Back in May I wrote about the secret war on Iran, which has so far manifested in cyber-terrorism, commercial sabotage, and assassinations of Iranian nuclear scientists. I inferred, critics would charge speculated, cautiously that this last piece of the puzzle (committing international terrorist acts against Iranian scientists) was perpetrated by the U.S., and implicitly Israel. The acts did coincide with public announcements by U.S. officials that it was increasing its covert activity in the country, and individuals involved had laid blame on the CIA.
Such impressions were fleshed out a bit more when Seymour Hersh published his New Yorker piece detailing many of the covert activities the U.S. had been conducting inside Iran (not to mention its conclusion that no evidence had been found of an Iranian nuclear program).
Now Der Spiegel has leaked an admission from an Israeli intelligence official that Israel, through their intelligence agency Mossad, has in fact been involved in the unprovoked assassinations and terrorist acts inside Iran:
“Israel is not responding,” Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak said earlier this week when asked if his country had been involved in the latest slaying of an Iranian nuclear scientist. It didn’t exactly sound like a denial, and the smile on his face suggested Israel isn’t too bothered by suspicions that it is responsible for a series of murders of physicists involved in the controversial Iranian nuclear program.
There is little doubt in the shadowy world of intelligence agencies that Israel is behind the assassination of Darioush Rezaei. “That was the first serious action taken by the new Mossad chief Tamir Pardo,” an Israeli intelligence source told SPIEGEL ONLINE.
On July 23, Rezaei became the latest victim in a mysterious series of attacks over the past 20 months which has seen the virtual decimation of the Islamic republic’s elite physicists. The 35-year-old died after being shot in the throat in front of his daughter’s kindergarten in east Tehran. The Iranian press has reported that the two alleged perpetrators in the attack escaped on a motorcycle.
Anyone doubting whether these acts categorically qualified as acts of international terrorism is probably not being honest. One assassination consisted of a remotely detonated bomb rigged to a motorcycle exploded next to the target’s car. Another two attacks had mysterious motorcycle assailants attaching a bomb directly to the target’s car. And the latest had the target shot in the throat in front of his daughter’s kindergarten. For the most part, I’ll let this speak for itself. But just imagine the repercussions if there was an admission by Iranian agents that they had covertly murdered American scientists, both in and out of government. We would probably be looking at another full scale invasion in the Middle East.
Mossad again. "International terrorism" for a certainty. However, their actions seem more like acts of naked aggression to provoke a war.
Gosh, I wonder who'll get snookered into fighting a war with Iran for Israel?
Readers note that the Spiegel article found in this same edition of antiwarcom contains the following assertion: "the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in Vienna has since confirmed what had already been reported by the Israeli media — namely that the physics student had worked on the development of high-voltage switching systems, a key component that is crucial to setting off the explosions needed to trigger a nuclear warhead." Given the past record of Spiegel as reporting for a fact what has been reported by various pro-war sources, readers ought to have a pretty good idea about the meaning of "confirm" in the above quote. Some readers wonder why antiwar carries articles by Spiegel themselves at all. Spiegel seems to be worse than the Washington Post or NYT.
Actually, your feeble attempt at discrediting the paper is pathetic given its pristine track record on matters such as this.
Incidentally, the "development of high-voltage switching systems" is also known as power generation.
You're spinning that yarn, much like your friends spun the aluminum tubes Iraq allegedly purchased for WMD.
How utterly predictable.
could it be that preceding reply misses point of comment, point being that quoted sentence is misleading in the same way that allegations about nature of aluminum tubes in the case of Irak were misleading. The quote from the same Spiegel article implitly endorses Israeli justification of assassination.If reply suggests that student's work was for power generation which readers are inclined to accept, then quoted sentence is misleading in that it implies work for purpose of making bombs. Above criticism does not apply to revelations about Mossad involvement in assassinations.Spiegel has a pristine record in its support of US and Israeli ruling circles.
Israel involved in terrorist actions against Iran? LIES, I SAY- ALL LIES !!
Oh wait- so it IS true after all. Haven't I and others here on these pages been saying this for days/months/years? I'm no intelligence analyst, nor am I a weatherman, but I don't exactly appreciate spies and terrorists from Mossad pissing on my back and expecting me to believe it's raining.
In the great modern rebellious tradition- hey, Israel! TWO SHOES FOR YOU! *whack*whack*
The only thing bullies understand is a fist. Iran should retaliate.
Isreal wants retaliation to justify an air attack on Iran. Why do you think they don't deny the murders, but only smile?