawrence K. Gershwin, NIO for science and technology, and retired Army
Maj. Gen. John R. Landry, NIO for military issues, were reprimanded for
their role in the 2002 National Intelligence Estimate on Iraq's weapons
of mass destruction.
Continues and is very interesting...................................
Ex-Hizbullah chief says Nasrallah guided by Iran
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=1&categ_id=2&article_id=79024
Ex-Hizbullah chief says Nasrallah guided by Iran
Daily Star staff
Monday, January 29, 2007
BEIRUT: Hizbullah's former secretary general has accused Sayyed Hassan
Nasrallah of implementing Iranian strategies in Lebanon. Speaking
during
a news conference on Saturday held at his residence in Baalbek, Sheikh
Sobhi Tufeili argued that Hizbullah's current leader "is implementing
[Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Ali] Khamenei's policy in Lebanon in
a
very precise way."
"I am an ex-secretary general of Hizbullah and I know that Sayyed
Hassan
is in charge of carrying out Sayyed Khamenei's policy in Lebanon,"
Tufeili told reporters.
He accused Hizbullah, from which he was fired more than eight years ago
after disagreeing with the Iranian leadership, of forming a state of
its
own within Lebanon.
"There cannot be two states and two armies, that of Hizbullah and that
of the government. We need to unify the weapons under one command. Two
states will lead to strife," he said.
Commenting on the opposition's protests, which he said "are paralyzing
the country," Tufeili asked: "Does the demand for a government change
deserve all this strife? Does a five- or six-month-old government
deserve all that?"
"Even when it comes to the presidency, we can wait [for the election of
a new president] until a new government is formed," he said.
Highlighting the danger of a Shiite-Sunni war, Tufeili called on all of
the country's politicians to be calm and stay away from sectarian
fanaticism.
"Parliamentary elections were held recently and the majority of seats
were won by the March 14 Forces," Tufeili said.
Tufeili stressed the need to establish an international tribunal to try
suspects in the February 2005 assassination of former Premier Rafik
Hariri and "all crimes committed in Lebanon."
According to the sheikh, politics in Lebanon are linked to Iraq. "The
issue is not that of America," he said. "Neither the Shiites in Iraq
nor
the Sunnis in Lebanon are benefiting from their alliance with the US.
They are all losers and the only winner is the US itself."
He also urged the Shiites to mend ties with the Sunnis. "A Sunni should
criticize the actions of another Sunni and a Shiite should criticize
the
bad deeds of another Shiite - not the other way around."
"The Shiites are small minorities scattered in the vast sea of the
Islamic world. Their interest consists of uniting stands with all
Muslims and maintain good relations with Sunnis," Tufeili said.
"Otherwise, we will destroy our future ... this is crazy ... we'll be
slaughtered like sheep, even in Lebanon. This is a reality," he added.
-
The Daily Star, with Naharnet
Iran and U.S.: between the logic of sanctions and the logic of war
27/01/2007 RIA Novosti Agence russe
Iran and U.S.: between the logic of sanctions and the logic of war
http://en.rian.ru/analysis/20070126/59755968.html
MOSCOW. (RIA Novosti political commentator Pyotr Goncharov)
"The Middle East isn't a region to be dominated by Iran. The Gulf isn't
a body of water to be controlled by Iran. That's why we've seen the
United States station two carrier battle groups in the region,"
Nicholas
Burns, U.S. undersecretary of state for political affairs, said in an
address to the Dubai-based Gulf Research Center, an influential
think-tank, when commenting on the decision of President George W. Bush
to send a second U.S. aircraft carrier strike group to the Persian
Gulf.
He emphasized that the U.S. is striving for stability in the region and
unimpeded oil and gas deliveries in the interests of all other
countries.
French Foreign Minister Philippe Douste-Blazy said on the LCI
television
channel that the international community's demands that Iran stop its
dangerous activities in the nuclear sphere were based on the logic of
sanctions rather than the logic of war.
However, the situation around Iran has apparently turned towards the
logic of war, contrary to the will of the international community, if
there is such a thing.
A new U.S. carrier battle group has been dispatched to the Gulf.
USS John C. Stennis, with a crew of 3,200 and around 80 fixed-wing
aircraft, including F/A-18 Hornet and Superhornet fighter-bombers,
eight
support ships and four nuclear submarines are heading for the Gulf,
where a similar group led by USS Dwight D. Eisenhower has been deployed
since December 2006.
The U.S. is also sending Patriot anti-missile systems to the region.
The above is Washington's reply to the question: What will happen if
Iran drives the U.S. into a corner? Or was it the other way round?
It was believed that if Iran refused to stop its nuclear program, the
U.S. as its main adversary would ensure the adoption of international
sanctions and later start a military operation against Iran. The
scenarios of their engagement were described as catastrophic, with Iran
erasing the oil and gas infrastructure in the Gulf, blockading the
Strait of Hormuz by sinking several oil tankers in it, and starting a
war against Iraq, pulling the U.S. deeper into the quagmire. The
inevitable conclusion was that a U.S. military operation against Iran
would be suicidal, and Washington would never approve it.
So, the "what will happen if?" question has been answered. Now the
world
wants to know if Washington will be able to avoid a war against Iran.
Tehran is not going to abandon its nuclear program. Moreover, it has
said several times that a uranium enrichment system comprising 3,000
centrifuges will be put into operation by the Iranian New Year, which
is
marked on March 21. From that, there is only one step towards building
a
nuclear bomb, given the political will, as Washington likes to point
out.
If Iran reaches the industrial level of uranium enrichment, Washington
will either have to swallow the humiliation, or will start a military
operation against Iran. Russian expert Alexei Arbatov said the U.S.
usually has to choose between two evils, one greater than the other. In
this case, the greater evil will be the creation of a nuclear bomb in
Iran. Therefore, if Washington refuses to speak directly with Tehran,
it
will most likely choose war.
In fact, the United States has already started preparations.
The Dubai-based Gulf Research Center, where Nick Burns made the above
statement, has published a special report saying that Iran's nuclear
ambitions will inevitably provoke a regional confrontation. Tehran must
be aware that if the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) is forced to choose
between allowing Iran to build a nuclear bomb and letting the U.S.
deliver a strike against Iran, it will choose the latter.
The Gulf Research Center is a think-tank of the defense departments of
the GCC oil-producing member states (Saudi Arabia, the United Arab
Emirates, Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman and Qatar). Jordan and Egypt have
likewise approved Bush's new strategy in the Middle East.
In short, Washington has rallied sufficient support in the region.
The global media are writing that the plan of a potential U.S. strike
at
Iran has been worked out in detail, with the strike to be delivered by
the end of April.
Pentagon chief Robert Gates, who advocated a "diplomatic engagement"
with Iran several years ago, has said Tehran should know that the U.S.,
although "tied down in Iraq," remains a dangerous adversary.
He denied that his recent decision to deploy Patriot missiles and a
second aircraft carrier strike group in the Persian Gulf was meant as a
threat to Iran. "We need some leverage, it seems to me, before we
[diplomatically] engage with the Iranians," he added.
Is the second carrier group the "leverage" Gates was referring to?
The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and may
not necessarily represent the opinions of the editorial board.
27/01/2007 RIA Novosti Agence russe
Bushehr NPP to be commissioned as scheduled - Russian official
http://en.rian.ru/russia/20070128/59803910.html
TEHRAN, January 28 (RIA Novosti) - A senior Russian official said
Sunday
the Bushehr nuclear power plant being built in Iran with Russia's
technical assistance will be commissioned as scheduled.
Russia is building a reactor for Iran's first nuclear power plant, 250
miles southwest of Tehran, under a $1 billion contract signed in 1995.
The plant is scheduled to be commissioned in the second half of 2007,
after the original date at the end of 2006 was put back. The project
was
originally started by Germany's Siemens in 1975, but work stopped with
the 1979 Islamic Revolution.
"Russia is firmly committed to its obligations to complete the Bushehr
NPP project within the agreed timeframe," Igor Ivanov, secretary of the
Russian Security Council, said at a meeting with his Iranian colleague
Ali Larijani in Tehran.
The Bushehr facility has been a source of international dispute in the
context of Iran's controversial nuclear ambitions, with the United
States and other Western countries raising concerns that Iran may use
the project to develop nuclear weapons.
'They Had Machine Guns Welded in Windows' [Michael J. Totten interview with Israeli soldier]
January 26, 2007
'They Had Machine Guns Welded in Windows'
[by Michael J. Totten]
http://www.michaeltotten.com/archives/001373.html
I went to South Lebanon looking for Lebanese civilians who
witnessed the July War between Israel and Hezbollah and who
could, perhaps, clarify some controversial claims. Did Israel
bomb indiscriminately? Did Hezbollah use human shields?
Some civilians did testify that Hezbollah used people in their
village as human shields. And I found evidence that Israel at
least sometimes struck with precision, if not at all times.
Lebanese civilians, though, weren’t the only witnesses to the
war. Hezbollah was there, too – although I’m officially
blacklisted with the organization and am denied access to interviews.
The Israeli Defense Forces also were there. I found a soldier who
spent the entire war in and out of South Lebanon. He was willing
to talk to me by phone even though our interview was illegal –
he’s still in the army and is not supposed to talk to anyone in
the media about what he did and what he saw. He did anyway,
though, and he did not say what I thought he would say. The
number of people killed in South Lebanon may be more heavily
tilted toward Hezbollah fighters than most of us realized.
To preserve his anonymity I can only identify him as “an Israeli
soldier in a long-range patrol unit.†So I’ll just call him Eli,
which isn’t his name. Our conversation by phone was recorded.
Here is the transcript.
MJT: There is a controversy about whether or not Hezbollah was
using the civilian population and infrastructure as shields,
whether were hiding behind people and apartment buildings and the
like.
Eli: Did they use populated areas to fire? It was clear that they
did. Except Israel also dispersed flyers ordering all the
civilian population of South Lebanon to leave. So it was in those
villages after the, I don’t remember the date, except anyone who
was in those villages was probably helping Hezbollah fighters.
MJT: Where in Lebanon was your unit?
Eli: We went all around the West. Opposite Metulla there’s all
these villages called Hula, Abbasieh, Markaba, Jwayya. It was 15
kilometers in. So we would go in 15 kilometers, mark targets.
MJT: So you were marking targets yourself? What kind of targets
were you marking? I was on the border at the end of the war, and
I watched a lot of Israeli artillery being fired, but it was
impossible to tell what you guys were shooting at.
Eli: I can’t explain exactly what we use, but we use very
advanced scopes and thermal scopes and stuff like that so you can
see exactly what’s going on in villages at night or during the
day or whenever. We could see armed personnel walking around
there, carrying big bags. So as long as they’re armed they are
targets for us to mark, for Air Force and artillery.
MJT: The reason I ask what kind of targets you were marking is
because the majority of people inside Lebanon think the Israelis
were firing at civilians deliberately.
Eli: If you ask me what should have been done in the villages in
Lebanon during this war, I think Israel wasn’t harsh enough. Now,
I’m not right-wing, I’m not…I just think that if we are in a
war…it’s like, if you play with fire, people get burned. There’s
nothing you can do about it. These whole villages, they were
empty, just filled with Hezbollah terrorists. They should have
been totally wiped off the map. Except Israel left them standing.
Many of our soldiers were killed because of that, so Israel
wouldn’t be blamed after the war for war crimes and destroying
civilian houses.
When they say that Israeli artillery was aimed at civilian
targets, I can tell you a bit about how the artillery works. If I
find a target in the middle of a village, like one house that I
see that there are armed people going in, and I will aim
artillery, heavy artillery, on it. Not Air Force, not like
pin-pointed targets. Artillery will dispense rounds 100 meters
from that target also. It’s not accurate. Anyway, even if a
target is next to it, these houses were empty. No civilians were
walking around South Lebanon. I know. I was in their villages. In
their houses. Anyone who was there was definitely working for the
Hezbollah or working as a Hezbollah fighter.
MJT: So you didn’t see any women? It was mostly men and no children?
Eli: I never saw one woman or any children in Lebanon. I was
going in and out for the whole time since the day when the
soldiers were kidnapped. We flew from my unit straight to the
north in helicopters, and since then we were there until a week
after the cease-fire.
MJT: An article was recently published in the Washington Times,
and it wasn’t sourced very well, that said…Hezbollah is known for
doing charity work in South Lebanon. One of the things that they
had supposedly done, according to the article, was build houses
for poor people with Katyusha rocket launchers embedded inside
the center of the house, walled off on four sides in sealed rooms
so the residents didn’t even know they were there. And supposedly
when the war started Hezbollah peeled off the roofs and fired
rockets from inside the houses. Did you see anything like this?
Eli: I didn’t see any Katyusha rockets being installed inside
houses. But I’ve seen stuff…like we went toward this house, we
were fired upon from inside the house. We went into the house. We
cleared the house. Anyone who was in the house was neutralized.
We went down to the basement. And also in the basement everything
was neutralized. And we saw a periscope in the basement that was
looking up toward the main road.
MJT: A periscope like something they use in a submarine?
Eli: Yeah, a periscope. You know, you can be underground and see
above. It was a pipe that had mirrors that were reflecting up.
And a small kind of detonator. Our team checked it out. There
were 500 kilos of explosives under the road waiting for Israeli
tanks. There were really ready. They built these houses for that
purpose because they knew this was going to happen some day. They
were just waiting for the tanks to roll in.
MJT: Do you have any idea when you found houses that were being
used militarily if they were Hezbollah houses per se, or had they
taken over other people’s civilian houses?
Eli: I don’t know.
MJT: You couldn’t tell.
Eli: No. But they could take any house they wanted because the
whole place was empty. Everyone left. When we were fighting we
were fighting from house to house. They would just skip houses,
they would go a different house. We would detonate one house,
they would fire a few from another house, and skip to yet another
house. They would go wherever they want, it was their area in
South Lebanon. It’s not like they thought about them as civilian
houses.
MJT: What do you know about that went on in South Lebanon that
has been under-reported in the media?
Eli: Not so much in South Lebanon, but in Israel. The way the
Israeli army and the prime minister and the chief of staff, the
chief of military staff, used the war and controlled the war, if
you ask me, was wrong.
MJT: In what ways?
Eli: The chief of the military in Israel did not come from the
army. He came from the Air Force. He used to be an Air Force
Commander. He was not an army grunt. And the first three weeks of
the war he tried to really win this war with air strikes, in the
South and in the area in Beirut, what do you call it?
MJT: The dahiyeh.
Eli: Yeah, the dahiyeh. The dahiyeh area. He did not use the
ground troops as well as he should have. He would send ground
troops one kilometer in, they would stay for a few days, and walk
out. Only during the last week of the war did the army take up
the war. And every time we went in and went out, people got killed.
MJT: Do you think the air war was effective at all? Or should the
war have been fought on the ground only?
Eli: Of course it should always be together, air and ground. You
can’t win one without the other. You have to place your air
strikes exactly where you need them. Just dropping thousands of
tons of bombs on that area in Beirut was useless if you ask me.
Because they couldn’t get Nasrallah. He’s planned this out for
how many years? I mean, he knew where he was going to go and how
to avoid Israeli intelligence in Lebanon. The bottom line is that
they should have aimed more air strikes in the area of South Lebanon.
For the first few weeks they called it a mission. They didn’t
call it a war. The enemy was firing rockets from inside Lebanon.
And Israel went out to stop that enemy. Which is…kind of like a
war. It is war. In any war civilian houses get damaged and
there’s nothing you can to do stop it. When you play with fire,
people get burned.
Israeli troops went into standing villages where they just were
ambushed. Our unit was ambushed also once. And I know lots of
other units who were ambushed. Standing villages were there.
There could have been nothing, we could have rolled into rubble.
MJT: Hezbollah claims they tried to keep their fighters away from
civilian areas, that they keep their fighters away from the towns
and the villages and more out in the countryside. So, when you
say that you were ambushed, were you inside one of the towns when
this happened?
Eli: Yes. We were also ambushed in more open areas. They have
these small bunkers, they built bunkers and caves and stuff in
open areas. They were ready. They had machine guns welded in
windows. They were welded in already. They were ready. They were
ready for urban warfare. That’s where they killed the most
Israeli soldiers, in urban warfare.
In open warfare? They didn’t have much of a chance. It’s in urban
warfare where they can skip house to house and leave very large
amounts of explosives under asphalt where you can’t even see it.
MJT: So you’re saying that a lot of the damage done in South
Lebanon towns was done by Hezbollah themselves, not all of it was
by the Israeli Defense Forces?
Eli: I can tell you about the places I’ve been. Some of the
places you’ve heard about, like Bint Jbail, I haven’t been there.
My unit didn’t go there.
We got to one village one time and the information was that there
weren’t going to be very many armed Hezbollah. It was just going
to be like a few helpers or spotters. So the whole village was
going to be left standing and there was not going to be any problem.
As soon as we got around 500 meters from the village they started
firing everything they had at us. From inside the village. So of
course Israel retaliated with a few rounds of artillery, some war
planes came down on the place. It wasn’t really…a round of
artillery won’t bring a house down. It will make a big hole in
it. And the airplane, unless it’s a big bomb, it won’t bring a
house down. You know, maybe it will make it an unsafe house to
live in. So you’ll see big holes in walls, and some tank shells
blew holes in walls. Except the only reason why those holes are
there is because they were shooting from these villages. They
were shooting from within mosques. They were firing Katyushas
from behind mosques and stuff.
MJT: Were they also firing from churches?
Eli: I didn’t see any churches. I wasn’t in any Christian
villages. Most of the Christian villages, the Israelis detoured
around them because they thought they were probably
anti-Hezbollah, that Hezbollah would not be in there. Except the
Hezbollah, they often dressed up as Israeli soldiers.
MJT: Did you actually see this yourself? Hezbollah wearing
Israeli uniforms?
Eli: Yes.
MJT: Really. How many Hezbollah soldiers did you see wearing
Israeli uniforms?
Eli: Once they hit us with a few anti-tank missiles. And I saw
straight away like six of them.
MJT: Was it just the one time that you saw this?
Eli: I’m not the only one who has seen this happen in Lebanon.
There are lots of other people from lots of other units who have
seen this. It’s, it’s guerilla warfare.
MJT: Where do you suppose they get the uniforms? Do they make
them themselves? Or are they stealing them?
Eli: Well, all of them are probably stolen. When Israel left
Lebanon in 2000 they left a ton of army supply stuff.
MJT: They claim that they have their own uniforms.
Eli: Yeah, they have like a kind of a dark khaki colored, like
dark American colors. They have camouflage and stuff like that.
But they’re also wearing, they’re people walking around towns,
with weapons, who aren’t wearing uniforms. They look like
civilians. I mean, in every civilian house in Lebanon there is a
shotgun. And that’s not because they’re against the IDF or
because they’re against Israel, it’s that most people in the
small villages, they’re hunters. They hunt for food. But we also
saw people walking around with AK-47s and hand guns and stuff.
There are definitely Hezbollah people in, in civilian clothes.
MJT: So, okay, what’s the most common appearance for a Hezbollah
fighter in South Lebanon during a war? Do most wear civilian
clothes? Hezbollah uniforms? Israeli uniforms?
Eli: It changes all the time.
MJT: Hezbollah claims they had some missiles from Iran,
specifically the Zelzal missiles, and that they chose not to fire
them. I wonder, do you know if they’re lying about that, if the
Israelis perhaps took the Zelzal missiles out at the beginning of
the war and that they were unable to fire them?
Eli: The greatest bulk of the long-range missiles that they had
were destroyed. By the Air Force. This is what I heard, but I
don’t really know, it’s not what I do in the army.
MJT: Have you fought in the West Bank or Gaza?
Eli: Yes.
MJT: How much more skilled are Hezbollah than Hamas and Islamic
Jihad?
Eli: Much more skilled. Much more skilled. You can’t compare with
fighting against Hezbollah and fighting against Palestinians.
Hezbollah has had such a long time to get prepared for these
attacks. And they were dug in. Everything was planned, and the
weapons, the ammunition, everything was accurate, everything. And
the mortar rounds they were all fixed, everything, all the
mortars were already fixed on targets where they knew the
Israelis were going to come through.
With the Palestinians, it’s very amateur with the Palestinian
freedom fighters or whatever they call themselves.
MJT: Alright. From where I was during the war, which was the
Israeli side, it looked like the Israelis won every engagement
with Hezbollah.
Eli: In the end, Israel won every engagement, this is true.
Except the problem is winning an engagement against people who
are fighting guerilla warfare. You will win, but you will sustain
losses, heavy losses. With guerilla warfare you have one or two
guys on a mountain hidden in small holes holding an anti-tank
missile. And really at the end of the day he’ll shoot the missile
at a few soldiers. He’ll maybe kill one or two, I don’t know.
Except you won’t be able to find him afterwards. Unless you were
looking in exactly the same direction when it was fired, you
won’t. That’s the problem with guerilla warfare.
If there was a full-out war, you know, tanks against tanks,
combat units against combat units, and everything done out in the
open, Israel would definitely, totally defeat and win. Except the
problem is guerilla warfare is extremely hard, it’s, I don’t know
how to explain it except that it’s stressful because it’s not a
real army, it’s not an army, it’s like cells. Fighting against
cells that are operated by bigger cells, you don’t know where
they could be, it’s not a big army.
MJT: Do you think it would be possible for Israel to defeat
Hezbollah completely in a future war? If you killed every
Hezbollah fighter they could always recruit more, but that aside,
do you think you could eliminate all or most of them? Or would it
just take too long because of the nature of the fighting?
Eli: The problem is, if you kill their combat units…which was
possible, during the war the Israelis killed 700 to 800 Hezbollah
fighters, which is a third of their whole combat fighters. Which
is quite a lot of people.
MJT: It is, yeah.
Eli: Except killing them all…I’ve read MEMRI where there are Arab
newspapers translated into English. It’s on the Internet. You can
read it. Hezbollah said they were bringing in 3,000 to 4,000
Somali fighters.
MJT: I remember reading that. Did you see anybody who looked
Somali, like they were from Africa?
Eli: No.
MJT: A lot of Lebanese people think this is just Hezbollah
propaganda, that it’s not true. And I suspect they’re right. Like
you said, Hezbollah is a professional guerilla army, whereas
Somali fighters are pretty amateurish, like Hamas or Islamic Jihad.
Eli: Hmm. You can’t compare the Hezbollah fighter to the Israeli
soldier. The Israeli soldier is much better trained. He’s much
more fit. Better weapons. And they’re trained for much longer.
Except fighting guerilla warfare is just much harder than
fighting a regular war.
MJT: Right.
Eli: That’s just it, at the end. And you asked me about getting
rid of Hezbollah. Surely getting rid of all the Hezbollah
fighters is not the solution. You have to get it from the root.
And the root of the Hezbollah is, in the end, it’s the road
toward Syria, and from Syria toward Iran. They are the big
funders and the people who give Hezbollah the ok. In the end.
MJT: It looks like it’s an unresolvable problem without dealing
with Syria and Iran in some way, somehow.
Eli: It’s a matter of time. Because the way I see it, the way I
look at the situation now in Lebanon, at the parliament there,
that within a few months or a year, I don’t know, the Hezbollah
are getting stronger again. And they might push out the Lebanese
government. They’ll take over the government there. And they’ll
ask the UN peacekeepers to leave. And they will have to leave.
And then we’ll have it all over again.
Egyptian Paper Accuses Iranians of Complicity in Envoy’s Death
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/29/world/africa/29egypt.html?_r=1&oref=slogin
Egyptian Paper Accuses Iranians of Complicity in Envoy’s Death
By MONA EL-NAGGAR
Published: January 29, 2007
CAIRO, Jan. 28 — A front-page article in Egypt’s semiofficial state
newspaper on Sunday accused Iranian intelligence of involvement in the
2005 killing of Egypt’s ambassador to Iraq.
continued..........
Cairo denies report on Iran's involvement in Egyptian ambassador's abduction in Iraq
http://english.people.com.cn/200701/29/eng20070129_345572.html
08:47, January 29, 2007
Cairo denies report on Iran's involvement in Egyptian ambassador's
abduction in Iraq
Egypt denied on Sunday a press report that the Iranian intelligence was
behind the kidnapping and murder of a former Egyptian ambassador to
Iraq in 2005, the official MENA news agency reported.
Foreign Ministry spokesman Alaa Hadidi was quoted as saying that an
earlier report about Iran's involvement in the abduction of Egyptian
Ambassador Ihab al-Sherif, who was killed in Iraq in July 2005, is
groundless.
The Egyptian daily Al-Ahram has quoted unnamed diplomatic sources as
saying at the Ethiopian capital of Addis Ababa that Iranian intelligence
killed Ihab Al-Sherif to ban Egypt from playing role in Iraq.
Iran broke off diplomatic relations with Egypt after Iran's Islamic
revolution in 1979 to protest at Egypt's peace deal with Israel and its
decision to provide temporary refuge for the deposed shah.
Source: Xinhua
Saudi threat to scrap security ties shook No.10
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/85eeec12-b167-11db-b901-0000779e2340.html
Saudi threat to scrap security ties shook No.10
By Christopher Adams, Michael Peel and Jimmy Burns
Published: January 31 2007 22:34 |
Last updated: January 31 2007 22:34
It must have been an eye-popping telegram. When Sir Sherard
Cowper-Coles, the unflappable ambassador to Saudi Arabia, told his
bosses in London that Riyadh was threatening to scrap all security
ties, including intelligence-sharing on al-Qaeda, it appears he sent
Downing Street into a tailspin.
For much of the autumn, the Saudis and BAE Systems had been putting
pressure on the government to stop a long-running Serious Fraud Office
investigation into the al-Yamamah arms deal, Britain's biggest export
agreement, negotiated by Margaret Thatcher in the 1980s.
The SFO had been looking into allegations that BAE ran a "slush fund"
to bribe Saudi officials. It was about to gain access to secret Swiss
bank accounts linked, it is believed, to members of the Saudi royal
family.
The Saudis have a record of diplomatic brinkmanship. But if Mr Blair
were looking for an excuse to act and prevent the loss of a
multibillion pound jet contract, the successor to al-Yamamah, to
France, this was it. While anti-bribery rules meant the UK could not
intervene for diplomatic or economic reasons, it could, Lord
Goldsmith, the attorney-general believed, cite national security.
If in doing so, however, the government thought it could restrict the
scope for challenging its decision, the public fall-out has proved it
wrong. Since the inquiry was dropped in December, Britain has been
attacked on the international stage.
Anti-bribery campaigners are launching a judicial review. The
attorney-general has found himself at the centre of a political storm.
Exasperated by his critics, Lord Goldsmith defended his intervention
and denied pressuring the SFO.
Nobody, he said, had disagreed that the Saudi threats were real. While
there remain doubts that MI6, the Secret Intelligence Service,
believed the Saudis were bound to carry out their threat, Lord
Goldsmith said Sir John Scarlett, the head of MI6, shared Mr Blair's
concern over the "possible consequences" of the inquiry continuing and
the risk to security. "It's a bit uncomfortable to be in that
position. But you have to deal with the reality of the situation," he
said of the decision.
The attorney-general disclosed that Robert Wardle, SFO director, met
Sir Sherard three times before deciding to drop the investigation
because of national security and said the SFO came to its own
judgment. He shed more light on a disagreement with Mr Wardle over his
own view that a successful prosecution was unlikely.
The main legal obstacle, he believed, was the difficulty of proving
corruption. Prosecutors have to show a person receiving bribes – the
"agent" – was acting without the approval of their boss – the
"principal". "How were the SFO going to deal with that in this case?
Were they going to call someone from Saudi to say this wasn't
authorised? That's an insuperable problem." He said of the
investigation: "The evidence being obtained was not answering the
question. It was doing the opposite."
His critics question whether this would necessarily have fatally
undermined the case. They ask why he has chosen to speak out now about
a potential problem that had been lurking since the investigation
started in 2004. Taken at face value, his comments hardly amount to an
exoneration of the allegations against BAE, which has denied bribery.
Lord Goldsmith admitted to concerns that any trial might collapse
should there be disclosures of government complicity, such as those in
the Matrix Churchill case.
His explanation is unlikely to satisfy anti-corruption campaigners,
who believe Britain has flouted anti-bribery commitments and is trying
to justify a commercially and politically expedient decision.
One thing looks certain: it was the imminent examination of Saudi
financial dealings – scrutiny of the secretive network of companies,
bank accounts and middlemen thought to be used by the royals – that
had troubled Riyadh so much. It is just possible that, this time, the
Saudis may have meant what they said.
Additional reporting by Jimmy Burns
Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2007
Ingush Muslim leader wounded
Police: Russian Muslim leader wounded
Wednesday, January 31st, 2007
NALCHIK, Russia (AP) - Unidentified gunmen opened fire Wednesday on a
car carrying the chief Muslim leader in Ingushetia, seriously wounding
the mufti and his son, according to police in the violence-plagued
southern Russian region adjacent to Chechnya.
The mufti of Ingushetia, Isa Khamkhoyev, was riding in a car driven by
his son when it came under fire from automatic weapons, Ingush Interior
Ministry spokesman Nazir Yevloyev said.
Yevloyev said Khamkhoyev's son was in critical condition. There were no
other witnesses to the attack, and the assailants fled, he said.
Ingushetia has been plagued by attacks by militants, often targeting
officers and facilities of law enforcement or the government. As a
mainstream Muslim leader, the mufti could possibly have been perceived
as a target by Islamic extremists.
[snip]
I don't have the url or the balance of the article, it came from:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/chechnya-sl/
Judge tells Spain to declassify CIA flight papers
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070131/wl_nm/spain_cia_dc_1
Judge tells Spain to declassify CIA flight papers
MADRID (Reuters) - A judge has ordered Spain's state intelligence
agency to declassify any documents it has about secret
CIA flights shuttling terrorism suspects, court officials said on
Wednesday.
High Court Judge Ismael Moreno issued the order to the National
Intelligence Center (CNI) as part of an investigation he began last year to
determine whether suspects on CIA flights touching down on the Spanish
island of Mallorca were held illegally or tortured, the officials said.
continued
[pure propaganda]
Global anti-Abkhazian conspiracy a myth
30/01/2007 RIA Novosti Agence russe
Global anti-Abkhazian conspiracy a myth
http://en.rian.ru/analysis/20070129/59854593.html
MOSCOW. (Sergei Markedonov for RIA Novosti) - The world is closely
watching the political situation around Abkhazia. In the past six
months, the issue of the breakaway Caucasian republic has been
discussed
twice in the UN Security Council, and Russia and the United States have
worked out a compromise on it.
Resolution 1716, which is highly critical of Georgia, was approved
almost unanimously when Russia agreed to vote favorably on the issue of
North Korea. In early 2007, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon delivered
a
report on the ethnic and political situation in Abkhazia. The week
before the Security Council session, he presented his view of the
situation in the Gali district of Abkhazia, where outbreaks of violence
were registered shortly before the New Year.
Russian politicians and diplomats feared attempts to "internationalize"
the Abkhazian problem. But events of the past few months showed that it
will not threaten Russia's national interests, on one condition:
Russian
diplomats must learn to choose their priorities wisely.
This may sound paradoxical, but internationalization can promote
Russia's national interests if its format is determined clearly. At any
rate, it would be unreasonable to reject the idea of external
involvement in the Abkhazian settlement, provided we know which forces
should be involved and at which stages.
Russia should highlight the role of the UN and its Security Council,
which are the focal points of the international community to which all
countries, including Georgia, appeal for justice. Russia has levers of
influence in the UN, and the Kremlin may use them to strengthen its own
role and join the internationalization trend.
The UN Mission in Georgia, which is working in situ and knows
everything
about events in Abkhazia, has become almost immune to Mikhail
Saakashvili's PR projects. Russia should maintain ties with Abkhazia's
political and business elite and promote contacts between Sukhumi's
third power and European state and private structures that influence
public opinion in their countries.
If the Kremlin wants Abkhazia to become a national state de jure, it
should stop trying to keep the breakaway republic on a short leash and
cut off from the international community.
Russia can recognize Abkhazia as an independent state without damaging
its own interests only if such recognition is backed by a "a consortium
of powers." In its absence, Moscow should limit itself to political
assistance to Abkhazia, whose forceful incorporation into Georgia will
destabilize the situation in Russia and the North Caucasus.
In a word, the Kremlin will benefit from internationalizing the
Abkhazian problem. There is no "global anti-Abkhazian conspiracy," but
the world does not have an adequate view of the situation in that
republic. Foreign experts and NGOs have changed their views on Abkhazia
dramatically when they learned more about the situation there. So, the
Kremlin should do its best to provide an accurate information on
Abkhazia.
The peacekeeping operation in the zone of the Georgian-Abkhazian
conflict is a separate issue. Russia must not give up its "exclusive
role" there.
The idea of having "an international policing unit or international
policing force in Abkhazia - maybe not so much in Kodori, but for
certain in the Gali region," put forth by Matthew Bryza, U.S. deputy
assistant secretary of state for European and Eurasian affairs, during
his tour of the South Caucasus, cannot be implemented without damaging
Russian interests.
The deployment of an international policing force there will create
several clashing centers of power, with the peacekeepers viewed as
"pro-Russian" and the policing force as "pro-Georgian." Instead of
restoring peace, this would defreeze the conflict and involve external
forces in it.
The presence of Russian peacekeepers in the conflict zone has ensured
the return of some 60,000 refugees to their homes in Abkhazia. Despite
the political blunders the Kremlin has made in Georgia, Russian
peacekeepers have been a stabilizing force. They prevented the
reactivation of the conflict in May 1998 and in the fall of 2001,
despite strong prerequisites for that.
By combining military-political domination in the zone of the
Georgian-Abkhazian conflict with the internationalization of the
Abkhazian elite's contacts and of political debates on conflict
settlement, and by complementing its peacekeeping mission with an
active
involvement of the UN, Russia may greatly strengthen its positions as
the guarantor of peace in that turbulent region.
To attain this goal, it should create situation alliances with the U.S.
and EU countries, and pursue a correct and more flexible policy. The
matter at stake - stability in the North Caucasus - is important enough
to make the Kremlin policy there more realistic and pragmatic.
Sergei Markedonov is head of the ethnic relations department at the
Institute of Military and Political Analysis.
The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and may
not necessarily represent the opinions of the editorial board.
https://www.cia.gov/cia/reports/iraqi_mobile_plants/index.html
[Page has many photos]
Iraqi Mobile Biological Warfare Agent Production Plants
28 May 2003
DIA Seal
Overview
Secretary Powell's Speech to the UN
Prewar Assessment
Plants Consistent With Intelligence Reporting
Prewar Iraqi Mobile Program Sources
Legitimate Uses Unlikely
Hydrogen Production Cover Story
Sample Collection and Analysis
Mobile Production Plant Versus Mobile Laboratory?
Acrobat PDF Print Version With Graphics
Acrobat PDF Print Version Without Graphics
Reported Mobile Plants Compared to Trailers Found in Iraq
[Click image to enlarge]
Iraqi Mobile Biological Warfare Agent Production Plants
Overview
Coalition forces have uncovered the strongest evidence to date that Iraq was hiding a biological warfare program.
* Kurdish forces in late April 2003 took into custody a specialized tractor-trailer near Mosul and subsequently turned it over to US military control.
* The US military discovered a second mobile facility equipped to produce BW agent in early May at the al-Kindi Research, Testing, Development, and Engineering facility in Mosul. Although this second trailer appears to have been looted, the remaining equipment, including the fermentor, is in a configuration similar to the first plant.
* US forces in late April also discovered a mobile laboratory truck in Baghdad. The truck is a toxicology laboratory from the 1980s that could be used to support BW or legitimate research.
The design, equipment, and layout of the trailer found in late April is strikingly similar to descriptions provided by a source who was a chemical engineer that managed one of the mobile plants. Secretary of State Powell's description of the mobile plants in his speech in February 2003 to the United Nations (see inset below) was based primarily on reporting from this source.
Secretary Powell's Speech to the UN
Secretary Powell's speech to the UN in February 2003 detailed Iraq's mobile BW program, and was primarily based on information from a source who was a chemical engineer that managed one of the mobile plants.
* Iraq's mobile BW program began in the mid-1990s—this is reportedly when the units were being designed.
* Iraq manufactured mobile trailers and railcars to produce biological agents, which were designed to evade UN weapons inspectors. Agent production reportedly occurred Thursday night through Friday when the UN did not conduct inspections in observance of the Muslim holy day.
* An accident occurred in 1998 during a production run, which killed 12 technicians—an indication that Iraq was producing a BW agent at that time.
Analysis of the trailers reveals that they probably are second- or possibly third-generation designs of the plants described by the source. The newer version includes system improvements, such as cooling units, apparently engineered to solve production problems described by the source that were encountered with the older design.
* The manufacturer's plates on the fermentors list production dates of 2002 and 2003—suggesting Iraq continued to produce these units as late as this year.
[Table of Contents]
Prewar Assessment
The source reported to us that Iraq in 1995 planned to construct seven sets of mobile production plants—six on semitrailers and one on railroad cars—to conceal BW agent production while appearing to cooperate with UN inspectors. Some of this information was corroborated by another source.
* One of the semitrailer plants reportedly produced BW agents as early as July 1997.
* The design for a more concealable and efficient two-trailer system was reportedly completed in May 1998 to compensate for difficulties in operating the original, three-trailer plant.
* Iraq employed extensive denial and deception in this program, including disguising from its own workers the production process, equipment, and BW agents produced in the trailers.
[Table of Contents]
Plants Consistent With Intelligence Reporting
Examination of the trailers reveals that all of the equipment is permanently installed and interconnected, creating an ingeniously simple, self-contained bioprocessing system. Although the equipment on the trailer found in April 2003 was partially damaged by looters, it includes a fermentor capable of producing biological agents and support equipment such as water supply tanks, an air compressor, a water chiller, and a system for collecting exhaust gases.
The trailers probably are part of a two- or possibly three-trailer unit. Both trailers we have found probably are designed to produce BW agent in unconcentrated liquid slurry. The missing trailer or trailers from one complete unit would be equipped for growth media preparation and postharvest processing and, we would expect, have equipment such as mixing tanks, centrifuges, and spray dryers.
* These other units that we have not yet found would be needed to prepare and sterilize the media and to concentrate and possibly dry the agent, before the agent is ready for introduction into a delivery system, such as bulk-filled munitions. Before the Gulf war, Iraq bulk filled missile and rocket warheads, aerial bombs, artillery shells, and spray tanks.
Prewar Iraqi Mobile Program Sources
The majority of our information on Iraq's mobile program was obtained from a chemical engineer that managed one of the plants. Three other sources, however, corroborated information related to the mobile BW project.
* The second source was a civil engineer who reported on the existence of at least one truck-transportable facility in December 2000 at the Karbala ammunition depot.
* The third source reported in 2002 that Iraq had manufactured mobile systems for the production of single-cell protein on trailers and railcars but admitted that they could be used for BW agent production.
* The fourth source, a defector from the Iraq Intelligence Service, reported that Baghdad manufactured mobile facilities that we assess could be used for the research of BW agents, vice production.
Our analysis of the mobile production plant found in April indicates the layout and equipment are consistent with information provided by the chemical engineer, who has direct knowledge of Iraq's mobile BW program.
* The source recognized pictures of this trailer, among photographs of unrelated equipment, as a mobile BW production plant similar to the one that he managed, even pointing out specific pieces of equipment that were installed on his unit.
Fermentor and Exhaust gas compressor.
[Click image to enlarge]
Common elements between the source's description and the trailers include a control panel, fermentor, water tank, holding tank, and two sets of gas cylinders. One set of gas cylinders was reported to provide clean gases—oxygen and nitrogen—for production, and the other set captured exhaust gases, concealing signatures of BW agent production.
* The discovered trailers also incorporate air-stirred fermentors, which the source reported were part of the second-generation plant design.
* Externally, the trailers have a ribbed superstructure to support a canvas covering that matches the source's description.
* Data plates on the fermentors indicate that they were manufactured at the same plant the source said manufactured equipment for the first generation of mobile plants. The plant also was involved in the production of equipment used in Iraq's pre-Gulf war BW program.
Employees of the facility that produced the mobile production plants' fermentor revealed that seven fermentors were produced in 1997, one in 2002 and one in 2003.
Interior view of a fermentor, media tank, water supply tanks, and gas cylinders connected to pipes.
[Click image to enlarge]
* The seven fermentors appear to corroborate the source's reporting that Iraq in the mid-1990s planned to produce seven mobile production plants.
* The two fermentors produced in 2002 and 2003 reportedly were sent to the al-Kindi Research, Testing, Development, and Engineering facility in Mosul—the site where the second trailer was found—and probably are the fermentors found on the trailers in US custody.
There are a few inconsistencies between the source's reporting and the trailers, which probably reflect design improvements.
* The original plants were reported to be mounted on flatbed trailers reinforced by nickel-plate flooring and equipped with hydraulic support legs. The discovered plants are mounted on heavy equipment transporters intended to carry army tanks, obviating the need for reinforced floors and hydraulic legs.
* The trailers have a cooling unit not included in the original plant design, probably to solve overheating problems during the summer months as described by the source.
* The original design had 18 pumps, but the source mentioned an effort to reduce the number to four in the new design. The trailer discovered in late April has three pumps.
[Table of Contents]
Legitimate Uses Unlikely
Coalition experts on fermentation and systems engineering examined the trailer found in late April and have been unable to identify any legitimate industrial use—such as water purification, mobile medical laboratory, vaccine or pharmaceutical production—that would justify the effort and expense of a mobile production capability. We have investigated what other industrial processes may require such equipment—a fermentor, refrigeration, and a gas capture system—and agree with the experts that BW agent production is the only consistent, logical purpose for these vehicles.
* The capability of the system to capture and compress exhaust gases produced during fermentation is not required for legitimate biological processes and strongly indicates attempts to conceal production activity.
* The presence of caustic in the fermentor combined with the recent painting of the plant may indicate an attempt to decontaminate and conceal the plant's purpose.
* Finally, the data plate on the fermentor indicates that this system was manufactured in 2002 and yet it was not declared to the United Nations, as required by Security Council Resolutions.
Some coalition analysts assess that the trailer found in late April could be used for bioproduction but believe it may be a newer prototype because the layout is not entirely identical to what the source described.
Manufacturer's data plate on the fermentor.
[Click image to enlarge]
A New York Times article on 13 May 2003 reported that an agricultural expert suggests the trailers might have been intended to produce biopesticides near agricultural areas in order to avoid degradation problems. The same article also reported that a former weapons inspector suggests that the trailers may be chemical-processing units intended to refurbish Iraq's antiaircraft missiles.
* Biopesticide production requires the same equipment and technology used for BW agent production; however, the off-gas collection system and the size of the equipment are unnecessary for biopesticide production. There is no need to produce biopesticides near the point of use because biopesticides do not degrade as quickly as most BW agents and would be more economically produced at a large fixed facility. In addition, the color of the trailer found in mid-April is indicative of military rather than civilian use.
* Our missile experts have no explanation for how such a trailer could function to refurbish antiaircraft missiles and judge that such a use is unlikely based on the scale, configuration, and assessed function of the equipment.
* The experts cited in the editorial are not on the scene and probably do not have complete access to information about the trailers.
[Table of Contents]
Hydrogen Production Cover Story
Senior Iraqi officials of the al-Kindi Research, Testing, Development, and Engineering facility in Mosul were shown pictures of the mobile production trailers, and they claimed that the trailers were used to chemically produce hydrogen for artillery weather balloons. Hydrogen production would be a plausible cover story for the mobile production units.
* The Iraqis have used sophisticated denial and deception methods that include the use of cover stories that are designed to work. Some of the features of the trailer—a gas collection system and the presence of caustic—are consistent with both bioproduction and hydrogen production.
The plant's design possibly could be used to produce hydrogen using a chemical reaction, but it would be inefficient. The capacity of this trailer is larger than typical units for hydrogen production for weather balloons. Compact, transportable hydrogen generation systems are commercially available, safe, and reliable.
[Table of Contents]
Sample Collection and Analysis
We continue to examine the trailer found in mid-April and are using advanced sample analysis techniques to determine whether BW agent is present, although we do not expect samples to show the presence of BW agent. We suspect that the Iraqis thoroughly decontaminated the vehicle to remove evidence of BW agent production. Despite the lack of confirmatory samples, we nevertheless are confident that this trailer is a mobile BW production plant because of the source's description, equipment, and design.
* The initial set of samples, now in the United States, was taken from sludge from inside the fermentor, liquid that was in the system and wipes from the equipment. A sample set also was provided to a coalition partner for detailed laboratory analysis.
* As we expected, preliminary sample analysis results are negative for five standard BW agents, including Bacillus anthracis, and for growth media for those agents. In addition, the preliminary results indicate the presence of sodium azide and urea, which do not support Iraqi claims that the trailer was for hydrogen production.
* Additional sample analysis is being conducted to identify growth media, agent degradation products, and decontamination chemicals that could be specific for BW agents, as well as to identify a chemical associated with hydrogen production.
[Table of Contents]
Mobile Production Plant Versus Mobile Laboratory?
Although individuals often interchangeably use the terms production plant and laboratory, they have distinct meanings. The mobile production plants are designed for batch production of biological material and not for laboratory analysis of samples. A truck-mounted mobile laboratory would be equipped for analysis and small-scale laboratory activities. US forces discovered one such laboratory in late April.
* The mobile laboratory—installed in a box-bodied truck—is equipped with standard, dual-use laboratory equipment, including autoclaves, an incubator, centrifuges, and laboratory test tubes and glassware.
* These laboratories could be used to support a mobile BW production plant but serve legitimate functions that are applicable to public heath and environmental monitoring, such as water-quality sampling.
Iraqi mobile laboratory
[Click image to enlarge]
Interior view of mobile Laboratory
[Click image to enlarge]
[Table of Contents]
CIA Homepage | CIA Reports
February 1, 2007 Anti-Terrorism News
(Iraq) Eight killed in Baghdad attacks - six killed in bus bombing in
central Baghdad
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20070201/wl_mideast_afp/iraqunrest_070201125731;_ylt=Ai2goTHdpfA9adVkC_MlKVJX6GMA;_ylu=X3oDMTBiMW04NW9mBHNlYwMlJVRPUCUl
(Iraq) Shiite leader offers Iraq security plan
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070129/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq_shiites_1
(Iraq) 'Savior' who led Shia faction wanted slaughter in holy city
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0%2C%2C251-2575796%2C00.html
Iraq invites Iran, Syria for security meeting
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1167467866778&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull
U.S. warns Iran to stop aiding Iraqi insurgents
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070201/ts_nm/iran_usa_burns_dc_3;_ylt=Ap9WxYi.CkSQFP2D2yDGrfVSw60A;_ylu=X3oDMTBiMW04NW9mBHNlYwMlJVRPUCUl
(Iraq) Are the Iranians Out for Revenge?
http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1583523,00.html
(Pakistan) Five killed in Pakistan violence - van ambush killing three
police, and grenade attack kills two in Peshawar
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20070201/wl_sthasia_afp/pakistanafghanistanattacksqaeda_070201113745;_ylt=AjU8KRIzcMkEAWhD4JPo3UbzPukA;_ylu=X3oDMTBiMW04NW9mBHNlYwMlJVRPUCUl
(Pakistan) Car bomb kills 2 people in Pakistan - car bomb exploded in
the shopping district of a town in northwestern Pakistan
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/pakistan_bomb;_ylt=AnnH4E_kxuKSy_PLHABQPlXzPukA;_ylu=X3oDMTBiMW04NW9mBHNlYwMlJVRPUCUl
(Pakistan) Tortured brickmakers refuse to embrace Islam
http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=54031
(Pakistan) Police release sketch of hotel suicide bomber
http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/02/01/asia/AS-GEN-Pakistan-Hotel-Blast.php
Indonesia police arrest two wanted Muslim militants -- Central Sulawesi
province
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070201/wl_nm/indonesia_violence_dc_1;_ylt=AnPn9Xji7FIUX6X05GYh6T7aHXcA;_ylu=X3oDMTBiMW04NW9mBHNlYwMlJVRPUCUl
Indonesia: Militant Islamic Group Laskar Jihad Denies Sending Fighters
to Poso
http://www.adnki.com/index_2Level.php?cat=Security&loid=8.0.382192986&par=0
(Thailand) Buddhist Ice cream vendor beheaded
http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,21155061-1702,00.html
(India) Grenade hits office of Kashmiri separatists - Suspected Muslim
militants threw a grenade after calls to support peace moves
http://www.khaleejtimes.com/DisplayArticleNew.asp?xfile=data/subcontinent/2007/February/subcontinent_February23.xml§ion=subcontinent&col=
Israeli troops kill two militants in West Bank
http://www.khaleejtimes.com/DisplayArticleNew.asp?xfile=data/middleeast/2007/February/middleeast_February1.xml§ion=middleeast
Iran to announce stabilization of nuke program next week
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1167467868111&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull
(Iran) Man charged over weapons to Iran - through Britain and
Netherlands
http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,21153450-1702,00.html
Iran militia threatens to kidnap Americans - Week after Bush orders US
soldiers in Iraq to target Iranian agents, Iran’s Revolutionary
Guards publishes article threatening American soldiers and civilians in
Middle East, Europe and South America
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3359485,00.html
(France) Chirac reversal on Iran nuke bombs - "not very dangerous"
http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/meast/02/01/chirac.reversal.ap/index.html
U.K. police quiz alleged kidnap-murder plotters - Analysts warn that
plan for "al-Qaida-style" attack shows U.K. on "forefront"
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/16915522/
(UK) Al Qaeda was behind 'plot' to behead soldier
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=432962&in_page_id=1770&ct=5
(UK) How al-Qaeda 'tried to bring Baghdad to Birmingham
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2-2577816,00.html
(UK) Muslim soldiers 'faced kidnap and beheading' - British Muslims
working for police and Civil Service 'targeted as collaborators'
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2-2577831,00.html
(UK) 8 "Pakistanis" held in UK
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2007\02\01\story_1-2-2007_pg7_5
(UK) Online footage can do more damage than bomb attacks
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2-2577534,00.html
(UK) Fresh bid to extend detention period for terror suspects
http://politics.guardian.co.uk/terrorism/story/0,,2003633,00.html
(UK) Police try to calm fears in Birmingham's Muslim community
http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/02/01/europe/EU-GEN-Britain-Terror-Birmingham.php
(UK) Birmingham's Muslims fear reprisals after anti-terror raids
http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/crime/article2204084.ece
Algeria: Al-Qaeda not a threat
http://www.news24.com/News24/Africa/News/0,,2-11-1447_2062557,00.html
Is CBS using Al-Qaeda as a source?
http://www.jihadwatch.org/archives/015058.php
(Boston) Two held after ad campaign triggers Boston bomb scare
http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/01/31/boston.bombscare/index.html
(Spain) ETA terrorists who 'planned lorry bomb attack' on trial
http://www.expatica.com/actual/article.asp?subchannel_id=81&story_id=36031
(India Assam) Top Assam Congress leader killed
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/6320347.stm
That is what I like about Free Republic, someone always knows more than I and I learn so much here.<<<
Above is the last line of my post to you, let there be no doubt that I meant it as a positive statement, reading it cold turkey, it could be taken 2 or 3 ways.
Please, always share your knowledge with me, I am here to learn. LOL, and if I forget, just remind me again, I wrote the name down, but in a couple days, it will be lost in a mass of papers.
I do thank you for sharing your knowledge with me.
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/news.php3?id=120669
Turkish Al Qaeda School Trained Small Children
16:27 Jan 31, '07 / 12 Shevat 5767
(IsraelNN.com) Al Qaeda ran a school where it trained children, from
infants to 12-year-olds, in a village where authorities arrested
suspected members of the international terrorists network in
country-wide pre-dawn raids.
Police found report cards with the Koran and Muslim law, used to train
a
"star team" of child terrorists.
[This is the first time I have read of this attack, you will be hearing about it in the future......I fear....granny]
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/1777543/posts
Wash. Man Uses Cane to Repel Fire Attack
AP via SFGate ^ | 2/1/7
Posted on 02/01/2007 12:30:05 PM PST by SmithL
A man splashed lighter fluid on a stranger who fought him off with a metal cane, then used the lighter to set two women on fire, police and witnesses said.
Flames broke out on the women's clothing and hair, but no serious injuries were reported. Paul Alexander Pearson, 50, was arrested for investigation of assault, police Officer Debra Brown said.
The assault in downtown Seattle apparently began when the attacker ran up behind Gus Jones, 82, and dumped lighter fluid down his back at lunchtime Wednesday.
Jones felt someone grab his shoulder, smelled the fumes and hollered. Then, "I had to rap them with my cane," he told The Seattle Times. Jones, recovering from a broken hip, fell to the pavement but was not set afire.
"I cussed him out," Jones told the Seattle Post-Intelligencer. "I bent my cane."
Witnesses said the attacker ran across the street and sneaked behind two women. Flames shot 3 feet high from one woman's hair before passers-by quelled them using their jackets, a witness who declined to be identified by name told the Post-Intelligencer.
(Excerpt) Read more at sfgate.com ...
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1777223/posts
Iran militia threatens to kidnap Americans
Ynetnews.com ^ | 01.31.07 | Dudi Cohen
Posted on 01/31/2007 10:16:03 PM PST by Mount Athos
Iran’s Revolutionary Guards threatened to kidnap American soldiers and hinted at intentions to kidnap American citizens in Europe and South America as well.
The threat was apparently in response to President George W. Bush’s instruction to American soldiers in Iraq last week to target Iranian agents.
“The kidnapping of American citizens in the Middle East, Europe and South America is not difficult and can happen at any moment,” siad an article printed in the weekly Subah Sadak, which is considered the mouthpiece of the Revolutionary Guards in Iran.
The article, entitled “Easier and cheaper than Chinese merchandise”, was printed in response to the United Nations Security Council’s Resolution 1737, setting sanctions on Iran due to its refusal to suspend its nuclear program.
The threat may also be linked to the operation in which American forces kidnapped five Iranians from the Consulate General in Erbil in northern Iraq.
“The US prepared a most-wanted list, which includes senior Iranian officials whom they intend to kidnap to learn details about national, nuclear and military operations,” the article claimed.
'Current Iranian regime has offensive strategy'
The article further claimed that America had the names of 35 Iranian diplomats working at various embassies, who the White house suspects hold senior intelligence and security positions and have information on Iran’s nuclear and military capabilities.
Ali Saidi, a spokesperson for the Revolutionary Guards, noted, “Our enemies have many weak points, and we can cause them problems.”
In an interview with an Iranian news agency, Saidi said that contrary to the policy of previous governments, who employed passive and defense foreign policy, “The current Iranian regime has an offensive strategy.”
Meanwhile, the Iranian Embassy in Moscow denied the recent report in the Daily Telegraph that Iran was secretly cooperating with North Korea in nuclear weapons testing.
The embassy issued a notice saying that “Iran denies the rumors of cooperation with North Korea regarding nuclear experimentation.” North Korea denied the report as well.
For the old Free Republic threads:
http://web.archive.org/web/*/freerepublic.com
Origins of Free Republic, todays thread:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1777166/posts
Another old thread about the past of F.R. 2001:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/556546/posts
I will get this in reverse order.
Velveeta, the clip below is from your google search, it jumped out and hit me, he was here in late 94, the OKC bombing was on April 19th, 1995................connection???
Benevolence International Foundation
Mohammed Jamal Khalifa, the founder of the Philippines operations, traveled to the U.S. in late 1994, where he met with Benevolence's then-president Mohamed ...<<<
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/news.php3?id=120660
U.N. Charges Jordan with Torturing Terrorist Suspects
13:26 Jan 31, '07 / 12 Shevat 5767
(IsraelNN.com) United Nations investigator Manfred Nowak has charged
Jordan with using torture on terrorist suspects and urged the
government
to change its law. "The practice of torture is widespread in Jordan,
and
in some places routine," Nowak said in his report.
He said Jordan's two top security prisons are the "two most notorious
torture centers." He issued the report after interviewing 40 detained
suspects and with ministers. Nowak also accused authorities of trying
to
prevent him from speaking with inmates and with trying to hide
evidence.
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