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| Iraq-Jordan | |
| Report: Israel operating hundreds of agents in northern Iraq | |
| 2004-06-21 | |
| WASHINGTON - Israel operates hundreds of agents in the Kurdish areas in northern Iraq, according to a report published in the upcoming issue of The New Yorker magazine. In an interview to CNN on Sunday, reporter Seymour Hersh said that hundreds of Israelis, some of them Mossad agents, are operating in the region in order to collect information on Iran’s nuclear program and monitor events in Syria. According to the report, Israel in the past has had many ties with the Kurds, which with the fall of Saddam Hussein’s regime are currently being renewed. Israel is not confident of the success of the American program for the stabilization of the country, the report says, and that is why it is interested in setting up independent connections in the region. Israelis operating in the region are also attempting to assist Kurds living in Syria, the report says.
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| Posted by:Mark Espinola |
| #31 Iran has no mullahs? Really? There's not a single male religous teacher or leader in Iran? Better tell all these people. I bet the Iranians are the hardest to convince. |
| Posted by: Robert Crawford 2004-06-21 2:18:55 PM |
| #30 Iran has no mullahs? Really? There's not a single male religous teacher or leader in Iran? Better tell all these people. I bet the Iranians are the hardest to convince. |
| Posted by: Robert Crawford 2004-06-21 2:18:55 PM |
| #29 Iran has no mullahs? Really? There's not a single male religous teacher or leader in Iran? Better tell all these people. I bet the Iranians are the hardest to convince. |
| Posted by: Robert Crawford 2004-06-21 2:18:00 PM |
| #28 Iran has no mullahs? Really? There's not a single male religous teacher or leader in Iran? Better tell all these people. I bet the Iranians are the hardest to convince. |
| Posted by: Robert Crawford 2004-06-21 2:18:00 PM |
| #27 Iran has no mullahs? Really? There's not a single male religous teacher or leader in Iran? Better tell all these people. I bet the Iranians are the hardest to convince. |
| Posted by: Robert Crawford 2004-06-21 2:17:06 PM |
| #26 Iran has no mullahs? Really? There's not a single male religous teacher or leader in Iran? Better tell all these people. I bet the Iranians are the hardest to convince. |
| Posted by: Robert Crawford 2004-06-21 2:17:06 PM |
| #25 Ah,Sammy you picked the wrong place to try to bullshit people about the Middle East.Some of the sharpest minds on the planet hang-out here.Stick around,ask questions,pay attention and you will learn alot. |
| Posted by: Raptor 2004-06-21 11:14:46 PM |
| #24 Sammy, 2 things the Afghani and Iranians have in common are Mullahs and a language rooted in Farsi (Dari is a dialect of Farsi). Shia version of Islam generally recognizes the Mullah and his lineage back to the great split between Shia and Sunni. Thats how they establish legitimacy and assemble their local religious base. FYI - the accepted definition of Mulla is a Muslim trained in the doctrine and law of Islam; the head of a mosque. Sometimes they are known as Ayatollah for someone roughly in the position the same as a Cardinal in the Anglican Church. And neither of them (Afghani or Iranian) are Arab, as either of them would As for "Agent" - there is a difference between Agent, Operative and Operator. I know. Do you? |
| Posted by: OldSpook 2004-06-21 10:51:05 PM |
| #23 Sammy, are you a mullah, lurking in a back room, in Qom with a computer? |
| Posted by: Mark Espinola 2004-06-21 10:27:09 PM |
| #22 Troll Fever! |
| Posted by: Frank G 2004-06-21 7:29:43 PM |
| #21 Not hardly. I'm not know what a schtick is.... But I know aMooorey when I smell it. |
| Posted by: Junifer 2004-06-21 7:28:11 PM |
| #20 Methinks Sammy is Junifer. |
| Posted by: Yosemite Sam 2004-06-21 5:26:24 PM |
| #19 Go Sammy go! So Sammy, it is the Afghanis who rule Iran. Well, who knew. Or are you quibling over Imam vs Mullah terminology to show us all how smart you are. Guess what, the Iranian people are not able to do anything about the swine who hold sway over them. They need some help and we should be giving them a whole lot more than we have been to date. You are a typical liberal bonehead Sammy. |
| Posted by: remote man 2004-06-21 4:30:06 PM |
| #18 LMAO fleur de lip eh.I think that the likud should stop ethnically cleansing the palestinians. I also think the likud should stop draining the american peopl eof its' treasury. |
| Posted by: Sammy Frobisher 2004-06-21 3:51:37 PM |
| #17 revitalize the ancient portalet of Gaza confusing a port-a-potti and a toilet? |
| Posted by: Frank G 2004-06-21 3:48:33 PM |
| #16 SF - I thought we were talking about Iran. You do realize neither Iranians nor Kurds are arabs, right? |
| Posted by: Liberalhawk 2004-06-21 3:44:51 PM |
| #15 Hi Mr. Fisal! Are you in favor of help care for the pali peoples? I have fleur de lip sew on my pack to feel safe. Mr. Frobisher do you think Likud should help pay for non faith based cruises for Tanzim? I think it would be helpful and revitalize the ancient portalet of Gaza. |
| Posted by: Junifer 2004-06-21 3:44:06 PM |
| #14 Mullahs are Afghanis strictly for the most part.u guys congregate here to reinforce and recycle the same narrow-minded right wing garbage. No new ideas are accepted no progress is ever made. G'head sit around 'n hate u some arabs. Y dont u wear sum bedsheets too. |
| Posted by: Sammy Frobisher 2004-06-21 3:38:37 PM |
| #13 There are no mullahs in Iran? What world is this idiot from? And I love that 'let the Iranian people pick their government' crack! I suppose since there are no mullahs, then there couldn't be any political prisoners. Nor intimidation. Sammy, put down the bong and step away slowly. You've obviously been hitting the bong to hard. |
| Posted by: AllahHateMe 2004-06-21 3:13:05 PM |
| #12 And LH, a network can be too big. You have to process and filter all of that information. Do you really want all of that overhead? And the bigger the network is, the more likely it is to be compromised. Every human being (even if he has no friends) has a circle of contacts: landlord, postman, mechanic, etc. They in turn talk to people. Eventually, commonalities occur and people compare notes. The odds of being found out go up rapidly as the network increases in size. |
| Posted by: 11A5S 2004-06-21 2:32:22 PM |
| #11 1st of all there are no Mullahs in Iran. Eh? That's simply not believable. Of COURSE there are mullahs in Iran. You'd have to be an idiot to believe otherwise. |
| Posted by: Robert Crawford 2004-06-21 2:19:51 PM |
| #10 snappy retort "Sammy" |
| Posted by: Frank G 2004-06-21 2:14:04 PM |
| #9 Wow such wit Frank 'G' At least I put my whole name. Too bad you have the I.Q of pillow drool or else you'd have maybe commented about the subject instead of just attacking my character.Tsk Tsk. No wonder american backpackers have to sew canadian flags on their bags when they leave the U.S. |
| Posted by: Sammy Frobisher 2004-06-21 2:11:37 PM |
| #8 Ladies and Gentlemen - I give you today's troll "Sammy Frobisher" |
| Posted by: Frank G 2004-06-21 1:59:33 PM |
| #7 1st of all there are no Mullahs in Iran. Second of all it's not up to you to decide who rules it's the Iranin people. 3rd of all Iran had a democraticaly elected president until the U.S assassinated him and placed the despotic Shah. Oh & that's why Iran is being bullied by the U.S for their oil and for your bosses Israel Sound familiar? |
| Posted by: Sammy Frobisher 2004-06-21 1:56:44 PM |
| #6 help me - isnt an the full time guy who works for CIA, KGB, Mossad, etc technically an "operative" while the locals he runs, whatever their motives, are "agents"? Still it does strike me that hundreds of Mossad agents in Kurdistan would be overkill. An operative can only run so many agents and still keep careful track of them all, right? So it would still imply a huge Mossad presence in Kurdistan, relative to total Mossad capacity. |
| Posted by: Liberalhawk 2004-06-21 1:51:31 PM |
| #5 Perhaps RedSnapper knows about these Mossad thugees. Opppps... I'ma mean rootless cosmopolitan intelligence operatives. |
| Posted by: Shipman 2004-06-21 1:39:27 PM |
| #4 I was under the impression that the entire Mossad only had a few hundred field agents. I understand that one agent can control a lot of local recruits, but numbers in the hundreds sound suspicious for OPSEC reasons if nothing else. Finally, with Hersh's reputation, I would take anything he says with a big grain of salt. This almost sounds like regurgitated Wahhabi/Baath propaganda: Those Kurds can't be trusted. Look! They're in bed with the evil Zionists! |
| Posted by: 11A5S 2004-06-21 12:22:34 PM |
| #3 I would view the Israeli view as not being to continue counting on Washington (if) someone else becomes President in the upcoming election. We hope the someone else goes away. |
| Posted by: Mark Espinola 2004-06-21 11:28:57 AM |
| #2 Israel is not confident of the success of the American program for the stabilization of the country, the report says, and that is why it is interested in setting up independent connections in the region. That comment is a little worrying (like Israelis have such a good track record of regional stabilization), but that said, I have a smile on my face thinking of how much this will humiliate and wound the Islamists. |
| Posted by: jules 187 2004-06-21 11:11:29 AM |
| #1 Prior to the rise of insanity in Iran, when Iran was the most advanced nation in the Mid-Eastern Gulf region. The Shah supplied 70% of Israel's imported crude oil needs. Needless to say Khomeini's The 'Islamic Revolution' of 1979 resulted in a total cut off all Iranian oil to Israel within days of OPEC's #2 producer being dragged back to the 7th century. 'Persia's' long established Jewish presence since biblical times. There were 85000 Iranian Jews before 1979, almost half have emigrated mainly to USA. The largest exodus since Darius' time when 30,000 left joyfully to rebuild their temple. Their departure this time has not been a happy one! Since Farsi is the national idiom of Iran, Persian Jews with fresh memories understand Iran poises the greatest danger to Israelis if the rouge terrorist producing state is allowed to produce nuclear weaponry. The mullahs must go, one way or the other, and the sooner the better. |
| Posted by: Mark Espinola 2004-06-21 10:33:49 AM |