BOOK ON MOSSAD CONFIRMS Israel murdered Iranian nuclear scientists

Washington is attempting to redraw the political map of the entire Middle East. It threatens not only region-wide conflict but the involvement of the powers it is trying to exclude from this area of vital geostrategic concern, Russia and China.

 

It has worked with a motley collection of pseudo-liberals, Islamists and ex-regime loyalists to launch a NATO-led war against Libya and now to topple the Assad regime in Syria. In each case, the US is relying on political forces backed by Saudi Arabia, the Gulf States, Egypt and Turkey.

 

Published on July 7, “Spies Against Armageddon: Inside Israel’s Secret Wars” written by Dan Raviv and Yossi Melman, is a vivid history of Israel’s intelligence services led by Mossad. The book unequivocally states that Mossad, Israel’s intelligence agency, assassinated five of Iran’s top nuclear scientists over the last five years, as part of a broader campaign aimed at sabotaging the country’s nuclear programme.

 

It is already widely acknowledged that the Western powers are mounting a covert terrorist campaign to destroy Iran’s nuclear infrastructure. But new allegations – by authors Yossi Melman, a leading Israeli military and intelligence journalist who writes for Ha’aretz, and Dan Raviv, a CBS national political correspondent – reveal that the assassinations were all carried out by Mossad operatives who used “safe houses” maintained inside Iran since the Shah’s era.

 

These were not contract killings, but “blue and white” operations—a reference to the colour of Israel’s flag. Mossad operatives from Kidon, a unit responsible for assassinations and kidnappings, conducted the murders.

 

The authors of ‘Spies Against Armageddon’ are not left-wingers seeking to expose Mossad’s criminality.

 

 They glorify its services to Israel. Melman is on record as supporting an Israeli pre-emptive strike on Iran, penning an article in Ha’aretz in April 2009 headlined, “I would advise Netanyahu to attack Iran—Such a move would serve the interests of the West and the Arab world, but they can ill afford to admit it”.

 

Iranian Jews, Wikileaks

The book suggests that most of the assassins were Israelis of Iranian origin who probably held dual nationality and an Iranian passport. Tens of thousands of Iranian Jews left Iran after the 1979 revolution, many moving to Israel. Mossad selected and trained a few of them or their Farsi-speaking children. These agents have been able to access Iran regularly by numerous routes, including the Kurdish region and some of the states in the Caspian Basin, such as Azerbaijan, with which Israel has close relations.

 

US State Department cables in 2007 released by Wikileaks indicate that Mossad had planned to use its established links with disaffected minority groups in Iran—Baluchi, Azeri and Kurdish minorities, including Islamist groups—to delay Iran’s nuclear project. Mossad chief Meir Dagan rejected subcontracting such sensitive missions as assassinations in Iran’s capital to mercenaries.

 

The book makes clear that Washington was well aware of Mossad’s campaign of “covert measures” and “counter-proliferation”, if not the timing and specific details, so that the White House could preserve deniability.

 

“Covert measures”

 

Last December, nuclear scientist Professor Mostafa Ahmadi Roshan, 32, was killed in a car bomb in Tehran after a motorcyclist was seen attaching a magnetic device to his car. The bomb killed Roshan’s bodyguard, who was driving the car, and wounded an 85-year-old passer-by. Roshan was a professor at a Tehran technical university and a supervisor at the uranium enrichment facility in Natanz. He had met with International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) inspectors days before he was assassinated.

 

In January 2010, a remote-controlled bomb killed Massoud Ali Mohammadi, a Tehran University nuclear scientist.

 

In November 2010, another car bomb blast killed Majid Shahriyari, a professor of nuclear engineering at Shahid Behest University.

 

An attempt to kill Feredeyoun Abbasi-Davani, the head of the physics department at Imam Hossein University, failed because he jumped out of his car in time.

 

In July 2011, gunmen in Tehran shot physicist Dr. Darioush Rezai.

 

Another scientist died supposedly as a result of carbon monoxide from a heater in his home.

 

There have been a series of unexplained explosions at Iranian military sites. A November 12, 2011, explosion destroyed the Iranian Revolutionary Guard base at Bid Kaneh, killing 17 people. A massive blast in December 2011 destroyed much of a facility for enriching uranium in Isfahan, killing dozens. One of those who died was Revolutionary Guard Major General Hasan Moghadam, in charge of developing long-range missiles and responsible for liaison with Syria and Hezbollah in Lebanon.

 

Stuxnet virus, sanctions

Mossad’s other strategies included attempts to close down Iran’s international supply chain, shipping faulty components, planting a computer virus known as Stuxnet to disrupt the Siemens computerised system that runs centrifuges in Natanz, and two further cyber attacks, including another computer virus called Duqu.

 

Melman and Raviv recount how Israel’s determination to preserve its own monopoly on nuclear weapons in the region was behind its attack on September 6, 2007, on al-Kibar, in north-eastern Syria. Mossad believed it housed a nuclear reactor designed by North Korea, whose purpose was to produce plutonium as the fissile material for bombs.

 

The assassinations serve to intimidate scientists and their families. Mossad intelligence believed that some scientists left the programme and scientists from China, Russia, Pakistan and elsewhere turned down invitations to work in Iran.

 

The assassination and terror campaign is being waged alongside the imposition of a list of sanctions against Iran by the United States, Europe and other powers. Washington has dispatched aircraft carriers to the Persian Gulf, amid bellicose statements insisting that “all options” are on the table. There are constant threats from Israel that it will launch a pre-emptive attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities, as it did against Iraq in 1981 and Syria in 2007.

 

The book also recounts some of Israel’s highly illegal efforts to develop its own nuclear weapons arsenal, believed to contain at least 200 warheads with the ability to deliver them by intercontinental ballistic missiles, submarines and aircraft. Israel has never been subject to inspections, as it is not a signatory to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.

 

Tel Aviv, with Washington’s full backing, routinely denounces Iran as a “state sponsor” of terrorism for providing support to Hamas and Hezbollah, bourgeois nationalist movements that arose in response to Israeli aggression and expansionism, and the Syrian regime of President Assad.

 

No reliable evidence

Washington and Tel Aviv accuse Tehran of illegally producing enriched uranium that serves as fuel energy or components for medical uses for nuclear weapons, a much more complicated purification process, without citing any reliable evidence. At the same time, the US has approved India’s and Pakistan’s development of nuclear weapons outside the framework of the international inspection regime.

 

For some years, Israel has maintained that Tehran is “just a year away” from being able to produce nuclear weapons. It carries out assassinations, bombings and sabotage campaigns, while the corporate media excuses these crimes and demonises their targets. This is entirely in line with the total silence on the criminal and reckless character of US policy in the region and its hypocrisy in waging a supposed “war on terror” while supporting terrorist actions against regimes it has targeted for removal. Much less will commentators explain the real reasons for the endless provocations against Tehran—US determination to secure its hegemony over the oil-rich Middle East and Caspian region.

 

Ever since the overthrow of the Shah’s regime in 1979, Washington has been determined to end Iran’s challenge to US strategic interests. Contrary to expectations, the war on Iraq has served to strengthen Iran’s position in the region. This, and the mass movement of the working class that brought down longstanding US allies Zine El Abidine Ben Ali in Tunisia and Hosni Mubarak in Egypt, threatening to destabilise America’s allies in the Gulf, have led the US to pursue its agenda against Tehran ever more recklessly.

 

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PADMA BRIDGE : Country approaching crash landing

“I  bow  my  head  and  apologize  for  causing  concern to  the  people  with  these  incidents “, South  Korea’s  President  Myung- Bak  said  in  a brief  televised  apology  to the  nation for  the  corruption cases  allegedly involving  his   elder  brother and  close  aides. “It breaks my heart that such regrettable things have happened among people close to me”, he added solemnly. His  predecessor  Roh  Moo  Hyun went  up the hill and shot himself  when allegations  of  graft  were  brought  against  him. Before  committing  suicide  he left  a  note which  read: “Too  many  people  suffered  because  of  me and  I  cannot  imagine  the  suffering  they  will  go  through  in  future”.

 

No  one  ever  apologizes  in  this  country “for  causing  concern  to  the  people”.  Regrettable  things  happening  among people  close to  the  rulers  never  break  their  hearts. People in  authority  consider  themselves  to  be  the  masters  of  the voting  public. Power  and  its  pursuit is  their  only  aim  and  they  are  there  to  wield  it using  the  coercive power  of  the  state  and  manipulating  public affairs.  

About  a  year ago, large  potholes  in the  roads  and  highways  and  cracks  in  the  bridges  rendered  the  country’s  road communication  network  almost  intractable. Outraged  people  took  to  the  streets demanding  resignation  of  the  communication  minister  whom   his  parliamentary  colleagues   censored  for  corruption  and inefficiency. Almost coincidentally  the  World  Bank put  him on the  dock for  his  involvement  in  the  alleged  corruption  conspiracy  in  the  bidding  process  of  the  construction  of  the  Padma bridge . For  long  nine  months  the  agency  kept  on  pressing  the  government   to  take  the  remedial  measures  which  included  removal  of  the  minister as  a  precondition  to  the   disbursement  of  the  soft term credit  repayable in 40  years  with  10  year moratorium. Ultimately  the obstinacy of the  minister  and   foolhardiness  of  the  government  resulted  in scraping   the  credit  agreement, bringing ‘disgrace’, ‘humiliation’, and ‘insult’ to  the  entire  nation.    

 

The  government, instead  of  apologizing to  the  people   for   its  ineptness and  vulnerability  which  caused  the  national  disgrace, humiliation  and  insult  reacted  in  the  most  intemperate  manner  hurling  counter  accusations and  abuses  at  the International  Bank  for  Reconstruction  and  Development (WB) which  having  reconstructed  the   war  ravaged  western  Europe  and  Japan  dedicated itself  to  the  task  of  creating  a  poverty  free  world. The  outgoing  president  of  the world  organization  became  the  singular  target  of  attack  and the US – the world’s  only  superpower – was dragged  into  the  controversy as a  country  which , according to  the PM and  some cabinet  ministers,  was never  a  friend  of  Bangladesh.  A  cabinet  meeting  was  called  in  indecent  haste  where  it  was decided  that  the  government  would  make  no  further  request to  the  World  Bank  resolving  conclusively  that the  bridge  would  be  built with the  country’s  own  resources. Two bank accounts   were opened to collect the funds. Ministers  donated  a  day’s pay and  kids  in  the primary  schools  agreed  to  donate  their  Tiffin  money. 

 

One  economist came  up  with  the  device  by  which  an  astronomical  amount  of 90,000 cr taka  can  be  collected  and  with  that  not  one  but  five  bridges  can  be  built. The chairman of the National Board of Revenue (NBR) said in  a  press  conference  on  July  25 that  the  revenue  authority  was  actively  considering imposition  of a  new surcharge to  raise  funds for  the  project. “We  are  working  on  implementing the  cabinet  decision”, he  said and added “The NBR may consider a 10 percent tax rebate on donations to the two bank accounts.”

 

The  nation  was  shocked  when  a   student of  Rajshahi  university was killed in a scuffle over the sharing of the toll  collected  in the name of the bridge. Earlier the Deputy Leader of the House authorized the student front of the ruling party to collect the tolls. Thereupon the students activists of the party went on a rampage   and  the  situation  came  to  such  a  pass  that  the  Finance  Minister  had  to  issue a statement asking  the public to beat up the  toll  collectors.  Things went beyond control and the Education  Minister Promptly  issued  a  handout warning  stern  action  if any  institution, person  or  teacher  collected  money  in  the  name  of  the  bridge. A  show  cause notice  was  also  served  on  Monipur  school  and  college  in  the  capital  city for  collecting  tolls  for  the construction of the $3.0 billion  bridge over  the mighty river Padma.

 

All  these  incidents  and  the  government’s  mishandling  of  the  entire  matter  caused  huge  public  uproar  and  the  defiant  minister  who  has  a  track  record  of  passport  forgery  which  is  a  criminal  offence, finally  surrendered  to  the  national  and  international  pressure and  on  24  July   resigned  in  utter  disgrace.  The  country  suffered  loss  of  face  before  the   international  community   and  no apology  was  offered  to  the  people  by  anyone  in  government  for  having  caused  so much  concern  and  indignity. The  Prime  Minister, on  the other hand, praised  the minister as a patriot, stepping up her stinging attacks on  the World  Bank  and  told  her  party men in  London  that it  is  possible  to  build  the  bridge without  foreign  assistance. 

 

Funnily, her  Finance  Minister  has  been  tracking  in  a  totally  different  terrain. On  24   July  he  came  out with  four  options  on  the  bridge  funding. Under the  first  option, he said, the  government  would  look  to  revive  the  deal  on   the  $2.9 billion  credit  offered  by  four  development  partners, namely  the  WB, ADB, JICA and IDB. The second option would be to form new consortium comprising ADB, JICA and IDB. The third option would be the Malaysian offer. “Building  the  bridge  with  our  own  financing is our fourth and last option, which will be undertaken  only  after  failure  of  the  first  three  options”, he  told  the  reporters.  

 

“The  JICA  president  is  now  in  Washington  to  have a  meeting  with  the  World  Bank  President”, he  said  adding  that  he  had  requested  the  JICA  chief  to  discuss  the  Padma  bridge issue  with  the  World  Bank  president. The  incumbent  communication  minister  surprised  all  when, on July  27  he  said, “It  is  now  more  important than  the  construction  of  the  Padma  bridge  to  make  the  roads  fit  for  a  smooth  journey”. 

 

In  the situation, it  is  clear that  people  with  diverse  temperament  have  been  placed  in  positions  of  responsibility where  they  can  indulge  every  whim. Some  pundits  close  to the  ivory  tower  have  suggested  issuing  bonds to  raise  money. It  means  nothing  but  simply  borrowing  money  to  be  repaid  from  future  tax  revenues. These   bonds  are  indeed  an  unmanageable  debt  which  will  be  crushing  as  the  total  national  income remains  static  over time .

 

The  ruling  class  has  been  behaving  like  a  reckless  driver who  has  lost   control of  his  wheels  in  traffic  jam  and  the  country is  approaching  a crash landing. Inability  to  govern  the  country and  loss  of  popular  support  have  created  a  stress  factor verging  on  recklessness leading  to  insanity . They  are  now  prone  to  give  a  free  play  to  their  prejudices  devoid  of  any  sense  of  reality .  

 

This  country  has  certain  unique  traits  which  must  be  perceived  in  the  light of  reality  before  going  for  wild  goose  chase. Eighty  percent  of  the  people  here  live  in  the  village  and thirty  percent  live  below poverty  level. The government lives beyond means spending money without regard to accountability.

 

Expenditure  in  the  revised  budget  is  fatter  and  the  development  budget  thinner. Subsidy represents 18 percent of the total outlay in the budget. In  the   current fiscal  year  there  is  a 14.5  percent  jump  in  subsidy. The reason is soaring price of petroleum and increased fuel consumption by rental power plant. More  than  three-fourth  of  the tax  revenue  comes  from  indirect  tax  which  include the  tax  collected  at  source. Budget allocation for Annual Development Program is 550 billion taka.  By  the  same  coin, the  budget  shows  an  estimated  deficit  of 521 billion  taka. Tax-payer provided   subsidies  for  goods  and  services  are  said  to  be  justified  because  otherwise  the  poor  would  be  unable  to  obtain  those.  But  such  subsidies  are  used  to  finance  things  seldom  used  by the  poor.

 

Not  everyone  is  equally  efficient  in  building  6.2 kilometre  bridges  over a mighty  river  and not  everyone’s  circumstances  offer  equal  opportunity  to  achieve lower  costs. Padma  bridge  must  be  built  but  it  must  be  cost  effective  providing  proper  service. At  this  stage  empirical  questions  must  be  asked, if  we  are  really  interested  in the  well-being  of  our  people rather  than  an  excitement, perhaps  the  most  important  distinction is  between  what  sounds  good  and works. The  former  may  be  sufficient  for  the purposes  of  politics   but  not  for  economic  advancement of  the people.

 

BY :  Abu Hena.