Article

2007-03-09 Syria-Lebanon-Iran

Iranian general defected with classified documents

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Posted by Steve 2007-03-09 07:30|| || Front Page|| [11130 views since 2007-05-07] Top

#1 Oh, the state of the poor ayatollas' nerves! Regardless whether Asharq al-Aswat is reporting truth or rumor...

Posted by trailing wife 2007-03-09 07:44|| 2007-03-09 07:44|| Front Page Top

#2 It sounds too good to be true.

I hope it is true.

Posted by Bright Pebbles in Blairistan 2007-03-09 07:52|| 2007-03-09 07:52|| Front Page Top

#3 If Asgari didn't defect, and is just shacking up with a lady friend in Istanbul, this story would still result in some seriously important intel. One hopes and assumes the traffic patterns (physical and electronic) resulting as the Iranians react are being thoroughly monitored and analyzed.

Posted by Glenmore">Glenmore 2007-03-09 07:56|| 2007-03-09 07:56|| Front Page Top

#4 Defected? Pish. He's down in the well communing with the 12 Imam.

/Mullah Loadabullah

Posted by ed 2007-03-09 08:49|| 2007-03-09 08:49|| Front Page Top

#5 Some tidbits on NewsMax that provide a motive:
Gen. Asghari left Iran on an officially-sanctioned trip to Damascus, Syria, then went missing during a stop-over in Istanbul, Turkey on February 7, according to statements by Iranian government officials in Tehran. Nourizadeh believes he had been sent to Damascus to supervise an arms deal between Iran and Syria that was signed last June during a trip to Tehran by Syria's defense minister.

But Newsmax has learned from Iranian sources that Gen. Asghari's family also managed to leave Iran just before he went missing, and that he sold his house in the Narmak area of Tehran in December. Both are considered clear indications that he defected and had been planning his departure for some time.

The Iranian regime requires top official such as Gen. Asghari to obtain an authorization before they can travel abroad. Gen. Asghari's 10-day trip to Syria was approved by the military judicial authorities, sources inside Iran told Newsmax. Two days after he arrived in Damascus, his family managed to leave Iran, the sources said.

The main impediment to defections by high-ranking Iranian officials is fear that any family members left behind will be arrested, tortured, and possibly killed.

The Persian-language website Baztab.com claims that Gen. Asghari's name was on a CIA "hit list" of twenty former Revolutionary Guards officers. Baztab is owned by former Revolutionary Guards commander Gen. Mohsen Rezai, now a top aide to former president Ali Akbar Hashemi-Rafsanjani.

Alireza Nourizadeh, the Iranian journalist based in London, tells Newsmax that Gen. Asghari planned his defection carefully. "While he was in Damascus, he sent a fax or an email to Tehran saying that one of his contacts, who was an arms dealer, was in Turkey and wanted to meet him," he told Newsmax. "So they gave him permission to go to Turkey, where he defected."

The Iranian military attaché in Istanbul had reserved a room for Gen. Asghari at the Continental hotel, Nourizadeh said, but Asghari complained that it was not safe. Instead, he booked three rooms at the Gilan Hotel, in the Tacsim district which is popular among Iranians. "After calling a relative in Tehran, he left the hotel at 6:30 PM and disappeared," he said.

During the 1990s, Gen. Asghari was in charge of short and medium-range missile projects at the Defense Industries Organization. "He ran the Nazeat, Fajr, and Zelzal missile programs," Nourizadeh said. From 1996-1997, he worked on secret nuclear procurement projects, and traveled frequently to Russia, China, North Korea, and Southeast Asia buying equipment and parts.

Nourizadeh believes Gen. Asghari defected because he had incurred the wrath of his superiors in the Defense ministry during a stint as the Defense Ministry's Inspector General. "He discovered two gangs of corrupt officials who had embezzled the government for $90 million and $150 million," Nourizadeh said. "After he exposed them, he was arrested. He was Mr. Clean."

Eventually, Gen. Asghari was rehabilitated and put to work on the Iran-Syria arms deals signed last year, but he never forgave his superiors for orchestrating his fall from power.

Posted by Steve 2007-03-09 09:34|| 2007-03-09 09:34|| Front Page Top

#6
My sources tell me that we had to offer 73 virgins to up the bid.

Posted by Master of Obvious 2007-03-09 09:41|| 2007-03-09 09:41|| Front Page Top

#7 After he exposed them, he was arrested.

Interesting. Lost faith in the revolution and suddenly the opportunity to get revenge presented itself.

Posted by ed 2007-03-09 09:45|| 2007-03-09 09:45|| Front Page Top

#8 Could the recall of all the NorK diplokiddies be related to the Asgari situation? Are the NorK nukes related to the Iranian nukes by people, materiel, etc?

Posted by Seafarious">Seafarious 2007-03-09 10:01|| 2007-03-09 10:01|| Front Page Top

#9 Interesting thought, Sea.

Posted by Glenmore">Glenmore 2007-03-09 10:29|| 2007-03-09 10:29|| Front Page Top

#10 For this, he gets the really good guest house....

Screw that. For this, he gets to stay in the Castle at Disney World.

Posted by Rob Crawford">Rob Crawford 2007-03-09 11:03|| http://www.kloognome.com/]">[http://www.kloognome.com/] 2007-03-09 11:03|| Front Page Top

#11 Former Iranian Deputy Defense Minister Ali Rez Asgari left Turkey for an undisclosed location in Europe ~~on a plane owned by Franklin Graham's Samaritan's Purse organization.~~

The Mullahs ain't gonna like this one.... oh no.

Posted by Besoeker 2007-03-09 11:23|| 2007-03-09 11:23|| Front Page Top

#12 No, if the reports are accurate, he's the guy who blew up our Marines back in the day, and he's prolly been directing much of the "Iraqi" insurgency. No castle for him and the kiddies. At least not until Iran's agents have been rolled up from Basra to Buenos Aires, and Caracas to Karachi.

Posted by Seafarious">Seafarious 2007-03-09 11:24|| 2007-03-09 11:24|| Front Page Top

#13 I'm tellin ya, he's got that second mega millions ticket sold at that liquor store in south Jersey.
It's part of the new "self funded defection" program Valerie was working on before she got outed.

Posted by Capsu78 2007-03-09 11:29|| 2007-03-09 11:29|| Front Page Top

#14 Lots of really detailed targeting info, I'm thinking. The "hidden" sites are not so hidden anymore...

Posted by mojo">mojo 2007-03-09 11:31|| 2007-03-09 11:31|| Front Page Top

#15 I wonder if he took the swiss bank account numbers that the Russians were to be paid for that reactor from?

ooh....ooh oooh...

Posted by 3dc 2007-03-09 11:47|| 2007-03-09 11:47|| Front Page Top

#16 Are the NorK nukes related to the Iranian nukes by people, materiel, etc?

yup.
I suspect this is why Bush cut a deal with Pyongyang. Peels them away from Teheran.

Posted by Wheating Angereper3174 2007-03-09 11:47|| 2007-03-09 11:47|| Front Page Top

#17 Ah, renegotiate and cut a few corners. Like at Chernnobyl...

Posted by tu3031 2007-03-09 11:48|| 2007-03-09 11:48|| Front Page Top

#18 Maybe Jack Bauer got him...

Posted by domingo 2007-03-09 12:49|| 2007-03-09 12:49|| Front Page Top

#19 "He discovered two gangs of corrupt officials who had embezzled the government for $90 million and $150 million,"

So that's where the last payment to the Russians for Bushehr went.

Posted by Alaska Paul">Alaska Paul 2007-03-09 21:24|| 2007-03-09 21:24|| Front Page Top

23:56 Barbara Skolaut
23:52 WTF
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23:35 WTF
23:33 GORT
23:32 WTF
23:31 Grunter
23:27 Grunter
23:25 exJAG
23:16 Shipman
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22:56 Shipman
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22:51 SCpatriot
22:51 ed
22:46 SCpatriot
22:43 Skidmark
22:41 ed
22:40 SCpatriot
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22:31 SCpatriot
22:28 Grunter
22:27 ed
22:26 abu do you love