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Gold9472
07-18-2006, 07:32 PM
FBI eyes Hizbollah in US as tensions with Iran rise

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060718/us_nm/security_hizbollah_usa_dc

(Gold9472: This is playing out exactly as Ray McGovern (http://www.yourbbsucks.com/forum/showthread.php?t=10484) stated. My question is... if they know where they are, and they are supposedly "terrorists", then why don't they... nah, never mind. I'm thinking crazy.)

By Caroline Drees, Security Correspondent 2 hours, 20 minutes ago

NEW YORK (Reuters) - The FBI is trying to ferret out possible Hizbollah agents in the United States amid concerns that rising U.S.-Iranian tensions could trigger attacks on American soil, FBI officials said.

Relations between Washington and Tehran, which soured after the 1979 Islamic revolution, have deteriorated further recently over

Iran's nuclear program and its support for Hizbollah, the militant Islamic group whose capture of two Israeli soldiers last week prompted

Israel to launch retaliatory strikes in Lebanon.

American law enforcement officials are concerned the Lebanon-based Hizbollah, which has so far focused on fund-raising and other support activities inside the United States, could turn to violence in solidarity with Iran.

"If the situation escalates, will Hizbollah take the gloves off, so to speak, and attack here in the United States, which they've been reluctant to do until now?" said William Kowalski, assistant special agent in charge of the FBI in Detroit.

Detroit is home to one of the largest Muslim communities in the United States.

"Because of the heightened difficulties surrounding U.S.-Iranian relations, the FBI has increased its focus on Hizbollah," said FBI spokesman Paul Bresson in Washington.

"Those investigations relate particularly to the potential presence of Hizbollah members on U.S. soil."

There is no specific or credible intelligence pointing to an imminent U.S. attack by Hizbollah, which the United States considers a terrorist group, Bresson added.

But Iran's Hizbollah -- which claims links to the Lebanese group -- said on Tuesday it stood ready to attack U.S. and Israeli interests worldwide.

FBI Director Robert Mueller told reporters in Toronto that agents were keeping a close eye on Hizbollah, especially "when the international situation heats up."

AMERICAN MUSLIMS WORRY
Muslim American groups worry that fear of Hizbollah violence in the United States could again cast an unwelcome spotlight on their community, which has often felt a target of surveillance or discrimination since the September 11 attacks.

Ibrahim Hooper, a spokesman for the Council on American-Islamic Relations in Washington, said his advocacy group fielded almost daily complaints from Muslims who felt singled out or intimidated by government officials.

Muslim American groups say that while they support fighting against terrorism, they are concerned the focus is unfairly on them.

"There are individual concerns that the government does interviews with individuals, with kind of subtle threats that they could be arrested or deported if they don't cooperate. That is really the concern for a lot of these groups right now," said Salam al-Marayati, head of the Los Angeles-based Muslim Public Affairs Council.

"That fact in itself will alienate, frustrate and perhaps even push these young people further to the margins, which creates a very problematic situation for all of us," he said. "In a way, this is becoming a self-fulfilling prophecy."

Marayati, who consults regularly with government officials, said they were listening to his concerns, but should do more to show Americans that their Muslim compatriots are just as determined as they are to fight terrorism.

"Since the relationship is not publicized, people think we're not contributing and Muslims continue to be seen as a problem in our society as opposed to part of the solution," he said.

Gold9472
07-18-2006, 07:39 PM
Muslim Americans... you have nothing to worry about from me.

Gold9472
07-18-2006, 07:57 PM
"Is one Arab the same as all Arabs? How dare that work in America!"

Donna Marsh O'Connor - United Nations - 9/11/2005

Gold9472
07-18-2006, 08:37 PM
Ray was asked by Alex what would happen the day after bombing Iran...

"Iran is in command, and I mean in command, of a terrorist network worldwide, that makes Al-Qaeda look like the Mount Saint Ursula Volley Ball team. These guys really can do a lot of damage, and they can do it here in this country as well."

Chana3812
07-18-2006, 08:41 PM
Iran has hated us since 1953 and rightfully so. All the U.S. ever did was fu<k with those people!!

Gold9472
07-18-2006, 08:47 PM
Iran has hated us since 1953 and rightfully so. All the U.S. ever did was fu<k with those people!!

Who Is Mohammad Mossedegh? (http://www.yourbbsucks.com/forum/showthread.php?t=3164)

Chana3812
07-18-2006, 08:47 PM
http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB126/index.htm


Mohammad Mosaddeq and
the 1953 Coup in Iran
Edited by Mark J. Gasiorowski and Malcolm Byrne
New Volume Reexamines a Seminal Event
in Modern Middle Eastern History

A Joint U.S.-British Regime-Change Operation in 1953 that Holds Lessons for Today

New Documents Shed Further Light on Secret U.S. Policy

June 22, 2004

For further information Contact
Malcolm Byrne 202/994-7043
mbyrne@gwu.edu (mbyrne@gwu.edu)


"This book … sheds vital new light on issues that remain crucial to the evolution of U.S.-Iran relations and to continuing questions about unilateralism and secrecy in U.S. foreign policy."
Nikki Keddie, UCLA

"Mark Gasiorowski and Malcolm Byrne have assembled a stellar array of talented scholars … This is an exceptional collection dealing with a uniquely important event."
Gary Sick, Columbia U.

"This multinational, multiarchival history is a magnificent addition to the literature on post-World War II international history."
Melvyn Leffler, U. of Virginia.





On the morning of August 19, 1953, a crowd of demonstrators operating at the direction of pro-Shah organizers with ties to the CIA made its way from the bazaars of southern Tehran to the center of the city. Joined by military and police forces equipped with tanks, they sacked offices and newspapers aligned with Prime Minister Mohammad Mosaddeq and his advisers, as well as the communist Tudeh Party and others opposed to the monarch. By early afternoon, clashes with Mosaddeq supporters were taking place, the fiercest occurring in front of the prime minister's home. Reportedly 200 people were killed in that battle before Mosaddeq escaped over his own roof, only to surrender the following day. At 5:25 p.m., retired General Fazlollah Zahedi, arriving at the radio station on a tank, declared to the nation that with the Shah's blessing he was now the legal prime minister and that his forces were largely in control of the city.

Although official U.S. reports and published accounts described Mosaddeq's overthrow and the shah's restoration to power as inspired and carried out by Iranians, this was far from the full story. Memoirs of key CIA and British intelligence operatives and historical reconstructions of events have long established that a joint U.S.-British covert operation took place in mid-August, which had a crucial impact. Yet, there has continued to be a controversy over who was responsible for the overthrow of the popularly elected Mosaddeq, thanks to accounts by, among others, former Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi and Zahedi's son, who later became a fixture in the Shah's regime. Those versions of events virtually ignored the possibility that any outside actors played a part, claiming instead that the movement to reinstate the Shah was genuine and nationwide in scope.

Now, a new volume of essays by leading historians of Iranian politics, the coup, and U.S. and British policy presents the most balanced, detailed, and up-to-date assessment of this landmark event to date. Based on new documentation and extensive interviews of participants, Mohammad Mosaddeq and the 1953 Coup in Iran (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0815630182/qid=1087850554/sr=1-1/ref=sr_1_1/002-4023170-9782426?v=glance&s=books) (Syracuse University Press, 2004) offers an abundance of new information, analysis and insights into the staging of the overthrow as well as the historical, political, and social context which made it possible.

Among the book's main conclusions is that Iranians and non-Iranians both played crucial parts in the coup's success. The CIA, with help from British intelligence, planned, funded and implemented the operation. When the plot threatened to fall apart entirely at an early point, U.S. agents on the ground took the initiative to jump-start the operation, adapted the plans to fit the new circumstances, and pressed their Iranian collaborators to keep going. Moreover, a British-led oil boycott, supported by the United States, plus a wide range of ongoing political pressures by both governments against Mosaddeq, culminating in a massive covert propaganda campaign in the months leading up to the coup helped create the environment necessary for success.

However, Iranians also contributed in many ways. Among the Iranians involved were the Shah, Zahedi and several non-official figures who worked closely with the American and British intelligence services. Their roles in the coup were clearly vital, but so also were the activities of various political groups - in particular members of the National Front who split with Mosaddeq by early 1953, and the Tudeh party - in critically undermining Mosaddeq's base of support. The volume provides substantial detail and analysis about the roles of each of these groups and individuals, and even includes scrutiny of Mosaddeq and the ways in which he contributed to his own demise.

The "28 Mordad" coup, as it is known by its Persian date, was a watershed for Iran, for the Middle East and for the standing of the United States in the region. The joint U.S.-British operation ended Iran's drive to assert sovereign control over its own resources and helped put an end to a vibrant chapter in the history of the country's nationalist and democratic movements. These consequences resonated with dramatic effect in later years. When the Shah finally fell in 1979, memories of the U.S. intervention in 1953, which made possible the monarch's subsequent, and increasingly unpopular, 25-reign intensified the anti-American character of the revolution in the minds of many Iranians.

Chana3812
07-18-2006, 08:50 PM
another good info site on Iran's history

http://www.iranchamber.com/history/oil_nationalization/oil_nationalization.php

Chana3812
07-18-2006, 08:54 PM
Who Is Mohammad Mossedegh? (http://www.yourbbsucks.com/forum/showthread.php?t=3164)

Oops, Jon. Didn't realize you had posted a link. Sorry, I posted old news to this smart group :)