Thread: Iranian Terror Plot: Fake, Fake, Fake

Not even good propaganda


Fake, fake, fake – I’m talking about the latest anti-Iranian propaganda coming out of Washington, which claims the Iranian Revolutionary Guards were involved in a “plot” to take out the Saudi ambassador to the US and blow up both the Saudi and Israeli embassies. The narrative reads like a formulaic melodrama: two Iranians, one a naturalized US citizen, purportedly approached someone they thought was a member of a Mexican drug cartel – according to the indictment [.pdf], it was a “sophisticated” drug cartel, not the plebeian sort – and proposed paying him $1.5 million to murder Adel al Jubeir, the Kingdom’s ambassador in Washington – oh, and by the way, the Iranians supposedly said, “Are you guys any good with explosives?”


The key to understanding just how fake this story is can be found in the New York Times report, which informs us:
“For the entire operation, the government’s confidential sources were monitored and guided by federal law enforcement agents, Preet Bharara, the United States Attorney for the Southern District, said in the news conference. ‘So no explosives were actually ever placed anywhere,’ he said, ‘and no one was actually in ever in any danger.’”


Translation: the whole thing is phony from beginning to end.
This is another one of US law enforcement’s manufactured “anti-terrorist” triumphs, where the feds set somebody up, fabricate a “crime” out of thin air, and then proceed to “solve” a case that never really existed to begin with. This has been the general pattern of our “anti-terrorist” operations in the US since the beginning – because finding and catching real terrorists is much too hard, at least for our Keystone Kops. Instead of going out and actually, you know, looking for the Bad Guys, and then apprehending them, they lure some unsuspecting Muslim immigrant into a trap, and spring it when the time is right.


The long narrative spun by the indictment tells us everything but what we really need to know, which is: how is it that these two Iranian “terrorists” just happened to meet up with a Mexican drug cartel assassin who just happened to be a longtime DEA informant? I guess that would be giving too much away: far better to spice up the story with scary details, such as the conversation between one of the alleged plotters and the informant, in the course of which the former says “If you have to blow up the restaurant and kill a hundred Americans, well then f*ck ‘em!”



The credibility rating of this story, taken on its face, is close to zero. Let’s say the Iranians really were plotting to kill the Saudi ambassador on American soil: would they contract it out to the Mexican Mafia, send all kinds of traceable money wires from Iran to the US, and not care if they killed a hundred Americans in the process of achieving their goal? Or would they send some fanatic, who would not only do it for free but also eliminate himself (or herself)? This flimsy cock-eyed tale is so transparently fake that it’s an embarrassment to the United States of America. Can’t our spooks do better than this?


This fabrication marks a new trend in the field of anti-Iranian war propaganda. Previously, the War Party was relying on the same technique they used in the run-up to the invasion of Iraq: the old “weapons of mass destruction” gambit.


The big problem with that is it’s old, and tired: no one believes it anymore [.pdf]. Once burned, twice shy, as the saying goes. This latest lie is a fresh angle on a continuing theme, merely substituting Iran for the traditional bogeyman known as al-Qaeda.


That this story involves the Mexican drug cartels, and Attorney General Eric Holder proclaiming that we’re going to “hold the Iranian government accountable,” has got to be some kind of sick joke: after all, here is a man who stood by and watched while US law enforcement agents let guns travel over the US border to arm those very same cartels. Is this “coup” for the Justice Department the pay-off for that harebrained scheme – and when is Holder going to be held accountable?



That our government would float a narrative like this without any apparent regard for the basic rules of fiction-writing – create believable characters who do believable things – is Washington’s way of showing contempt for the Iranians, the American people, and anyone else who stands in the way of their war agenda.


They don’t care if it’s not believable. They think Americans will swallow anything, that we’re too busy trying to survive day-to-day, these days, to inquire much further than the “official” account. And of course our brain-dead media, which is reduced to a chiefly stenographic role, isn’t going to ask any inconvenient questions.


This story is very scary – not because it’s credible, or believable, because it is neither. However, it’s the most frightening story I’ve heard in quite a while because it shows that the US government is bound and determined to go to war with Iran, no matter what the consequences.


Throwing caution to the winds, our rulers have decided to go all out against Tehran – all the better to mask our current economic malaise under the damage done by the tripling and quadrupling of oil prices. This way, Obama can blame our crashing economy on Tehran, rather than his own discredited policies – and sideline the Republicans, who have been criticizing him for being “soft” on Iran.


The making of American foreign policy is all about domestic politics. By preparing the country for war with Iran, Obama will not only defang the GOP, but also appease the all-important Israel lobby, which has been beating the war drums for years.


What Obama and his gang are hoping is that the American people are too tired, too beaten down, and too broke to care enough about this latest exercise in war propaganda to question it. Certainly the “mainstream” media, which is Obama’s loudest cheering section, isn’t about to question it.
Here is where the administration has probably miscalculated: people are just angry enough to wonder “why now?”



They’re just broke enough to resent being asked to pay for yet another holy crusade overseas. And they’re just tired enough of the bullsh*t that gets reported as “news” day after day to start asking all kinds of uncomfortable questions about this latest offering by the Washington fable factory.


The Americans are already backing away from the assertion that the Iranian government is directly responsible for the actions of these two individuals, averring that top Iranian officials didn’t “necessarily” know what was going on.


As the details of this case become known, Holder’s story is going to start unraveling like a substandard sweater – and you can read all about that unraveling right here, at Antiwar.com….

Of course it's fake as an attack on Iran has been on the cards for a while. Unfortunately false flag terror threats like this fool too many idiots.

I bet booners believes it.

Yeah.

Everyone knows how much the Iranian president loves the good ol USA so much. You conspiracy freaks get more pathetic every day.

The 'weapons of mass destruction' had me fooled. I defended my country until it became too obvious it was a lie. Not falling for that kind of propaganda again.

Originally Posted by Jesus Jones

Of course it's fake as an attack on Iran has been on the cards for a while. Unfortunately false flag terror threats like this fool too many idiots.

Like the American hostage crisis in Iran in the 70s ? Was that fake too ? Was Hitler fake too?

Originally Posted by misskit

The 'weapons of mass destruction' had me fooled. I defended my country until it became too obvious it was a lie. Not falling for that kind of propaganda again.

UN resolution 1441 passed by a 15-0 vote. Saddam was clearly not acting innocent leading up to the war. If he was so innocent then why didn't he comply with UN weapons inspectors ?

Originally Posted by socal

Originally Posted by Jesus Jones

Of course it's fake as an attack on Iran has been on the cards for a while. Unfortunately false flag terror threats like this fool too many idiots.

Like the American hostage crisis in Iran in the 70s ? Was that fake too ? Was Hitler fake too?

You really have to cast around don't you.

No Direct Evidence of Iranian Government Complicity in Plot

The Obama administration continues to claim the Iranian government helped orchestrate the plot, while admitting evidence is lacking


United States officials in the Obama administration and Justice Department have explicitly claimed that Iran’s supreme leader and the Quds Force covert operations unit were likely aware of the so-called terror plot to kill Saudi Arabia’s ambassador to the United States. But evidence of that is lacking and many officials have admitted there are gaps in their understanding of the plot.


The Obama administration has combatively blamed the highest echelons of the Iranian government and promised impending consequences, despite the fact that there is no solid information about “exactly how high it goes,” as one official put it.

Anonymous government officials speaking to various media outlets have said that their belief that Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, “more than likely” had prior knowledge of the plot is based on inference. The Quds Force operates, they reason, in accordance and obedience to Iran’s supreme leadership, so a rogue actor is unlikely.

But unlikely describes the plot itself, as even US officials admit it was very out of character. The Quds Force has a history of shrewd covert operations and calculated dealings with proxies. “The Iranian modus operandi is only to trust sensitive plots to their own employees, or to trusted proxies,” wrote Kenneth Katzman of the Congressional Research Service on Gulf2000 on Wednesday.
And the accused perpetrator Manssor Arbabsiar and a Mexican drug gang don’t fit the protocol. “Are we to believe that this Texas car seller was a Qods sleeper agent for many years resident in the US? Ridiculous,” said Mr. Katzman.


“They never ever use such has-beens or loosely connected people for sensitive plots such as this.”
“It’s a very strange case, it doesn’t really fit Iran’s mode of operation,” Alireza Nader, an Iran analyst at the Rand Corporation told the Christian Science Monitor. ”This [plot] doesn’t seem to serve Iran’s interests in any conceivable way,” he added.


Former CIA agent Robert Baer said the culpability of the Iranian leadership is not believable. “I don’t think it’s credible, not the central government, there may be a rogue element behind it,” Baer said in an interview. “They wouldn’t be sending money through an American bank, they wouldn’t be going to the cartels in Mexico to do this. It’s just not the way they work.”


Carrying out this kind of action, especially within the United States, would be against Iran’s interests, by most expert accounts. It entails a lot of risk of retaliation and potential suffering, and no discernible gain.


Another reason that top-level Iranian government coordination in this plot is unlikely is because the plot was developed for the most part by the FBI and the undercover DEA agent. Arbabsiar had originally planned to kidnap the Saudi ambassador, and only after meeting with the undercover agent did kidnapping turn into assassinating, and it was the undercover agent who first suggested using explosives.


That the leadership of the Iranian government would have foreknowledge of an assassination plot by a disgruntled Texas resident that was largely concocted by US law enforcement agents is very unlikely. Still, the Obama administration continues to blame the Ayatollah Khamenei and Iranian government for it, even as US officials admit they have no direct evidence for such a claim.

The Timing gives it all away. Currently, the US State Dept is feverishly shilling for Right wing Zionists, to try and scupper the current bid for Palestine to be 'officially' recognised as a state in the UN (it is already recognised as a state by the majority of the World). So deflect attention, pull a nice sensationalist rabbit out of the hat. The Scourge of Islamic terrorism, that always works on the Great Unwashed. Tragically, about the only people that buy this nonsense, or even pay much attention these days, are the compliant and ignorant sheeple of the increasingly irrelevent West. Although a safe majority of them still support Palestinian statehood.

If some high level Iranian agency wished to assassinate a Saudi Diplomat, why on earth would they do it in the USA? That is about the last place on earth you would do it. And Al-Qud's hiring some small time drug traffickers to pull off such a major hit, that's just laughable.

Originally Posted by socal

Originally Posted by Jesus Jones

Of course it's fake as an attack on Iran has been on the cards for a while. Unfortunately false flag terror threats like this fool too many idiots.

Like the American hostage crisis in Iran in the 70s ? Was that fake too ? Was Hitler fake too?

You sill nob!

Originally Posted by socal

Originally Posted by misskit

The 'weapons of mass destruction' had me fooled. I defended my country until it became too obvious it was a lie. Not falling for that kind of propaganda again.

UN resolution 1441 passed by a 15-0 vote. Saddam was clearly not acting innocent leading up to the war. If he was so innocent then why didn't he comply with UN weapons inspectors ?

Sorry, do you not remember Dr David Kelly?

VIENNA (Reuters) - The U.N. nuclear watchdog is expected to raise international pressure on Iran with a report next month likely to heighten suspicions about the Islamic state's atomic ambitions, Western diplomats said on Friday.
But they said it was unclear whether the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) would go as far as to make a firm assessment on whether it believes Iran is working to develop a nuclear missile, as Tehran's Western foes want the agency to.
The diplomats voiced scepticism about an article in France's Le Figaro paper, which said the IAEA was preparing to denounce "the military nature of this programme aimed at providing Iran with the bomb." Figaro did not name its sources.
Any conclusion by the U.N. agency, in a quarterly inspection report on Iran due early next month, giving independent backing to Western fears about Iran's aims could strengthen the U.S. case for further punitive measures against Tehran.
French Foreign Ministry spokesman Bernard Valero said in Paris: "This (IAEA) report has not been communicated yet ... and as far as we know there is still some way to go before it is being finalised."
U.S. President Barack Obama warned Iran on Thursday it would face the toughest possible sanctions for an alleged plot to kill the Saudi ambassador in Washington, as Treasury officials eyed action against the Iranian central bank.
Iran has dismissed the plot accusations as a fabrication designed to stir tensions in its ties with its Arab neighbours.
It also rejects Western allegations that its nuclear programme is a disguised bid to develop nuclear arms capability.
But the report by the IAEA, tasked with preventing the spread of nuclear arms in the world, is expected to spell out in greater detail the reasons why it said last month it is "increasingly concerned" about Iran's nuclear programme.
The document is being drafted by agency experts ahead of a November 17-18 meeting of the IAEA's 35-nation governing board, which has the power to report states to the U.N. Security Council if they violate non-proliferation rules.
The United States and its allies have urged IAEA Director General Yukiya Amano to declare plainly whether he believes that there are military aspects to Tehran's nuclear activities.
"The indications right now are that it will be a very strong report offering a good amount of detail on possible military dimensions," one Western diplomat said.
IAEA "ON THE HORNS OF A DILEMMA"
Another envoy painted a similar picture, saying he expected the IAEA to make a fuller analysis on the basis of the information it has at its disposal about possible military aspects to its nuclear activities.
The IAEA has said in previous reports that the data it has received about such issues is extensive and comprehensive, and also "broadly consistent and credible" in terms of technical detail and the time frame.
But diplomats and analysts expressed doubt that Amano would make a conclusion regarding Iran as clear-cut as one about Syria in a report in May, when he said a facility bombed by Israel in 2007 was "very likely" to have been a secret nuclear reactor.
"To come to a Syria-type conclusion is going to be difficult," one nuclear proliferation expert said.
For several years the IAEA has been investigating Western intelligence reports indicating Iran has melded efforts to process uranium, test explosives at high altitude and revamp a ballistic missile cone to accommodate a nuclear warhead.
Iran, the world's No. 5 oil producer, says those allegations are forged and that it enriches uranium, activity that can have both civilian and military purposes, solely as an alternative source of electricity for a growing population.
But its history of concealing sensitive nuclear activity and its refusal to suspend work that also can also yield atomic bombs have drawn four rounds of U.N. sanctions, as well as separate U.S. and European punitive steps.
Ali Vaez of the Federation of American Scientists, a Washington-based think tank, said he believed Amano has found himself "on the horns of a dilemma" in preparing his report.
"If he publishes classified documents of a member state, in the absence of a smoking gun, he could undermine the agency's credibility," Vaez said.
"If he simply lists a few issues of concern without hard evidence, Iran could reject the allegations out of hand and further reduce its cooperation with the agency."
(Additional reporting by John Irish in Paris; Editing by Mark Heinrich)

Originally Posted by socal

Originally Posted by Jesus Jones

Of course it's fake as an attack on Iran has been on the cards for a while. Unfortunately false flag terror threats like this fool too many idiots.

Like the American hostage crisis in Iran in the 70s ? Was that fake too ? Was Hitler fake too?

Dear SOCAL:
You talk more like a Texan than a Canadian.
Who washes your brain and butters your bread?
Please...leap into reality.
Regards

Originally Posted by bsnub

I bet booners believes it.

Well, you'd lose that bet chump.

Obvious attempt by your pathetic president to take attention off Operation Fast & Furious, Solargate and a myriad of other crimes his administration is/has committed.

There is a 2006 report to Congress on the Mexican drug cartels. Search online for "CRS Report to Congress: Mexican Drug Cartels". On p. 7, it says, "In 2006, the National Drug Intelligence Center estimated that Mexican and Colombian drug trafficking organizations annually generate between $8.3 and $24.9 billion in wholesale drug earnings in the United States." A billion is a thousand millions. Why would a cartel earning many thousands of millions even consider a side job for measly one million, a job that would cause them to be the full-force target of the Pentagon, CIA, FBI, Homeland Security, DEA, etc.? Why would alleged terrorists think a mere one million would be enough to hire a drug cartel? I do not doubt that the FBI has audio recordings and bank transfer records of the accused. But I doubt that the accused were professional terrorists and I doubt that the Mexicans were from sophisticated drug cartels. The math does not add up.

It has been a long week for US-Iranian relations. On Tuesday, the US claimed to have uncovered an Iranian plot to a Saudi Ambassador in Washington DC and have been harping on about non-specific “punishment” they will impose on Iran ever since.
The US “outrage” about the plot and promises of revenge come despite a complete lack of evidence, and with the suspected “mastermind” behind the plot described by neighbors and friends as a bumbling fool who was lucky enough not to lose his keys when he left the house.
But many analysts see the whole plot as just ridiculous, and Iran has described it as totally fake. The denial also led to an angry US condemnation, insisting Iran was being “untruthful” in saying so.
The point of the whole plot is unclear, as it seemed only to give the US a new thing to gripe about, and the real question is if it will lead to a war. Some are saying no, but the Obama Administration is simply saying what it always days, which is that “all options are on the table.

Friends' shock at 'Iran plot' suspect Manssor Arbabsiar

Manssor Arbabsiar was last week charged in connection with an alleged Iranian-backed plot to assassinate the Saudi envoy to the US. Mr Arbabsiar's friends and neighbours in the small southern Texas community where he has lived for 30 years have found the news very hard to accept, as BBC Persian's Majid Joneidi discovered.
Fun-loving, friendly, with a fondness for whisky - how Manssor Arbabsiar is described by friends
Corpus Christi, in southern Texas, looks like an ideal place for a vacation in October.
A tranquil coastal city, lined with palm trees and petroleum facilities in the suburbs that remind me very much of southern Iran.
Behind this calm, however, is a sense of unease shared by the small Iranian community as well as the rest of the city.
Corpus Christi, with all its southern charm, has become the focal point of the latest terror threat in the US.
Its resident of around three decades, Manssor 'Jack' Arbabsiar, is accused of wiring $100,000 to a US bank account for an informant posing as a Mexican drug cartel member, with whom he allegedly discussed the assassination of Saudi ambassador Adel al-Jubeir on US soil.
The 56-year-old Mr Arbabsiar, a one-time car salesman with dual US-Iranian citizenship, could face a life prison sentence if convicted on all charges.
Disbelief Both the Iranians and Americans who knew him in Corpus Christi have said they were shocked to learn about the allegations against Mr Arbabsiar.
The picture they paint of him is of a fun-loving, friendly, if careless person, who loved whisky and women - not a typical 'jihadi' or sympathiser of the Iranian government.
Friends called him 'Jack' because of his love for Jack Daniel's whisky.
Ben Mohseni, an Iranian business owner and a long-time friend, said that when he heard Mr Arbabsiar's name in the news, he initially suspected him to be a victim of identity theft.
Continue reading the main story “Start Quote

If this ended to be true, I had missed it for a long time. Because I did not see that in his character”

Dan Keetch Friend
"I said," Mr Mohseni recalled, "that may be someone had stole his passport, while he was travelling to Iran." The disbelief turned into reality when his friend's photograph was aired on TV.
Three weeks earlier, Mr Arbabsiar had excitedly called Mr Mohseni from Iran, where he had established businesses in the past few years, to tell him that he was travelling back to Texas to witness his grandchild's birth.
"We used to gather together," an emotionally-overwhelmed Mr Mohseni added. "We enjoyed his company."
Siavash Sian, another long-time friend who drove three hours from Houston to give his recollection of Mr Arbabsiar, said it is hard to believe the news.
Mr Arbabsiar was a person who was not able to say "no" to his friends and would brag about himself, Mr Sian said.
His English was not that good, Mr Sian added, suggesting "maybe that has put him into trouble" with misunderstandings in his communications with law enforcement officials.
'Careless'
Friends and business associates of Mr Arbabsiar refer to him as a "careless and disorganised" person, who frequently lost personal belongings and could not handle easy paperwork.
Mr Mohseni said: "His wife, Marta, handled his work".
Manssor Arbabsiar, a resident of Corpus Christi for 30 years, once lived in this house
Benjamin Bighamian, another Iranian who knew Mr Arbabsiar, said: "He was very forgetful. Every time he visited me he either left behind his keys, suitcase or cell phone".
A problem which, according to another friend, led to a divorce from his first wife.
Mr Bighamian attributes his friend's "carelessness" to severe injuries he sustained during an attack in the 1980s that earned him the nickname "scarface".
He was stabbed several times in a night-time fight in Houston and left to die. Mr Bighamian said he believes Mr Arbabsiar "received head trauma, which has gone unnoticed".
Mr Bighamian said, amid his disbelief, anything is possible.
"He is in a very good financial situation, he did not need to commit such an act for money," Mr Bighamian said, adding: "Jack may have been fooled."
Other fellow Iranians are more sceptical.
Mr Sian said: "He received his US citizenship only eight months ago. How would it be possible to naturalise a person who has been on the watch list for so long?"
Dan Keetch, a local car dealer, said he was "surprised to hear the news, because this is not the Jack I knew".
Mr Keetch, a southern Republican with pictures of George Bush and presidential candidate Rick Perry hanging in his office, said that in the 20-plus years he knew Mr Arbabsiar, he was a "friendly, happy, good-looking guy" who never discussed politics.
"If this ended to be true, I had missed it for a long time. Because I did not see that in his character," Mr Keetch said, adding that, in the car dealership business, one becomes quite a good judge of character.
Dan Keetch also recalled that, after the 9/11 attacks, Mr Arbabsiar went to his office to tell him how sorry he felt, and said that not all Middle Easterners were like those who committed the attacks.
He added: "Jack loved Texas. Corpus Christi was his home."
Today, the small Iranian community in Corpus Christi share similar sentiments.
While leaving Mr Bighamian's office, he told me at the doorstep: "Please mention that we are all sorry for what has happened."

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-15325686

I have no idea if it real or not.

the us government don't exactly have a reputation that would let anyone take their word for it; and its all rather convent for them. perhaps they have learn to speak iran diplomacy and want to collect some iranians to swap for americans.

On the other hand there has been a power play going on for a few years between the religious establishment and the revolutionary guards inc; the latter would be strengthened by worsening relations between iran and the us/arabia.