------ Forwarded Message > From: "dasg...@aol.com" <dasg...@aol.com> > Date: Tue, 29 Dec 2009 06:38:38 EST > To: Robert Millegan <ramille...@aol.com> > Cc: <ema...@aol.com>, <j...@aol.com>, <jim6...@cwnet.com> > Subject: Obama Threatens Iran for Actions "Proven" by Document CIA Says Is a > Forgery >
> "Will no one rid us of these meddlesome Neocons?" > > U.S. Intelligence Found Iran Nuke Document Was Forged > > By Gareth Porter* > http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=49833 > > WASHINGTON, Dec 28 (IPS) - U.S. intelligence has concluded that the document > published recently by the Times of London, which purportedly describes an > Iranian plan to do experiments on what the newspaper described as a "neutron > initiator" for an atomic weapon, is a fabrication, according to a former > Central Intelligence Agency official. > > Philip Giraldi, who was a CIA counterterrorism official from 1976 to 1992, > told IPS that intelligence sources say that the United States had nothing to > do with forging the document, and that Israel is the primary suspect. The > sources do not rule out a British role in the fabrication, however. > > The Times of London story published Dec. 14 did not identify the source of the > document. But it quoted "an Asian intelligence source" -- a term some news > media have used for Israeli intelligence officials -- as confirming that his > government believes Iran was working on a neutron initiator as recently as > 2007. > > The story of the purported Iranian document prompted a new round of > expressions of U.S. and European support for tougher sanctions against Iran > and reminders of Israel's threats to attack Iranian nuclear programme targets > if diplomacy fails. > > U.S. news media reporting has left the impression that U.S. intelligence > analysts have not made up their mind about the document's authenticity, > although it has been widely reported that they have now had a full year to > assess the issue. > > Giraldi's intelligence sources did not reveal all the reasons that led > analysts to conclude that the purported Iran document had been fabricated by a > foreign intelligence agency. But their suspicions of fraud were prompted in > part by the source of the story, according to Giraldi. > > "The Rupert Murdoch chain has been used extensively to publish false > intelligence from the Israelis and occasionally from the British government," > Giraldi said. > > The Times is part of a Murdoch publishing empire that includes the Sunday > Times, Fox News and the New York Post. All Murdoch-owned news media report on > Iran with an aggressively pro-Israeli slant. > > The document itself also had a number of red flags suggesting possible or > likely fraud. > > The subject of the two-page document which the Times published in English > translation would be highly classified under any state's security system. Yet > there is no confidentiality marking on the document, as can be seen from the > photograph of the Farsi-language original published by the Times. > > The absence of security markings has been cited by the Iranian ambassador to > the International Atomic Energy Agency, Ali Asghar Soltanieh, as evidence that > the "alleged studies" documents, which were supposedly purloined from an > alleged Iranian nuclear weapons-related programme early in this decade, are > forgeries. > > The document also lacks any information identifying either the issuing office > or the intended recipients. The document refers cryptically to "the Centre", > "the Institute", "the Committee", and the "neutron group". > > The document's extreme vagueness about the institutions does not appear to > match the concreteness of the plans, which call for hiring eight individuals > for different tasks for very specific numbers of hours for a four-year time > frame. > > Including security markings and such identifying information in a document > increases the likelihood of errors that would give the fraud away. > > The absence of any date on the document also conflicts with the specificity of > much of the information. The Times reported that unidentified "foreign > intelligence agencies" had dated the document to early 2007, but gave no > reason for that judgment. > > An obvious motive for suggesting the early 2007 date is that it would > discredit the U.S. intelligence community's November 2007 National > Intelligence Estimate, which concluded that Iran had discontinued unidentified > work on nuclear weapons and had not resumed it as of the time of the estimate. > > Discrediting the NIE has been a major objective of the Israeli government for > the past two years, and the British and French governments have supported the > Israeli effort. > > The biggest reason for suspecting that the document is a fraud is its obvious > effort to suggest past Iranian experiments related to a neutron initiator. > After proposing experiments on detecting pulsed neutrons, the document refers > to "locations where such experiments used to be conducted". > > That reference plays to the widespread assumption, which has been embraced by > the International Atomic Energy Agency, that Iran had carried out experiments > with Polonium-210 in the late 1980s, indicating an interest in neutron > initiators. The IAEA referred in reports from 2004 through 2007 to its belief > that the experiment with Polonium-210 had potential relevance to making "a > neutron initiator in some designs of nuclear weapons". > > The National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), the political arm of the > terrorist organisation Mujahedeen-e Khalq, claimed in February 2005 that > Iran's research with Polonium-210 was continuing and that it was now close to > producing a neutron initiator for a nuclear weapon. > > Sanger and Broad were so convinced that the Polonium-210 experiments proved > Iran's interest in a neutron initiator that they referred in their story on > the leaked document to both the IAEA reports on the experiments in the late > 1980s and the claim by NCRI of continuing Iranian work on such a nuclear > trigger. > > What Sanger and Broad failed to report, however, is that the IAEA has > acknowledged that it was mistaken in its earlier assessment that the > Polonium-210 experiments were related to a neutron initiator. > > After seeing the complete documentation on the original project, including > complete copies of the reactor logbook for the entire period, the IAEA > concluded in its Feb. 22, 2008 report that Iran's explanations that the > Polonium-210 project was fundamental research with the eventual aim of > possible application to radio isotope batteries was "consistent with the > Agency's findings and with other information available to it". > > The IAEA report said the issue of Polonium-210 and thus the earlier > suspicion of an Iranian interest in using it as a neutron initiator for a > nuclear weapon - was now considered "no longer outstanding". > > New York Times reporters David Sanger and William J. Broad reported U.S. > intelligence officials as saying the intelligence analysts "have yet to > authenticate the document". Sanger and Broad explained the failure to do so, > however, as a result of excessive caution left over from the CIA's having > failed to brand as a fabrication the document purporting to show an Iraqi > effort to buy uranium in Niger. > > The Washington Post's Joby Warrick dismissed the possibility that the document > might be found to be fraudulent. "There is no way to establish the > authenticity or original source of the document...," wrote Warrick. > > But the line that the intelligence community had authenticated it evidently > reflected the Barack Obama administration's desire to avoid undercutting a > story that supports its efforts to get Russian and Chinese support for tougher > sanctions against Iran. > > This is not the first time that Giraldi has been tipped off by his > intelligence sources on forged documents. Giraldi identified the individual or > office responsible for creating the two most notorious forged documents in > recent U.S. intelligence history. > > In 2005, Giraldi identified Michael Ledeen, the extreme right-wing former > consultant to the National Security Council and the Pentagon, as an author of > the fabricated letter purporting to show Iraqi interest in purchasing uranium > from Niger. That letter was used by the George W. Bush administration to > bolster its false case that Saddam Hussein had an active nuclear weapons > programme. > > Giraldi also identified officials in the "Office of Special Plans" who worked > under Undersecretary of Defense for Policy Douglas Feith as having forged a > letter purportedly written by Hussein's intelligence director, Tahir Jalail > Habbush al-Tikriti, to Hussein himself referring to an Iraqi intelligence > operation to arrange for an unidentified shipment from Niger. > > *Gareth Porter is an investigative historian and journalist specialising in > U.S. national security policy. The paperback edition of his latest book, > "Perils of Dominance: Imbalance of Power and the Road to War in Vietnam", was > published in 2006. > > > ------ End of Forwarded Message
