Iran warns Iraq of Israeli agents in Kurdish north

[Rose Siding]

Iran said Sunday that although it wasn’t able to confirm reports that Israeli agents have been operating in the Kurdish areas of northern Iraq, Iraqi officials should “pay attention”.

“Regarding the presence of Israeli forces in northen Iraq, we have also heard some things,” foreign ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi told reporters.

“We hope this news is a lie and that Iraqi officials pay attention to the sensitivities of neighbouring countries,” he warned, adding the matter was the subject of “protests” by several states on the sidelines of an Organisation of Islamic Conference (OIC) gathering in Turkey.

Although Asefi said “our proof is only based on reports”, he warned that any Israeli presence in northern Iraq “is not something that the Islamic and regional nations would accept, because Israel is an enemy of the region.”

http://www.aljazeera.com/cgi-bin/news_service/middle_east_full_story.asp?service_id=5070

Sy Hersh has written of this, too. It sure makes a bizarre headline.

[geek tragedy]

1. Iran just read The New Yorker now?

They're behind the times.

[Rose Siding]

2. I really don't think that's what it means.

I mentioned Hersh to add credibility. Iran has its own intelligence gathering system, wouldn't you think?

[geek tragedy]

3. I understood what you meant.

But, this hardly seems like news. More likely some propagandizing going on.

Honest propagandizing, but propagandizing nonetheless.

[oldhat]

4. Here's the Hersh article

http://www.newyorker.com/fact/content/?040628fa_fact

Israeli intelligence and military operatives are now quietly at work in Kurdistan, providing training for Kurdish commando units and, most important in Israel’s view, running covert operations inside Kurdish areas of Iran and Syria. Israel feels particularly threatened by Iran, whose position in the region has been strengthened by the war. The Israeli operatives include members of the Mossad, Israel’s clandestine foreign-intelligence service, who work undercover in Kurdistan as businessmen and, in some cases, do not carry Israeli passports.

Asked to comment, Mark Regev, the spokesman for the Israeli Embassy in Washington, said, “The story is simply untrue and the relevant governments know it’s untrue.” Kurdish officials declined to comment, as did a spokesman for the State Department.

However, a senior C.I.A. official acknowledged in an interview last week that the Israelis were indeed operating in Kurdistan. He told me that the Israelis felt that they had little choice: “They think they have to be there.” Asked whether the Israelis had sought approval from Washington, the official laughed and said, “Do you know anybody who can tell the Israelis what to do? They’re always going to do what is in their best interest.” The C.I.A. official added that the Israeli presence was widely known in the American intelligence community.

The Israeli decision to seek a bigger foothold in Kurdistan—characterized by the former Israeli intelligence officer as “Plan B”—has also raised tensions between Israel and Turkey. It has provoked bitter statements from Turkish politicians and, in a major regional shift, a new alliance among Iran, Syria, and Turkey, all of which have significant Kurdish minorities. In early June, Intel Brief, a privately circulated intelligence newsletter produced by Vincent Cannistraro, a retired C.I.A. counterterrorism chief, and Philip Giraldi, who served as the C.I.A.’s deputy chief of base in Istanbul in the late nineteen-eighties, said:

'Turkish sources confidentially report that the Turks are increasingly concerned by the expanding Israeli presence in Kurdistan and alleged encouragement of Kurdish ambitions to create an independent state. . . . The Turks note that the large Israeli intelligence operations in Northern Iraq incorporate anti-Syrian and anti-Iranian activity, including support to Iranian and Syrian Kurds who are in opposition to their respective governments.'

Just bought the new Hersh book. It's excellent and there's more about Israeli and Iranian intelligence agents in Kurdistan.

[tinnypriv]

5. Hersh doesn't talk about something even more interesting

Which is that Israel has a hundred million $$$ business with Iraq, via Syrian and Jordanian territory.

Especially Jordan, where Hebrew labels are "washed" before being shipped on. Apparently Israel is even selling oil, if that makes any sense...