Posted on 06/17/2006 7:30:56 PM PDT by fight_truth_decay
All very interesting and apparently the CIA spokesman lied. It's surprising you are the only one who has figured this out. Anyway, we are not going to change each other's minds.
On the contrary, only you are believing (or feigning belief in) Baer's spin. The rest was debated here on Free Republic some time ago, along with the links that I posted above and at least one other spook interview. Perhaps a search of the archives would find that thread if one of FR's hard drive crashes left it intact.
I just have a good memory, too bad for you.
You aren't even matching your own guy's testimony. Here are Baer's own words:
http://www.theage.com.au/news/World/CIA-debacle-in-Iran-cost-spies-lives/2005/02/13/1108229853474.html
The setback was first outlined by former Pentagon adviser Richard Perle on February 2 in testimony before the House Intelligence Committee. Mr Perle criticised US intelligence capabilities and cited the crackdown on sources in Iran as an example of failures that have beset US spying in the Middle East.
He referred to the "terrible setback that we suffered in Iran a few years ago when in a display of unbelievable, careless management, we put pressure on agents operating in Iran to report with greater frequency and didn't provide improved communications". When the CIA's sources stepped up their reporting, "the Iranian intelligence authorities quickly saw the surge in traffic and, as I understand it, virtually our entire network in Iran was wiped out", he said.
Perle, not Baer...
Just to put this "1989" nonsense to rest, the LA Times identified the CIA Agent responsible for the Iran debacle. Note that this agent WASN'T EVEN APPOINTED UNTIL 1994!
Perhaps we need a math lesson to point out that you can't be responsible in 1989 for a job that you only got in 1994...
http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/latimes/access/792208271.html?dids=792208271:792208271&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:FT&type=current&date=Feb+12%2C+2005&author=Greg+Miller&pub=Los+Angeles+Times&edition=&startpage=A.1&desc=The+World
"He also complained that CIA leaders have not been held accountable and noted that the official who had been in charge of the exposed Iran operation was later promoted. Perle declined to name the individual, but other sources said it was Stephen Richter, who was appointed head of the agency's near east division in 1994. He has since retired and could not be reached for comment."
See also: http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1341654/posts
That is correct, he was appointed head of NE division in 1994, but prior to that he was head of the Iranian Task Force, when all of this happened. Iran did not fall under NE division for many years and was a task force as opposed to a branch in NE. He headed that task force in the late 80's and then was promoted to Chief of NE division in 1994.
Just to clarify a small point, there are no such thing as Agents on the CIA staff. An agent is a foreigner who is recruited by the CIA to spy on his country. Often called an asset or an agent.
That's incorrect.
CIA's Near East and Africa Division Returns Shah to Throne in 1953
"Soon afterward, according to his later published accounts, the chief of the CIA's Near East and Africa division, Kermit Roosevelt, Jr. a grandson of Theodore Roosevelt, arrived in Tehran to direct it."
Nope.
"The CIA briefed committee staffers on the morning of November 18 at CIA headquarters. CIA Deputy Director for Operations Clair E. George was the principal speaker, supported by the deputy chief of the CIA's Near East Division; 9 the Director of the Office of Congressional Affairs, David Gries; CIA comptroller, Daniel Childs; an executive assistant to Casey (EA/DCI); 10 two special assistants to George, Norman H. Gardner, Jr., and CIA Subject #2; 11 counsel to the Operations Directorate (DO), W. George Jameson; and the head of a DO congressional liaison unit, George W. Gerner. The NSC's director of legislative affairs, Ronald K. Sable, also attended."
CIA Near East Division On Iran-Contra in 1986 - Congressional Testimony
Not even close.
"I had decided I wanted to go to NE Division [in 1979]. At that point, during a Saturday visit to Headquarters, the deputy chief of NE Division (DC/NE), knowing of my participation in the special program, raised the possibility of my being assigned to Tehran--even though I possessed absolutely no academic knowledge of, nor any practical experience whatsoever with, anything Iranian." - William J. Daugherty
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