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Obama and the Iran “Terror Plot Thriller”
For Barack Obama to take a prominent role in announcing the case may prove to be a serious political and diplomatic mistake.
by James M. Wall
Even the senior law enforcement official involved in the investigation admitted that “the alleged plot to kill the Saudi ambassador to the US did not fit with what was known about the methods and practices of the supposed perpetrators, the Al Qods force of the Revolutionary Guards.”
There are so many doubts and questions surrounding the alleged Iranian-sponsored assassination plot against the Saudi ambassador, that for Barack Obama to take a prominent role in announcing the case may prove to be a serious political and diplomatic mistake.
The American public loves intrigue and simplistic narratives, good versus bad. What they don’t like is to be lied to in the narrative. We were fooled once by the Iraq-WMDs “mushroom cloud” campaign orchestrated by Bush-Cheney. As a result we are still fighting two seemingly endless wars in the Middle East.
By highlighting a “terror” plot that involved a Mexican drug cartel, the Saudi ambassador to the US, and a highly unstable potential assassin, Obama brought us Bush-Cheney, the Sequel.
As Obama announced the Justice Department action he promised “strong sanctions” against Iran. The Justice case alleges that an Iranian-American, Manssor Arbabsiar, was introduced to a man he thought had a connection to a Mexican drug cartel, very bad guys with assassination skills. Arbabsiar’s “contact” to the cartel was, in fact, an undercover US Drug Enforcement official, who was setting up a standard FBI “sting”.
The indictment also includes Arbabsiar’s cousin Ali Gholam Shakuri, an officer in the Iranian Qods Force. It is that elite army unit that allows the Department of Justice to claim that the plot has ties to the “highest” levels of the Iranian government. Obama said there was evidence that additional connections were made, but they have not been included in the indictment, and may never be, on security grounds.
A “sting” most often targets a major player believed to be a serious threat to American peace and security. Arbabsiar may yet emerge as a serious player, but that is no reason why Barack Obama should be in the White House as the nation’s lawyer, announcing the case . He has an Attorney General to perform those duties. Criminal case announcements should be made in the Justice Department, not in the White House.
Instead of waiting for these criminal charges to make their way through the US judicial system, President Obama used a press event in the White House East Room, to address his domestic audience with tough talk about “sanctions” against Iran, a largely meaningless threat since we already have saddled Iran with “sanctions”.
Who is this dangerous Iranan-American at the center of this “terror plot thriller”?
The Washington Post spoke with an Arbabsiar friend, Tom Hosseini, a store owner in Corpus Christi, Texas. Hosseini has known Arbabsiar since the late 1970s, when both came to the United States as students. The Post profile on Arbabsiar portrays the alleged assassin as someone who did not appear to be capable of carrying out a sophisticated death plot.
Hosseini wonders how anyone, especially an elite military organization such as Iran’s Qods force” the unit the US Department of Justice alleges was running Arbabsiar would be involved with his long time friend.
“It’s a puzzle,” Hosseini said. “Maybe somebody offered him some money. He doesn’t have the brain to say no.”
Within the small Iranian American community in this Gulf Coast city, Arbabsiar, 56, was well known and well liked. But he was also renowned for being almost comically absent-minded, perpetually losing keys, cell phones, briefcases, anything that wasn’t tied down. He failed at a succession of ventures from used cars to kebabs.
“He was just not organized,” said David Tomscha, who once owned a car lot with Arbabsiar.
University of Michigan Middle East scholar and well-informed blogger, Juan Cole, finds the government’s case against Arabsiar, “falling down funny”.
Under a heading that recalls a movie about public gullibility and a TV show about a less than competent secret agent, Wagging the Dog with Iran’s Maxwell Smart, Cole wrote on his Informed Comment blog:
That a monumental screw-up like Arbabsiar could have thought he was a government secret agent is perfectly plausible. I’m sure he thought all kinds of things. But that he was actually one is simply not believable.
OK, Qasim Soleimani, the head of the Qods Brigade special operation forces of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps, may not be a nice man. But he is such a competent man that US officials in Iraq widely believed that he repeatedly outmaneuvered and defeated them there.
The allegation that Soleimani was running a hard-drinking incompetent with no memory and no sense of organization like Arbabsiar on the most delicate and dangerous terrorist mission ever attempted by the Islamic Republic of Iran is falling down funny.
This case has what the Guardian calls “the ring of a far-fetched Hollywood thriller”. Even the senior law enforcement official involved in the investigation admitted that “the alleged plot to kill the Saudi ambassador to the US did not fit with what was known about the methods and practices of the supposed perpetrators, the Al Qods force of the Revolutionary Guards.”
MJ Rosenberg has serious reservations about the narrative the Justice Department has outlined. He writes on his blog, Political Correction:
At this point, it is impossible to say how serious the plot was and, more importantly, if it even had anything at all to do with the Iranian government. Are we ready to believe that the cold and calculating people who govern Iran are contracting out assassination plots with Mexican drug traffickers or that they would pick Washington as the best place to attack the Saudi ambassador (knowing that being found responsible for a major explosion in Washington would mean war with the Saudi Arabia and United States)?
This is not to dismiss the plot as phony or contrived. But after the Iraq war experience, it would be awfully stupid of Americans to simply accept without question anything we are told about nefarious Muslim states that must be stopped before a “mushroom cloud” appears over downtown Washington.
The Main Stream Media is an essential co-conspirator to our political leaders in this hyping of “terror” stories. Andrew Kilgore, publisher of The Washington Report, recalled one story that began in 1981, shortly after the start of Ronald Reagan’s first term.
Manucher Ghorbanifar (Wikipedia)
Breathless articles about Libyan “hit [assassination] squads” began to occupy the front page of The Washington Post. For three weeks, Post readers—and the U.S. government—were obsessed with these squads, which reportedly originated in the Middle East, had reached Europe, and were currently in Canada, where they were poised to cross into the United States like a swarm of northern killer bees.
Five years later, after Reagan was safely reelected to a second term, the truth emerged. As narrative, the ending fizzled. Kilgore explained:
Manucher Ghorbanifar, a small-time Iranian exile working in Washington for Mossad, Israel’s secret intelligence service, confessed in 1986 that he had dreamed up the hit squads. Why? “To hurt Libya, an enemy of Israel.”
Why does the American public keep falling for these thrilling, but questionable, tales? The media likes to peddle them and the public needs its circuses.
On the website, Reader Supported News, John Cook goes inside one media operation to demonstrate how this worked around the tenth anniversary of 911.
ABC News president Ben Sherwood. . . . told his staff in a morning conference call to stop reporting news of a potential terror plot timed to the 9/11 anniversary in such a “measured way” and to “turn this into a thriller.”
A few days before the 10th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, government sources raised the alarm that according to a single, uncorroborated source, at least three Al Qaeda operatives had been dispatched to the U.S. to strike Washington, D.C., or New York City on or around the anniversary.
How did the ABC News folks initially treat this information? Like a “news story.” They reported it, on the news.
Sherwood is smarter than that. “News stories” are boring! People don’t want “news.” They want drama! Action! Thrills! Which is why, according to a transcript of Sherwood’s morning conference call with ABC News staffers on the eve of the anniversary weekend that a tipster sent us, he told them to sex it up a little. . . .
Sherwood told his news staff to treat the story like a Hollywood movie script, as opposed to a boring old real story involving actual people and things.
Here’s how Diane Sawyer breathlessly recounted the story on World News Tonight two nights before the tenth anniversary of 911:
“We are a nation coming together tonight to remember 9/11 ten years ago, and to stand sentry on the new threat that has been leveled against the United States. As the clock runs down to the anniversary on Sunday, police, bomb-sniffing dogs, and National Guard are all out in force in New York and Washington, D.C.
Intelligence officials are poring over the names on flights from abroad, and ABC News has learned new details on this terror threat.”
Can you hear that clock ticking? Brian Ross’ report that night featured 24-style time-stamp graphics as he counted down the story:
“Thursday night, as the President arrived to address Congress, the FBI and the CIA were in high gear.”
To his credit, Ross also included this quote from former counterterrorism official Richard Clarke, though he didn’t let it get in the way of the thrills: “So far, we haven’t been able to find any evidence in the real world that this report is true.”
As we now know, there were no “terror attacks” on the tenth anniversary of 911. But for much of the days preceding this anniversary, ABC had its “thriller”, and journalism plunged more deeply into the darkness of entertainment posing as news.
Meanwhile, back in the White House East Room, President Obama proudly announced the opening of a new “terror plot thriller”. These are not good days for the Republic.
***
Pic. Credit: The picture of Obama above is by Philip Scott Andrews of the New York Times. The graphic image of Manssor Arbabsiar & the Saudi Diplomat is from the website MWC. The image of Manucher Ghorbanifar is from Wikipedia.
This article was first posted @ Wall Writings
James Wall is currently a Contributing Editor of The Christian Century magazine, based in Chicago, Illinois. From 1972 through 1999, he was editor and publisher of the Christian Century magazine. He has made more than 20 trips to that region as a journalist, during which he covered such events as Anwar Sadat’s 1977 trip to Jerusalem, and the 2006 Palestinian legislative election. He has interviewed, and written about, journalists, religious leaders, political leaders and private citizens in the region. Jim served for two years on active duty in the US Air Force, and three additional years in the USAF (inactive) reserve. He can be reached at: jameswall8@gmail.com.
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Posted by Veterans Today on Oct 16 2011, With 0 Reads, Filed under Americas, Asia, Editors Picks, Iran, Israel, Middle East, World. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. Both comments and pings are currently closed.
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I just find this article, though fairly good in some aspects, a bit thin about alleged terrorist threats in America, especially the ones from Iranian arms dealer Manucher Ghorbanifar about Libyan assassins trying to get newly-elected President Reagan.
It would seem that Ghorbanifar was trying to step up Reagan’s security team while John Hinckley, Jr. was becoming an increasing threat to the “October Surprise” people, especially covert operator leader Ted ‘Blond Ghost’ Shackley who activitated assassin Mark David Chapman to kill Beatle John Lennon in the expectation that it would undermine any Carter support if his administration beat them with a surprise of their own.
When Hinckley got so upset over Lennon’s assassination, he started stalking Pappy Bush, and settled on attempting to kill Reagan instead, in late April as I recall.
Most unexpected that no mention of this assassination is made, and the likelihood that the Libyans were only mentioned to get the SS to take seriously threats against the President.
Then Ghorbanifar voluteering in 1986 after Palme had been assassinated that he had made up the claims about Gaddafi after the Libyans had been forced to respond to increasing American provocations was just damage-limitation control against the Iran-Contra scandal being investigated further since the arms dealer had been taken in by the CIA though he had failed lie-detector tests, and professionals in the Agency considered him a congenital liar.
And remember, in May 1986, Ghorbanifar had paid nearly $15 million in advances to North, Secord, and Clines for the vastly overpriced arms they supplied to the Iranians from money he borrowed from Adnan Khashoggi.
Ghorbanifar had been working out of Hamburg for Shackley, and helped arrange some most dirty business for North et al., especially the assassination of German politician Owe Barschel in Geneva.
Just gives one a good impression of the quality of American leaders, and their covert activities.
Hinckley came fm a family ( Mormon/Masonic ) that was friendly w/the Bush clan…seems more likely ( and it’s been reported elsewhere ) that he was MK-Ultra’d into killing Reagan…and almost did.
See things like this seem insane to people that listen to alternative media, but it goes to the mainstream public as the real deal. I asked a co-worker if they were going to vote for Ron Paul, but he had heard about Paul’s not worrying about Iran having nukes, and he was worried about that. Sure he said he knew they did not have them, and that it was said they couldn’t for at least 10 years, but he was still worried. I said you know Iran has not attacked anyone, and he said yes, but he was still worried.
This takes the running guns to Mexico by B.A.T.F.E off the radar screens, and it’s a joke. Christ we got kids in the desert hopped up on fluoridated water, and aspartame filled diet cokes flying U.A.V air missions halfway around the world killing god knows who, and no one says jack about it. They are just down the road from a place called Areal 51 that not even Congress can find out what is going on there, or even that it exists. The I.A.E.A can go into Iran, and they let them, but Israel who is always crying wolf won’t allow them in Israel, while they buy Iranian Oil in Europe, and have it back doored into Israel while yelling about Iran, go figure.
Frankly I don’t think there is not a story if it comes out of the T.V. that the American public will not buy. The underwear bomber was going to call a Detroit area attorney who witnessed him being put on the plane with no passport, but 2 days after that was announced, he plead guilty, so he goes to jail, and the U.S government don’t have to explain how they got him on the plane.
Face it people, Iran is just another country that has Nationalized Oil, and don’t have usury, and that is going to get them wiped out, just like all the others we have been invading. They also don’t accept dollars anymore for Oil, so that’s just another big fat reason why they must go down. This world is just one big F—ing nightmare that hopefully when I die, that I never come back to see it again.
The “story tellers” {professional liars} AKA mainstream media all work for the currency printers, who work for the owners of the Central Banks {Usury/ledgerdemain} BoE [Rothschield} et al. Nonetheless the Braindeadgoy who are in fact brain DEAD actually believe the craftily manufactured lies from the Zionist LIE FACTORY...in other news...big supply of green cheese found by Apollo astronauts. Interestingly Adel was in my Mass Media & American Politics class hosted by Prof. Jerry Yeric . @ NTSU circa 1984. Eat your heart out Winston Smith...[http://whatreallyhappened.com]
the same plot was used by the zionist terrorist state of israel in 1982 to invade lebanon and murder over 20,000 innocent people there by having its ambassador shot in london by they own agents.
“For Barack Obama to take a prominent role in announcing the case may prove to be a serious political and diplomatic mistake.”
Well, the man thought he got away with staging the third, ( or was it the fourth? fifth? ), death of Osama Bin Laden. He saw that the sheeple fell for it, and went along again, hoping to get the public’s mind off the fact that they are being sucked down the toilet with the whole damn construct. Typical misdirect, and not even a good one.
Never underestimate the intelligence of the American public. Obama certainly does not.
Obama, the Grandiose One, takes credit for things out of his own blatant narcissistic need to shine and be above the fray. He can be depended upon to do this quite periodically. Ultimately, the PEOPLE of this country must make a stand against our burgeoning tyranny. Eric Holder certainly won’t do anything to rectify matters, he’s one of them who acts as handmaiden /amanuensis for the gangstas of the world. Who are we kidding here?, only Ron Paul can handle the financial angiogenesis of our nation. The Israel loving pack masquerading as conservatives/Republicans/tea partiers can’t even see this country writhing in agony at being strangled by the banksters. Palin, the twit, was so, so, so proud of plunking down her double sawbuck in support of Israel. My, how boastful and supportive are our suck-ups who consider themselves great Americans. Our pathetic reps to Congress would never, ever deviate from this Israel covetousness, this warm fact emanating from knowledge that the money the candidates need comes from that wellspring, the Shylocks of the world, the benders and shapers of policies that twist peoples’ lives and strangle them with mortgage paralysis, shrinking pensions, clever schemes to extract more and more tax monies from them, to keep tightening the noose of financial tyranny until we reach dinero Armageddon. Nothwithstanding this monstrosity, witness the 600 trillion in derivatives owned by the 4 biggest bank jobs the world has ever known. Using the stifling reality of logarithmic leverage, when things finally reach critical mass, we all go down. Only the PEOPLE can put up the prerequisite stink to stop this seemingly immovable object. Our government cannot/will not, the ball is in our court. Americans must scream bloody murder starting now, or else. Our government is completely corrupt, we are being robbed in daylight now. The landmark Supreme Court decision regarding corporate giving to campaigns can be our undoing. We can unravel unless we all realize that the freedom to vote is merely the freedom to vote for a prearranged, prefinanced candidate. We can blame everybody in government but it’s up to us, NOW.
Spreading the word is the most constructive thing we can do, besides street protest, which is not possible for everyone. Stand up, don’t back down and don’t fear the shrieking mafia who will inevitably scream “anti-Semite” at anyone who tells the truth.
Personally, I don’t devote a lot of time to “educate” the VT crowd, because almost all who post here are intelligent enough to know the enemy. If you have time, I recommend the more conventional “alternative” media, where so many posters seem to be daylight-challenged due to rectal blockage and are definitely in need of some enlightenment and / or confrontation. Or hit the streets, the bar, anywhere people congregate.
Democrats, Republican, Tea Party, whatever, we all share a common enemy and mostly common goals. People of all political stripes are beginning to realize WHO that is.
It is as incredible as expressed by a French editor regarding his UN speech “is that you Obama?” A little early to give in to paranoia but today at MLK dedication I found myself looking closer at Michelle new silhouette.Well she is on a diet. Also observed someone that looks like Obama swinging like a pendulum, he does not have enough black in him for that?, And again this “ops forgot to smile”. The speech was well written, by whom?, and who wrote the UN speech, Ross?.
Well not getting distracted but what I find interesting, especially the timing, is the opposite switch of the
Clinton. First Bil Clinton broke the bondage that was placed on him during his presidency and to most every one surprise stated on TV “Netanyahu has no intention of giving up the West Bank” Those peace talks were lucrative for Israel, and time for more settlements. The insults Netanyahu has been dispensing, spitting in our face are not something American take lightly, especially by “dependent” Nations. As I wrote to Obama, it is not for you to allow it, the insult is to the USA and we will not allow it any more than Iran supposed abuses. Our Secretary stuck to the script but not for long, she also found a way to break the chains when she informed Congress and the Media that was pushing her for the Presidency “I would veto that bill” it referred to that Representative from Florida who proposed a bill passed by the House stopping all foreign aid except to Israel and denouncing the UN and our support to them, our membership in what they consider an Anti Israel Organization. That most have shaken the Lobby and gang badly, as they prepared to, politically, hang Obama and welcome Hillary. We all know how they depended on Hillary and Bill. Welcome back Citizens,Hillary and Bill.
So we are making progress the wind of change is blowing and given the disgusting, corrupt political party that have have infected the People’s house I would suggest we might start calling ourselves Citizens as it was done during the days this Nation was formed. There was pride in it, a title
higher than any aristocratic title and its meaning. So, thank you all fellow citizens and kindred souls, lets fight on.
We the muslims and many in the so called developing countries had hope that Obama will put more human values in to American diplomacy with other nations. But our hope is lost, for Obama have entered fully in to the control of the political mafia in America as confirmed with his speech at the UN Assembly and the recent comment on the alleged assassination plot of the Saudi Arabian Ambassador in US. Obama go ahead and and attack Iran so that youwill win 2012 election, but be assured you will be disgraced as Bush was in relation to Iraq’s invasion for VICTORY OF TRUTH OVER FALSEHOOD IS DEFINITE, NOW OR LATER!