The fast and furious plot to occupy Iran

[Nbadan]

...casus belli to attack Iran...

The fast and furious plot to occupy Iran
Tehran would have to be terminally foolish to try to snuff out an ambassador on US soil, author says.


No one ever lost money betting on the dull predictability of the US government. Just as Occupy Wall Street is firing imaginations all across the spectrum - piercing the noxious revolving door between government and casino capitalism - Washington brought us all down to earth, sensationally advertising an Iranian cum Mexican cartel terror plot straight out of The Fast and the Furious movie franchise. The potential victim: Adel al-Jubeir, the ambassador in the US of that lovely counter-revolutionary Mecca, Saudi Arabia.

FBI Director Robert Mueller insisted the Iran-masterminded terror plot “reads like the pages of a Hollywood script”. It does. And quite a sloppy script at that. Fast and Furious duo Paul Walker/Vin Diesel wouldn’t be caught dead near it.

The good guys in this Washington production are the FBI and the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA). In the words of Attorney General Eric Holder, they uncovered “a deadly plot directed by factions of the Iranian government to assassinate a foreign Ambassador on US soil with explosives”.

Holder added that the bombing of the Saudi embassy in Washington was also part of the plan. Subsequent spinning amplified that to planned bombings of the Israeli embassy in Washington, as well as the Saudi and Israeli embassies in Buenos Aires.

The Justice Department has peddled quite a murky story - Operation Red Coalition (no, you can’t make that stuff up) - centered on one Manssor Arbabsiar, a 56-year-old holding both Iranian and US passports and an Iran-based co-conspirator, Gholam Shakuri, an alleged member of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps's (IRGC) Quds Force.

Arbabsiar allegedly had a series of encounters in Mexico with a DEA mole posing as a Mexican drug cartel heavy weight. The Iranian-American seems to have been convinced that the mole was a member of the hardcore Zetas Mexican cartel, and reportedly bragged he was being “directed by high-ranking members of the Iranian government”, including a cousin who was “a member of the Iranian army but did not wear a uniform”.

On top of it, he told the DEA mole that his Iranian government buddies could come up with “tons of opium” for the Mexican cartel (an Afghan connection, perhaps). Then they discussed a “number of violent missions" complete with Arbabsiar bragging about bombing a packed Washington restaurant used by the Saudi ambassador.

Holder characterised the whole thing as a $1.5m “murder-for-hire” plan. Arbabsiar was arrested only a few days ago, on September 29, at JFK airport in New York. He allegedly confessed, according to the Justice Department. Shakuri for his part is still at large.

Holder was adamant: “The United States is committed to hold Iran accountable for its actions.” Yet he stopped short of stating the plot was approved by the highest levels of the Iranian government. So what next? War? Hold your horses; Washington should first think about asking the Chinese if they’re willing to foot the bill (the answer will be no.)

Predictably, the proverbial torrent of US “officials” came out with guns blazing, spinning everything in sight. An alarmed Pentagon will be increasing surveillance over the Quds Force and “Iran’s actions” in Iraq, Afghanistan and the Persian Gulf. Former US ambassadors stated that, “it’s an attack on the United States to attack this ambassador”. Washington is about to impose even more sanctions against Iran; and Washington is urgently taking the matter to the UN Security Council.

What next? A R2P (“responsibility to protect”) resolution ordering NATO to protect every House of Saud minion across the world by bombing Iran into regime change?

Ali Akbar Javanfekr, a spokesman for Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, at least introduced a little bit of common sense. “I think the US government is busy fabricating a new scenario and history has shown both the US government and the CIA have a lot of experience in fabricating these scenarios… I think their goal is to reach the American public. They want to take the public’s mind off the serious domestic problems they’re facing these days and scare them with fabricated problems outside the country.” Iran has not even established yet that these two characters are actually Iranian citizens.

The Iranian government - which prides itself on a logical approach to diplomacy - would have to have been inoculated with a terminal Stuxnet-style foolishness virus to behave in such a counterproductive manner, by targeting a high-profile foreign policy adviser to King Abdullah on American soil. The official Iranian news agency IRNA described the plot as “America’s new propaganda scenario” against Iran.

As for the Washington mantra that “Iran has been insinuating itself into many of the struggles in the Middle East”, that’s undiluted Saudi propaganda. In fact it’s the House of Saud who’s been conducting the fierce counter-revolution that has smashed any possibility of an Arab Spring in the Persian Gulf - from the invasion and repression of Bahrain to the rash pre-emption of protests inside Saudi Arabia’s Shia-dominated eastern provinces.

The whole thing smells like a flimsy pretext for a casus belli. The timing of the announcement couldn’t be more suspicious. White House national security advisor Thomas E. Donilon briefed King Abdullah of the plot no less than two weeks ago, in a three-hour meeting in Riyadh. Meanwhile the US government has been carrying not plots, but targeted assassinations of US citizens, as in the Anwar al-Awlaki case.

So why now? Holder is caught in yet another scandal - on whether he told lies regarding Operation Fast and Furious (no, you can’t make this stuff up), a federal gun sting through which scores of US weapons ended up in the hands of - here they come again - Mexican drug cartels.

So how to bury Fast and Furious, the economic abyss, the 10 years of war in Afghanistan, the increasing allure of Occupy Wall Street - not to mention the Saudi role in smashing the spirit of the Arab Spring? By uncovering a good ol’ al-Qaeda style plot on US soil, on top of it conducted by “evil” Iran. Al-Qaeda and Tehran sharing top billing; not even Cheney and Rumsfeld in their heyday could come up with something like this. Long live GWOT (the global war on terror). And long live the neo-con spirit; remember, real men go to Tehran - and the road starts now.

[Nbadan]

....what is Saudi Arabia planning in Iran?


The Saudi Arabian government has issued a menacing warning to Iran that it will have to "pay the price" for the alleged plot to hire a Mexican drugs cartel to assassinate its ambassador in Washington.

The threat from the Saudis came as the Obama administration resisted calls from within the US, mainly from the conservative right, to retaliate against Iran with military action.

But Iran denied it was behind the alleged plot, with officials claiming Washington had fabricated the story to divide Sunni Muslims – the dominant group in Saudi – and Shias, the dominant group in Iran. Tehran's leadership claimed Barack Obama was using the story to divert attention from the Occupy Wall Street protesters.

The foreign ministry summoned the Swiss ambassador, who handles US interests in the country, to condemn what it called "baseless claims" and warn "against the repetition of such politically motivated allegations."

guardian (http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/oct/12/iran-assassination-plot-saudi-warning)

this could get interesting...

[boutons_deux]

bloodthirsty neocon warmongers, US and UK, are loving it, they want back in to get at Iran's oil. like until Khomeini's revolution.

[Yonivore]

Well, Obama's "open-hand" approach to Iran is sure paying dividends, isn't it?

It was reported the plot was discovered in its early stages. Hmmm...one wonders if any of the Bush-era surveillance or intelligence techniques, Obama demagogued against, were used in the discovery. Also, I can remember being mocked, in this forum, when I suggested terrorists were coming across our porous borders and that Iran would willingly work with anyone - apparently Mexican cartels, as well - in trying to kill Americans and harm our interests.

Unfortunately, I've got no faith in this emasculated girly-man we have as President. Hopefully, Michelle will tell him to man up and do something about Iran.

Maybe Israel will fuck 'em up.

[ChumpDumper]

yoni is a cunt.

[ElNono]

lol reckoning

[Yonivore]

This shits getting real.

7yr7odFUARg

[ElNono]

yoni is mad at Israel because they haven't leveled Iran yet

[Th'Pusher]

LOL at yoni using the epithet 'girly-man'.

[Trainwreck2100]

Well, Obama's "open-hand" approach to Iran is sure paying dividends, isn't it?

It was reported the plot was discovered in its early stages. Hmmm...one wonders if any of the Bush-era surveillance or intelligence techniques, Obama demagogued against, were used in the discovery. Also, I can remember being mocked, in this forum, when I suggested terrorists were coming across our porous borders and that Iran would willingly work with anyone - apparently Mexican cartels, as well - in trying to kill Americans and harm our interests.

Unfortunately, I've got no faith in this emasculated girly-man we have as President. Hopefully, Michelle will tell him to man up and do something about Iran.

Maybe Israel will fuck 'em up.

yes, Bush's anti terror network of DEA agents hearing things out of luck is what found this plot out.

[hater]

Well, Obama's "open-hand" approach to Iran is sure paying dividends, isn't it?

It was reported the plot was discovered in its early stages. Hmmm...one wonders if any of the Bush-era surveillance or intelligence techniques, Obama demagogued against, were used in the discovery. Also, I can remember being mocked, in this forum, when I suggested terrorists were coming across our porous borders and that Iran would willingly work with anyone - apparently Mexican cartels, as well - in trying to kill Americans and harm our interests.

Unfortunately, I've got no faith in this emasculated girly-man we have as President. Hopefully, Michelle will tell him to man up and do something about Iran.

Maybe Israel will fuck 'em up.

let's take a look:
Obama killed Bin Laden
Obama killed Alquaida #2
Obama killed Alquaida #3
Obama dismantled the plot to kill Saudi Ambassador

meanwhile a few years back:
Bush tried to eat a pretzel and ended up in the ER

:lmao

[Nbadan]

The “very scary” Iranian Terror plot (Glenn Greenwald)


The ironies here are so self-evident it’s hard to work up the energy to point them out. Outside of Pentagon reporters, Washington Post Editorial Page Editors, and Brookings “scholars,” is there a person on the planet anywhere who can listen with a straight face as drone-addicted U.S. Government officials righteously condemn the evil, illegal act of entering another country to commit an assassination? Does anyone, for instance, have any interest in finding out who is responsible for the spate of serial murders aimed at Iran’s nuclear scientists? Wouldn’t people professing to be so outraged by the idea of entering another country to engage in assassination be eager to get to the bottom of that?

snip

Then there’s the War on Terror irony: our Hated Enemy here (Iran) is a country which had absolutely nothing to do with the 9/11 attack. Meanwhile, our close ally, the victim on whose behalf we are so outraged (Saudi Arabia), is not only one of the most tyrannical and aggressive regimes on the planet, but produced 15 of the 19 hijackers and had extensive and still-unknown involvement in that attack. If the U.S. is so deeply offended by the involvement of a foreign government in an attack on U.S. soil, it would be looking first to its close friend Saudi Arabia, where “elements of the government” were likely involved in an actual plot rather than a joke of a plot.


Salon (http://politics.salon.com/2011/10/12/the_very_scary_iranian_terror_plot/singleton/)

[Yonivore]

Iran! Killing Americans since 1979; being defended by the left just as long.

[Wild Cobra]

yoni is mad at Israel because they haven't leveled Iran yet
And you're mad at Hamas because they haven't leveled Israel yet, right?

[boutons_deux]

The UCA-financed stink tanks strongly support enriching the MIC and wasting more poor US kids lives'.

Right-Wing Think Tankers Use Alleged Assassination Plot To Push For War With Iran

Take strong measures to respond. The U.S. is fully within it rights to conduct a proportional military response against suitable, feasible, and acceptable targets in Iran. (In many ways, the situation is similar to military operations conducted against al-Qaeda in Pakistan.) The Iranian government knows full well that the Iran Qods Force is a terrorist group that has provided material support to the Taliban and other groups. The Tehran government has not restrained this organization and is responsible for its conduct.

The terror plot was no rogue action. Obama may hold an olive branch, but the White House must recognize the Iranian regime’s fist holds only blood.

The time for talk has ended.

What will be a surprise to the Iranian regime is if the United States, in the face of a brazen attack on its capital, finally responds decisively.



http://thinkprogress.org/security/2011/10/12/341994/right-wing-think-tankers-use-allged-assassination-plot-to-push-for-war-with-iran/

[ChumpDumper]

Iran! Killing Americans since 1979; being defended by the left just as long.What specifically do you want the US to do about Iran?

[baseline bum]

What specifically do you want the US to do about Iran?

Probably nuke the country and then nuke the rubble.

[Halberto]

Unfortunately, I've got no faith in this emasculated girly-man we have as President. Hopefully, Michelle will tell him to man up and do something about Iran.

Maybe Israel will fuck 'em up.

Obama assassinates a terrorist, a natural U.S. citizen, bombs a Muslim country with a controversial approach, and you STILL believe he's too scared to take political flak.


Yoni, get your head out of your ass. Republicans, Democrats.... they're all the same when they're in office. If you stopped treating the right wing as the infallible Catholic church you might realize this.

[lefty]

let's take a look:
Obama killed Bin Laden
Obama killed Alquaida #2
Obama killed Alquaida #3
Obama dismantled the plot to kill Saudi Ambassador

meanwhile a few years back:
Bush tried to eat a pretzel and ended up in the ER

:lmao
You mean "killed"

[FuzzyLumpkins]

In this case the US and the Saudi are trumpeting the call to the Security Council about the two dimwits.

Now it is entirely possible that the $100k+ that was delivered was a plant and that the two Iranian guys are not really involved with Iranian military intelligence but if that was the case why are they machinating the ruse to the other members of the security council who are obviously going to want to look at the evidence.

i know people are trying to tie the Al-Awlaki thing to this but they are two separate issues. However you view the methods to justify the killing, we had the tacit support of the Yemenese government. This Iran clusterfuck goes to sovereignty and planning attacks in two separate countries.

At this point its not going to lead to war because the US policy has been "its easier to ask for forgiveness than permission" and that type of escalation and rhetoric comes out fast. No its to be just more stupid sanctions as the evidence is asked for by the other Security Council states.

Sanctions don't topple totalitarian regimes. If anything they solidify their base. US Foreign policy for the last 50 years has been asinine in that regard.

[Viva Las Espuelas]

yoni is mad at Israel because they haven't leveled Iran yet

What do you expect for them to do? What would you do if someone told you, repeatedly, that they were gonna kill you and your family? On top of, none of your neighbors not thinking too highly of you as well. Are you just gonna ignore them and go about your business??? I don't understand how people can ignore the fact that Iran threatens Israel every chance they get. I don't blame them for protecting themselves. Especially when it's pretty unlikely this administration will help them or defend them.

[Viva Las Espuelas]

We'll never address Iran. Our military is too spread out and depleted. Hopefully we don't abandon our guys out there. I sincerely hope that. Turkey isn't looking too good these days.

[FuzzyLumpkins]

What do you expect for them to do? What would you do if someone told you, repeatedly, that they were gonna kill you and your family? On top of, none of your neighbors not thinking too highly of you as well. Are you just gonna ignore them and go about your business??? I don't understand how people can ignore the fact that Iran threatens Israel every chance they get. I don't blame them for protecting themselves. Especially when it's pretty unlikely this administration will help them or defend them.

Yoni lives in Israel? These types of things happen all over the world all the time. We just happened to create is Israel 65 years ago so were stuck with them.

[Viva Las Espuelas]

Just wait til the people of Saudi Arabia start overthrowing their government.

[FuzzyLumpkins]

We'll never address Iran. Our military is too spread out and depleted. Hopefully we don't abandon our guys out there. I sincerely hope that. Turkey isn't looking too good these days.

WTF are you even talking about? Given the region climate they are noticeably economically and politically stable. Additionally as the new guy in NATO they have been very agreeable to our policies and trying to fit in.

Compare that to Netanyahu's government who plays the game of hide the settlement.

[CosmicCowboy]

Holder was adamant: “The United States is committed to hold Iran accountable for its actions.

Since when does a US Attorney General have any say in foreign policy?

[ChumpDumper]

Since when does a US Attorney General have any say in foreign policy?Are you serious?

[FuzzyLumpkins]

Since when does a US Attorney General have any say in foreign policy?

The way this looks to be unfolding he could play a prominent role as the other Security Council states ask for proof. That we are making the claim to the security council is very telling as to how this is going to go.

[Yonivore]

Since when does a US Attorney General have any say in foreign policy?
C'mon, be fair. His statement was made in the context of a federal investigation and arrest on American soil.

While holding Iran accountable for their involvement really isn't in his wheelhouse, such bloviating helps keep the hounds at bay over other matters he might want to avoid talking about ::cough:: gunwalker ::cough::

[FuzzyLumpkins]

C'mon, be fair. His statement was made in the context of a federal investigation and arrest on American soil.

While holding Iran accountable for their involvement really isn't in his wheelhouse, such bloviating helps keep the hounds at bay over other matters he might want to avoid talking about ::cough:: gunwalker ::cough::

Nobody cares about that shit, Yoni. Give it up. The ATF has used similar policies for a decade you just havent figured that part out yet while everyone else has.

[Yonivore]

Nobody cares about that shit, Yoni. Give it up. The ATF has used similar policies for a decade you just havent figured that part out yet while everyone else has.
Link?

I keep hearing this but, fact is, there is no evidence that, prior to 2009, any government agency intentionally funded and allowed the purchase of thousands -- thousands (over 2,000 in Fast and Furious alone) of straw gun purchases by criminals who then took those guns across the border, unimpeded, to narco-terrorist cartels who then used them to murder over 200 Mexican nationals and at least two U. S. law enforcement agents.

My understanding is Fast and Furious existed before 2009 but the "gunwalking" element is a wrinkle added by the current administration.

I'd like to know why and would think you'd be interested, as well.

[FuzzyLumpkins]

Link?

I keep hearing this but, fact is, there is no evidence that, prior to 2009, any government agency intentionally funded and allowed the purchase of thousands -- thousands (over 2,000 in Fast and Furious alone) of straw gun purchases by criminals who then took those guns across the border, unimpeded, to narco-terrorist cartels who then used them to murder over 200 Mexican nationals and at least two U. S. law enforcement agents.

My understanding is Fast and Furious existed before 2009 but the "gunwalking" element is a wrinkle added by the current administration.

I'd like to know why and would think you'd be interested, as well.

I don't trust the law and order crwod in this country. You try and portray it as something new with the Obama Administration. I imagine Drudge or Fox News is feeding you this.

CBS had a story a while ago indicating that this policy of using dealers and tracking cartel members through them is not new no matter how important it is for you to pin it on a particular political party.

Personally I think crimes of turpitude and violence are about the only ones worth enforcing and the whole system needs to be dismantled but thats jsut me. I do not see some 'new' corruption or set of lies. They have been doing ot the whole time.

You just want to pin it on the POTUS because thats what you keep reading from your mouthpieces. Stop it.

[Yonivore]

I don't trust the law and order crwod in this country. You try and portray it as something new with the Obama Administration. I imagine Drudge or Fox News is feeding you this.

CBS had a story a while ago indicating that this policy of using dealers and tracking cartel members through them is not new no matter how important it is for you to pin it on a particular political party.

Personally I think crimes of turpitude and violence are about the only ones worth enforcing and the whole system needs to be dismantled but thats jsut me. I do not see some 'new' corruption or set of lies. They have been doing ot the whole time.

You just want to pin it on the POTUS because thats what you keep reading from your mouthpieces. Stop it.
I don't care who you trust.

I've read the article and to date, there's no evidence that any "Operation Wide Receiver" gun ever made it to Mexico or ever showed up at a crime scene. The gun salesman they interviewed doesn't know what happened to the guns, he's drawn a conclusion based on contemporaneous reports of Fast and Furious guns making it across the border that that is what happened to the guns he sold. There's simply no evidence that's what happened. In fact, there were several arrests made as a result of "Operation Wide Receiver."

There is documented evidence that "Operation Gunwalker" began in 2009.

There is adequate proof of "Operation Fast & Furious" guns, via "Operation Gunwalker," having made it across the border and are responsible for over 200 Mexican deaths and two U. S. agent deaths.

So, yeah, trust or not, a link would be nice if you're going to make the allegation the previous administration was running thousands of guns in to Mexico.

[FuzzyLumpkins]

I don't care who you trust.

I've read the article and to date, there's no evidence that any "Operation Wide Receiver" gun ever made it to Mexico or ever showed up at a crime scene. The gun salesman they interviewed doesn't know what happened to the guns, he's drawn a conclusion based on contemporaneous reports of Fast and Furious guns making it across the border that that is what happened to the guns he sold. There's simply no evidence that's what happened. In fact, there were several arrests made as a result of "Operation Wide Receiver."

There is documented evidence that "Operation Gunwalker" began in 2009.

There is adequate proof of "Operation Fast & Furious" guns, via "Operation Gunwalker," having made it across the border and are responsible for over 200 Mexican deaths and two U. S. agent deaths.

So, yeah, trust or not, a link would be nice if you're going to make the allegation the previous administration was running thousands of guns in to Mexico.

The operations are basically the same but you think its some new fangled sting idea. Give me a break. By all means continue wasting your time.

[Yonivore]

The operations are basically the same but you think its some new fangled sting idea. Give me a break. By all means continue wasting your time.
Except you have no proof guns were allowed to walk into Mexico under the Bush Administration.

They're fundamentally different and the best evidence of that is that "Operation Gun Walker," where guns were actually allowed to cross the border, began in 2009. Why attach a totally new program to "Operation Fast and Furious" if "Operation Fast and Furious" was already doing that?

Your problem is you want to believe both administrations were doing the same thing so you can continue the canard -- usually employed when Democrats are busted -- "eh, well, both sides do it."

In this case, as in most cases, you're dead wrong. Your at least 200 Mexican nationals and 2 U. S. agents dead wrong.

[ElNono]

And you're mad at Hamas because they haven't leveled Israel yet, right?

Nope. For the Nth time, I think Israel knows what it's doing.

[ElNono]

What do you expect for them to do?

What they've been doing. Fending them off, infiltrating them, sabotaging their nuclear program, etc. Looks to me Israel knows what it's doing.

[Agloco]

This shits getting real.

2UFc1pr2yUU

[Stringer_Bell]

let's take a look:
Obama killed Bin Laden
Obama killed Alquaida #2
Obama killed Alquaida #3
Obama dismantled the plot to kill Saudi Ambassador

meanwhile a few years back:
Bush tried to eat a pretzel and ended up in the ER

:lmao

Wow, such a hater. Bush had a seizure and began suffering from early onset dementia - he didn't just randomly chock on a pretzel.

and LOL @ the Rightwingers sucking on GW's balls every time a terror plot gets snuffed out. What's even funnier is that this time the threat is an obvious and total fake and just an excuse for god know's what kind of military intervention to unify us against an external threat so we don't focus on the internal threats. Iran is full of assholes, but they don't have so much influence in the middle-east cuz they are idiots, idiots. Now chew on THAT, nuccas!

[Nbadan]

Intentional Fraud?

yJlvcZ47lMo

[FuzzyLumpkins]

Intentional Fraud?

yJlvcZ47lMo

Its really simple. What evidence do they have about the money. How do they know where it came from for example. this is the question that you would think people would ask.

Yet now there is this notion that Iran some paragon of foreign policy and covert intelligence and the debate is being centered around that. That is neither here nor there when the accusations are being centered around this money.

Its really not hard to ascertain whether or not there is validity to it.

Did the money exist?

and if so, where did it come from?

Without that evidence it certainly sounds like something out of the naked gun or the like but its moot with regards to that cash.

If the $100k did in fact come from a source in Iranian Government it is what it is. If it didn't then you cannot prove shit.

[ChumpDumper]

Its really simple. What evidence do they have about the money. How do they know where it came from for example. this is the question that you would think people would ask.

Yet now there is this notion that Iran some paragon of foreign policy and covert intelligence and the debate is being centered around that. That is neither here nor there when the accusations are being centered around this money.

Its really not hard to ascertain whether or not there is validity to it.

Did the money exist?

and if so, where did it come from?

Without that evidence it certainly sounds like something out of the naked gun or the like but its moot with regards to that cash.

If the $100k did in fact come from a source in Iranian Government it is what it is. If it didn't then you cannot prove shit.Even then, there would be the question of what part of the Iranian government did it. Folks think Iran, its government and its people are a monolith and Ahmadinejad is the dictator who controls everything.

Nothing could be further from the truth.

[Yonivore]

I question the timing. ::cough::Fast & Furious::cough::Solyndra::cough

[ChumpDumper]

I question the timing. ::cough::Fast & Furious::cough::Solyndra::coughlol conspiracy yoni

[Stringer_Bell]

I question the timing. ::cough::Fast & Furious::cough::Solyndra::cough

True, the Iran-Contra affair was not nearly on the level of Fast/Furious & the Solyndra scandal is 100x worse than the billions lost in Iraq/Afghanistan to no-bid contractors...these times definately call for a war to distract us!

Also, I'm white, over 65 years years old, never made more than 55K annually, and don't see the Socialism is Social Security - so take my opinion for what it's worth.

[FuzzyLumpkins]

Even then, there would be the question of what part of the Iranian government did it. Folks think Iran, its government and its people are a monolith and Ahmadinejad is the dictator who controls everything.

Nothing could be further from the truth.

I definitely understand but the Justice Department is claiming that they can trace the money back to the Quds force either through telephone conversations or this cash.

All this speculation on whether or not the super duper pro Iranian military would do this is moot in face of that.

It would be analogous to somebody in the CIA doing something stupid. I don't see in that context why people are just discounting it.

[Nbadan]

Not another curve-ball! Holder's guns to Mexico had nothing to do with this make-believe story involving Iran....

CBS' Sharyl Atkkisson suggests "Fast/Furious" evidence might be withheld...

due to the involvement of personnel in other Federal agencies. On Face the Nation minutes ago:


"Attkinson, who also appeared on 'Face the Nation,' pointed out that one reason evidence might be withheld is if it were 'matched to a confidential informant that was being used by DEA or FBI or another agency.'"


Atkkisson seems convinced that other agencies are indeed involved:


"There are a lot of questions out there because other agencies were involved in this operation," she said.


Darrell Issa (R) claims that Attorney General Holder's "Number Two" man had intimate knowledge of "Fast and Furious" operations:


"His chief of staff had intimate details; we have notes in his handwriting that shows that the number two and Eric Holder's right hand had intimate details for long time," Issa told CBS' Bob Schieffer. "One of the questions is, why wouldn't you tell your boss about a program that had gotten so out-of-control that it had all kinds of people scurrying to try to stop it?"

[Nbadan]

I don't think there was every any exchange money involved, just promises.or hearsay...


Even by the forgiving standards of American credulity, the supposed Iranian plot to assassinate the Saudi Ambassador to the US is spectacularly ludicrous. That doesn’t mean it isn’t a sinister harbinger of a new crisis, possibly war.

Why would Iran want to kill the Saudi envoy - not the colourful and influential Prince Bandar who used to hold the job, but the mild-mannered functionary, Adel al-Jubeir? To kill any ambassador - particularly a Saudi ambassador - is to invite lethal retaliation, even war. Iran doesn’t want war with the US.

Manssor J. Arbabsiar, an Iranian-American used car salesman from Corpus Christi, Texas, has been indicted as the chief conspirator working for Iranian intelligence. He is charged with promising to pay $1.5 million to Los Zetas - one of the Mexican drug cartels - to kill the Saudi ambassador at a restaurant in Washington.

The FBI claims that Arbabsiar told the Drug Enforcement Agency’s informant - posing as a high-ranking member of Los Zetas - that it would be “no big deal” if many others died at the restaurant, possibly including United States senators. He also proposed bombing the Israeli embassy.

Nation (http://nation.com.pk/pakistan-news-newspaper-daily-english-online/International/16-Oct-2011/Iranian-terror-plot-Is-it-just-a-pretext-for-war)

[Nbadan]

Absolute proof...the honorable Mike Rodgers was on the Pags show today, here is a chairman of the intelligence committee, which itself is an oxymoron, selling that he had seen 'numerous evidence' that elements within Iran were involved in the plot to kill the Saudi Ambassador in NY.......we've been following this story pretty closely and I have not seen anything but hearsay, and circumstantial evidence....none that connects the Qud forces nor the Iranian government....

Fuck You Pags....you were a fucken cheer leader for Bush administration and its manufacturing of circumstantial evidence that lead to the death of 100,000's of people Iraq and American...none of which proved to be true...now your calling for Israel to attack Iranian nuclear sites, and spill nuclear waste fallout equal to numerous dirty bombs all over the region that could kill another 100,000+....how the fuck you live with yourself knowing that your making money spreading fucken lies and promoting death and war....fuck you Pags, fuck WOAI and fuck Clear Channel.

[Nbadan]

Oh great!


The Iranian plot the US government says aimed to murder Saudi Arabia's ambassador to Washington allegedly fell down because a member of the Mexican Zeta drug cartel hired to carry out the job for $1.5m was actually a US informant.

Guardian (http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/oct/12/iran-mexico-drug-informant-hitman)

these 'informants' have worked so well in the past

:rolleyes

I wouldn't be surprised to find out most of the departments are compromised by the very cartels they are supposedly fighting....

[boutons_deux]

Petraeus’s CIA Fuels Iran Murder Plot

Washington Post columnist David Ignatius, in his accustomed role as unofficial surrogate CIA spokesman, has thrown light on how the CIA under its new director, David Petraeus, helped craft the screenplay for this week’s White House spy feature: the Iranian-American-used-car-salesman-Mexican-drug-cartel plot to assassinate the Saudi ambassador to the U.S.

In Thursday’s column, Ignatius notes that, initially, White House and Justice Department officials found the story “implausible.” It was. But the Petraeus team soon leapt to the rescue, reflecting the four-star-general-turned-intelligence-chief’s deep-seated animus toward Iran.

CIA Director David Petraeus

Before Ignatius’s article, I had seen no one allude to the fact that much about this crime-stopper tale had come from the CIA. In public, the FBI had taken the lead role, presumably because the key informant inside a Mexican drug cartel worked for U.S. law enforcement via the Drug Enforcement Administration.

However, according to Ignatius, “One big reason [top U.S. officials became convinced the plot was real] is that CIA and other intelligence agencies gathered information corroborating the informant’s juicy allegations and showing that the plot had support from the top leadership of the elite Quds Force of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps, the covert action arm of the Iranian government.”

Ignatius adds that, “It was this intelligence collected in Iran” that swung the balance, but he offers no example of what that intelligence was. He only mentions a recorded telephone call on Oct. 4 between Iranian-American cars salesman Mansour Arbabsiar and his supposed contact in Iran, Gholam Shakuri, allegedly an official in Iran’s Quds spy agency.

The call is recounted in the FBI affidavit submitted in support of the criminal charges against Arbabsiar, who is now in U.S. custody, and Shakuri, who is not. But the snippets of that conversation are unclear, discussing what on the surface appears to be a “Chevrolet” car purchase, but which the FBI asserts is code for killing the Saudi ambassador.

Without explaining what other evidence the CIA might have, Ignatius tries to further strengthen the case by knocking down some of the obvious problems with the allegations, such as “why the Iranians would undertake such a risky operation, and with such embarrassingly poor tradecraft.”

http://consortiumnews.com/2011/10/13/petraeuss-cia-fuels-iran-murder-plot/

[Nbadan]

Interesting article...


Another point on the implausibility meter is: What are the odds that Iran’s Quds force would plan an unprecedented attack in the United States, that this crack intelligence agency would trust the operation to a used-car salesman with little or no training in spycraft, that he would turn to his one contact in a Mexican drug cartel who happens to be a DEA informant, and that upon capture the car salesman would immediately confess and implicate senior Iranian officials?

Wouldn’t it make more sense to suspect that Arbabsiar might be a double-agent, recruited by some third-party intelligence agency to arrange some shady business deal regarding black-market automobiles, get some ambiguous comments over the phone from an Iranian operative, and then hand the plot to the U.S. government on a silver platter – as a way to heighten tensions between Washington and Teheran?

That said, there are times when even professional spy agencies behave like amateurs. And there’s no doubt that the Iranians – like the Israelis, the Saudis and the Americans – can and do carry out assassinations and kidnappings in this brave new world of ours.

Remember, for instance, the case of Islamic cleric Osama Moustafa Hassan Nasr, also known as Abu Omar, who was abducted off the streets of Milan, Italy, on Feb. 17, 2003, and then flown from a U.S. air base to Egypt where he was imprisoned and tortured for a year.

In 2009, Italian prosecutors convicted 23 Americans, mostly CIA operatives, in absentia for the kidnapping after reconstructing the disappearance through their unencrypted cell phone records and their credit card bills at luxury hotels in Milan.

Then, there was the suspected Mossad assassination of Hamas leader Mahmoud al-Mabhouh at a hotel in Dubai on Jan. 19, 2010, with the hit men seen on hotel video cameras strolling around in tennis outfits and creating an international furor over their use of forged Irish, British, German and French passports.

So one cannot completely rule out that there may conceivably be some substance to the alleged Iranian plot to assassinate the Saudi ambassador.

And beyond the regional animosities between Saudi Arabia and Iran, there could be a motive – although it has been absent from American press accounts – i.e. retaliation for the assassinations of senior Iranian nuclear scientists and generals over the last couple of years within Iran itself.

But there has been close to zero real evidence coming from the main source of information — officials of the Justice Department, which like the rest of the U.S. government has long since forfeited much claim to credibility.

[Nbadan]

Israeli leaders continue to pound the drum about taking out Iran’s nuclear program – and some hardliners may want to strike soon, fearing the window of opportunity will close if President Barack Obama wins reelection and is less susceptible to political pressures, as ex-CIA analyst Ray McGovern observes.


The Israelis might well conclude that the formidable effectiveness of the Likud Lobby and kneejerk support of the U.S. Congress as well as still powerful neoconservatives in the Executive Branch (and on the opinion pages of major American newspapers) amount to solid assurance of automatic support for pretty much anything Israel decides to do.

If Israel translates this into a green light to attack Iran, the rest of the world — even Washington — may get little or no warning.

Netanyahu and his associates would presumably be reluctant to give Obama the kind of advance notice that might allow him to consult some adult political and military advisers and thus give him a chance to try to spike Israeli plans.

Consequences of blindsiding? There would be a strong argument in Tel Aviv that past precedent amply demonstrates that there are few if any consequences for blindsiding Obama on Israeli actions.

There is also the precedent of how an earlier generation of Likud leaders reacted to a possible second term by a Democratic president who was suspected of having less than total loyalty to Israel.

In 1980, Prime Minister Menachem Begin was angered by President Jimmy Carter’s pressure that had forced Israel to surrender the Sinai in exchange for a peace treaty with Egypt. Begin made clear to his followers at home and abroad that Carter, if freed from the political pressure of facing reelection, might push Israel into accepting a Palestinian state. So, Begin quietly shifted Israel’s political support to Republican Ronald Reagan, helping to ensure Carter’s lopsided defeat.

Similarly, some Israeli hard-liners suspect that Obama in a second term might be liberated from his fear of Israeli political retaliation and thus renew pressure on Netanyahu to halt Jewish settlements in the occupied territory of Palestine and to reach a true accommodation with the Palestinians.

Under this analysis, a second-term Obama might add to Israel’s growing isolation in the Middle East, which even Defense Secretary Leon Panetta noted Sunday, telling reporters that Israel must restart negotiations with the Palestinians and work to restore relations with Egypt and Turkey.

“Is it enough to maintain a military edge if you’re isolating yourself in the diplomatic arena?” Panetta asked. “And that’s what’s happening.”

...


Unlike Israel, which has refused to sign the Non-Proliferation Treaty and has some 200 to 300 nuclear weapons, Iran did sign the NPT and insists it has no interest in nuclear weapons, only enriched uranium for medical research and energy. Unlike Israel, Iran has allowed UN International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) inspectors in to verify compliance with its commitment not to build nukes.

Still, there continue to be “beliefs,” and suspicions that Iran, for example, may be laying the groundwork for an eventual break-out capability, and Tehran has not always fulfilled all its obligations under the safeguards regime.

Yet, despite the spin often applied to IAEA reports by the Fawning Corporate Media (FCM) and particularly The New York Times, the IAEA has never detected the diversion of enriched uranium from declared sites for the purpose of building a nuclear weapon. That is fact.

Looks like Israel, and it's accomplice, the American M$M is attempting to Mousetrap the Obama into supporting Israel imperialism, all the while other countries in the region go through an Arab Spring, except for...of all countries, one of Iran chief nemesis in the region Saudi Arabia...so predictable...

[Nbadan]

There is no indication in the FBI account of the investigation that there is any independent evidence to support Arbabsiar’s claim of Shahlai’s involvement in a plan to kill the ambassador.

[The best the U.S. government has done is an FBI affidavit stating that Arbabsiar, an Iranian-American car salesman, agreed – after he was detained – to call Gholam Shakuri, supposedly a Quds official with ties to Shahlai, to discuss using money for a “Chevrolet” purchase. The FBI claims that was code for the plot to kill the Saudi ambassador, but there is nothing specific to indicate that “Chevrolet” might not have been what it sounded like, a plan to buy cars for Iran’s black market.]

Still, the Obama administration planted stories suggesting that Shahlai had a terrorist past, and that it was therefore credible that he could be part of an assassination plot.

Link (http://consortiumnews.com/2011/10/17/us-uses-leaks-to-hype-iran-murder-plot/)

Were is the fucken evidence? If we are going to kill people shouldn't it be based on solid evidence? Or are we damned?

[Nbadan]

More...


a Reuters story on Friday reported a claim of U.S. intelligence that two wire transfers totaling $100,000 at the behest of Arbabsiar to a bank account controlled by the FBI implicates Soleimani in the assassination plot.

“While details are still classified,” wrote Mark Hosenball and Caren Bohan, “one official said the wire transfers apparently had some kind of hallmark indicating they were personally approved” by Soleimani.

But the suggestion that forensic examination of the wire transfers could somehow show who had approved them is misleading. The wire transfers were from two separate non-Iranian banks in a foreign country, according to the FBI’s account. It would be impossible to deduce who approved the transfer by looking at the documents.

“I have no idea what such a ‘hallmark’ could be,” said Paul Pillar, a former head of the CIA’s Counter-Terrorism Center who was also National Intelligence Officer for the Middle East until his retirement in 2005.

Pillar told IPS that the “hallmark” notion “pops up frequently in commentary after actual terrorist attacks,” but the concept is usually invoked “along the lines of ‘the method used in this attack had the hallmark of group such and such’.”

That “hallmark” idea “assumes exclusive ownership of a method of attack which does not really exist,” said Pillar. “I expect the same could be said of methods of transferring money.”

Link (http://consortiumnews.com/2011/10/17/us-uses-leaks-to-hype-iran-murder-plot/)