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| Syria-Lebanon-Iran |
| Iran plotted to kill Bremer, destabilize Iraq |
| 2004-11-14 |
| Very long, but extremely good. I would point out that US News archives this stuff after their next issue comes out, so we may want to keep this on Rantburg for reference purposes. In the summer of last year, Iranian intelligence agents in Tehran began planning something quite spectacular for September 11, the two-year anniversary of al Qaeda's attack on the United States, according to a classified American intelligence report. Iranian agents disbursed $20,000 to a team of assassins, the report said, to kill Paul Bremer, then the top U.S. civilian administrator in Iraq. The information was specific: The team, said a well-placed source quoted in the intelligence document, would use a Toyota Corona taxi and a second car, driven by suicide bombers, to take out Bremer and destroy two hotels in downtown Baghdad. The source even named one of the planners, Himin Bani Shari, a high-ranking member of the Ansar al-Islam terrorist group and a known associate of Iranian intelligence agents. The alleged plan was never carried out. But American officials regarded Iran's reported role, and its ability to make trouble in Iraq, as deadly serious. Iran, said a separate report, issued in November 2003 by American military analysts, "will use and support proxy groups" such as Ansar al-Islam "to conduct attacks in Iraq in an attempt to further destablize the country." An assessment by the U.S. Army's V Corps, which then directed all Army activity in Iraq, agreed: "Iranian intelligence continues to prod and facilitate the infiltration of Iraq with their subversive elements while providing them support once they are in country." With the Pentagon's stepped-up efforts to break the back of the insurgency before Iraq's scheduled elections in late January, Iran's efforts to destabilize Iraq have received little public attention. But a review of thousands of pages of intelligence reports by U.S. News reveals the critical role Iran has played in aiding some elements of the anti-American insurgency after Baghdad fell--and raises important questions about whether Iran will continue to try to destabilize Iraq after elections are held. The classified intelligence reports, covering the period July 2003 through early 2004, were prepared by the CIA; the Defense Intelligence Agency; the Iraq Survey Group, the 1,400-person outfit President Bush sent to Iraq to find weapons of mass destruction; the Coalition Provisional Authority; and various military commands and units in the field, including the V Corps and the Pentagon's Combined Joint Special Operations Task Force. The reports are based on information gathered from Iraqis, Iranian dissidents, and other sources inside Iraq. U.S. News also reviewed British intelligence assessments of the postwar phase in Iraq. |
| Posted by:Dan Darling |
| #12 Sounds like the author should have been Michael Ledeen. He is the renowned expert on these terror masters. As Michael suggests, all roads lead to Iran. |
| Posted by: Capt America 2004-11-14 10:28:23 PM |
| #11 "Everything is proceeding exactly as I have foreseen it ..." LOL, Dan... that's exactly what the emperor said to vader in return of the jedi ;) |
| Posted by: Damn_Proud_American 2004-11-14 7:27:13 PM |
| #10 Now that the purge is on and in full swing, the US can start disclosing information about the true nature of the Iranian threat without having to deal with all of these leaked "rebuttals" from Pillar and Co the way they did with Iraq. Everything is proceeding exactly as I have foreseen it ... |
| Posted by: Dan Darling 2004-11-14 7:00:50 PM |
| #9 Anonymoose, as easily this is being released now to justify the future release of the brigade if its activities are revealed. Or to wear down resistance to releasing the brigade by congressional overseers who have been reluctant to consent. Or perhaps prefatory to seeking congressional consent. Or as part of a get Goss effort by soon to be former Ops personnel. When one gets into this sort of thing, nothing is ever as it seems. |
| Posted by: Mrs. Davis 2004-11-14 6:51:31 PM |
| #8 I think AzCat is right. The US is setting up the stage for actions of various sorts for Iran. It would take a state like Iran to provide the resources for the kind of insurgencies that we have been dealing with since the end of the assault phase on Iraq. With the MMs going for nukes and playing the EUnichs for fools, the stakes are rapidly rising. |
| Posted by: Alaska Paul 2004-11-14 6:48:13 PM |
| #7 A more interesting question is what the US is doing about it, i.e. SOG activities involving the assassination of large numbers of these boyz. Seriously, if they have not killed thousands of these eaters of pork, they are not doing their job. Hell, they should have been cutting throats on the streets of Tehran six months ago--with special efforts to nail anyone associated with their nuclear program. If you have a brigade of James Bonds, use them. |
| Posted by: Anonymoose 2004-11-14 6:41:45 PM |
| #6 So, whadja think, Dan? How did USNWR get access to theses thousands of pages of classified documents? Just after the election and before the Fallujah offensive? What documents did nthey not get to see? |
| Posted by: Mrs. Davis 2004-11-14 6:38:22 PM |
| #5 Sounds more like an engineered leak to bolster the case against Iran. |
| Posted by: AzCat 2004-11-14 6:36:47 PM |
| #4 By paying the bar bill? |
| Posted by: .com 2004-11-14 6:34:55 PM |
| #3 Great post. The question I have,is just how did US News get access to "thousands" of reports,including raw data? |
| Posted by: Stephen 2004-11-14 6:29:43 PM |
| #2 LOL. The funniest thing was that I edited it as much as possible to avoid as much of the background info as possible ;) |
| Posted by: Dan Darling 2004-11-14 6:19:23 PM |
| #1 As Dan goes for today's "Bandwidth Buster" award... |
| Posted by: mojo 2004-11-14 6:05:20 PM |