Raw Story: US Using Iraqi Terror Groups In Iran - By Larisa Alexandrovna

[kpete]

US outsourcing special operations, intelligence to Iraq terror group, current and former intelligence officials say

Larisa Alexandrovna
Published: Thursday April 13, 2006

The Pentagon is bypassing official US intelligence channels and turning to a dangerous and unruly cast of characters in order to create strife in Iran in preparation for an attack, former and current intelligence officials say.

One of the operational assets being used by the Defense Department is a right-wing terrorist organization known as Mujahedeen-e Khalq (MEK), which is being “run” in two southern regional areas of Iran, both bordering Pakistan. They are Balucistan, a Sunni stronghold, and Khuzestan, a Shia region where a series of recent attacks has left many dead and hundreds injured in the last three months.

One former counterintelligence official, who wished to remain anonymous due to the sensitivity of the information, describes the Pentagon as pushing MEK shortly after the invasion of Iraq in 2003. The drive to use the insurgent group was said to have been advanced by the Pentagon under the influence of the Vice President’s office and opposed by the State Department, National Security Council and then-National Security Advisor, Condoleezza Rice.

“The MEK is run by a brother and sister who were given bases in northern Baghdad by Saddam,” the intelligence official explains. “The US army secured a key MEK facility 60 miles northwest of Baghdad shortly after the 2003 invasion, but they did not secure the MEK and let them basically be because Wolfowitz was thinking ahead to Iran.”
http://www.rawstory.com/news/2006/US_outsourcing_special_operations_intelligence_gathering_0413.html

[stop the bleeding]

1. Ta dah! - kpete makes an appearance

reading now.

[HereSince1628]

2. We didn't expect those millions approved for use by Condi to promote

democracy in Iran to be used to hand out refrigerator magnets. Can't say I'm surprised.

[bear425]

3. 5th k/r

-snip-

In a stunning repeat of pre-war Iraq activities, the Bush administration continues to publicly call for action and pursue diplomatic solutions to allegations that Iran is bomb-ready. Behind the scenes, however, the administration is already well underway and engaged in ground operations in Iran.

-snip-

emphasis mine

[shraby]

4. Isn't that considered "sponsoring terrorism"?

Creating internal strife in a country with state sponsored groups is what Bush is crying about when others do it.

[izzybeans]

7. and it has been the modus operandi of this sort of operation for

a long time. Central and South America experienced similar "destabilization" campaigns via right-wing geurilla factions.

[maddezmom]

5. more from CSM 12/03:Inside a group caught between three powers

~snip~
Officially, both the US and Iran label the MKO a terrorist group. The US-appointed Iraq Governing Council concurs: Citing the "black history of this terrorist organization" and its years of working closely with Mr. Hussein, it has ordered the expulsion of the MKO from Iraq by the end of this year.

But the MKO's fate is unclear. While the Iraqis want it disbanded, the politically savvy group still has support among some congressmen and Pentagon officials, who see it as a potential tool against Iran, a country which President Bush calls part of an "axis of evil."

Some MKO tips have led to recent revelations about key aspects of Iran's clandestine nuclear program, though many others have proven unreliable. Long a diplomatic hot potato - which Tehran has offered to solve, by exchanging MKO militants for Al Qaeda players now in Iran - the MKO continues to complicate US-Iran-Iraq relations.

~snip~

The Pentagon - after bombing MKO camps in Iraq in the first stages of the invasion - quickly worked out a truce with the group some civilian hawks in the Pentagon believe should be supported and turned into a US tool of opposition against the Islamic Republic of Iran.

much more:http://www.csmonitor.com/2003/1231/p10s01-woiq.html

[B3Nut]

10. Jeepers...

could we be any more ham-handed in middle-eastern affairs? Good night Charlie Brown...

Todd in Beerbratistan

[Emit]

17. Seems they had the MEK/MKO in mind early on

Being discussed here:

robertpaulsen:
"It's been on the drawing board since PNAC was created in the '90s, but they've been planning this militarily since at least 2003!"


More here:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=364&topic_id=923696&mesg_id=926173

On edite, Or maybe even in '01 or '02:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=364&topic_id=923696&mesg_id=926891

[jsamuel]

6. is the US supporting radical islamic terrorists?

[Dunvegan]

8. Short analysis: Yes.

Longer analysis: If they are working for our intel spooks, they shall be defined in Foggy Bottom terms as either, (1) Friendly Operatives, or (2) Freedom Fighters.

[kpete]

9. UPDATE: CHENEY ORDERED USE OF TERROR GROUPS

“We disarmed of major weapons but not small arms. Rumsfeld was pushing to use them as a military special ops team, but policy infighting between their camp and Condi, but she was able to fight them off for a while,” said the intelligence official. According to still another intelligence source, the policy infighting ended last year when Donald Rumsfeld, under pressure from Vice President Cheney, came up with a plan to “convert” the MEK by having them simply quit their organization.

http://www.rawstory.com/news/2006/US_outsourcing_special_operations_intelligence_gathering_0413.html

[bvar22]

11. Jimmy Carter tried to stop these outrages.

The Black Agencies brought him down for his efforts.
Jimmy Carter was the first Democrat to be Swiftboated.

[robertpaulsen]

12. Hey kpete, sorry I missed this thread before.

Thanks for posting this! Everyone needs to read this!

:kick:

[kpete]

14. Hi and thanks for the comment

Larisa continues to amaze me...

[Greeby]

13. It was a pro-Khuzestan separatist group, armed by Saddam

That carried the Iranian Embassy Siege in London in 1980. The SAS killed all but one of the hostage-takers as part of Operation Nimrod.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/static/in_depth/uk/2000/iranian_embassy_siege/intro.stm

[lala_rawraw]

15. interesting

http://www.speakspeak.org/speak-blog/2006/04/13/larisa-alexandrovna-of-raw-story/

[kpete]

16. I saw that earlier

hmmmm...

[lala_rawraw]

18. Odd, no? And a whole blog of his own, and a DU entry

all asking "why would someone tell you"? odd really, but anticipated.