By Keith Johnson –
The Obama administration continues to stick by their absurd claim that 56-year-old Manssor Arbabsiar—a used-car salesman from Round Rock, Texas—was entrusted by the Iranian government to carry out a mafia-style hit on the Saudi ambassador in Washington, D.C.
Even FBI Director Robert Mueller admits that the alleged plot reads like the pages of a Hollywood script, and most former intelligence officers who have weighed in on the matter agree. In fact, former CIA case officer Robert Baer went so far as to say, “The Iranian plot is a bad Hollywood script.” In a Time magazine article that used that quote as it’s title, Baer wrote: “None of it measures up to Iran’s unsurpassed skill in conducting assassinations. As for motives, there are no convincing ones.”
Some take it a step further by suggesting that the plot sounds less like something manufactured out of Hollywood and more like something out of Tel Aviv.
During a recent television appearance, former CIA intelligence officer Michael Scheuer was asked by Judge Andrew Napolitano: “Who would want to create the impression” that the United States needs to engage in military activity against Iran? Scheuer replied, “If I was looking at a counterintelligence operation to decide where this information came from, I’d be very interested to see if I could find an Israeli hand or a Saudi hand.”
One who has been tracking the Israeli angle in this latest fiasco is Maidhc Ó Cathail, a U.S. foreign policy and Middle East expert whose website “The Passionate Attachment” focuses on America’s unrequited love for Israel. This AFP writer recently corresponded with Ó Cathail to ascertain where his research on the so-called Iranian terror plot has led him.
Ó Cathail began with his analysis of a foreign policy paper entitled “Which Path to Persia—Options for a New American Strategy Toward Iran.” It was published in June 2009 by the Saban Center for Middle East Policy, a pro-Israeli think tank established by media mogul Haim Saban.
“In that paper, six pro-Israeli co-authors reveal their frustration with Tehran’s unwillingness to provide the requisite provocation to justify an American invasion of Iran,” said Ó Cathail. “Of particular relevance to the recently uncovered assassination plot is their analysis of Saudi Arabia’s reluctance to support military action against Iran, in which they conclude, ‘It is hard to imagine what it would take to change the Saudis’ minds.’”
Another intriguing aspect of this plot that Ó Cathail has been exploring is the would-be assassins’ enlistment of the Zetas drug cartel, which he said has been reportedly linked to the Mossad. According to a 2009 article he found in the Spanish-language newspaper Habla Honduras, “The secret services of the Israeli military trained several members of the violent wing of the Mexican drug cartels, mainly the Gulf Cartel and the Sinaloa Cartel, among whom was Arturo Guzmán Decena, the founder of the group of assassins known as Los Zetas.”
Ó Cathail has been following other incriminating leads as well. One is the connection between Arbabsiar’s co-conspirator— Gholam Shakuri—and the Mossad-linked Mujahideen e-Khalq, a terrorist organization that opposes the Ahmadinejad government. Another is the Fox/Werrity scandal in Britain, which reveals a concerted effort by the CIA, Mossad and MI6 to destabilize the Islamic regime by any means necessary.
According to Ó Cathail: “This is further evidence that Israel and its foreign lobbies in Britain, the United States and elsewhere are the only ones pushing for war with Iran. Significantly, it was Whitehall’s concerns about the Mossad influencing British policy toward Iran that led to Fox’s resignation as defense secretary.”
When asked which element of this alleged plot sends up the most red flags, Ó Cathail replied, “It’s hard to choose one—Israel’s fingerprints are all over it.”
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Keith Johnson is an independent journalist and the editor of “Revolt of the Plebs,” an alternative news website that can be found at RevoltofthePlebs.com.
