The Intersection of “Al Qaida” and the Agencies, THE CHILLING EFFECT

By Peter Lance

In 2002 I left the Philippines with a packet of classified intelligence. The material proved that the Al Qaeda bombmaker who exploded a 1,500-pound urea-nitrate device in the World Trade Center in 1993 was the same terrorist who, two years later in Manila, conceived the “planes operation” realized on 9/11.

Four years to the month after I’d left my meeting with an official of the Philippines National Police, I stood outside the Brooklyn Supreme Courthouse as a phalanx of angry ex–FBI agents surrounded the man once known in the bureau as Mr. Organized Crime. Swatting back the press like a mob of soccer hooligans after a losing match, the former agents were protecting R. Lindley DeVecchio, an ex–supervisory special agent who’d been indicted on four counts of murder. I had covered DeVecchio in my book Cover Up, which a Brooklyn assistant DA had referred to as the “springboard” for their investigation. Now, as he moved down Jay Street, DeVecchio—just released on $1 million bail—shot me a predatory look.

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At that point, I was writing a new book about how Al Qaeda met the mob. This book would soon put me in the crosshairs of the ex-agent’s defense team. Not only did I get subpoenaed and threatened with jail if I didn’t cough up my confidential sources, but after the book was published, the most powerful federal prosecutor in the country demanded it be killed.

I’d become the latest target of Patrick Fitzgerald, the U.S. attorney for Chicago and former special counsel in the CIA leak investigation. I’d raised some questions about his record on counterterrorism, and Fitzgerald, described by a former colleague at Justice as “Eliot Ness with a Harvard degree and a sense of humor,” was not amused.

The man who jailed publishing magnate Conrad Black and got Illinois governor Rod Blagojevich indicted has enjoyed an extraordinary reputation for honesty and integrity, but he’s also used his power to intimidate the media. The story of how he came gunning for me sheds light on his methods as a prosecutor and calls into question certain decisions he made in the years leading up to 9/11.

The evidence I unearthed stems from Fitzgerald’s tenure in the mid-1990s as co-head of the Organized Crime-Terrorism Unit in the Southern District of New York, the U.S. attorney’s office that turned out Rudolph Guiliani and Louis Freeh. In 1995, after President Clinton issued Decision Directive 39—a secret order targeting domestic and international terrorism—Fitzgerald was assigned to effectively supervise I-49, the elite bin Laden squad in New York’s FBI office. It would be a career-making position for Fitzgerald, the son of an Irish immigrant doorman.

Fitzgerald soon emerged as the Department of Justice’s leading bin Laden authority. In a February 2006 Vanity Fair profile friends and colleagues described him as a “crusader” with “scary-smart” intelligence and “a mainframe-computer brain.”

“ Fitzgerald became a hero for the left, with Bush critics certain the dogged prosecutor with the altar boy image would take the probe all the way to presidential aide Karl Rove or Vice President Dick Cheney. ”

As lead prosecutor in United States vs. bin Laden—the African embassy bombing case in 2001—Fitzgerald went on to become the top federal prosecutor in Chicago, a city well-known for political corruption. During his current tenure Fitzgerald has amassed what a local reporter called “a remarkable string of courtroom victories,” convicting a host of dirty pols and white-collar criminals including former governor George Ryan and Tony Rezko, an early supporter of Barack Obama.

In December 2003 Fitzgerald was tapped to become special counsel in the Valerie Plame investigation. It would be his job to determine who had outed former CIA operative Plame in an effort to punish her husband for alleging the White House had used false intelligence to justify invading Iraq.

Fitzgerald became a hero for the left, with Bush critics certain the dogged prosecutor with the altar boy image would take the probe all the way to presidential aide Karl Rove or Vice President Dick Cheney. People magazine even named Fitzgerald as one of the “Sexiest Men Alive.” But after 45 months and a multimillion-dollar investigation, Fitzgerald convicted only one man of perjury and obstruction. Lewis “Scooter” Libby, Cheney’s chief of staff, got a 30-month term. However, the sentence was later commuted by President Bush, allowing Libby to avoid jail. In fact, the only person locked up was Judith Miller, the New York Times reporter, who served 85 days for refusing Fitzgerald’s demands that she turn over her confidential sources. Miller’s jailing seemed draconian when it was later discovered that Fitzgerald had for some time known the identity of the actual leaker: Richard Armitage, a Bush deputy secretary of state. Washington Post columnist Richard Cohen referred to the months of drama as “a train wreck—mile after mile of shame, infamy, embarrassment and occasional farce.”

The Wall Street Journal called Fitzgerald “a loose cannon.” Progressive columnists worried about his tactics. “Let’s remember that you and I still don’t know exactly why Miller was ordered by the court to go to jail,” wrote Chicago Sun-Times columnist Carol Marin. “That’s because the written opinion of the U.S. Court of Appeals…contains [eight] blank pages…. [T]he information on those pages has been redacted at the request of U.S. Attorney Fitzgerald…. That level of secrecy in a court ruling has stunned constitutional lawyers.”

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About the Author

A five-time Emmy Award-winning investigative reporter and former correspondent for ABC News, Peter Lance is the author of 1000 Years for Revenge, Cover Up and the novel First Degree Burn. Buy the new paperback edition of Triple Cross at Amazon.com.

Pakistan Army tightens noose around Bait Mehsud

Posted on June 19, 2009 by Moin Ansari

The patriotic Mehsud leaders Qari Zain and Turkistan Bittani have now brought in two other Musud leaders of South Wazirisitan Mullah Nazir and Hafiz Gul Bahadur. We had previously reported that Turkistan had joined Qari Zain now that alliance has been expanded. Using the latest surveillance techniques the Pakistani Law agencies had monitored and taped the calls made by Bait Mehsud. This led to the tracing and tracking many terrorists. This warned the authorities of bomb attacks in Peshawar, Lahore, Karachi, Islamabad and some other cities.

Ahmed Mukhtar said that Baitullah Mehsud wanted to create chaos in the country by carrying out suicide attacks and, therefore, the government had decided to hit back.

‘We have a huge network of informers who are after him and the moment his whereabouts are known the forces are going to hit him’, the minister said. Dawn

A war of words erupted in Pakistan’s tribal belt today as pro-government tribal commanders fired verbal salvoes against the embattled Taliban leader Baitullah Mehsud while the army pressed ahead with its plans to invade his South Waziristan lair.

Qari Zainuddin, a fellow Mehsud tribesmen who has risen from obscurity in recent months, accused the warlord of being an Indian and Israeli agent. “He is working against Islam,” he told Geo television.

Another commander, Turkistan Bhittani, launched a more fanciful slur – that Baitullah, who has a $5m US government bounty on his head, is in the secret employ of Washington. The UK Guardian

Patriots like Qari Zain have had enough of Bait Mehsud. Pakistanis are sick and tired of RAWs interference. Ismail Khan has written a prodigious report that may change the tide against the culprits. The Mehsuds are stuck between a rock and hard palce in South Waziristan. They cannot move into Afghanistan, and they are being pushed by the Pakistan army. To make matters worse, there is dissension in their ranks. The NWFP-Pakhtunkhwa government has red the Mehsuds the riot act. Comply or face the wrath of the army as never before. Targeting Agent M in the shadow of Yekaterinburg

Retired Brigadier General Mehmood Shah served as a senior official in North West Frontier Province. He says Pakistani troops will have to launch quick, sharp and precise attacks in the area if they hope to prevail.

“Here you are facing a very hardened sort of fighters, who are die-hard,” Shah said. “We are talking about Mehsud area and Baitullah Mehsud. He is in fact the center of everything for the whole Taliban movement in Pakistan and in the tribal area, including Swat. So you are going to have a very, very tough fight.” VOA

Pakistan has imposed blockade on on the mountain hide out of Bait Mehsud, the leader of the TTP. The same tactics of clear and hold will be applied. In draining the swamp care has been taken to making sure the good are separated from the bad and the ugly. To minimize unnecessary civilian deaths and injury the public has been encouraged civilians to flee the area. The ground offensive is in an advanced stage and will not be over ’till Bait Mehsud either goes to his base in the Indian Consulate in Afghanistan or heads out to Somalia or Uzbekistan. he Pakistan Army and the ISI has been developing a militia to eliminate the 10,000 strong Anti-Pakistan force of Bait Mesud. It has been training, arming and supporting a Counter-TTP force under the auspices of Qari Zainuddin Mehsudwho is loyal to Pakistan and against the Anti-Pakistan Bait Mehsud. the army struck Swat and Waziristan when the Indians thought that their proxy in Swat was safe and had an upper hand. The Delhi sponsored TTP overplayed their hand, and tried to move into Buner. This was not acceptable to the Army Brass who had given Bait Mehsud enough rope to hang himself with. The statements of Sufi Muhammad and his live interview was the last straw that broke the camel’s back. The Army moved.

Fresh from its success in Swat, where the Taliban have been driven from the main towns, the Pakistani army hopes to isolate Mehsud in South Waziristan through a combination of military strikes and alliances with friendly tribal commanders.

The newly aggressive approach has won generous praise from a previously sceptical US government. UK Guardian

South Waziristan part of FATA inhabited mainly by the Mehsuds among other tribes. It has a population of 500,000.

‘He (Baitullah Mehsud) is working against the interest of the state of Pakistan and we have to protect our interests at all costs,’ Defence Minister Chaudhry Ahmed Mukhtar

Dozens of terrorists have already been flushed out under the  Frontier Crimes Regulations (FCR). Under the Pakistani constitution the Government relies on the political agent to request the tribe to hand over a wanted person. This is tribal law as it exists in FATA.

All three main roads leading to Mr Mehsud’s territory are blocked in South Waziristan and  only civilians are allowed to leave the area. Tanks has been in total Army control for some time.

Senator Maulana Saleh Shah has been informed and has been instrumental in making sure the tribals understand that the army means business this time.

Bait Mehsud is said to command 3000-10,000 men inlcuding RAW agents, thugs Mossad spies and an assortment of drug dealers and other losers. The Mehsuds of South Waziristan are now facing the brunt of the attack from the Pakistan army. Caught between the Zain Lashkar and the Pakistan Army is implementing the hammer and anvil.  The powerplay in FATA continues.

The Pakistan army has routed the Indian sponsored TTP, cleared the enemy strongholds, eliminated the physical and psychological barriers, shattered the myth of the TTP, demolished the insurgent bunkers, and obliterated their infrastructure. The army did this by surrounding them with an overwhelming force, exposing their nefarious deeds, squeezing their recruitment, “draining the swamp”, sharply curtailing their activities, clearing the area, and asphyxiating their supply lines . The Paksitan Army has done in Swat what the US Army, NATO and and 47 nation coalition ISAF has been unable to do in Afghanistan. NATO has spent the best part of a decade without any results. All Britain and America have done is push the militants across the border into Pakistan. NATO has been unable to hold territory outside Kabul, or clear and hold any significant part of the country. More than 80% of the Afghanistan is still in the control of the “Taliban”.

There are indications, however, that this time the Pakistani army and government are thinking differently about the current offensive. Analyst Khalid Aziz puts it this way: in the past, the army merely wanted to manage the problem of Baitullah Mehsud. Now, it wants to eliminate him.VOA

Embarrassed Generals Target Nazir’s Offices to Save Face

[SEE: Obama’s Drones Working for Taliban Unity, Sabotage Army “Divide and Conquer” Plans]

Pakistani aircraft hit militants near Afghan border

By Hafiz Wazir

WANA, Pakistan (Reuters) – Pakistani forces used aircraft and artillery on Sunday as they stepped up an assault aimed at eliminating Pakistani Taliban commander Baituallah Mehsud.

Security forces have secured much of the scenic Swat Valley, northwest of Islamabad, in the past six weeks and the military plans to extend its offensive to al Qaeda ally Mehsud, holed up in the South Waziristan region near the Afghan border.

The military action came after Taliban gains raised fears for the future of nuclear-armed Pakistan, a vital ally for the United States as it strives to defeat al Qaeda and stabilize Afghanistan.

A full-scale offensive has not yet begun in South Waziristan but fighter jets have been attacking Mehsud’s positions in recent days, and did so again on Sunday.

“It’s very scary. Jets have carried out heavy bombing. I saw billows of smoke and dust coming from houses that were hit,” Jahangir Barki, a residents of Wana, South Waziristan’s main town, told Reuters.

Security forces also fired artillery at an office of a top militant commander allied with Mehsud, Maulvi Nazir, residents said. The commander was not there at the time, they said.

The military has said it is trying to clear militants from a stretch of the main road linking Wana with North West Frontier Province.

Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden is believed to be hiding out in a militant enclave somewhere in the ungoverned ethnic Pashtun tribal lands along the Afghan border.

The CIA and the Iranian experiment

by Thierry Meyssan* The news of alleged election fraud has spread through Tehran like wildfire, pitching ayatollah Rafsanjani’s supporters against ayatollah Khamenei’s in street confrontations. This chaotic situation is secretly stirred by the CIA which has been spreading confusion by flooding Iranians with contradicting SMS messages. Thierry Meyssan recounts this psychological warfare experiment.

In March 2000, the Secretary of State Madeleine Albright admitted that the Eisenhower administration organized a regime change in 1953 in Iran and that this historical event explained the current hostility of Iranians towards the United States. Last week, during the speech he addressed to Muslims in Cairo, President Obama officially recognized that « in the midst of the cold war the United States played a role in the toppling of a democratically elected Iranian government » [1]. At the time, Iran was controlled by a puppet monarchy headed by the Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi. He had been placed on the throne by the British who forced his father, the pro-Nazi Cossack officer Reza Pahlavi to resign. However, the Shah had to deal with a nationalist Prime Minister, Mohammad Mossadegh. Mossadegh, with the help of ayatollah Abou al-Qassem Kachani, nationalized the oil resources [2]. Furious, the British persuaded the United States that the Iranian dissent needed to be stopped before the country became communist. The CIA then put together Operation Ajax to overthrow Mossadegh with the help of the Shah, and to replace him with Nazi general Fazlollah Zahedi who until then was detained by the British. Zahedi is responsible for having instituted the cruelest terror regime of the time, while the Shah would cover his exactions while parading for Western ‘people’ magazines. Operation Ajax was lead by archeologist Donald Wilber, historian Kermit Roosevelt (grandson of president Theodore Roosevelt) and general Norman Schwartzkopf Sr. (whose son with the same name lead Operation Desert Storm). This operation remains a textbook example of subversion. The CIA came up with a scenario that gave the impression of a popular revolt when in reality it was a covert operation. The highpoint of the show was a demonstration in Tehran with 8 000 actors paid by the Agency to provide credible pictures to Western media [3]. Is History repeating itself? Washington renounced to a military attack on Iran and has dissuaded Israel to take such an initiative. In order to « change the regime », the Obama administration prefers to play the game of covert actions – less dangerous but with a more unpredictable outcome. After the Iranian presidential elections, huge demonstrations in the streets of Tehran are pitching supporters of president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and supreme leader Ali Khamenei on one side, to supporters of defeated candidate Mir-Hossein Mousavi and former president Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani on the other. The demonstrations are a sign of a profound division in the Iranian society between a nationalist proletariat and a bourgeoisie upset at being held back from economic globalization [4]. With its covert actions, Washington is trying to weigh on the events to topple the re-elected president. Once again, Iran is an experimental field for innovative subversive methods. CIA is relying in 2009 on a new weapon: control of cell phones. Since the democratization of mobile phones, Anglo-Saxon secret services have increased their interception capability. While wired phones’ tapping requires the installation of branch circuits – and therefore local agents, tapping of mobile phones can be done remotely using the Echelon network. However, this system cannot intercept Skype mobile phones communications, which explains the success of Skype telephones in conflict areas [5]. The National Security Agency (NSA) therefore lobbied world Internet Service Providers to require their cooperation. Those who accepted have received huge retribution [6]. In countries under their occupation —Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan—, the Anglo-Saxons intercept all telephone communication, whether mobile or wired. The goal is not to obtain full transcripts of any given conversation, but to identify « social networks ». In other words, telephones are surveillance bugs which make it possible to know who anyone is in touch with. Firstly, the hope is to identify resistance networks. Secondly, telephones make it possible to locate identified targets and «neutralize» them. This is why in February 2008, the Afghan rebels ordered various operators to stop their activity daily, from 5PM to 3AM, in order to prevent the Anglo-Saxons to follow their whereabouts. The relay antennas of those that refused to comply where destroyed [7]. On the contrary, with the exception of a telephone exchange which was accidentally hit, Israeli forces made sure not to hit telephone exchanges in Gaza during Operation Cast Lead from December 2008 to January 2009. This is a complete change in strategy. Since the Gulf War, the most prevalent strategy was colonel John A. Warden’s « five circles theory »: the bombing of telephone infrastructures was considered a strategic objective to both confuse populations and to cut communication lines between commanding centers and fighters. Now the opposite applies: telecommunication infrastructures must be protected. During the bombings in Gaza, the operator Jawwal [8] offered additional talk time to its users – officially to help them but de facto serving Israel’s interests. Going one step further, Anglo-Saxons and Israeli secrets services developed psychological warfare methods based on an extensive use of mobile phones. In July 2008, after the exchange of prisoners and remains between Israel and Hezbollah, robots placed tens of thousands of calls to Lebanese mobile phones. A voice speaking in Arabic was warning against participating in any resistance activity and belittled Hezbollah. The Lebanese minister of telecommunications, Jibran Bassil [9], files a complaint to the UN against this blatant violation of the country’s sovereignty [10]. Following the same approach, tens of thousands of Lebanese and Syrians received an automatic phone call in October 2008 to offer them 10 million dollars for any information leading to the location and freeing of Israeli prisoners. People interested in collaborating were invited to call a number in the UK [11]. This method has now been used in Iran to bluff the population, to spread shocking news and to channel the resulting anger. First, SMS were sent during the night of the counting of the votes, according to which the Guardian Council of the Constitution (equivalent to a constitutional court) had informed Mir-Hossein Mousavi of his victory. After that, the announcing of the official results — the re-election of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad with 64 % of cast votes — seemed like a huge fraud. However, three days earlier, M. Mousavi and his friends were considering a massive victory of M. Ahmadinejad as certain and were trying to explain it by unbalanced campaigns. Indeed the ex president Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani was detailing his grievances in an open letter. The US polling institutes in Iran were predicting a 20 points lead for M. Ahmadinejad over M. Mousavi  [12]. M. Mousavi victory never seemed possible, even if it is probable that some fraud accentuated the margin between the two candidates. Secondly, Iranian citizens were selected or volunteered on the Internet to chat on Facebook or to subscribe to Twitter feeds. They received information —true or false— (still via SMS) about the evolution of the political crisis and the ongoing demonstrations. These anonymous news posts were spreading news of gun fights and numerous deaths which to this day have not been confirmed. Because of an unfortunate calendar overlap, Twitter was supposed to suspend its service for a night to allow for some maintenance of its systems. The US State Department intervened to ask them to postpone it [13]. According to the New York Times, these operations contributed to spread defiance in the population [14]. Messages describing death threats, police bursting into homes, etc. sent by authors who cannot be indentified or located. Simultaneously, in a new type of effort, the CIA is mobilizing anti-Iranian militants in the United States and in the United Kingdom to increase the chaos. A Practical Guide to revolution in Iran was distributed to them, which contains a number of recommendations, including: set Twitter accounts feeds to Tehran time zone; centralize messages on the following Twitter accounts @stopAhmadi, #iranelection and #gr88 ; official Iranian State websites should not be attacked. « Let the US military take care of it » (sic). When applied, these recommendations make it impossible to authenticate any Twitter messages. It is impossible to know if they are being sent by witnesses of the demonstrations in Tehran or by CIA agents in Langley, and it is impossible to distinguish real from false ones. The goal is to create more and more confusion and to push Iranians to fight amongst themselves. Army general staffs everywhere in the world are closely following the events in Tehran. They are trying to evaluate the efficiency of this new subversion method in the Iranian experimental field. Evidently, the destabilization process worked. But it is unclear if the CIA will be able to channel demonstrators to do what the Pentagon has renounced to do, and what they do not want to do themselves : to change the regime and put an end to the Islamic revolution. Thierry Meyssan

Agents say DEA is forcing them illegally to work in Afghanistan

By MARISA TAYLOR

McClatchy Newspapers

As the Obama administration ramps up the Drug Enforcement Administration’s presence in Afghanistan, some special-agent pilots contend that they’re being illegally forced to go to a combat zone, while others who’ve volunteered say they’re not being properly equipped.

In interviews with McClatchy Newspapers, more than a dozen DEA agents describe a badly managed system in which some pilots have been sent to Afghanistan under duress or as punishment for bucking their superiors.

Such complaints, so far mostly arising from the DEA’s Aviation Division, could complicate the Obama administration’s efforts to send dozens of additional DEA agents to Afghanistan as part of a civilian and military personnel “surge” that aims to stabilize the country.

Veteran DEA pilot Daniel Offield has alleged in an employment discrimination complaint he was told if he refuses to go to Afghanistan in July he’ll be demoted. The Stockton, Calif., agent asked for a reprieve because he was in the process of adopting two special-needs children and offered to serve his required temporary duty in other countries.

Another agent, David Beavers, told McClatchy Newspapers that he was ordered in July 2007 to prepare to go to Afghanistan in two weeks while he was on bereavement leave after his mother-in-law died. To avoid going, the Orlando, Fla., pilot decided to retire early.

Both men have flown for the DEA in Latin American countries wracked by drug violence, but they say service in a combat zone should be treated as voluntary because they’re not military personnel.

“You could say that the war on drugs is dangerous,” said Beavers, a DEA pilot for more than 20 years. “But it’s not quite like Afghanistan, where you can get your legs blown off by an (improvised explosive device).”

Agents said supervisors told them that working in dangerous countries is part of their job requirements, but Offield’s Sacramento, Calif.-based lawyer said such compulsory duty violates a 2008 federal law that requires civilian personnel to serve voluntarily.

“The DEA is not only violating the law,” said attorney Richard Margarita, a former DEA agent and county prosecutor. “They could very well be sending Dan Offield to his death.”

The Obama administration has said it doesn’t expect problems with finding volunteers for Afghanistan missions, despite an ambitious strategy that calls for sending hundreds of additional civilian personnel. The plan already faces long odds in a country of resurgent Islamic militants, endemic corruption and widespread opium trafficking.

At least one other agency has faced similar complaints about compulsory duty.

Two years ago, the State Department told U.S. diplomats that they might be forced to serve in Iraq in the largest call-up since Vietnam. The announcement triggered an outcry, but the department eventually found enough volunteers to fill the jobs.

DEA officials with the Aviation Division referred questions about the Afghanistan assignments to agency headquarters. Garrison Courtney, a DEA spokesman who responded to written questions, said that agents aren’t being demoted, because even if they lose their pilot position, the salary is the same.

Courtney said pilots “are expected to support DEA’s global mission,” and that the Aviation Division “does not have the luxury” of allowing them to pick where they fly on temporary duty because many of the more than 100 pilots don’t have the experience to fly in Afghanistan.

He said if pilots don’t want to go, they have “the option to transfer back to an enforcement division and conduct domestic drug enforcement investigations.”

Courtney noted that DEA missions in Peru and Columbia “pose similar challenges” as Afghanistan because of the countries’ mountainous terrain.

More than a dozen agents told McClatchy Newspapers that the experiences of the two pilots aren’t isolated and have continued over the past several years. The other agents asked to remain anonymous, saying they fear retaliation from the DEA.

“There are number of guys who say ‘I don’t want to go,’ but they suck it up and go,” one agent said. “What’s going to happen is somebody at some point is going to get killed.”

One official e-mail sent in 2007 demonstrates the pressure placed on agents to accept their assignments, warning agents that “it is not if, but when” that they’ll go to Afghanistan. The e-mail noted: “it is cold and miserable in the winter” in Afghanistan and added that pilots who volunteer might be able to choose what time of year they’ll go.

DEA agents said the decision to force some their peers to go to Afghanistan doesn’t appear related to a lack of qualified volunteers. One agent said he’d volunteered to go to Afghanistan and went through the required training. His superiors, however, denied his request without explanation. The agent said he knows plenty of others who are willing to go.

“With some people, if you want to go, they won’t send you,” the agent said. “They use Afghanistan as punishment for agents they don’t like.”

Offield, a 25-year DEA veteran who oversees marijuana eradication in California’s national forests, alleges in his complaint the agency’s decision to send him to Afghanistan is part of a larger pattern of harassment based on his age and sexual orientation. He responded to questions from McClatchy Newspapers through his attorney out of concern that he’d be punished for going outside the chain of command.

Offield, 47, alleges the harassment began soon after he told a colleague that he’s gay, although he said he’s generally chosen not to discuss his sexual orientation with his colleagues.

The retaliation, he said, became worse after he appeared on an MSNBC news program, where he told reporters that he didn’t think the DEA was winning the battle against California’s marijuana cultivators. Although he got clearance to appear on the show, Offield said his comments hardened the resolve of his superiors to punish him.

About a month later, he was told he was going to Afghanistan although he’d requested to go elsewhere.

Courtney said the DEA didn’t discriminate against Offield and said officials have offered to transfer him back to a street agent job that would allow him to work closer to his home.

He said Offield was punished – his government car was taken away for a week – but only because he didn’t respond to his supervisors’ e-mails. Margarita, however, said his client couldn’t respond immediately to a handful of e-mails because he was on duty and his inbox was full.

John Adler, the president of the Federal Law Enforcement Officers Association, said that each federal agency has its own set of policies for overseas duty, and an agency’s ability to send an employee depends on the position description. FBI agents, for example, can be sent on compulsory duty, he said.

“We understand and accept that in national emergencies we have to go,” he said. “But an agency crosses the line when they target certain employees and they try to punish them by forcing into an undesirable assignment.”

Agents say the duty is made even more difficult because once they arrive in Afghanistan, they’re given inadequate equipment.

The Iranian people are ‘wired’ differently than their Mullah rulers

The Iranian people are ‘wired’ differently than their Mullah ruler

Sheda VasseghiThe following was written as a letter to the editor of   WorldTribune.com.

“What made them so special?” I had never been asked such a question about the Achaemenids, the founders of the Persian Empire in sixth century B.C.E.
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I was visiting the Asian Art Museum in San Francisco looking at a map of the ancient Near East when a woman approached me and asked whether I knew anything about the map since it seemed as if I did.

I told her that I had a Masters in Ancient History and had devoted much of time in studying ancient Persians and specifically the Achaemenids, the founders of the first world empire. That’s when she asked, “What made them so special?” When I looked at her in surprise not because I couldn’t answer her, but because I had never been asked such a question, she elaborated, “How were they able to create the first world empire and maintain control? There must have been something special about them to achieve that rather impossible task.”

I answered the lady’s simple question in one sentence. She seemed satisfied and we parted ways. But later as I thought more about her unusual question, it dawned on me that it was not such a simple question after all — her question wrapped up many years of my wanting to learn about the Achaemenids and what it meant to be Iranian into ONE sentence. I crammed volumes of read and unread sources into a sentence. Her inquiry filled me with the desire to define Iranianism.

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Also In This Edition

NORTHEAST ASIA: S. Korea’s Lee: ‘under no circumstances’ will we allow N. Korean nukes

Mideast / S. Asia: Arabs largely silent on Iran election and unrest

AFRICA/EUROPE: Al Qaida militants kill 21 Algerian police escorting Chinese workers

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Iranian nationalism is solely based on their ancient pre-Islamic history. Millions of Iranians pay homage to their historical sites and name their children and businesses after such ancient personalities and places without really knowing much about them. But somehow as if naturally wired people of Iranian stock know that their pre-Islamic past is what defines them as a people with a unique heritage. It is the natural bond that unites all Iranian people — those in Afghanistan, Tajikistan, Pakistan, Uzbekistan, the Caucasus, the Kurdish areas in Iran/Iraq/Turkey/Syria, etc.

My response to the woman’s simple question is my definition of Iranianism – that is, what made the Achaemenids so special to create and maintain a world empire for more than two centuries were their beliefs in tolerance and inclusion. So ancient Iranian way of life taught tolerance of all religious beliefs and inclusion of all people in the opportunity to live and prosper. That is Iranianism.

With the coming of the Islamic Republic in 1979, Iranians have been taught intolerance for non-Shiite Muslims and discrimination and inequality among people as witnessed with the regime’s abhorrent treatment of women. So the essence of Iranianism has been and is under attack. Well one’s essence can never change.

Given approximately 60 percent of Iranian population is under the age of 30 (essentially the children of the Islamic revolution), the past and current demonstrations by this generation — the generation trained to advance the goals of the Islamic Republic regime — further validates my belief that people of Iranian stock are somehow naturally wired to defend tolerance and inclusion. They will resist and bring down the Islamic Republic because absent of that they will lose their sense of identity.

We Iranians abroad stand with the people of Iran as they struggle to change their course of history during a time of identity crisis.

Sheda Vasseghi
Washington, DC

Special Ops Wars Need More Brainwashed Cadets

Obama Administration Looks to Colleges for Future Spies

By Walter Pincus

Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, June 20, 2009

To the list of collegiate types — nerds, jocks, Greeks — add one more: spies in training. The government is hoping they’ll be hard to spot.

The Obama administration has proposed the creation of an intelligence officer training program in colleges and universities that would function much like the Reserve Officers’ Training Corps run by the military services. The idea is to create a stream “of first- and second-generation Americans, who already have critical language and cultural knowledge, and prepare them for careers in the intelligence agencies,” according to a description sent to Congress by Director of National Intelligence Dennis C. Blair.

In recent years, the CIA and other intelligence agencies have struggled to find qualified recruits who can work the streets of the Middle East and South Asia to penetrate terrorist groups and criminal enterprises. The proposed program is an effort to cultivate and educate a new generation of career intelligence officers from ethnically and culturally diverse backgrounds.

Under the proposal, part of the administration’s 2010 intelligence authorization bill, colleges and universities would apply for grants that would be used to expand or introduce courses of study to “meet the emerging needs of the intelligence community.” Those courses would include certain foreign languages, analysis and specific scientific and technical fields.

The students’ participation in the program would probably be kept secret to prevent them from being identified by foreign intelligence services, according to an official familiar with the proposal.

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// ]]> Students attending participating colleges and universities who agree to take the specialized courses would apply to the national intelligence director for admittance to the program, whose administrators would select individuals “competitively” for financial assistance. Much like the support provided to those in the military programs, the financial assistance could include “a monthly stipend, tuition assistance, book allowances and travel expenses,” according to the proposal. It also would involve paid summer internships at one or more intelligence agencies.

Applicants to the intelligence training program would have to pass a security background investigation, although it is unclear when they would have to do so. Students who receive a certain amount of financial assistance would be obligated to serve in an intelligence agency for the same length of time as they received their subsidy.

Students in the military programs typically participate for all four years of college, but the intelligence program would seek to recruit sophomores and juniors.

Through grants to colleges and universities, intelligence agencies have been building partnerships with academia and specific professors, some of whom in past decades served as channels for recommending applicants to the CIA and other intelligence agencies. The intelligence community already has a Centers of Academic Excellence Program that funds programs in national security studies at more than 14 colleges and universities, with a goal of having 20 participating schools by 2015. The programs receive between $500,000 and $750,000 a year.

The intelligence officer training program would build on two earlier efforts. One was a pilot program, first authorized in 2004, for as many as 400 students who took cryptologic training and agreed to work for the National Security Agency or another intelligence agency for each year they received financial assistance. That program will be replaced by the new one because cryptology is not as needed as it once was.

A second program provided financial assistance to selected intelligence community employees who agreed to study in specialized academic areas in which officials believed there were analytic deficiencies.

Named the Pat Roberts Intelligence Scholars Program, after the Kansas Republican who chaired the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, over the past four years it has provided funds to some 800 students and current employees.

The director of national intelligence would make the Roberts program permanent under the new proposal and expand it beyond analysts to include personnel in acquisition, science and technology. It also could be used to help recruit employees by reimbursing them for prior education in critical areas.

Before talk, ensure Pak acts on terror

By MD Nalapat

Pakistan army’s last chance

For decades, India’s attention has been diverted by Pakistan. That country had begun its descent into extremism in the 1970, when the Pakistan army began to be rid of the moderate, largely secular officer corps, and infiltrated by Wahabbis promoted by Zia-ul-Haq. This accelerated during the next decade, when the responsibility for conducting a war of resistance against the Soviet occupiers of Afghanistan was outsourced to the ISI. Those were the peak years of the misconception by some democracies that extremism could be used to promote their own geopolitical objectives. Wahabbism had been fostered for generations in order to damp the nationalism of the Arab people,who are historically among the proudest in the world. Religious extremists were used against Arab leaders such as Gamal Abdel Nasser, and developed strong linkages within the community. These were subsequently put to use during the Afghan war of resistance against the Soviets. Next to the Arab states,Pakistan became the laboratory for the development of Wahabbi mindsets

Ever since the fall of the Taliban in 2001, a section of extremists in Pakistan have turned their focus away from India and from other countries towards their own. Today, almost each week there is a mass terror attack in the country, a state of affairs that has alarmed even the military. Although many within this force still continue to believe that extremists can be channeled against India, and thus still need to be assisted, an increasing number are accepting that the monster is finally at their own throats,and that unless Pakistan gets rid of extremism, the country may not survive. The people of Pakistan need to know that India is not their foe. What is, is the common enemy of humanity,which is the terrorist.

Given the fact that the Pakistan army is finally engaging the Taliban, care needs to be taken to ensure that the many radicals within the officer corps do not locate an excuse to once again shift the focus of their attention towards India. While ensuring that counter-insurgency operations in Kashmir continue unabated—so as to deny even a partial victory to the extremists fuelling violence there—India needs to make amply clear that a military attack on Pakistan is not on the table, except in the very unlikely event of a first strike by the Pakistan army. Should the security situation in Pakistan deteriorate, after some years there may need to be action taken within Pakistan. However, this ought not to be a unilateral Indian effort, but an international campaign that hopefully will include the Pakistan military. Given the current complexity of the situation there, a military attack on Pakistan will only exarcerbate the radicalism within,rather than extinguish it. The conditions for a succesful campaign include:

1. The neutrality of China.

2. The participation of major democracies such as the US.

3. Active involvement of the Pakistan army, so that the people of the country are made aware that what is taking place is not an occupation,but assistance given to their own forces to tackle an enemy that menaces their lives.

4. In view of historical sensibilities, the non-involvement of Indian forces in combat operations within Pakistan.

Should the Pakistan army fail in its task of weeding out the Taliban from the country, and should the extremists gain in strength and virulence, there may be no option but for Pakistan to call upon international assistance to rescue it from becoming another Talibanised state. As the short-sighted policy of accomodating the Taliban in the Swat Valley has shown, any feeding of the beast only makes it more ravenous. A modern state cannot countenance the establishment within a region of a retrogressive system of governance based on fear. Thus far, the Pakistan army has yet to throw its full strength behind the anti-Taliban offensive, driven as some within it are of the delusion that they can hold the extremists to a draw and thereafter negotiate peace with them. For years the myth of the “good” Taliban has led international security forces in Afghanistan and Pakistan into allowing elements of that militia to avoid action and thereby escape. Afghan President Hamid Karzai has several times pointed to the folly of such an approach,only to be ignored

The situation within Pakistan is delicate, and for the first time since the 1970s,the Pakistan military may be acting in a manner that no longer puts at risk not only the future of their own country, but the security of the world. Is the army bluffing? Is it serious about battling the Taliban? Or will it relapse once again into extremism? The answer is not clear, but what is obvious is that India needs to monitor the situation very carefully. By fuelling terrorism against India, the Pakistan army has created the conditions that enabled the country to become a safe haven for extremists from all across the world. So long as these mouthed the rhetoric of conducting operations against India, they were encouraged. Most went on to other targets, including in Europe and also China.

Friends of Pakistan need to prepare lists of those within the Pakistan military who are still encouraging extremists, and bring to bear on them the full weight of international sanctions,of the type imposed on war criminals in Africa and the Balkans. Thus far, even an A Q Khan has been given only a light slap on the wrist and is today a free man. Others who are a menace to global security have not even suffered this light “punishment”. This has to be the last chance for the Pakistan army. Unless it pursues the war against the extremists without exception and without restraint,the men in uniform need to be held internationally accountable for their actions.

Swat to South Waziristan

—Dr Hasan-Askari Rizvi

It seems that the army is currently blocking exit points from South Waziristan into other tribal areas and the NWFP so that the Taliban do not easily slip out of the region. This is being coupled with air raids and limited ground offensives using heavy guns on selected targets

The current phase of the security operation in Swat involving direct encounters between the army and the Taliban is nearing completion. The army and paramilitary forces have cleared the cities and main roads of the Taliban, who have been killed, arrested or have fled the area. They have also been dislodged from Buner and Dir.

The army will have to stay in these areas for a year or so to help the civilian administration restore basic civic facilities and to facilitate the return of the population that left the area at the beginning of the operation. They will have to maintain tight security to ensure that the remnants of the Taliban do not regroup and launch attacks. It is understandable that the government has decided to set up an army cantonment in Swat so that some troops are permanently present there.

The dislodging of the Taliban from the Swat-Malakand area reassures the people that the army has the capacity to cope with the Taliban challenge and enhances their confidence in the army. However, the Taliban menace cannot be effectively controlled without dismantling its authority structure in the tribal areas, especially South Waziristan, where they have established their main base. The army has already launched an operation in Bannu and has made initial punitive moves in South Waziristan to build pressure on Baitullah Mehsud and his Tehreek-e Taliban Pakistan.

The security operation in South Waziristan is going to be a more challenging affair than the Swat action, because the TTP main base is said to be fortified with a strong presence of foreign fighters, including some Al Qaeda elements. The TTP is expected to use tough guerrilla tactics, including suicide attacks in mainland Pakistan through its linkages with local militant/sectarian groups in Punjab. Al Qaeda’s disposition will also influence the situation in South Waziristan. It is difficult to suggest if Al Qaeda will stay neutral or support the TTP.

Security forces have to cover a large area and the Taliban have the option of moving to another agency or cross over to Afghanistan. Another possibility is that the Afghan Taliban may join Pakistani Taliban in their war against Pakistan.

Pakistan and US/NATO troops need to improve coordination to interdict cross-border movement of people and weapons. Such coordination also serves American security interests in Afghanistan. The US is currently sending fresh troops to Afghanistan that are expected to launch a major security operation in July-August in order to ensure a peaceful presidential election in Afghanistan on August 20. The American operation in Afghanistan can cause cross-border movement of Afghan Taliban to the Pakistani tribal areas, adding to Pakistan’s security problems there. This will compromise the effectiveness of American military operations in Afghanistan. Therefore, both Pakistan and the US need to restrict cross-border movement in the next three months for their individual considerations.

It seems that the army is currently blocking exit points from South Waziristan into other tribal areas and the NWFP so that the Taliban do not easily slip out of the region. This is being coupled with air raids and limited ground offensives using heavy guns on selected targets. The air and ground offensive is expected to pick up pace soon, followed by induction of troops into the area, involving direct encounters with the fighters of Baitullah Mehsud.

Four major factors are in favour of the civilian government and the army. First, the dislodging of the Taliban from Swat and adjoining areas is a morale booster for the security forces and the provincial and federal governments. For the first time the civilian government and the army have pursued counter-insurgency single-mindedly and persistently. The army was not deterred by the human losses it suffered in Swat. The top commanders appear fully determined to move decisively against the Taliban and their allied groups.

Second, anti-Taliban sentiments have increased in Pakistan during the last three months. This shift has been caused mainly by stepped up violence in different cities by the TTP and its allied groups based in the Punjab, starting with the March 3 attack on Sri Lankan cricket team in Lahore. Other immediate factors are the efforts of the Taliban to expand their control after the agreement between the NWFP government and Sufi Muhammad, and stories of the brutalities the Taliban inflicted on the people.

The Taliban continue to enjoy some support from Islamist political parties, especially the Jama’at-e Islami, which is engaged in a persistent campaign against the on-going security operation in Swat and opposes any operation in the tribal areas. Most Deobandi/Wahhabi religious leaders express support or sympathy for the Taliban. Barelvi religious leaders invariably support the military operation against the Taliban.

This religious-sectarian divide has become sharper after the assassination of Maulana Naeemi in Lahore, a cleric belonging to the Barelvi Islamic tradition, on June 12. The alienated Barelvi religious leaders are now more vocal in criticising the Taliban, especially suicide attacks. Shia religious leaders are also opposed to the Taliban and their violence against Pakistani state and society. These developments have weakened Taliban support even within Islamic circles.

Third, the military authorities need to exploit the contradictions between Baitullah Mehsud, chief of the TTP, and other militant and tribal leaders that have surfaced this week. Baitullah Mehsud established his control first in the Waziristan area by 2007 after ruthlessly subduing other commanders and tribal leaders who questioned his leadership or methods. Some of these commanders have now declared their opposition to Baitullah.

Two important commanders — Qari Zainuddin and Haji Turkistan — have publicly denounced Baitullah and his violent tactics. More such leaders will surface in the near future, who can be cultivated by Pakistani authorities. Their support will be useful but the Pakistan Army will have to take on Baitullah and his fighters militarily to dislodge them.

Fourth, the recent arrest of some militants in Punjab, accused of involvement in the attack on the Sri Lankan cricket team, is a helpful development. If the police and other security personnel contain local militants (‘Punjabi Taliban’), it would vastly reduce Baitullah’s capacity to launch suicide attacks in the cities because he functions in mainland Pakistan though local Islamic extremists and militant-sectarian groups.

These factors have created a favourable environment for a new security operation. Civilian and military authorities are better placed now to move against the TTP. However, this operation could be a long one. The government should make it clear that the security operation does not target the Mehsud tribe but Baitullah and his Pakistani and foreign associates that have established their reign of terror in the tribal areas and sponsor terrorist attacks in mainland Pakistan.

Authorities should not be oblivious to humanitarian issues caused by insurgency and counter-insurgency. The influx of refugees from Swat and adjoining areas is a case in point. A similar problem can arise when a major operation is launched in the tribal areas.

Decisive action in South Waziristan and other tribal areas is a pre-requisite rehabilitating the writ of the Pakistani state and restoring the confidence of the people of Pakistan and the international community in the capacity and determination of the civilian government and especially the military to cope with the Taliban groups. This would also demoralise militant groups in mainland Pakistan.

Dr Hasan-Askari Rizvi is a political and defence analyst

Fierce fighting in S Waziristan 22 militants, six soldiers killed in operation

By Mushtaq Yusufzai & Irfan Burki

PESHAWAR/WANA: Twenty-two suspected militants and six soldiers were reportedly killed in a daylong military action against the Baitullah Mehsud-led Taliban in the South Waziristan Agency (SWA) on Saturday as the troops cleared a portion of the Wana-Jandola Road.

Two fighter planes and a couple of gunship helicopters pounded the positions of the militants, who had occupied hilltops and blocked the Wana-Jandola Road between Tanai and Serwakai towns.

Tribal sources told The News from Jandola in the Frontier Region (FR) Tank that troops on Friday night continued shelling the suspected militants’ positions with artillery guns. They were, however, unaware of the casualties suffered by the militants.

Military officials said 32 militants were killed when two warplanes and gunship helicopters bombarded the militants occupying the road between Tanai and Serwakai. They claimed that the Tanai-Serwakai portion of the Wana-Jandola road had been cleared of the militants.

The remaining militants affiliated with Baitullah Mehsud were reported to have fled their positions in the area. However, the militants denied any losses in the operation.

Tribal sources said the advancing troops from Wana, headquarters of the SWA, were facing tough resistance from the militants in efforts to clear the remaining 20-kilometre portion of the road between Serwakai and Jandola.

According to the sources, the troops secured the area beyond Tanai to Old Serwakai, New Serwakai and Madejan. The troops had started movement from Wana and Shakai, two areas inhabited by the Ahmadzai Wazir tribe.

Keeping in view the bad experience of the past when around 35 militants, loyal to Baitullah Mehsud, overpowered and kidnapped over 300 Pakistan Army soldiers, the military authorities this time seem careful about the deployment of the troops in the troubled areas.

Official sources in Jandola said the troops had already been deployed in certain places that until now were in the Taliban control. They said preparations for the big offensive had been finalised but the military authorities first wanted to secure the critical Wana-Jandola Road.

The tribesmen had already fled their villages for relatively safer places in the Tank and Dera Ismail Khan districts and in Razmak, Mirali and Miramshah in the North Waziristan Agency.

The displaced tribesmen complained that the government, despite repeated claims, had done nothing for their relief in Tank, Dera Ismail Khan and other areas.

A pro-government militant commander, Qari Zainuddin Mehsud, who revolted against Baitullah Mehsud and formed his own group named Karwan-e-Abdullah Mehsud, also appealed to the government to assist the displaced tribal families.

“I urge the government to come forward and help the displaced tribesmen so that they could assist us in the ongoing operation against Baitullah Mehsud,” he said in a phone call to The News from an undisclosed location.

The 29-year-old Zainuddin, who is a cousin of late Pakistani Taliban commander, Abdullah Mehsud, claimed that he had already expelled Baitullah Mehsud and his men from Dera Ismail Khan, Tank and Jandola and would now also throw them out of Waziristan.

Akhtar Shahzad adds from Tank: Acting on a tip off, security forces late on Friday night destroyed a suspected vehicle, which was laden with explosive material, intelligence and police sources said.

According to the sources, the vehicle was to be used in suicide bombing. The bomb disposal squad destroyed the vehicle, an 86-model Corolla car, immediately without ascertaining the quantity of the explosives. The explosion rocked the area and was heard far and wide.

The sources said security forces also rounded up eight suspects in a separate raid. Six among those nabbed included Khairullah, Khair Zaman, Noor Azam, Awal Khan, Asim Khan and Tahir Khan.

Meanwhile, the newly-launched group of the militants led by Qari Zainuddin Mehsud, during a meeting with Mehsud tribal elders in Tank town, announced the formation of a committee to monitor the relief activities for the displaced Mehsud families of Waziristan. The group’s spokesman, Misbahuddin Toofan, said the committee would look after and monitor the shifting of families as well as provide facilities to the displaced persons.

Truck explosion in northern Iraq kills at least 55

[Keeping the Neocon vision alive by murdering scores of Shiites.]

The crater left behind by a truck bombing is seen near Kirkuk, 290 kilometers (180 miles) north of Baghdad, Iraq, Saturday, June 20, 2009. (AP / Emad Matti)

Truck explosion in northern Iraq kills at least 55

Updated Sat. Jun. 20 2009 12:45 PM ET

The Associated Press

BAGHDAD — Police say a truck bomb has exploded near a Shiite mosque just after prayers, killing at least 55 people and wounding nearly 200 in northern Iraq.

The explosion is the deadliest since April 24 when back-to-back suicide bombings by women attackers killed 71 people outside a Shiite shrine in Baghdad.

Maj. Gen. Jamal Tahir, the police chief of Kirkuk, said the truck bomb exploded just after noon Saturday in a town just outside the city and wounded at least 170 people. He added that an investigation has yet to determine if the attack involved a suicide bomber or a parked truck.

Iran’s PRESSTV Versus America’s CNN

Just when the Iranian protesters decided not to defy their government’s ban on street trouble, CNN and the rest of the American media went into an overdrive today to provoke the Iranian protesters, and especially mislead the younger ones into creating a situation that could result in bloodshed.

In twenty years of watching CNN, I have never seen it stoop so low as it did today.

The question is: If an American or British newspaper or TV network’s agenda begins to eerily resemble that of CIA or MI-6 [the Am-Brit enterprise], does this mean that these custodians of media independence are actually government mouthpieces?

Obviously, the US government and the CIA will not let this opportunity in Iran slip out of hand. Remeber that the CIA, the NSA and other American spy agencies were given millions of dollars for covert operations targeting Iran under Bush. These programs are still operational and have not been cancelled by Obama. Once there is violence, all you need to do is to unleash local agents connected to foreign elements, coupled with massive media propaganda to encourage chaos in order to create maximum trouble and instability for the government in Iran.

The US government and CIA are already using Afghanistan to insert terrorists into eastern parts of Iran.

CNN today was no different than any state-run TV channel in a dictatorship in central Africa or the Middle East. And it was funny. I mean really. CNN never devotes more than 10 or 15 minutes in extreme cases for even the most important world leaders, and here it was devoting nonstop hours to endless drivel by ‘Iran experts’ some of them quite literally full of s**** and a majority of them wasn’t even able to give intelligent answers. Most of whom had nothing new to say but CNN wanted to create a worldwide hype to keep Iran’s government under the spotlight. CNN editors allowed many unimpressive speakers to sit and speak for hours. But since there was nothing to “cover” today in Iran, CNN resorted to “creating” a crisis, manufacturing a hype about something that wasn’t even happening: the ‘expected’ turnout of protestors defying the government.

Protestors largely stayed indoors. But CNN kept insisting that something was happening. For special effect, CNN used old footage to mislead the international audience about the size of today’s protestors.

Obviously I can’t imagine that it is any of CNN’s business to keep the protests alive and prevent them from dying out. But it is certainly the interest of the US government and the CIA.

So there is only one explanation to what CNN was doing:

To encourage the younger protestors to come out and defy the security and risk deaths so that CIA could stoke more trouble.

CNN also directly attacked PRESSTV, Iran’s dynamic international English-language TV news channel. CNN anchors were apparently told to disparage PRESSTV calling it a ‘government mouthpiece’.

Mouthpiece, eh? Compared to what? FoxNews, which spent the last eight years working as a mouthpiece to Bush? Or CNN and BBC that often become one with their governments when it comes to foreign policy and military aggression?

If CNN’s agenda appears to mirror that of US government and the CIA, with no questions asked and no room for the opposite viewpoint, doesn’t that make CNN a government mouthpiece too?

How about CNN and New York Times and others airing and printing absolute lies about Iraq’s nuclear program in order to convince the world that an invasion was necessary? And then when everything turned out to be a ruse created by CIA and MI6 and promoted by CNN, NYT and others as truth, do we see the Am-Brit free media apologizing for becoming government puppets?

When nothing happened on the streets in Tehran most of the day today, CNN anchorwoman Rosemary Church kept announcing with emphasis and with Broadway-dramatism, “There is a tense calm” in Iran.

Ooooh.

But my personal favorite was this line, “A very balanced reporting” or “a very balanced analysis” that Ms. Church repeated whenever a biased one-sided reporter or ‘expert’ finished his or her rant on Iran.

There were two exceptions in the CNN coverage coming from two journalists: Christian Amanpour and Jonathan Mann. Both refused to turn off their professional instincts and blindly follow the instructions from the newsroom.

Ms. Amanpour surprised everyone at one point when she inadvertently exposed CNN’s hypocrisy by telling her interviewer Rosemary Church that it was important to underline that a majority of Iranian protestors stayed away today after the government warning.

And then Amanpour said that most of the videos that CNN kept showing throughout the day today were old footage. Amanpour appeared to be emphasizing that viewers need to be told that CNN was playing footage from yesterday and the day before and that there were no crowds on Tehran’s streets of the size being shown in the footage.

Amanpour’s comment seemed to have struck Ms. Church smack in the face. She appeared dumbstruck for a minute. It was almost as if she knew [from the instructions she must be receiving thru an earphone from the newsroom] that she was not supposed to say these things and expose CNN’s game plan.

Then Jonathan Mann also violated the script and at one point stopped to ask CNN to replay a rare video that came out of Tehran today. The fresh video showed a handful of protestors, certainly fewer than ever before.



Mann inquired from his biased commentator that he wasn’t able to see the streets in previous videos because of the huge number of protestors. But the new video showed empty streets barring a few kids. Again, the commentator, who was pro-American Iranian, was dumbfounded.

Here’s another fine evidence of who is motivating CNN and other ‘Am-Brit independent international media outlets’:

CNN did not go into overdrive until quite late in the day when it became clear that the protests were dying down. My guess is that some people within the US government freaked out at this. Someone might have said [probably at Langley], ‘If the protests die down, that’s it. Find a way to keep the momentum and encourage the kids there to come out on the streets. Let’s push the Iranian security into a murderous mishap.’

And suddenly CNN goes into a nonstop one-sided ethically-questionable coverage. I am sure that simultaneously CIA’s Iran desk must be busy in ‘quiet outreach’ through Facebook and Twitter and through their assets on the ground in Iran.

It is time that the Am-Brit ‘international media’ realize that many people outside Europe and America can see through their machinations, the way they gang up on certain countries or on certain issues that hide other interests of the Am-Brit combine. We’ve seen this happen so many times, in Georgia and elsewhere, that it stands exposed.

To me this has nothing to do with democracy and human rights. Sure, the Iranian government has problems and it has opponents within the Iranian populace. So it’s not a big deal if a few of them gather in Los Angeles and Washington in small demos. What IS a big deal is how the Am-Brit media has rushed to play a strategic game disguised as journalism. This is the same Am-Brit media that continues to produce CIA and MI6 agents hiding as accredited journalists. The latest example is of an Iranian woman who was sent back to Iran as an American journalist so that she could get in touch with her former colleagues in a sensitive government department and obtain secret documents. She was caught with those documents. And now we have two American journalists from Korean descent sent to North Korea for the same purpose, espionage. All three spies found major American news organizations ready to give them the cover of an accredited journalist so that CIA could use them for espionage. This is the state of the Am-Brit media that sets the world news agenda.

This episode should also serve as a lesson for Iran. The Iranian government actually helped Washington and London invade Iraq and Afghanistan and supported the two invasions on military and intelligence levels. The hope was that somehow this will convince Washington and London to accept the Iranian government and start working with it.

Today, the Iranian government learns the lesson the hard way.

And the Am-Brit media can be and is manipulated by the governments in London and Washington just like anywhere else. The best part of it, of course, is that the US State Department gets to issue grade reports about how other countries fare on media freedoms.

The Am-Brit media had been exposed during the false campaign against Iraq in 2003. But people have short memories. Iran’s elections in 2009 should serve as a welcome reminder on the performance of the Am-Brit media.

And these elections should also become a permanent signpost for CNN’s amazing fall.

P.S.: Google and Facebook are speeding up Persian translations of their sites and BBC rushes to find other satellites to beam into Iran. Wow. Even companies feel for democracy and are willing to go the extra mile for the sake of democracy in Iran! Last question to all the buffoons who still think this is about democracy: How come we don’t see Russian, German, French, Singaporean, Indian or Israeli companies feeling the pain for democracy? Why is it that only Am-Brit companies are at the forefront of the fight for Iranian democracy?!!

BBC Caught In Mass Public Deception With Iran Propaganda

BBC Caught In Mass Public Deception With Iran

Propaganda

News corporation uses photo from pro-Ahmadinejad rally, claims it represents anti-government protest

By Paul Joseph Watson
Prison Planet.com
Thursday, June 18, 2009

WWW.PAKNATIONALISTS.COM

The BBC has again been caught engaging in mass public deception by using photographs of pro-Ahmadinejad rallies in Iran and claiming they represent anti-government protests in favor of Hossein Mousavi.

An image used by the L.A. Times on the front page of its website Tuesday showed Iranian President Ahmadinejad waving to a crowd of supporters at a public event.

In a story covering the election protests yesterday, the BBC News website used a closer shot of the same scene, but with Ahmadinejad cut out of the frame. The caption under the photograph read, ‘Supporters of Mir Hossein Mousavi again defied a ban on protests’.

The BBC photograph is clearly a similar shot of the same pro-Ahmadinejad rally featured in the L.A. Times image, yet the caption erroneously claims it represents anti-Ahmadinejad protesters.

See the screenshots below (click to enlarge).

^[2]

^[3]

“Well I guess it sure was a popular fictional rally for Mousavi, because I later noticed while browsing the news sites a familiar picture on the BBC’s lead Iran story – it shows the same crowd, zoomed in to cut out Ahmadinejad,” a reader told the WhatReallyHappened website. “It is clearly the same protest as in the background are the same tree and odd circular building. However, the BBC managed to outdo the LA times in quality reporting – their actual comment under the photo from the huge PRO-Ahmadinejad rally reads ‘Supporters of Mir Hossein Mousavi again defied a ban on protests’ – a blatant lie and deliberately misleading description of what is actually occurring in Iran!”

As soon as the truth about the misrepresented images surfaced on the WhatReallyHappened website yesterday, the BBC changed the photo caption on their original article. The caption now reads, ‘Tehran has seen mass demonstrations by all sides since the disputed election’.

This is not the first time the BBC has been caught red-handed using crude image and video framing techniques for the purposes of political propaganda.

During the fall of Baghdad in April 2003, the BBC and other mainstream news outlets broadcast closely framed footage of the “mass uprising” during which Iraqis, aided by U.S. troops, toppled the Saddam Hussein statue in Fardus Square.

The closely framed footage was used to imply that hundreds or thousands of Iraqis were involved in a Berlin Wall-style “historic” liberation, yet when wide angle shots were later published on the Internet ^. footage that was never broadcast on live television, the reality of the “mass uprising” became clear. The crowd around the statue was sparse and consisted mostly of U.S. troops and journalists. The BBC later had to admit that only “dozens” of Iraqis had participated in toppling the statue. The entire scene was a manufactured farce yet the propaganda technique of blocking wide-angle shots from being broadcast convinced the world that the event represented a triumphant and historic mass popular uprising on behalf of the Iraqi people.

Whatever your views on the legitimacy of Ahmadinejad and the accuracy of the Iranian election results, the fact that the Anglo-American establishment and its media organs are exploiting and fanning the flames of chaos in Iran to provoke further instability is unquestionable.

Indeed, the U.S. State Department, which routinely demonizes the Internet as a tool of extremists and terrorists when it is used to criticize U.S. foreign policy, took the unprecedented step today of requesting that Twitter.com “delay planned maintenance work so that Iranian protesters can continue to use it to post images and reports of unrest,” according to a London Times report ^.

Copyright © 2008 PrisonPlanet.com. All rights reserved.

Protestor Shot Down–(part 1)

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Protestor Shot Down in Iran’s Streets–(part 2)

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Pandemonium in the Streets of Teheren

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Iran: the clampdown gets serious

By Lindsey Hilsum

The Iranian regime beats, shoots and gases protesters in the capital wherever they try to demonstrate on the streets. Lindsey Hilsum reports.Prepared for martyrdom, Iran’s defeated presidential candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi has told supporters to stage a national strike if he gets arrested, according to reports from Tehran.Mousavi claimed election-rigging had been planned months in advance and insisted the poll should be annulled.As thousands defied a ban on public rallies, riot police fired tear gas, water canon and live rounds to disperse the crowds.Our international editor, Lindsey Hilsum, who has been covering the post-election unrest in Iran, has had to leave the country.She is now here, with the latest on the growing turmoil.

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Why We Protest – IRAN

The Green Brief – NiteOwl

---

Hi,

I’m Josh Shahryar AKA NiteOwl and I’ve been immersed in tweets from Iran for the past several hours. I have tried to be extremely careful in choosing my tweet sources and have tried maximally to avoid listening to media banter. What I have compiled below is what I can confirm through my tweets to have happened in the past day and in the past week in Iran. Remember, this is all from tweets. There is NOTHING included here that is not from a reliable tweet. No news media outlets have been used in the compilation of this short brief as I would like to call it.

These are some of the happenings that I can positively confirm:

1. During the last protest in Tehran, several policemen have been spotted by protesters who were wearing green bands which is the color of the revolution. The policemen have told them candidly that they support them.

2. During the protests, on several occasions, Baseejis who have attacked peaceful protesters have been arrested on the spot by the police. This seems to have occured in several spots, yet it hasn’t been a crackdown of sorts. A few cases only!

3. Several Baseeji militiamen have been spotted laying down their arms and going home after being asked to interfere with the protesters.

4. By far the biggest threat people are facing right now are plainclothesmen. They seem to be everywhere and are targeting people who are not in groups. These men have been mostly linked with Ansar e Hezbollah. They are responsible for beating people up, arresting people, threatening protesters, arresting reformists from their homes and such.

5. So far, it has been confirmed that 15 people in Tehran and 32 people around the country have been killed. Hundreds more have been injured and in excess of 800 people have been detained. Among these there are dozens of reformists. Most of these arrests have been made by the notorious plainclothesmen mentioned above.

6. During yesterday’s protests, mullahs have been spotted joining rallies within Tehran and in several other cities. No one could confirm what the status of these Mullahs was or is within the clerical society, but their numbers have been very visible this time.

7. Protests have occurred not just in Tehran yesterday, but in Ahvaz, Mashhad, Kermanshah, Qazvin, Shiraz, Isfahan, Tabriz and EVEN Qom.

8. Pro-Ahmadinejad protesters’ numbers have been greatly exaggerated by the state media in comparison to Mousavi’s supporters’ numbers. In reality, Pro-Ahmadinejad protesters were only a pocket full of people. Most of these people have been identified by other protesters as either people who work at government offices or people who were brought from the countryside.

9. After downplaying the protests for days, the state-run media has finally started to announce news of the events a little more accurately.

10. Text Messaging is still down in Iran and internet is extremely slow. People are unable to get satellite channels on their televisions. At the same time, police and plainclothesmen are going door to door and taking away people’s satellite dish antennas.

11. Mohsen Rezayee, one of the candidates, is going to declare his support for a reelection tomorrow. The fourth candidate, Mahdi Karoubi openly joined yesterday’s rally.

12. A group of prominent officials within the Ministry of Interior have written a letter to the Guardian Council declaring that they have witnessed widespread irregularities within the voting and counting processes during the election. They have asked this matter to be investigated fully.

13. As of today, not a single report of the military’s intervention into the peaceful protests has been established. Not a single one.

14. Khatami and Mousavi have both asked the Ministry of Justice to investigate the involvement of the plainclothesmen in the violence that has been sparked during the protests.

15. Several eye-witnesses have seen non-Iranian Arabs waving Hamas/Hezbollah flags around the protests. These reports have been fully confirmed and are NOT a rumor spread by Israel.

16. Finally, the big news. It seems that the Green Revolution has garnered the support of Hashemi Rafsanjani, Nateq Noori, Tabatabayee and other prominent clerics and politicians. The Rohaniyone Mubarez organization that which has in its ranks pretty much most of the clerics except for the ones in power and includes Mr. Rafsanjani and Mr. Noori has declared their support for the annulment of the election and holding of new elections. Ayatollah Montazeri has yet to declare clear support.

Finally a few words to those who are reading this:

People Outside Iran: This is as clear and concise as I can be. I have not included ANYTHING that I have sensed to be remotely fishy, but human error will always manifests itself in even the most flawless of non-mathematical things. However, this includes nothing from the Western media, including the BBC which I have been generously using to inform people and I laud them for their courageous journalism.

People Inside Iran: Don’t believe a WORD of what I am telling you. Do what you think is best, keeping everything in mind. I know LITTLE of what you know so make your decisions based on your OWN judgment.

People Who Want to Send Me Tweet Links: You don’t need to find me, I will find you. Don’t hassle yourself. Your voice will be heard through millions of others like me.

People Who Want to Hunt Me Down: I’m an Afghan. If you ever tried to attack me, you’ll see my back only after your back has met the ground.

P.S. Please post this around. I will be writing one brief of this kind everyday until this ends.