The Mark Perry story False Flag – A series of CIA memos describes how Israeli Mossad agents posed as American spies to recruit members of the terrorist organization Jundallah to fight their covert war against Iran. is a bit weird.
My first questions were:
Why is this whitewash of the CIA coming out right now, just two days after the assassination of another Iranian engineer?
Why is there no mention at all of JSOC, the U.S. military Joint Special Operations Command forces who are, according to Sy Hersh, operating in Iran? What is their relation to the Israelis?
Why is the U.S. now doing so much to say it has nothing to do with the assassination? Notice that this changed. State Department spokesperson Nuland when asked on January 11 immediately after the event issued no denial at all:
QUESTION: The Iranians have accused Israel and the United States of carrying out this killing. Any truth to that?
MS. NULAND: I don't have any information to share one way or the other on that.
QUESTION: You don’t want to deny killing him?
MS. NULAND: Obviously, we – as I said, we condemn the loss of innocent life.
QUESTION: That’s not a denial as such.
MS. NULAND: I’m not prepared to speak one way or the other. I, frankly —
QUESTION: You didn’t want to deny it.
QUESTION: Would the scientist come under innocent life?
MS. NULAND: Say again?
QUESTION: Would the scientist come under your definition of innocent life?
MS. NULAND: Again, I don't think I have anything further to say on this, that we condemn violence of any kind.
Only later did Hillary Clinton issue a strong direct denial:
“I want to categorically deny any United States involvement in any kind of act of violence inside Iran.”
Yeah, sure. And why this change?
Why are the Israeli pretty much openly claiming that they did it?
Richard Silverstein's "impeccable" Israeli source tells him the Israelis did it. Richard was fed likely false information by the same source on other recent stories. His source confirming something does not make the Israel angle more believable.
There is one issue with the scientists assassinations that cleary does not point to Israel. All these nuclear scientist assassinations were done with magnet bombs and at least the last one even with explosive formed penetrator (EFP) that explode directional into the car without hitting people around it. These bombs are carefully made to prevent collateral damage.
But since when are the Israelis squeamish about collateral damage? I have never seen them care much about such. Usually they are as brutal as possible "to send a message" and if more people die it does not bother them. The U.S. wants regime change in Iran, preferably done by Iranians. It thereby has a motive to create as little collateral damage as possible.
The Iranians first blamed the U.S. and Israel for the killing but now say they have documentary proof that the U.S. was behind the killing:
According to an Iranian statement broadcasted on the Islamic Republic's official TV Channel, Tehran has conclusive evidence that the United States plotted the assassination of Mostafa Ahmadi Roshan last week.
Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi said his country has obtained "credible documents that prove the terror attack was planned, supervised and supported by the CIA," adding that he has filed an official complaint with the Swiss Embassy in Iran, which is also handles US affairs in the area.
They may well be right. I for one do not believe a word when the U.S. says it was not behind this.
I do not think that Mark Perry is necessarily wrong. But his story is certainly not saying everything. On an email-list I am on veteran journalist Gareth Porter calls Mark Perry "a very meticulous journalist" who goes to great lengths to get his stories straight. I trust Gareth's judgement but even if Perry believed everything he wrote that does not say that the story is correct.
Marcy Wheeler is curious about the details of the Perry story:
When [Perry] says the Israelis were “flush with American dollars,” does he mean they got the dollars from America, or only that they were–as dollars are in common usage–American? When he notes that the recruitment “occurred under the nose of U.S. intelligence officers,” is that meant to suggest that it did so with their assent?
The ambiguity in Perry’s article is more significant given that, while he describes George Bush “going ballistic” when he was briefed on the op, Perry also provides evidence that at least some at the top officials in Bush’s Administration didn’t seem to care all that much.
Then there are the Leveretts at Race For Iran who point out that the Bush/Obama administrations definitely have run covert operations in Iran:
We know and respect Mark Perry, and we do not question his reporting on his contacts and conversations with current and former U.S. intelligence officials. However, in order to assess U.S. involvement in the ongoing covert war against the Islamic Republic, it is important to put Mark’s story in a wider context. We have written, on multiple occasions, see here, here and here, about America’s dangerous dance with Jundallah and, more broadly, anti-Iranian covert action. That the Obama Administration is now trying to distance itself from some aspects of this dance, by fobbing it off on Israel (to be sure, anything but an innocent party), does not extricate it from its past decisions or current actions.
Back to Mary Wheeler:
Israelis and Americans have long hidden behind each other when working with Iranians, going back at least to the Iran-Contra ops that Dick Cheney had a fondness for. Hiding behind Israelis lets American officials pretend we’re not doing the taboo things we’re doing. Hiding behind Americans lets Iranian partners working with Israelis pretend they aren’t working with the Zionist enemy. That false flag business works in many different directions, after all.
The Mark Perry story may well be right in the detail. I doubt its value in telling something of the bigger picture though. It it does not tell us anything of what the U.S. agencies and military are currently doing in Iran and it certainly should not be used to exculpate the U.S. from the killing of the Iranian scientists.