CIA in Dutch Espionage Gaffe

Dutch newspaper "De Telegraaf" reported last week that the CIA has carried out covert operations in the country, resulting in a diplomatic tiff in which the CIA station chief has been sent packing. The conflict was kept carefully under-wraps. "Well informed sources" in The Hague say the discredited CIA station chief left the Netherlands in 2005.

Central to the covert operations was an investigation into the proliferation of nuclear technology to Pakistan. According to sources this led to a bizarre situation during a secret operation at the house of a businessman. At some point Dutch intelligence agents became aware of CIA spooks also entering the premises, and caught them on tape.

Since the departure of the CIA officer relations have markedly improved. The new American station chief is said to be more diplomatically correct than his predecessor.

- Caption: Hat Tip "The Atlantic" -

Underlying this innocent sounding anecdote is a much more sinister espionage story, which might have wider ramifications in the future.

In August 2005 former Dutch Prime Minister Ruud Lubbers confirmed that the Government at the time knew Pakistini nuclear scientist A.Q. Khan was stealing secret nuclear technology from the Physical Dynamics Research Laboratory (FDO) in Amsterdam where Khan worked from 1972 to 1976.

FDO was a URENCO subcontractor, the uranium enrichment facility which had been established by the U.K., West Germany and the Netherlands to produce enriched uranium for European reactors.

Lubbers went on record, affirming - upon the CIA's wishes, in order to monitor Khan's movements - to have let Khan proceed with his clandestine activities on at least two separate occasions.

In January 2004 Khan confessed to having been involved in a clandestine international mail order network of nuclear weapons technology from Pakistan to Libya, Iran and North Korea.

Khan, being somewhat of a national hero, was pardoned by President Musharraf after having served a period under house-arrest. The Pakistan President later confirmed Khan had supplied uranium hexafluoride, gas centrifuges and parts to North Korea.

Evidently this lethal spat hasn't got the tendency of becoming very fast a blast from the past.

Mohamed ElBaradei: Useful Idiot or Trojan Horse?

Mohamed ElBaradei, director general of IAEA, keeps saying over and over again what Washington doesn't want to hear: "There is no proof that Iran tries to acquire atomic weapons." And a few weeks ago, a new U.S. National Intelligence Estimate seemed to confirm that there is no proof of on-going nuclear weapons program in Iran since the fall of 2003.

In his Vienna apartment, ElBaradei accepted an interview by the French weekly magazine Paris-Match. Here are a few excerpts and comments:

Paris-Match: A new U.S. National Intelligence Estimate concluded that there had been no on-going nuclear weapons program in Iran since the fall of 2003? Is it a victory for you?

ElBaradei: It's a nice Christmas gift! We have some concerns about the Iranian nuclear program but this doesn't mean that Iran is a impending threat. And this doesn't mean that we have proof that Iran tries to acquire nuclear weapons. This report gives diplomacy new opportunities. We need to stop the war logic.

My comments: And you implicitly admit that you have no sure proof that Iran does NOT try to acquire nuclear weapons, Mr ElB ...

P-M: Is Iran threatening world peace?

ElB: In the short term I would say, no. In the long term, it's different. Several countries don't trust Iranian leaders.

My comments: Tell me, Mr ELB, what do you think? Are they trustworthy? What does it mean: "in the long-term it's different"?

P-M: After this NIE report, there'll be no American raid against Iran?

ElB: I hope so. A raid against Iran would have negative effects. This would solve no problem. First, Iranians have no big nuclear infrastructure. Destroying it would only delay their program for a few months. Then they would restart their nuclear activities in a clandestine way. And let's speak about the consequences in the region! The Muslim world is angry, feels humiliated. A war would draw further extremism.

My comments: So when activities are clandestine, it's though to detect it, right? Give me some proof that part of the program isn't clandestine already. And, oh Mr ElB, I forgot: you are yourself a Muslim with a biased view. Stop it with this leitmotiv of the angry and humiliated people. Humiliated by whom? Their own leaders, their own sick society based on a fascist religion.

P-M: France, amongst other countries want new sanctions against Iran. What is your position about that?

ElB: These countries are free to take this position, even if I have my ideas on the question. I'm pretty sure about one thing: without negotiations, there'll be no long-lasting solution. The Iranian nuclear problem is only part of a complex situation involving the Middle East and Muslim world security. To establish confidence between parts, you have to talk about Iraq, Afghanistan, Palestine, Lebanon, you have to talk about extremism, human rights, poverty. Many people in this region have to live on less than two dollars a day. Is this acceptable? This people' ll become extremists. Because they have nothing to loose, because they feel humiliated.

My comments: READ: "by negotiations, I mean that the Western world has to honor every demand of the Muslim world." And Mr ElB, yes lets talk about poverty. 2 dollars a day? Unacceptable! Especially when you realize that these people are sailing on a sea of oil! So give us a break : there is more than enough money within the Muslim world to solve the poverty problems. The western world? It does more than enough, buying your oil. The truth is: YOUR world, Mr ElB, should feel ASHAMED, not only humiliated. And after all, what's your job? You're the director general of IAEA, you're not supposed to do politics. And as we speak about your function, I would have expected to see a physicist fill the position, not a legal expert.

P-M: Iran did sign the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT or NNPT). Why then forbid them to produce nuclear energy for civil purposes?

ElB: By law, Iran indeed has the right to produce nuclear energy. But, as Iran hid part of its program for years, the international community doesn't trust them anymore. The Iranian case raises fundamental questions about the NPT and its purpose. That's why I suggest that uranium enrichment should be submitted to multilateral control, even for Western countries. Western super powers have to understand that if they want a long-term system, it must be fair. When they signed the NPT the nuclear states - USA, France, UK, China and Russia - committed themselves to massive disarmament. They are far from it!
If Iranians created a nuclear program, it's for economical reasons but also because they don't feel secure.

Comments: Oh! So they already did hide part of the program! Reading you, I thought this would be the case only if USA smashes their nuclear stuff ... Tell me, you're sure they don't keep on doing it, only with more efficiency. And tell me how a country would feel more secure with ONLY a CIVILIAN nuclear program?

P-M: Thus you understand the argument: "if super powers, Israel and Pakistan have nuclear weapons, why can't we?"

ElB: Sure! If a country doesn't feel secure, acquiring nuclear weapons - or at least an uranium enrichment program - is a means of protection. We can't go on living in a world divided between states which have nuclear weapons and states which don't have it. Nuclear states say to the rest of the world: "We need nuclear weapons for our security but you can't have it because that's not good for you, it threatens the world's security!" That's not fair. Super powers have to set the example. For the first time in a US presidential election, several candidates, namely Barack Obama and John Edwards, committed themselves for nuclear weapons abolition. That's a good thing.

Comments: READ : "Let's hope Americans vote Obama (or at least Edwards), a new Jimmy Carter for America; my Iranian friends would find that so funny!" By the way, yes Mr ElB, the Western world needs nuclear capacity to protect itself against evil minded people like Ahmadinejad, El Assad, Kim Jong Il, to name but a few. And yes, some countries should NEVER possess a nuclear weapon, because they are managed by fanatic, intolerant and racist leaders. And, my dear American friends, I beg you, please: no votes for Obama nor Edwards.

P-M: Is a new Hiroshima possible?

ElB: If we don't change our system, yes. There are still many nuclear weapons on the planet. Maybe you'll awake one morning to discover that half the planet has vanished. Because of a computer bug, perhaps. Nobody realizes that we live in a very precarious world.

Comment: Wow! This one is gross ... If someone still had a doubt that you're a dishonest and biased individual, this should clear his mind. Don't tell me you really believe that our leaders haven't thought about that and that they haven't secured the system.

P-M: The new French administration is very tough about the Iranian problem. Do you have the impression that their foreign politicies have changed?

ElB: (Silence) I would rather wait before answering. I have to meet Mr Kouchner (Minister of Foreign Affairs) in February in Paris. I hope that France will go on with its traditional politicies as a valuable partner.

My comments: READ: "I still can't believe these stupid Frenchies did elect Sarkozy. Soft belly Chirac gave us such a good feeling! Come on, Frenchies! We all know you have an anti-USA tendency. Don't deceive us! We want a divided western world!".

P-M: For more than 40 years, you've been living outside your native country. Do you still feel Egyptian?

ElB: You may think it's a cliché, but the world is my home. I lived in New York, in Geneva, in Vienna. I just bought a house in Gers, France. To me, borders and nationalities sound more and more superficial.

My comments: Oh yes, this one is such a "cliché"! Nothing beats it if you want to convince us that you're Mr Nice, Mr Useful Idiot or worse ...

- Filed on Articles in "Iran Nuke Alert (temp. k.a. as the NIE Hoax)", cat. Iran -

Iranian Correspondence

In case we forgot ... in February 2006 the following was reported (who said, that the East never forgets and the West never remembers?):

Telegraph.co.UK: "Iranian Fatwa Approves Use of Nuclear Weapons"

Iran's hardline spiritual leaders have issued an unprecedented new fatwa, or holy order, sanctioning the use of atomic weapons against its enemies. In yet another sign of Teheran's stiffening resolve on the nuclear issue, influential Muslim clerics have for the first time questioned the theocracy's traditional stance that Sharia law forbade the use of nuclear weapons. >>>

... so there you are ... not so ... good! The Iranian capacity for accusation of bigotry based on false equation is - as always - staggering! No matter, ninety percent of Western nihilists make use of the same rhetorical parlour trick, and the remaining ten percent lap it up with breakfast.

We must however differ with the authors of the article concerning "the country's religious hardliners (to) begin preparing a theological justification for (...) the use - of atomic bombs". This is half-eduction.

Caption: Dutch cartoon - "You should be ashamed of yourselves! Flogging gays on a Friday!".

Note Matthias Küntzel in his article "Ahmadinejad's World": "In December 2001, then Iranian President Hashemi Rafsanjani broached this question. He explained that “the use of even one nuclear bomb inside Israel will destroy everything”. On the other hand, even in the case of a nuclear response on the part of Israel, it “will only harm the Islamic world. It is not irrational to contemplate such an eventuality.” Rafsanjani thus spelled out the terms of a macabre cost-benefit analysis. (...)"

"Rafsanjani’s counting on a hundred thousand deaths might seem on first glance like a worst-case scenario. But it is not. (...) the apocalyptic wing of the Revolutionary Guard, (who) in 1988 wanted to pursue the war against Iraq no matter the costs (...) What atomic weapons could mean in the hands of the “apocalyptic” faction is virtually unimaginable."

"Ahmadinejad, however, is clearly predisposed toward apocalyptic thinking. The linchpin of his politics is the myth of the Hidden Imam. (...) “The most important task of our Revolution is to prepare the way for the return of the Twelfth Imam,” he stressed at a theology conference in November 2005."

By all means, read it all if you want a glimpse of madness! >>>

So, being served with a fatwa by a "disciple of an ultra-conservative Ayatollah" ... what else is new? Let's send a letter back, thought Red Square at The People's Cube! He's left the envelop open so we can all read along ...

The Current Truth (subject to change without notice): "The People's Cube Pwns Iranian Propaganda"

An open letter to the Islamic Republic of Iran

Dear Iranian Mullahs! While our satirical website and your Propaganda Directorate deal in the same trade of making up facts and exaggerating reality, we are different in that we can recognize a spoof - but you apparently can't. On Dec. 27, 2007 you used our spoof image on your propaganda website to illustrate a "true" statement that Jews are welcome in Iran and that Western reports about mass emigration of Iranian Jews are "lies spread by the Zionist hegemony." >>>

"PRICELESS!" ... indeed!

By the way, entering the Cartoon Contest of the 3rd Festival of Radio and Television World Service Productions is still possible until 30th January ... make it a good 'un!

- Filed on Articles in "Iranian Power Play", cat. Iran -

The Price of Defeating Evil: $ 88 Million

As Senior Foreign Policy Advisor to the Republican frontrunner Rudy Giuliani urged that Iran's nuclear program modules be bombed, using cruise missiles and "bunker busters", NewsMax has identified the necessary budget allocation in President Bush’s latest request for $190 billion in emergency war funding.

"The Defense Department has asked for $88 million to retrofit B-2 Stealth bombers so they can carry a 30,000-pound “bunker buster” bomb called the massive ordnance penetrator (MOP), which has the capacity to destroy deep underground targets. The Administration says the request is in response to an “urgent operational need from theater commanders.”

"The Newsmax report revealed that Northrop Grumman, the Air Force’s prime contractor on the B-2, would retrofit the bomber to carry the new 30,000-pound MOP. The U.S. Air Force’s B-2 Stealth bomber would be able to attack and destroy an expanded set of hardened, deeply buried military targets” using the MOP, the company said at the time."

"Regarding the likelihood of an American attack on Iran ... the U.S. now “thinks it has the intelligence and the military capacity to undermine the Iranian threat seriously…"

Norman Podhoretz in a recent interview went on record as saying that while the debate (within the US administration) over Iran is secretly over - unlike a ground invasion where you’ve got to amass hundreds of thousands of troops over six months of mobilisation - with air strikes, three carriers in the region and a lot of submarines would do the job. It would be a matter that you’d wake up one morning and the strikes would have been ordered and carried out during the night.



Related: "2015: The Triumph of Evil, or "What Happened?"