U.S. Says I.E.D. Parts Smuggled to Iran

[alp227]

Source: NY Times

Electronic parts made in Minnesota were smuggled through Singapore to Iran, and some of them ended up in the remote controls of makeshift bombs seized by American forces in Iraq, the Justice Department said on Tuesday.

The parts are normally used in such commonplace devices as the routers that wirelessly connect computers and printers in a typical office network. The Justice Department said in an indictment that the ones smuggled to Iran had been put to use in sophisticated improvised explosive devices, or I.E.D.’s, that could be triggered from miles away.

Four men have been arrested in Singapore on charges of breaking American export-control laws by smuggling 6,000 radio frequency modules through Singapore to Iran, beginning in 2007. At least 16 of the devices, purchased from a Minnesota company, were found in unexploded bombs in Iraq in 2008, 2009 and 2010.

Singapore has agreed to arrange the extradition of the men — Wong Yuh Lan, Lim Yong Nam, Lim Kow Seng and Hia Soo Gan Benson — to the United States for trial. A fifth man — Hossein Larijani, a citizen and resident of Iran — was also charged, along with companies that he controls; he remained at large.

Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/26/world/middleeast/us-says-parts-smuggled-to-iran-used-in-ieds.html

[Dont call me Shirley]

1. OMG, their "War on Iran" excuses rolling in like an avalanche.

[harun]

8. They keep this propaganda out there all the time. Neo-con's are always

working towards war on Iran.

[Arctic Dave]

2. Looks like they were doing the same thing Halliburton does.

Whats the beef. In capitalism, money is the ultimate justification. They were living by Wall St. ethos.

[Nihil]

7. The MIC is a monopoly that doesn't take kindly to competition. (n/t)

[FreeBillClinton]

3. RF modules? They couldn't just buy Chinese imports?

[Fuddnik]

4. Here we go again........

Same shit, different flies.

[Madmiddle]

5. The state department knows

What exactly does the state department know. Is it that they know they are responsible for these parts getting into Iran, so they might esacalate something here. Sounds like a set up just like the recent assassination lies. Who are we to believe in these findings.

[PragmaticLiberal]

6. The State Department isn't trying to escalate anything.

Its been common knowledge (or at least I thought it was) for years that Iran was behind some of the IEDs in Iraq/Afghanistan.


Full disclosure: I work for State...so perhaps I'm biased. :)

[USA_1]

9. Another Fake Story to Create Pro War Sentiment

I listened to Minnesota news this morning and none of our local media reported any of this garbage.