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Movements by Iran’s covert ops commander triggers kidnapping alert in U.S.
From Geostrategy-Direct...
Iran and Syria have been planning a major terrorist offensive against Israel and the United States, Western intelligence sources say. Over the past few months, operatives have been meeting with leading terrorists in Damascus and Teheran. The plan envisions a demonstration of strength in wake of the expulsion of reformists from Iran’s parliament. That’s where Brig. Gen. Qassem Suleimani comes in. As commander of Iran’s Al Quds force of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Command, Suleimani’s responsibility is for Iranian covert operations abroad. This means Suleimani is a key Iranian liaison with terrorist Teheran sponsored terrorists groups — particularly Hizbullah. Suleimani has visited all the countries in which Iran seeks to foment unrest. He is also so secret that he doesn’t show up even in a Google search of the Internet.
Not quite true.
He'll be there now, won't he?
Suleimani’s mission has included Afghanistan, where he was trying to undermine the U.S.-sponsored government of Hamid Karzai. He helped maintain Iran’s intelligence network deep inside Afghanistan to undermine U.S. efforts and establish Iran’s influence to its eastern neighbor. Toward this end, Suleimani has helped Al Qaida find safe haven in Iran. Today, Suleimani has been traveling frequently to Lebanon to meet with Hizbullah and aligned terrorist groups to plan for an offensive against Israel and the United States. Western intelligence sources said Suleimani has been working closely with Hizbullah’s foreign relations chief Imad Mughniyah on a plan to kidnap Israeli and American nationals in Europe and hold them for ransom.
That would be a remarkably stoopid move on the part of the Medes and the Persians...
Suleimani’s bosses in Teheran want to exploit Israel’s release of more than 440 prisoners in January. Iran believes that Israel and, perhaps the United States, can be pressured into releasing additional Hizbullah terrorists in Europe and even in the United States. Indeed, some key Hizbullah agents were arrested and prosecuted in North Carolina in 2003 in an elaborate credit card fraud scheme to raise money for the Beirut-based group. Other agents Iran and Hizbullah seek are in Germany, prosecuted for the bombing of a Kurdish restaurant in Berlin in 1996.

Hizbullah has been more than a willing partner in the Iranian plan being worked out by Suleimani. Hizbullah secretary-general Hassan Nasrallah seeks to remain vital to Iran to ensure continued funding and project fear both in Lebanon and abroad. What Nasrallah worries about more than anything else is that Iran will cut off Hizbullah and leave it vulnerable to Israeli or U.S. attack. Hizbullah has been training agents to befriend Israelis or American Jews in Europe, the United States and in Israel itself. The plan is to lure the victims to Lebanon or the Gulf region, where they would be kidnapped and transferred to Iran or Lebanon. If this sounds familiar, this was the method Hizbullah employed to abduct Israeli Res. Col. Elhanan Tannenbaum in 2000. The planned ruses include romantic relationships, business opportunities or just plain friendship. With a considerable Hizbullah friendship in Asia, Europe and South America, the opportunities for abduction are endless.

Suleimani’s liaison has been Hizbullah’s Mughniyah. Mughniyah has vast experience with abductions, particularly of Americans and Europeans in the 1980s in Beirut. Intelligence sources said Mughniyah and Suleimani have agreed that Israelis and Jews would be the first choice followed by Western nationals. Under the plan, the abductors would be Mughniyah’s agents from Lebanon, carrying European and South American passports. Iranian intelligence operatives and diplomats as well as Hizbullah’s vast sleeper network abroad would aid the agents. So far, the sources said, Suleimani has ordered his agents abroad to assist Hizbullah and comply with any request from Mughniyah. A leading Hizbullah operative has already started to identify abduction targets and everything is being set in place. Suleimani has a force that could also operate in Iraq. These are members of a covert Shi’ite group, called Soldiers of Mohammed. This group, also known as Sipha, was trained by Hizbullah in Lebanon and later worked with Suleimani’s Al Quds division. With Iran shaking off any pretensions of reform rule or democracy, Suleimani could be a very busy man in the next few months.
It seems to me that they are getting everything in place for a show. They must be calculating that GW and the US will be too preoccupied with an election to start looking hard at Iran, and now that the reformists have been neutralized, it is time for Iran to make its big power play. Get your popcorn and NBC suits, folks. This may be the lull before the storm.
Posted by: Alaska Paul 2004-03-10
http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=27830