Wednesday, March 15, 2006

israel, iran and the MEK

* " The full Senate is expected to vote (thurs) on a budget resolution that instructs the Energy Committee to authorize drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge." (link)

* lovely turn of phrase by arianna: "Brenner's (who wrote the VF plame piece) breathlessness would be amusing if it didn't serve to mask the truth about how Woodward has gone from asking questions that helped take down a president to unquestioningly taking down whatever our current president tells him."

* jeralyn is covering the Moussaoui shenanigans here, here, for example - her current theory is:
"Like many others, I just assumed she was doing it to help the Government get a conviction against Moussaoui. Now I think otherwise. I have to swallow real hard to say this, but the prosecutors may not be at fault. Carla Martin may have had another agenda.

Martin may not have been concerned with getting a conviction against Moussaoui -- but the civil litigation over 9/11 involving the FAA and United and American Airlines. It appears to me her "partners", for lack of a better word, were not the prosecutors, but the civil lawyers representing United and American Airlines in the civil litigation, and she was trying to prevent the Moussaoui witnesses from saying something that could result in a judgment against the Government and the airlines in the civil litigation."

* "This week's print edition of the New Yorker has a long article on Iranian exile groups and their influence--and lack thereof--in shaping American policy on Iran. - the M.E.K.'s information about Iran's secret nuclear sites came from Israeli intelligence - "That information came not from the M.E.K. but from (Israel), and it had come to more than one opposition group, not only the mujahaideen," he said... The friendly source did not want to be the source of it, publicly. If the friendly government gives it to the U.S. publicly, then it would be received differently. Better to come from an opposition group."..." (link)

4 comments:

Track said...

Imagine if someone like Edmonds testified concerning the grounds for the death penalty...ie...that Moussaoui failed to let the FBI know about the impending attack. Might have done a little more than keep Moussaoui from a death sentence.

The US government could not have let this case go forward. The can of worms was too big.

Anonymous said...

imagine if she could testify anywhere...

also - did you see the thing i posted this last week about the guys who bombed madrid? the police says there's no way they would have even listened to the guy if he told them everything the week before (and this is AFTER 911)

Track said...

Just some locals upset at increased train fares? I don't know what to make of that article.

I'm reminded of Nafeez Ahmed's discussion of using terrorism in a "strategy of tension". If I understand his theory correctly, terror attacks are either instigated by intelligence agencies who have infiltrated terror groups or attacks are carried out by intelligence agencies and blamed on terror groups. The goal is to scare the crap out of the local population, giving the politicians more power. On a larger scale this strategy enables governments/corporations to branch into new markets.

Anonymous said...

i wrote about the strategy of tension recently (http://wotisitgood4.blogspot.com/2006/03/ledeen-p2.html) - it seems to be ledeen's main gig. it wouldnt surprise me if 911, madrid, london 7/7 all fit under this umbrella