The Mossad's Plan to Stop Iran
Sometimes the Mossad seems like the intelligence community's answer to Hogwarts. The agency's tactics detailed herein are not secret, certainly not to the Iranians -- Iran's Ministry of Intelligence and Security plays the same game the world over, including in the United States. The Mossad simply plays better. Almost unbelievably so.
Recently, one of my sources, who has extensive and relevant experience as a CIA operations officer, was marveling at the Israeli 2007 air strike against Syria: "Israeli jets took off from Tel Aviv, flew all the way across Syria, and dropped bombs, destroying Syria's entire 'secret' nuclear cache. Then they flew all the way home, and the entire mission went undetected by Syrian radar that was state-of-the-art Russian technology. Somehow they caught the Syrians completely off-guard!"
To execute the attack, the Mossad first had to get wind of the shipment of nuclear material (possibly from North Korea), ascertain its hiding place, then disable Syria's myriad air defense installations. The effort on the whole, according to my source, "pushed the known boundaries of intelligence gathering capability."
The downside is the lesson given to the Iranians. They're wise to the radar trick now. "Also, while the Syrians had just one nuclear installation, in Iran now they have a gazillion of them, and they're all over the place."
No wonder Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak called the Iranian nuclear effort an "existential threat."
I asked my source: What's being done to thwart Iran?
Answer: Penetration of the Iranian nuclear apparatus at the highest levels. The basic precepts are as old as Sun-Tzu. The CIA is trying. The Mossad is more successful.
Q: Does the Mossad use its own operatives or foreign agents?
A: Agents -- Iranian nationals who work in Iran in a capacity that enables them to travel around the country at will.
Q: Why is traveling around the country important?
A: Your objective is to take pictures, map the nuclear sites, find out how deeply beneath the ground the sites are buried -- so you know what sort of bunker buster bomb is needed. Also trucks and trains are also important because they're necessary to supply facilities engaged in manufacturing weapons-grade uranium; a lot of times materials going in and out will tell a lot about what is going on inside... Essentially, you're casing Iran.
Q: In preparation for an air raid?
A: Yes. Satellites will give you a lot of that, but visits can be very, very valuable. Your agents talk to people in the towns near the sites, they talk to the guards in the barracks -- you can glean a lot of information from elicitation and observation. Also you want to know the population areas -- the Israelis are concerned about collateral damage.
Q: How does the Mossad recruit Iranian agents?
A: The recruitment of an Iranian source by a Mossad officer admitting to be Israeli is very, very difficult. The best method is using a false flag -- going by a different nationality. Perhaps you use a Persian-looking guy who is fluent in Farsi to pose as an Iranian. Or your officer poses as an officer of one of the intelligence services with whom Iran has good relationships, like the French. Or maybe you recruit an actual Frenchman to serve as your principal agent, and he in turn recruits the Iranian. The question is: What is your Iranian traveling-salesman type receptive to?
Q: Money? Blackmail? Honey traps?
A: For an asset like that, usually it's money.
Q: How much?
A: For a low-level guy in that part of the world, $1000 a month in an escrow account outside of Iran is a lot of money. Also he'll probably need an ideological tweak -- he needs to justify why he's spying, so he doesn't think of himself as a venal bastard. Maybe it's about world peace -- in which case you assess what your potential source likes or doesn't like about what Iran is doing. Maybe he doesn't like Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. So you pose as a faction trying to get Ahmadinejad out of office. Sometimes you even get someone who loves the USA -- Iran used to be our great ally pre-Jimmy Carter. The Iranians danced in the streets and wore lipstick and, all of the sudden, the Ayatollah came in and changed all that. Your fifty or sixty-year-old source remembers those times and often would like to go back.
Q: What about the reports that the Mossad is sending letter-bombs and anthrax-tainted mail to scientists involved in Iran's nuclear program?
A: Very doubtful. The Israelis are not interested in spreading anthrax. It's too dirty, too "terrorist." They prefer to strike surgically.
Q: Is there any rumint [blend of rumor and intelligence] on the prospective outcome?
A: The Israelis can't permit Iran to get a bomb. They can't allow another Holocaust. Without US help, it seems like they have no chance. Historically, though, they've shown a propensity to pull a rabbit out of the hat.
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"The best method is using a false flag"
Interesting. Perhaps your source can shed some light on this?
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Having a military background here is what I think will happen. It's only a matter of time before Israel strikes nuclear targets in Iran. If the Iranians counter w/ any type of biological or nuclear capability, Israel will use nuclear weapons in retaliation. And who could blame them seeing as how Ahmadinejad has made it his priority to wipe Israel off the face of the planet.
You almost sound like you're looking forward to Israel nuking Iran. You're certainly willing to make up stories about how Iran would somehow be the aggressor, right after detailing an aggressive Israeli first strike.
you are just confused, aren't you? When Ahmadinejjad proclaims that Israe l should be wiped off the map, that is aggression. Wake up, and enter the real world.
The very idea that Iran would ever launch a pre-emptive nuclear strike on Israel is utterly absurd. The Iranians are not suicidal--at least, the guys at the top are not. They know very well that the U.S. would, in Hillary Clinton's infamous words, "obliterate" Iran in response. Duh!! For Iran, the purpose of a nuke would be mutually assured destruction with respect to Israel, which is bristling with nuclear warheads. It would even the playing field, and that's something Israel doesn't want. There's only one reason anyone believes the "Iranian pre-emptive strike on Israel" baloney--the Zionists have carefully cultivated an image of "the Muslim" as a fanatical extremist who is utterly immune to reason and common sense (like a Middle Eastern version of George Bush). Due to the widespread acceptance of that myth, the American people swallow this "existential threat" garbage hook, line and sinker.
"the Zionists have carefully cultivated an image of "the Muslim" as a fanatical extremist who is utterly immune to reason and common sense"
The Zionists had nothing to do with it. They did it for themselves.
A question for the board: What is the "existential threat" to Israel if Iran can demonstrate at some future date it has a nuke weapon and can make more? Even if Iran were to achieve a devastating first strike on all military bases and population centers in Israel. And in so doing, kill a million Muslim Arabs and poison a million more, as well as ruin the soil for centuries. (a ludicrous scenario IMO) Israel would still have more than enough retaliatory capability from submarine and aircraft based nukes to decimate Iran. The dead in the Islamic republic could be more than twice the population of Israel. Why would the Iranian leaders do that? Are they all suicidal, death craving nut jobs? Using a nuke would mean the end of the regime. Thoughts?
The "existential threat" of an Iranian nuclear bomb is a rehash of the "smoking gun= mushroom cloud" propaganda that the neocons used so successfully against Iraq. The real threat to Israel is not an Iranian nuclear weapon, it's that Israel won't be able to push its neighbors around with impunity.
Of course there's the possibility of an Iranian nuclear strike on Israel. The Moslem world has no shortage of suicide bombers. just this week about 120 innocent Iraqi civilians were killed by several of these nutcases. This sickness, begun by Palestinians in Israel, now has spread at a quickening pace as far East as Pakistan.
Do you doubt for a moment there might be Iranian zealots convinced they would be making reservation in Heaven by killing of a few million Jews even if it means the deaths of even more Moslems.
The ninteen Moslems who killed 3,000 Americans in the most barbaric manner were the excuse for of the deaths of tens of thousands of Iraqiis, even though Iraq wasn't involved, and the cause of thousands more in Afghanistan whose country was involved. Knowing the catastrophe their actions would bring down on these Moslems and millions more, do you believe they would have changed their actions by a jot or a tittle?
Logic has been replaced by paranoia and prejudice in your argument.
You posit that Iran is run by suicidal religious zealots.
What in Iran's history substantiates this insane statement.
Iran hasn't attacked anyone in centuries. Israel does it on a yearly basis.
You absolve the USA for its genocide in Iraq because of 9-11.
You infer that Palestinian suicide bombers are acting out of religious zealotry instead of as a direct response to Israeli aggression and repression.
Looking at the location of that building--wide-open space with the easiest of visibility; middle of nowhere as if announcing its own existence as something of interest. Not much surrounding it in terms of supporting facilities
Would the Syrians be so stupid as to put the core of a nuclear program so open and vulnerable like that knowing Israel's propensity to backtrack military installations in other nations, saliently Iraq's nuke facility 25 years earlier?
I don't believe they'd be that stupid. Not hidden at all?
The whole thing is fishy. Maybe it was a shell game to entice Israel to attack to gain intelligence about Israel's radar and other military capacity, willingness to strike. It's like a literal straw man set up to gain info about Israel. Certainly must have served Iran's interest to gain knowledge about Israel's strategies and tactics and capabilities. Supposedly problems with the Russian air warning system were identified, only to help lead to improvements in the use of those systems.
Plus it causes Israel’s international reputation to take another hit as a bellicose aggressor—negative public relations for Israel; makes Syria out to be a victim. With minimal real damage to Syria—easy enough to replace whatever nefarious was going on there and perhaps just as a straw man.
Nothing adds up about it.
In the 2006 Levant war, Israel knocked out all the key Hezbollah command and control centers and weapons caches in the initial air strikes. Only the targets were all bogus. Hezbollah counter intelligence duped the Israelis into hitting empty caves. They never did take out any weapons storage or command and control centers. Mossad is not flawless, and Iranian intelligence is much better than Hezbollah's.
This puts many of Iranian Jews in great peril. Though only a small fraction of their past number, at 25000 by some estimates, this type of activities will make them prime espionage suspect and gives the regime license to arrest, interrogate and even deport them.
No more peril than they were in six months ago. Like the CIA operations officer said, " The basic precepts are as old as Sun-Tzu."
The violent acts discussed in this article are criminal.
Unfortunately the UN and the US are complicit.
Too bad.
You're right, the Arab nations are guilty of a number of crimes.
If Israel wants to wage war with Iran or any other nation, I say let them do it on their own nickle...w
For two millennia, the Jews, aka the Israelis, have been screwed over by just about every nationality and religion in Europe and the Middle East, with the notable and laudable exception of the Dutch. Sixty year ago, the survivors finally stood up on their hind legs and said, "I'm mad as hell and I'm not going to take it any more." They taught this to their children and now, after two thousand years Jewish kids learn at their parents' knees that humilation, expulsion, progroms and violent death are not the inevitable puinishments for practicing the world's oldest monotheistic religion.
For all its warts, and there are warts, Israel is here to stay. Of that, I have no doubts and won't have till Israel's critics name a country without warts.
On the evidence, Zoroastrianism [proto-Indo-Iranian people of southern Russia] was the first monotheistic religion in the world. The second was the brief Egyptian monotheistic religion that only lasted during the reign of Akhenaten. The third was in the Hebrew kingdom of Judah, during the reign of Hezekiah, but successfully re-instituted during the reign of Josiah.
Sorry but you've gone off into the realms of fantasy there.
So if one were to find a nation without warts then the existence of Israel would be in doubt? Is it my imagination or are the more rabid Israel backers (my mother drunk or sober types) becoming progressively more incomprehensible and deranged?
Of course the posts almost always contain the normal easily checked historical inaccuracies such as the monotheistic religion point and the cryptic mention of the Dutch but that is almost standard for them along with the curious idea that there were never any Palestinians, Israel has only ever fought defensive wars and all Palestinians are Muslim.
Garioch: Sorry, though you hurled a few insults you didn't offer a country without warts. I mentioned the Dutch because of their history of decency - and in this world's history that could very well be considered cryptic. I'm afraid what's cryptic is your talk of "never any Palestinians, Israel . . .only . . .defensive wars and all Palestinians are Muslim."
Those ideas are rattling around in your head but not in my post.
As to "the oldest monotheistic religion," evagorman sounds knowledgeable enough for me. I believe that brief outbreak among the Egyptians only lasted long enough for the boy king to be assassinated by his mother for blasphemy. As to the Zoroastrians, I think there are still a comparatively few still around but I'm not certain.
Yours in incomprehension and derangement.
As muslem we respect every jew who practice their religion and have no problem with them. The problem in the middle east is not about religion although religion is exploited in all sides. Yes we support every religious group to practice there religion freely. Ignorant is widely spread on muslim and nonmuslim countries. What about the rights of the palestinians?
T GF o I met with Thomas Ricks, author of the best selling The Gamble: General David Petraeus and the American Military Adventure in Iraq, 2006-2008, who says that we are only half way through the war, and our unfortunate involvement there could run as long as another 16 years. The surge has failed, our casualties are rising, and US credibility with Iraqis is zero. Bush blew a cozy set up that worked for a decade where Saddam was contained at minimal cost. Talking is more valuable than fighting, and it is cheaper to hire someone than to kill them. General Petraeus figured this out, so we now have 100,000 enemy fighters on the payroll costing $30 million a month. It was easy to walk away from Vietnam and leave a few million locals in re-education camps. Iraq won’t be so easy, because it sits atop, or adjacent to the world’s largest oil supply. Eventually, Iraq will evolve into another Lebanon where you have multiple competing armed groups. The big winner in all of this is Iran, which has seen its prestige grow in the Middle East at our expense. Iraq will continue to be a huge financial drain on the US for decades, no matter what Obama says. All very sobering thoughts, with big implications for the markets.
The competence of the Mossad is largely a myth
Lets take the example you gave of their talents...
It turned out there was no nuclear plant there. So the event was far from a success. Yes the United States made weapons worked fine, but the Israeli intelligence failed horribly.
To hear the Israeli "intelligence" community talk about evidence they have against Iran is like watching a stand-up comedian. I don't think anyone in the world, even very pro-Israel people take the Israeli intelligence seriously. They just aren't very good at spying despite all the people who will write articles claiming they are.
Did it occur to the author that rather than piercing the veil of secrecy of a clandestine organization, he has allowed himself to be exploited to further their propaganda efforts?
The American Indians don't go around saying, "Never again!" The Poles and the Gypsies don't go around saying never again but Hitler knocked them off, too.
Israel wants to have its cake (Palestinia land) and (eat it, too) peace at the same time.
History shows that the land called israel has had dozens of different occupiers in the past three thousand years.
Israel is committed to the Western powers and their goal in getting next to the lake of petroleum in the middle East . Israel is our footsoldier in this endeavor. That's why the US has a "special relationship" with Israel. There are a few End Times types that are Christain Zionists but the remaining are interseted in a maintaining foothold for petroleum in the cross roads of the Middle East.
If there was no petroleum, there would be no problem.
If oil was the goal for Israel why did we give up oil fields we won in 1967? The fact is Israel wants to live peacefully inside borders that are defensible and secure.
Really? Then give the Gazans access to the natural gas fields off of their own coast.
Sure. It just wants to keep pushing those borders east.
That's funny.
so do it already, who's stopping you? Pull the illegal settlers out of the West Bank and go already. Don't tell us what you want to do, there is nothing preventing you from doing that right now.
Your actions betray your words.
Its still an open question exactly what Israel bombed when they attacked Syria. They claim it was a nuclear facility but the Syrians deny that and more importantly there is significant evidence that contradicts the claims of Israel. See for example Seymour Hersh's article in the New Yorker, A Strike in the Dark: http://www
I would hope that no one expected Syria to freeely admit Israel was able to bomb and destroy a secret nuclear facility. Given the nature of the Syrian government such an admission would be unthinkable. No one should have expected honesty from Syria.
I don't expect Syria to be honest. But given their track record of complicity with the Bush administration and its lies about Iraq I don't expect Israel to be honest either. If you read the article by Sy Hersh he is not at all taking what the Syrians say at face value. He analyses the information put out by both sides and with help from experts in the defense world points out that there are glaring holes in the US/Israel version of events. BTW, one thing that is beyond dispute is that by International Law what Israel did was a war crime. If there was evidence that Syria was building a reactor that does not give Israel or anyone else the right to attack them. The proper procedure would be to take it to the UN which could initiate boycotts, inspections, etc.
Mohamed el baradei, the head of the IAEA says that traces of Uranium were found at the syrian site..
You want to contradict him , go right ahead, but please try to deal with factualities.
He also said that Israel had absolutely no right to bomb Syria's facility. Of course we all know Israel considers itself above the law and does as it pleases whenever it suits its interest.
I wonder if Israel will ever allow its Dimona nuclear facility to be inspected by the IAEA. Or how about signing the NPT; or how about a nuclear free zone Middle East as has been proposed by Iran but all rejected by israel and the U.S. What is good for Israel should be good for every country in the Middle East .
Anyway why should anyone trust Israel - it definitely has not won the prize of being an honest party to any international law?
Maybe the traces of uranium came in with the bombs.
The neocons would have us believe that the theory of mutually assured destruction that prevented nuclear exchanges between the USSR-USA somehow doesn't apply to Iran-Israel.
The right-wingers who rule Israel actually have no "existential" fear of an Iranian nuclear weapon. It's merely propaganda to justify their efforts to keep Iran from threatening Israel's ability to dominate its neighbors.
How is it you have any good idea what the leaders of the Israeli right wing have in mind? I'm doubtful you have any real knowledge of the mindset of any Israeli politicians.
Although they the right wing Israeli politicos may be a bunch of criminals, they are not fools. They know how many nukes they have.
BTW, you speak as though you know the mindset of Iranian politicians.
The only group of people who an claim real knowledge of the mindset of israeli politicians would be the politicians. Since YOU are so sure, i guess you must be an israeli politician.
If you are un-able to present a logical point-of-view or be able to counter it, you resort to attacking the person. You question his knowledge. You throw doubts.
And yet you have nothing cogent to offer.
Wozzeck's point was simply that Nuclear armed rivals do not start throwing nukes down each other. Witness India-Pakistan or USA-USSR. But Israel is able to use fear mongering to sell iranian evil to western audience - and allow the west to overlook any illegal act israel commits in the future vis-a-vis iran
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