Cheney has tapped Iranian expatriate, arms dealer to surveil discussions..

[robertpaulsen]

Cheney has tapped Iranian expatriate, arms dealer to surveil discussions with Iran, officials say

Larisa Alexandrovna
Published: Thursday April 20, 2006

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The Department of Defense and Vice President Dick Cheney have retained the services of Iran-Contra arms dealer and discredited intelligence asset Manucher Ghorbanifar as their “man on the ground,” in order to report on any interaction and attempts at negotiations between Iranian officials and US ambassador to Iraq, Zelmay Khalilzad, current and former intelligence officials say.

Speaking on condition of anonymity, three intelligence sources identified the Iran-Contra middleman as having been put back on the payroll, acting as a human intelligence asset and monitoring any movement in discussions about Iran’s alleged burgeoning nuclear weapons program.

“Khalilzad has been authorized to enter into discussions with the Iranians over the issue of stability inside Iraq,” one former intelligence source said.

These discussions, however, are now on hold for unspecified reasons. Sources close to the UN Security Council and a former high ranking intelligence official say that this latest failed attempt to bring Iran to the table is part of an ongoing attempt by Cheney and Rumsfeld to squash diplomatic activities.

more...

http://www.rawstory.com/news/2006/Cheney_has_tapped_Iranian_expatriate_arms_0420.html

[htuttle]

1. Am I understanding this correctly?

Cheney hired a discredited, crooked Iranian money launderer to spy on the US Envoy?

From the article:

Asked if Ghorbanifar was essentially being employed as a spy, one former senior counterintelligence official said, "You could put it that way."

Cheney's completely batshit crazy too, isn't he?

[KoKo]

2. Good Gawd! do they think most Americans don't remember who this

guy is? :crazy: Cheney has definitely either lost it...or is poking a finger in everyone's eye with this!

He needs the men in white coats....ASAP!

[htuttle]

4. I'm also wondering why he wants to spy on his own envoy

Does Cheney not trust Khalilzad? Does he trust Ghorbanifar MORE than Khalilzad? Why? Why would they keep an envoy he didn't trust? Why would they torpedo their negotiations?

:crazy:

It's a Mad House!

[saigon68]

9. Iran-Contra middleman as having been put back on the payroll,

Stinks like the piece of Shit he is

[KoKo]

11. Didn't Josh Marshall & Linda Rozen connect

Manucher Ghorbanifar to the forged Niger Documents? I remember something about meetings with Ghorbanifar and his sidekick from the Iran-Contra days being reported way back before CBS killed Josh & Linda's story.

I'll try to Google a link..

[htuttle]

12. Here's a link to a Kos diary on that

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2005/10/19/145557/54

[KoKo]

14. Here's the link to Niger Documents and Ghorbanfar.....from Kos Diary

(A Google comes up with other links for Ghorbanifar/Niger Documents)


Niger Yellowcake and The Man Who Forged Too Much
by Pen
Fri Jul 22, 2005 at 04:56:03 AM PDT

They say all roads lead to Rome. Well, this one certainly does. It's a road that starts in Paris, at the door of Iranian arms dealer and Mossad double agent Manucher Ghorbanifar, a man known to the CIA as an "intelligence fabricator". It's a road that runs through Niger uranium mines, past a Genoan fascist organization operating as a parallel Italian intelligence network with ties to Rocco Martino, and down the streets of Milan, where a CIA operative, now considered a fugitive at large by Italian authorities, once operated.

Ultimately, however, it is a road that does not end in Rome. It runs past that ancient icon of Imperial corruption and leads us to Washington D.C., past a Federal Investigation into Israeli espionage and right up to the steps of the White House and Dick Cheney's Office of Special Plans.

All signs along this road point to the answer to the question: Who forged the Niger Uranium Documents?

* Pen's diary :: ::
*

We find ourselves beginning our journey in Paris with Manucher Ghorbanifar.

Back in 1984, Michael Ledeen put forward the idea of using Manucher Ghorbanifar to make illegal arms sales to Iran. The CIA's Deputy Director for Operations, Clair George, deemed Ghorbanifar totally unreliable. He felt that Ghorbanifar, a MOSSAD double agent, had Israel's security as his only priority. But George Bush Sr., having dealt with Ghorbanifar in Paris prior to the infamous "October Surprise" that got Ronald Reagan elected, agreed with Ledeen and so Ghorbanifar became the middleman in what became known as the Iran-Contra affair. In fact, Oliver North testified that the diversion of funds to the Contras was proposed to him by
Ghorbanifar during a meeting in January 1986.

So it should have come as no surprise that Newsweek reported that :

Ghorbanifar, a former Iranian spy who helped launch the Iran-contra affair, says one of the things he discussed with Defense officials Harold Rhode and Larry Franklin at meetings in Rome in December 2001 (and in Paris last June with only Rhode) was regime change in Iran....The Pentagon cut off contact with Ghorbanifar, whom the CIA years ago labeled as a fabricator, after news about the talks broke last summer....But Ghorbanifar says he continued to communicate with Rhode, and sometimes Franklin, by phone and fax five or six times a week until shortly after the Paris meeting last summer (June 2002).

The important points to note in the Newsweek article were this:

1: The two Americans at the meeting were
a) Harold Rhode, a member of the Office of Special Plans, protege of Michael Ledeen and the liason between the administration and Ahmed Chalabi and b) Larry Franklin, formerly of the Office of Special Plans, whom the FBI arrested for giving away secrets to Israel through the organization AIPAC.

2: The two Italian men present were
a) SISMI (Italian Intelligence) Chief Nicolo Pollari. b) Italian Minister of Defense Antonio Martino.

3: The meetings were in Rome in Dec. 2001.

What Newsweek doesn't tell us is that a third American was present at that first meeting and that he was the man who organized the meeting: Michael Ledeen.

But back to Ghorbanifar. A quick look in the Wikipedia shows us that:

Ghorbanifar's suspected duplicity during the Iran-Contra deal led CIA Director William Casey to order three separate lie-detector tests, all of which he failed. Iranian officials also suspected Ghorbanifar of passing them forged American documents. The CIA issued a "burn notice" (or "Fabricator Notice") on Ghorbanifar in 1984, meaning he was regarded as an unreliable source of intelligence. A 1987 congressional report on Iran-Contra cites the CIA warning that Ghorbanifar "should be regarded as an intelligence fabricator and a nuisance" who was known to spread false information to advance his own interests.

In case you missed it, let me repeat: Iranian officials also suspected Ghorbanifar of passing them forged American documents.

http://72.14.203.104/search?q=cache:-jJmg8HIP4oJ:www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2005/7/22/7563/12283+Manucher+Ghorbanifar,+Niger+Documents&hl=en&gl=us&ct=clnk&cd=3

[mike_c]

13. Ghorbanifar is a venal crook-- Cheney UNDERSTANDS him....

:rofl: This would all be utterly hilarious if it were a situation comedy....

[cliss]

19. OH...I think our man in Washington

has learned a thing or two about BACKroom deals....and BACKstabbing, and Blackmail. Dick Cheney hasn't forgotten about his bestest buddy Ahmed Chalabi and the rest.

He's just taking out an insurance policy.....ahead of time.

[robertpaulsen]

20. I think the key to understanding why is in this paragraph

Reports of the Bush administration’s interest in meeting with Iranian officials continue to suggest that it is Iran that is pushing back against diplomatic talks. Yet all three intelligence sources and sources close to the UN Security Council say it is the US that is squashing attempts at talks between the two nations.


They don't want peace! As with Iraq, they want to maintain the appearance that they are pursuing diplomatic channels while behind the scenes they prepare for the inevitable war!

[never cry wolf]

17. Sadly, most americans have never heard of him nor care to

Hell, half the country can't name their own representative or senators.

[lyonn]

18. Chalibi and our govt. got by with it in 2002

So why shouldn't the U.S. believe that Gofarbar (have no idea how to spell it) has info that we need to understand Iran and nukes, Ugh.

Same song second verse.

Didn't we throw out agents we had in Iran in 2002 to prepare for invading Iraq? Could have much to do with the Plame deal?

More sound bites for the busy Americans to believe that will prove we need to bomb Iran. Terrifying.

This a.m. my 21 yr. old grandson, asked me about Iran and the possibility of a draft. I spend way to long telling him the ramifications of bombing Iran and that having a kid, which he doesn't, would not keep them from a draft or college, which he is in, as we are going by all new rules. He believed there was no way to attack Iran without a draft at this point. Clever kid.

[Kagemusha]

3. Yeah, that's what this story is claiming...

And while I wouldn't completely rule it out at all, given who is involved and given what they are known to have done in the past, Khalilzad at least used to be regarded as one of the boys. And payroll is a sensitive issue. Whose payroll? So I don't know.

[Vidar]

7. But rememeber no one honest or competent will workd for him.

[stillcool]

5. color me not surprised...

next thing you know Ollie will be supplying Iranian 'moderates' with all the latest gadgets from the military industry, with the help of Israel of course.
One day I will wake up from this re-occuring nightmare, and it will all make perfect sense. Not today.

[fooj]

6. It's called treason.

Pure and simple.

[DemoTex]

8. Ghorbanifar: #26 in the Iran-Contra deck of trading cards.

By November, 1984, when expatriate Iranian arms dealer Manucher Ghorbanifar offered ex-CIA agent Theodore Shackley his help in freeing hostage William Buckley (see cards #24 and 25), he had already failed three CIA lie detector tests. Four months earlier the CIA had issued a "burn notice" on "Gorba," warning that "he should be regarded as an intelligence fabricator and a nuisance". Nevertheless, Michael Ledeen, terrorism consultant to the NSC, and Israeli agent David Kimche (see card #27) vouched for Ghorbanifar to National Security Adviser Robert McFarlane (see card #28). Ledeen called Ghorbanifar "one of the most honest, educated, honorable men I have ever known". Thus Ghorbanifar became the middleman for the first five arms-for-hostages shipments of TOW and HAWK missles to Iran. Later, McFarlane was to refer to Ghorbanifar as a "borderline moron".
After the first three missile shipments, brokered by Ghorbanifar and Ledeen, produced only one hostage, CIA Director William Casey ordered another lie detector test. Ghorbanifar failed again, on every question but his name and nationality. Afterward, he appeared at Ledeen's house, claiming he had been physically injured during the test. Richard Secord became Ledeen's replacement, but Ghorbanifar was allowed to broker two more arms deals.

Oliver North testified that Ghorbanifar was suspected of being an Israeli agent. North also said that Ghorbanifar had given him the idea to divert profits from Iranian arms deals to the contras - in a men's room.

http://homepages.cs.ncl.ac.uk/chris.holt/home.informal/bar/corsair.afdq/contra.cards/26.html

Have they not forgotten that Manucher Ghorbanifar almost single-handedly brought down the presidency of St. Ronnie? Bwaa haa haa haa! Too rich for my blood!


Cheney must be jonesing for the Iran-Contra days.

[lostexpectation]

10. hehe

methinks of arvine slone in alias no matter what he's done he can always be used

[seemslikeadream]

15. Manusher Ghorbanifar claims he played the leading role.

:hi:

http://nuralcubicle.blogspot.com/2005/10/sismis-war-in-iraq-iranian-connection.html

In each and every one of these interchangeable frames for the meeting, Manusher Ghorbanifar claims he played the leading role. Iranian by birth and residing as far as we know between Paris and Geneva, Ghorbanifar does not have a good reputation. For some, he is an arms trafficker. For others, an expert in forgery. For civilian Italian intelligence, Ghorbanifar is a secret agent for Tehran. For a certain US intelligence agency, he is a Mossad agent. For yet others he is a clever bullshitter. And for still others, he is all those things. But the truth is that he is a minor character, or so it seems.

Ghorbanifar is the decoy planted by the organizers of the meeting to keep busybodies off the scent and away from the scene of the crime and above all, far removed from the motive. An American source tells La Repubblica: Manusher Ghorbanifar says he has a London source who is able, it appears, to identify where in Baghdad Saddam’s stockpile of enriched uranium is located. Ledeen then embellishes the tale by adding that Ghorbanifar’s contact knows of an effort by Iran to acquire uranium and that radiation emitted from Saddam's stockpile of radioactive material has contaminated a few Iraqi technicians, whose identities were known to him.

After some back-and-forth between the CIA and the Pentagon, Ghorbanifar’s London source is brought to Baghdad at the expense of the Agency to assist in the identificatoon of the site where the uranium has been stockpiled. After leading the men of Langley on a wild goose chase, the source demands $50 thousand to refresh his memory on just who in Baghdad would be in a position to help in the search. Naturally, the buffoon is dismissed with a kick in the pants.

[skip fox]

16. Well, if you can't trust a liar, who can you trust?

:)

[GliderGuider]

21. Cheney knows exactly what he's doing.

The key is the last line of the excerpt: "this latest failed attempt to bring Iran to the table is part of an ongoing attempt by Cheney and Rumsfeld to squash diplomatic activities." He's signalling the Iranians that there is no possibility of negotiating with Khalilizad by private back channels because he has a man in place to intercept all such attempts. This will cause the Iranians to pull back from all negotiations, and Cheney can later say, "We gave them a chance, but they never came to the table." I'd bet anything that not only was the offensive choice of Ghorbanifar deliberate, but so was the leak.

Cheney wants his war with Iran, and he's not going to let the possibility of negotiations spoil it.

[Beacho]

22. I knew that as soon as I read that thread title, it was Ghobanifar

Guess the Iran-Contra reunion is nearly complete

[Nickster]

25. That was the first name I thought of as well. Sad how thinly veiled they

are keeping the whole Iran-Contra reunion tour. Wonder when Ollie gets picked as the Sec Def?

[rodeodance]

23. n.

[Me.]

24. K & R

[robertpaulsen]

26. Anyone have any dirt on Peter Hoekstra?

House Intelligence Committee Chairman Peter Hoekstra (R-MI) approved using Ghorbanifar as an intermediary, intelligence sources say. Hoekstra attended at least one meeting in Paris with Curt Weldon and Harold Rhode to meet with Ghorbanifar.

“Hoekstra okayed these channels,” one intelligence source said. “He gave his blessing.”

In response to an email from RAW STORY, the House Intelligence Committee’s Republican spokesman Jamal Ware said he was out of the office and unable to discuss this issue with Congressman Hoekstra, adding: it was “doubtful we would have a comment either way.”



So, here's what I've been able to find about him:

A Republican, Hoekstra has represented the Michigan's second congressional district since taking office in 1993 following his win in the 1992 election.

snip

He promised to serve no more than six terms (12 years) in the House, and also promised not to take any money from political action committees. He scored a monumental upset, winning by almost six percent. This primary win was tantamount to election in the 2nd district, the most Republican district in Michigan; Republicans have held the district for all but four years since its creation in 1873.

In 2004, Hoekstra announced that he would run for a seventh term, citing his membership on the Select Committee on Intelligence. He also took a considerable amount of political action committee money during his time in office. However, his constituents apparently weren't upset by these developments. As in his previous five reelection campaigns, he faced no significant opposition in the Republican primary or in the general election. Shortly after the primary, he was named chairman of the committee, succeeding Porter Goss, who was named director of the Central Intelligence Agency.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Hoekstra

Here's his dispicable voting record:

http://www.issues2000.org/MI/Peter_Hoekstra.htm

[jukes]

27. i'm

at a loss....

[eppur_se_muova]

28. Rest assured our stalwarts in the fourth estate will be all over this!

Um, has anyone seen them lately? Where'd they go?