UP TO DATE Nr.39 - Januar 2012

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Scott Horton of Antiwar Radio interviewed Philip Giraldion December13, 2011. In this interview, produced forKPFK 90.7 FM Los Angeles, Former CIA officer PhilipGiraldi reprises and expands on his previous interviewabout his article Washingtons Secret Wars, Obamasnewly signed findings that authorize covert operations todestabilize the Iranian and Syrian governments, how theUS and Israel use the Baluch Jundallah, Kurdish PJAK andMEK groups to commit terrorism-by- proxy, and the MEKsenergetic and well funded campaign to get de-listed as aterrorist group.

Philip Giraldi, a former CIA officer, is a contributing editorto The American Conservative and executive director of the Council for the National Interest. He writes regularlyfor Antiwar.com.

Below is a brief report on the interview published by Habilian Association.

Philip Giraldi, former CIA counter-terrorism officer andexecutive director of the Council for the National Interestwas interviewed by Scott Horton on Antiwar Radio andelaborated on US and Israeli efforts to destabilize Iranabove all the latest assassination.

"I think that's people who have been recruited by eitherCIA or Mossad and have been trained and sent back intoIran," said Philip Giraldi regarding the assassins of Mostafa Ahmadi-Roshan, Iranian scientist assassinated inTehran on Wednesday, January 11, 2012, HabilianAssociation database (families of Iranian terror victims)reported on Wednesday.

The contributing editor to the American ConservativeMagazine added that, "I suspect they (assassins) were

recruited out of MEK (Mujahedin-e Khalq) which is whywe're seeing so much stuff in support of MEK coming outof various politicians and other interest groups."

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http://antiwar.com

US and Israel use MEK to commit terrorism -by -proxy Anti War, January 26 2012

Because MEK is kind of their boys, their cutting edge interms of getting inside Iran and carrying out these kinds of operations," Giraldi further explained.

"Because MEK is kind of their boys, their cutting edge interms of getting inside Iran and carrying out these kinds of operations," included Giraldi, adding that having been anexperienced CIA case officer, "I understand how the stuff works a lot better than somebody in a newspaper."

He went on to say that a Mossad or CIA officer does nothave the ability to go inside Iran and carry out anoperation, concluding that they have acquired somebodyelse who can do it for them "and in this case there aresome obvious candidates, MEK (Mujahedin-e Khalq, MKO)would be I think the most prominent."

He made reference to US and Israeli actions against Syriaand Iran and emphasized that in the case of Iran theyknow they cannot overthrow the regime, adding that, "it'sthe question of setting up a bunch of relationships andemploying various covert actions to destabilize (and) tomake the Iranian government waste a lot of resources ondealing with these problems."

Former CIA agent Philip Giraldi also described theassassinations of Iranian scientists as "to be somewhatineffective."


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Page 2UP TO DATE N0. 39/JANUARY 2012

When Is A Terrorist Not A Terrorist?

War With Iran Or Not? ... In the case of the assassination of Iranian scientists, theMossads assets are almost certainly members of the Mujahedin -eKhalq Organization (MKO) also known as The Peoples Mujahedinof Iran, which is committed to overthrowing the regime of theruling mullahs. Many of its activists are based in Iraqi Kurdistanwhere Mossad has a substantial presence. It does the trainingthere, selects the targets in Iran and provides the bombs andother weapons, and MKO members do the actual killing...

Written by: Alan Hart , January 16, 2012

http://www.eurasiareview.com/16012012-when-is-a-terrorist-not-a-terrorist-war-with-iran-or-not-oped/

The longer and complete form of the first question in theheadline is When is a terrorist not a terrorist in the eyes of the Obama administration (not to mention all of itspredecessors) and the governments of the Western world?

Answer: When he or she is an Israeli Mossad agent or asset.

In the case of the assassination of Iranian scientists, theMossads assets are almost certainly members of theMujahedin-e Khalq Organization (MKO) also known as ThePeoples Mujahedin of Iran, which is committed tooverthrowing the regime of the ruling mullahs. Many of itsactivists are based in Iraqi Kurdistan where Mossad has asubstantial presence. It does the training there, selects thetargets in Iran and provides the bombs and other weapons,and MKO members do the actual killing.

Its reasonable to presume that Mossad is more comfortableoperating out of Iraqi Kurdistan with Iranian MKO assetsthan it was when its own agents were posing as CIA officersto recruit members of Jundallah, a Pakistan-based Sunniextremist organization, to carry out assassinations andattacks on installations and facilities in Iran.

Some of the essence of that Israeli false flag operation has

been revealed by Mark Perry in an article for Foreign Policy.His report is based on information he acquired aboutmemos buried deep in the archives of Americas intelligenceservices which were written in the last years of PresidentGeorge Dubya Bushs administration, plus conversationshe had with two currently serving U.S. intelligence officialsand four retired intelligence officers who worked for the CIAor monitored Israeli intelligence operations from seniorpositions inside the U.S. government.

According to Perrys sources, one of whom has seen thememos, the Mossad agents who were posing as CIA agentsto recruit Jundallah operatives had American passports and

were flush with American dollars.

The memos tell the story of an investigation which debunkedreports from 2007 and 2008 accusing the CIA, at the

direction of the White House, of covertly supporting Jundallah. The investigation apparently showed that theU.S. had barred even the most incidental contact withJundallah.

The memos also gave details of CIA field reports onMossads recruitment of Jundallah operatives, mainly inLondon and under the nose of U.S. intelligence officials.

Perrys sources confessed to being stunned by thebrazenness of Mossads efforts. And one of them said:Its amazing what the Israelis thought they could get awaywith. Their recruitment activities were nearly in the open.They apparently didnt give a damn about what wethought.

I take issue with the first part of that statement. What isreally amazing is not what Mossad and almost of Israelspolitical and military leaders think they can get away with,but what they KNOW they can get away with because of the Zionist lobbys control of Congress on all mattersrelating to policy for the conflict in and over Palestine thatbecame Israel.
http://www.eurasiareview.com/author/alan-hart/http://www.eurasiareview.com/author/alan-hart/http://www.eurasiareview.com/author/alan-hart/


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And that in turn is why, generally speaking, Israels leadersdont give a damn about what American administrationsthink, They come and go but the Zionist lobbys control of Congress is a permanent fixture. (In private conversationwith General Moshe Dayan when he was Israels defenceminister, I once summed up Israels unspeakable butimplicit message to the governments of the world in thefollowing way. We know we shouldnt have done this butweve done it because we also know theres nothing youcan do about it. Dayan didnt comment but the look on hisface said something like, Youre right but Im not going tosay so.)

Though Israel doesnt usually comment on reports aboutMossads activities, a senior government spokesmandescribed Perrys account of Mossad agents posing as CIAagents as absolute nonsense. As I was reading the denialI used a Jimmy Carter expression BS (Bull Shit). After the latest assassination of an Iranian scientist, RickSantorum, the right-wing religious joker in the pack of Republican presidential hopefuls, said this: On occasionsscientists working on the nuclear program in Iran turn updead. I think thats a wonderful thing.

A different view was offered by Jewish American journalistRichard Silverstein. For his weblog Tikun Olam he wrotethis: These are shameful acts by a shameful Israeligovernment exploiting Iranian terrorists for their own ends. Ifind it disgusting that Israel can get away with such actswith impunity.

Disgusting it certainly is but theres no mystery about whyIsrael can commit crimes including acts of naked stateterrorism without fear of being called and held to accountfor them by the UN Security Council. When after the 1967war it refused to label the Zionist state as the aggressor andrequire it to withdraw from the newly occupied Arab landswithout conditions, it effectively created, at the insistence of the U.S., two sets of rules for the behaviour of nations oneset for all the nations of the world minus Israel and theother exclusively for Israel. That was the birth of the doublestandard which is the cancer at the heart of Western foreignpolicy.

Now lets pause for a moment to imagine what theresponse would have been if Iranian agents or assets hadassassinated an Israeli scientist (just one) in the Zioniststate.

Led by America, Western governments would have bellowedtheir condemnation of the terrorism and pledged fullsupport for all efforts to hunt the terrorists down and bring them to justice. And they would, of course, have blamed thegovernment of Iran even if there was not one shred of evidence of its authorization. The assassination of an Israeliscientist might even have tipped the Washington decision-making balance in favour of the mad men who want theU.S. either to attack Iran or give Israeli Prime MinisterNetanyahu the green light to go, with or without nuclear

tipped, bunker-busting bombs.

And Israel? How would it have responded? With or without agreen light from President Obama it almost certainly wouldhave bombed selected targets in Iran, even if doing so waslikely to set the region on fire and do vast damage toWestern interests in the region and the whole Muslim world.(As I note in my book Zionism: The Real Enemy of the Jews,in the chapter headed The Liberty Affair Pure Murder ona Great Day, the lesson of the cold -blooded Israeli attackon the American spy ship was that there is nothing theZionist state might not do, to its friends as well as itsenemies, in order to get its own way).

Now At the risk of inviting a charge from some andperhaps many readers that I am naive in the extreme, I haveto say I am inclined to the view that the Obamaadministration was telling the truth when it strongly deniedany American complicity in the latest Israeli/MKOassassination. The New York Times put it this way:

The assassination drew an unusually strong condemnationfrom the White House and the State Department, which

disavowed any American complicity The United States hadabsolutely nothing to do with this, said Tommy Vietor, aspokesman for the National Security Council. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton appeared to expand the denialbeyond Wednesdays killing, categorically denying anyUnited States involvement in any kind of act of violenceinside Iran.

The NYT report then quoted Mrs. Clinton as saying this:

We believe that there has to be an understanding betweenIran, its neighbours and the international community thatfinds a way forward for it to end its provocative behaviour,

end its search for nuclear weapons and rejoin theinternational community,

Continued to page 6


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The article has been written completely based ontestimonies of some former members of the Mujahedin

Khalq Organization and films and documents obtained from

former Iraqi regime. It does not contain any personal

position.

I woke up late in the morning. I fumbled toward my desk.

As usual I took my cell phone to check my calls. I saw an

unknown phone number that brought me totally on the alert.

Immediately I called back, excited to know who would get

the call

The next day, I left home for a hotel in Baghdad while I

hadnt slept the previous night at all. I wanted to visit a

group of Iranians who had come to Iraq from both Europe

and Iran for one single cause: revealing one of the most

mysterious and active covert political and intelligence

organizations that I had already gathered a little information

about.

The organization was founded by a group of Islamist

political activists, Mohammad Hanif nejad, Saeed Mohsen

and Ali Asghar badeezadegan who started their armed

struggle following the June 5th,1963 (Khordad 15th,1342)uprising in Iran. They were inspired by Latin America armed

movements. Two years later in 1965 they founded their

organization that was not named Mojahedin Khalq yet and

was simply called the Organization by its members. Their

cause was the overthrow of Pahlavi regime that arrested

and executed a large number of the organizations activists

shortly after. In 1971, thirteen MKO leaders including

Massoud Rajavi were sentenced to death. Massoud Rajavi

could suspiciously survive that death penalty.

The organization has never been a moderate one in itsapproaches. They never agreed with Islamist activists who

were also struggling before the Revolution. Mr. Hassan Azizi

[former MKO member]'s testimony proves the issue:The

MKO used to quarrel with Islamists in the prison. They used

to offend them [their co- prisoners] telling them Until we

are, you mustnt be.

Asked about Massoud Rajavis personality, he replied:he

is an evil under the cover of human. To support his claim,

he said, We got to know that the Iranian government had

suspected one of the team bases that had housed the

organizations number two, Musa Khiabani and his wife

Azar Rezaiee and Massoud Rajavis first wife, Ashraf

Rabiee'.

"According to the group security regulations, the place had

to be immediately abandoned for 48 hours in order to

make sure about the safety of the place after that they

could return. But Massoud Rajavi called from France and

assured them that the base was not recognized [by security

forces] and that they would be able to stay there. Then the

government forces besieged the house and after two hours

of armed clashes [the MKO] agents were killed. Besides,

when all the group leaders were imprisoned and then

executed by the Pahlavi regime, he [Rajavi] was the only

one who survived.

He also said:in 1383, National Council of Resistance was

established by Iranian opposition movements including

Kurdistan Democratic Party led by Dr. Qasemlou - who was

suspiciously murdered in Viene, Austeria- National

Democratic Front led by Hedayat Allah Matin Daftari and

famous personalities like former Iranian president Abul

Hassan BaniSadr. [The NCRI] intended to create a free

region in Iranian Kurdistan. Following the hammering of

Kurdistan by Iranian government, we were transformed toAlan Heights in Iraq, under Massoud Rajavis order. [In

Iraq] we were busy-minded with a question: what are we

http://edalatjusticesociety.com/pages/?id=2214

MKO hanging in a vague future and past!!!!... The organization has never been a moderate one in its approaches. They never agreedwith Islamist activists who were also struggling before the Revolution. Mr. Hassan Azizi[former MKO member]'s testimony proves the issue:The MKO used to quarrel withIslamists in the prison. They used to offend them [their co- prisoners] telling them Untilwe are, you mustnt be. Asked about Massoud Rajavis personality, he replied:he is anevil under the cover of human. ...

Mohammad Saad, Almurakeb-al-Iraqi, January 11 2012Translated by Nejat Societyhttp://www.nejatngo.org/en/post.aspx?id=4153

Original in Arabichttp://www.almurakeb-aliraqi.com/


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That in my opinion is code for something very like: Thisadministration is not completely mad. We know that an attackon Iran could have catastrophic consequences for the regionand the world. Despite the mounting and awesome pressure weare under from Netanyahu and those who peddle hispropaganda here in America, we know that the nuclear problemwith Iran must be solved by jaw-jaw and not war- war.

How catastrophic the consequences of an Israeli attack on Irancould be for the region and the world has been put into wordsby Philip Giraldi, currently the executive director of the Councilfor the National Interest and a former CIA counter-terrorismspecialist and military intelligence officer. The scenario hepresents under the headline What War With Iran Might LookLike takes us all the way to World War III.

So I believe NYT reporter Scott Shane was on the right trackwhen he wrote that the statements by U.S. officials appeared toreflect serious concern about the (Israeli/MKO) assassinationsof Iranian scientists because they could backfire and makeIrans leaders less willing to talk. And, I add, more willing to givein to those forces in Iran, the Revolutionary Guards in particular,who might well be saying that Iran must possess nuclearweapons for deterrence.

My guess is that U.S. officials are also concerned by thepossibility that more assassinations could provoke an Iranianresponse which would give Israel the pretext to attack. (Its by

no means impossible that the main purpose of theassassinations is to provoke an Iranian response to give Israelthe pretext for an attack).

That brings me to my own speculation about what is really going on behind closed doors in the Obama administration. Atexecutive level it is, I think, in a state of something close to totalpanic about what to do to prevent an Israeli attack on Iran if Netanyahu is not bluffing.

My reading of Obamas latest turn of the sanctions screw onIran is that its his way of not only putting more pressure on theruling mullahs. Its also his way of saying to Netanyahu

something like, Give me more time to solve the Iranian nuclearproblem by all means other than war.

Obama needs more time not only to try to get serious andsubstantive talks with Iran going but also to establish beyondany doubt whether Israeli threats to attack Irans nuclearfacilities are a bluff (to put pressure on the U.S.) or not. In anarticle for Haaretz under the headline Israel and U.S. at oddsover timetables and red lines for Iran, Avi Issacharoff and AmosHarel wrote:

Do Barak and Netanyahu really intend to attack on their own,or is Israel only trying to prod the West into more decisiveaction? That is the million-dollar question. It has beendiscussed intermittently for the past three years and it seemsthat Washington does not have a satisfactory answer to it.

In a few days time General Martin Dempsey, chairmanof the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, is scheduled to arrive inIsrael for talks with Defense Minister Ehud Barak, Chief of Staff Lt. General Benny Gantz and other senior Israelidefense and intelligence officials.

Dempsey knows that when U.S. Defense Secretary LeonPanetta met with Netanyahu and Barak last November,they refused to give him a commitment that Israelwould not attack Iran without informing America of itsintention to do so.

If I am right about the panic in the Obamaadministration, my guess is that Dempsey will try toobtain the commitment Panetta failed to get. What if Dempsey does not succeed?

My guess is that whatever he may say in public after hismeetings, Dempsey will tell the Israelis in private that if they go to war with Iran they will be on their own. TheU.S., I can almost hear him saying, will not becomeengaged except to defend its own national interests if and as necessary because the American people, mostof them, are tired of war. He could add and we donthave the money to pay for it.

An interesting question for the coming days issomething like this: What if Dempsey returns toWashington without being able to give behind-closed-doors assurance that Israel (despite what it mightcontinue to say to the contrary in public for propagandapurposes) will not go it alone with an attack Iran?

In theory there is a card President Obama could play.He could put Israel on public notice that if it attackedIran and if as a consequence Americas own bestsinterests were harmed, the U.S. would have to rethinkits relationship with the Jewish state. A statement tothat effect would imply that the days of Americasunconditional support for Israel right or wrong could becoming to an end.

But thats not a statement Obama could make this side

of Novembers presidential election. So if Netanyahu isnot bluffing, and if he was determined to bomb Iransnuclear facilities before Novembers election, theresnothing Obama could do to stop him, even knowing thatthe end game could be, as Giraldi speculated, WorldWar III.

My own view has always been that Netanyahu isbluffing to the extent that he even he is not crazyenough to order an Israeli attack on Iran without agreen light from the U.S. and American cover andparticipation,

I hope I am right. If I am it could be that GeneralDempsey will return to Washington with the newsObama wants and needs that without a green lightfrom the U.S, Israel will not bomb Irans nuclearfacilities.

Continued from page 3


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they enjoy little support in their home country, in spite of Mrs. Rajavis claims to lead the main resistance to theIslamic Republic, apparently because their efforts wereseen as treacherous by many Iranians.

In the 2003 war that unseated Saddam Hussein, U.S.-ledcoalition forces attacked Mujahedeen military units butsubsequently a ceasefire was arranged. Before theconflict, the Rajavis had repaired to their long-time base inthe Paris suburb of Auvers-sur-Oise, which French anti-terrorism police raided in 2003, seizing millions of euros.

Theres no longer any reason to keep these people onthe terrorist list, said Gen. Shelton, expressing an opinionthat has won widespread bipartisan support inWashington, as my colleague Scott Shane has reported.

The P.M.O.I. also known by its Persian title Mujahedeen-e-Khalq has used a seemingly bottomless budget topush its case in the corridors of the U.S. Congress and tofinance international meetings to maintain its profile.

Despite that, the State Department has adamantlyrefused to remove the group from its list of foreignterrorist organizations. A U.S court ruled in 2010 that thegovernment must allow the PMOI a chance to rebutunclassified information the government used to justify itsdesignation, Legal Times reported at the time.

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton has the matter

under consideration.The Mujahedeen fears the administration wants to keep a

diplomatic line open to Iran in the escalating nucleardispute. Did you see those reports of Obama sending asecret letter to Tehran, said a Mujahedeen insiderknowingly.

Listing the P.M.O.I. as terrorists is the one thing on whichWashington and Tehran agree and a delisting would becertain to derail any diplomatic initiative that might beunder way.

As things stand, U.S. and European policy is to squeeze

Iran economically until sanctions force it to yield on thenuclear issue.

The next step in that campaign will focus on Brussels,where European foreign ministers are moving toward aphased embargo of Iranian oil.

alone for a few moments has to then confess all his

thoughts to his superior official.

c. Everyone has to supervise his or her comradesd. No family contact is allowed

e. Government forces: in former Iraqi regime, security

forces used to arrest those members who wanted to

escape the camp. After the fall of that regime, such a thing

didnt happen anymore. About Auver Sur dOise, the police

have the responsibility.

3 - Hostage taking

Holding children as hostages: before 1991, organizational

marriages took place in the organization. Members had to

marry the spouse that was assigned for them by the groupleaders. In 1991 when the first gulf war started the

children who were the fruit of those marriages, were

transferred to Europe. Seven hundred children were sent

to European countries under the pretext of dangerous war

situation". The kids were moved there under the cover of

human rights organization that were actually front

organization of the MKO with fake passports, then they

would be delivered to European mothers. After the gulf war

ended, all spouses were ordered to divorce under the title

Ideological Revolution. The organization held their

children as hostages in order that members did not dare to

escape.

4 - Fear and intimidation

a. Every member who attempts to leave or escape the base

will be tortured and imposed severe peer pressure. Tens of

his comrades will verbally and physically abuse him.

b. The members are all the time inculcated that if they

escape the camp. They will be arrested and executed by

Iranian forces. Here, I would cite a famous quote from

Rajavi that is a significant proof of his notorious ideas:we

should all the time implement axe, bullet and pistol on themembers.

Continued from page 5 Continued from page 8


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Shelton, former Chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefsof Staff; Rudy Giuliani, the former New York mayor;and Michael Mukasey, former U.S. Attorney

General. Other panelists included Philippe Douste-Blazy, a former French foreign minister.

Gen. Shelton told Rendezvous he believed the U.S.had a sworn obligation to protect Mujahedeenrefugees being evicted from Camp Ashraf in Iraq bya hostile government in Baghdad.

Camp Ashraf was a heavily armed encampmentunder Saddam Hussein from which Mujahedeenfighters attempted to invade Iran at the end of the1980-88 Iran-Iraq war. They were driven off. Today


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ht tp://rendezvous.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/01/23/

Strange Bedfellows in the Conflict with Iran ... Camp Ashraf was a heavily armed encampment under Saddam Hussein from whichMujahedeen fighters attempted to invade Iran at the end of the 1980-88 Iran-Iraq war.They were driven off. Today they enjoy little support in their home country, in spite of Mrs.Rajavis claims to lead the main resistance to the Islamic Republic, apparently becausetheir efforts were seen as treacherous by many Iranians... HARVEY MORRIS, New York Times, January 23, 2012

PARIS As the European Union prepared to consider tough newsanctions against Iran on Monday, a group of eminent Americanswas cozying up here to an exiled Iranian opposition group that the

United States classifies as terrorists.Even undeclared war makes strange bedfellows, and none more so

than the former politicians, generals and spooks on the panel at aconference in Paris on Friday evening and their hosts, the PeoplesMujahedeen of Iran.

In its checkered history, the P.M.O.I. has been accused of murdering American servicemen, was involved in not one but two invasions of the U.S. embassy in Tehran during the Iranian revolution, and allieditself with the Iraqi regime of Saddam Hussein.

More recently it claims to have provided information exposing details of Tehrans attempts to produce a nuclear weapon, whilevigorously denying widespread speculation that it might haveassisted in recent unexplained assassinations of Iranian nuclearscientists.

Western governments, including that of France where the groupsleadership is based, regard the Mujahedeen as more of a cult than apolitical movement.

Presiding over Fridays conference in the old Bourse building inParis was Mariam Rajavi, the movements leader and wife of itsfounder, Masoud Rajavi. He has disappeared from public view,perhaps emulating the Hidden Imam of the Shia Muslims whoselegend figured in the creation of the Rajavi personality cult.

Dressed in a familiar outfit of a modest but brightly colored suit andmatching headscarf, she was greeted with chants of Mariam,Mariam, from the almost exclusively Iranian audience.

Americans on the international panel included General Hugh

Continued to page 7

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UP TO DATE Nr.39 - Januar 2012