Former Iranian Defense Official Talks to Western Intelligence
CommentsA former Iranian deputy defense minister who once commanded the Revolutionary Guard has left his country and is cooperating with Western intelligence agencies, providing information on Hezbollah and Iran’s ties to the organization, according to a senior U.S. official.
Ali Rez Asgari disappeared last month during a visit to Turkey. Iranian officials suggested yesterday that he may have been kidnapped by Israel or the United States. The U.S. official said Asgari is willingly cooperating. He did not divulge Asgari’s whereabouts or specify who is questioning him, but made clear that the information Asgari is offering is fully available to U.S. intelligence.
. . .Ram Igra, a former Mossad officer, said Asgari spent much of the 1980s and 1990s overseeing Iran’s efforts to support, finance, arm and train Hezbollah. The State Department lists the Shiite Lebanese group as a terrorist organization.
“He lived in Lebanon and, in effect, was the man who built, promoted and founded Hezbollah in those years,” Igra told Israeli state radio. “If he has something to give the West, it is in this context of terrorism and Hezbollah’s network in Lebanon.”
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As expected, one of the recommendations of the report is to negotiate with Iran and Syria.
Dealing with Iran and Syria is controversial. Nevertheless, it is our view that in diplomacy, a nation can and should engage its adversaries and enemies to try to resolve conflicts and differences consistent with its own interests. Accordingly, the Support Group should actively engage Iran and Syria in its diplomatic dialogue, without preconditions.
The report, while calling on the help of Iraq’s neighbors Iran and Syria to help stabilize Iraq, is either ignoring or cleverly avoiding stating our real long term goal of toppling all the state sponsors of terrorism in the whole of the middle east. The apparent absence of this goal in their considerations on the future of Iraq suggests that a vital piece of the formula wasn’t taken into account when gaging the effectiveness of each alternative strategy – that Iran and Syria have their own long term strategies for the region which have nothing to do with allowing their regimes to crumble and be replaced by thriving democracies. Hence, they have no intention of allowing a thriving democracy to take root next door much less participate in its fabrication. More likely they’ll do everything in their power to covertly destabilize things further, hoping to bring about a total disaster and collapse of authority in Iraq. They can then gobble up the pieces, increasing their influence and power by taking hold of a large portion of the planet’s energy reserves, with the added bonus of seeing us fall flat on our faces. No combination of incentives and disincentives is likely to change their intentions on the matter.
Another gutsy recommendation: create peace between Israel and the Palestinians.
There must be a renewed and sustained commitment by the United States to a comprehensive Arab-Israeli peace on all fronts: Lebanon, Syria, and President Bush?s June 2002 commitment to a two-state solution for Israel and Palestine. This commitment must include direct talks with, by, and between Israel, Lebanon, Palestinians (those who accept Israel’s right to exist), and particularly Syria – which is the principal transit point for shipments of weapons to Hezbollah, and which supports radical Palestinian groups.
Oh that one’s easy. The President should definitely do that one.
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Even as the Iraq Study Group prepares its recommendation that the U.S. and its allies turn to Iran and Syria for aid in stabilizing Iraq, evidence has emerged showing that Iran is supplying weapons to be used against coalition forces in Iraq.
U.S. officials say they have found smoking-gun evidence of Iranian support for terrorists in Iraq: brand-new weapons fresh from Iranian factories. According to a senior defense official, coalition forces have recently seized Iranian-made weapons and munitions that bear manufacturing dates in 2006.
This suggests, say the sources, that the material is going directly from Iranian factories to Shia militias, rather than taking a roundabout path through the black market. “There is no way this could be done without (Iranian) government approval,” says a senior official.
Iranian-made munitions found in Iraq include advanced IEDs designed to pierce armor and anti-tank weapons. U.S. intelligence believes the weapons have been supplied to Iraq’s growing Shia militias from Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, which is also believed to be training Iraqi militia fighters in Iran.
Then you also have Shiite militiamen being trained and equipped by Hezbollah.
As Andrew McCarthy at NRO puts it:
Let’s talk with our enemies, Iran and Syria. Let?s talk with terror abettors as if they were good guys – just like us. As if they were just concerned neighbors trying to stop the bloodshed in Iraq ? instead of the dons who’ve been commanding it all along.
This would be like asking China to help get the Viet Cong under control so we could widthdraw from Southeast Asia.
Madness.
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From ThreatsWatch:
Under the watchful eyes of UNIFIL forces tasked with carrying out UN Resolution 1701 which (again) calls for the disarmament of Hizballah, the Iranian-propped terrorists have successfully re-armed in Lebanon. An Israeli intelligence officer said, ?We assume they now have about 20,000 rockets of all ranges ? a bit more than they had before July 12.?
In the event observers would be inclined to dismiss the Israeli intelligence position as either exaggerated or alarmist, Hizballah?s leader Hassan Nasrallah boasts of even more weapons, saying that Hizballah now has over 30,000 missiles in stock, or nearly twice the number that it had before the start of the Israel-Hizballah conflict that ended just three months ago.
Hizballah has also resumed control over its original posts, both above and under ground, in Southern Lebanon. Israeli military observers say that the Hizballah terrorists now simply wear civilian clothes and show no more than AK-47 rifles publicly. Israel is ?in a race? to determine precisely where the re-supplied longer-range ZelZal missiles are hidden. One of Israel?s most important accomplishments during the 34-day summer conflict was the immediate destruction of Hizballah?s larger and harder to conceal Iranian ZelZal missiles. Said one observer, ?We believe Hezbollah have learnt their lesson and it will be much harder to locate them next time.?
This was entirely predictable. As usual, the “international community” has prolonged conflict by demanding “restraint” and otherwise preventing Israel from doing what is necessary to defend herself.
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Shelby Steele, author of “White Guilt”, offers much needed sanity and perspective on Israeli-Hezbollah conflict.
CommentsThe simple back-and-forth of war can create the illusion that both sides have a legitimate point to make even when this is not so, and it is clear that Hezbollah’s cause has greatly benefited from war’s “equalizing” effect. This Shiite militia seems to have known that merely fighting Israel would gain legitimacy for its cause. A cease-fire would make it a “partner” in peace. The Goliath Israeli military would make it a David whose passion proved the truth of its cause. But amid all the drama of this war there has been very little talk of exactly what Hezbollah’s cause is.
And, of course, it is not just Hezbollah’s cause. There is Hamas, one more in a family of politicized terrorist groups spread across the Muslim world. Beyond these more conventional groups there is the free-floating and world-wide terrorism of groups like al Qaeda. In Europe, there are cells of self-invented middle-class terrorists living modern lives by day and plotting attacks on modernity by night. And around these cells there is often a nourishing atmosphere of fellow traveling. Then there are the radical nation-states in league with terrorism, Iran and Syria most prominent among them. From nations on the verge of nuclear weapons to isolated individuals–take the recent Seattle shootings–Islamic militancy grounded in hatred of Israel and America has become the Muslim world’s most animating idea. Why?
I don’t believe it is because of the reasons usually cited–Israeli and American “outrages.” No doubt Israel and America have made mistakes in the Middle East. Certainly, Israel was born at the price of considerable dislocation and suffering on the part of the Palestinians. And yes, there will never be a satisfying answer for this. Yet every Israeli land-for-peace gesture has been met with a return volley of suicide bombers and rockets. Palestinians have balked every time their longed-for nationhood has come within grasp. They have seemed to prefer the aggrieved dignity of their resentments to the challenges of nationhood. And Hezbollah launched the current war from territory Israel had relinquished six years earlier.
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A laughable suit by the Islamic Human Rights Commission (IHRC) was rejected by a UK judge.
The Islamic Human Rights Commission (IHRC) claimed in the High Court the flights encouraged Israel’s campaign against Hezbollah in southern Lebanon.
Peter Carter QC, for the IHRC, told the judge that the UK was assisting in “disproportionate military attacks”.
Oy, was the motion written in crayon, too?
A judge in London dismissed a plea by the IHRC for permission to seek a judicial review and an injunction against the government, based on the argument that it was knowingly assisting “acts of terrorism” by Israel in its campaign against Hezbollah in southern Lebanon.
. . . The body said it brought the case after receiving “many complaints” from British citizens whose family members are in Lebanon and “facing grave danger as well as acts of terror”.
Mr Carter QC, said the government “knew that the arms shipments would encourage Israel to continue its attacks, in the knowledge that supplies would be replenished by the US”.
These attempts are so pathetically absurd, it’s sad that they even have to be discussed. The Islamic Jihadists will use any means possible to weaken our resolve and obfuscate the issues. This lawsuit is a prime example of that. Hezbollah is a terrorist organization that has pledged the destruction of both Israel and America. They deliberately target civilians. Lebanon has long since shown it is incapable of disarming and controlling them.
Israel has every right to eliminate such groups, in fact they must do so. Israel is not a terrorist organization, contrary to the staged propaganda the Jihadists present that claim to say otherwise. Not only do we have a moral obligation to support Israel’s efforts to eliminate these groups, but it’s in our best interest to do so as well. Supporting allies with weapons and equipment is not a crime. Thankfully there is sanity enough left to realize this and the suit was thrown out. Now, if only we can get the same results here in America.
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The ill thought out ceasefire allowing terrorist group Hezbollah to continue to exist in exchange for absolutely nothing is all but dead. Europe is waffling and may never send any troops. They rightfully complain they shouldn’t send in troops that don’t have a clear mission or ability to defend themselves.
Yet, they do have a clear directive. They are to stop Hezbollah from arming and engaging in rocket attacks against Israel. It’s their own skiddishness that is holding them back.
Apparently the only ceasefire worth defending is the one that doesn’t need defending. The idea of actually combating terrorists is unbecoming of soldiers belonging to such civilized and enlightened countries.
Israel, oddly late, is finally catching on to the folly of “peace keepers” who are, in fact, little more than pacifists who think peace can be achieved when one side unilaterally decides not to defend itself.
CommentsThe deployment of an international force in southern Lebanon could strengthen Hizballah and even pave the way for an al Qaeda presence in southern Lebanon, and therefore Israel should abandon the idea, a senior Israeli lawmaker said.
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Agence France Presse, the French news organization that once cried of a U.S. “epidemic” of patriotism, is now regurgitating everything Hezbollah feeds them.
In the eastern Lebanese mountain village of Buday, residents say Hezbollah’s strength combined with Israeli soldiers’ unconvincing Arabic accents proved fatal for a daring commando raid.
From this dramatically ridiculous opening, one would think the raid was a massive failure with high Israeli casualties. But when we read a little bit further, we see that’s not the case.
And they have little doubt that the raid, which saw one soldier killed in clashes with Hezbollah fighters, targeted an Iranian-linked senior official from the Lebanese Shiite fundamentalist movement, Sheikh Mohammed Yazbek.
The rest of the “article” recounts the event exactly as one would expect an ardent Hezbollah supporter would. In the end, however, it provides almost nothing of interest. The author asks no questions about Hezbollah casualties or possible Iranian weapons shipments. Such details, no doubt, wouldn’t be favorable enough for Hezbollah to warrant investigation.
Hat tip: Little Green Footballs
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NRO Media Blog has the scoop on Bassem Mroue, an AP reporter with obvious sympathies towards Hezbollah. From his site:
Not surprisingly, Mroue is now pushing the “humanitarian Hezbollah” line as hard as he can
Lebanese turned out by the hundreds Wednesday to sign up for aid from Hezbollah, which is offering rent money, reconstruction money and even money for new furniture in a campaign likely to win new public support.
The leader of the Shiite Muslim group, Sheik Hassan Nasrallah, went on television this week shortly after the cease-fire with Israel took hold to promise to help rebuild Lebanon, including providing money for civilians to pay rent and buy furniture.
Mroue appearantly couldn’t find room in his propaganda piece anywere to point out the responsibility Hezbollah bears for all this destruction thanks to its efforts in deliberately placing weapons in civilian areas, nor does he find cause to criticize their attempts to prevent civilians from leaving targetted areas in order to boast civilian death counts.
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It didn’t take long. Surrounded by diplopukes, Rice has gone native.
At the same time, we have insisted that a truly effective cease-fire requires a decisive change from the status quo that produced this war. Last Friday we took an important step toward that goal with the unanimous passage of U.N. Resolution 1701. Now the difficult, critical task of implementation begins.
The “status quo that produced this war” just so happens to have consisted of toothless UN resolutions calling for the disarmament of Hezbollah that are then promptly ignored. Knowing this history, Secretary Rice and the Bush administration have come up with the absolutely brilliant idea of pushing yet another toothless UN resolution that will demand disarmament and get, in return, absolutely nothing.
. . .this resolution clearly lays out the political principles to secure a lasting peace: no foreign forces, no weapons and no authority in Lebanon other than that of the sovereign Lebanese government. These principles represent a long-standing international consensus that has been affirmed and reaffirmed for decades — but never fully implemented. Now, for the first time, the international community has put its full weight behind a practical political framework to help the Lebanese government realize these principles, including the disarmament of all militias operating on its territory.
Where in the hell is she getting this crap from? What exactly does this “full weight” of the “international community” consist of that is any different than the same failed policies of the past? So far all I see is a whole lot of nothing, the same nothing that has failed decade after decade. And, as RightWingNews points out, is already about to fail yet again.
No solution that involves allowing Hezbollah to continue to exist, in any capacity, can have a positive outcome. As soon as Hezbollah regroups we’ll be right back where we started, with Israel wanting to be left alone and Islamic Jihadists trying to wipe them off the map.
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I am a libertarian-conservative blogger living in the DC area. I have a Master's degree in Political Science, but please don't hold that against me.
