Confirmed: Senior U.S. official says Iranian general is in custody
posted at 12:29 am on March 8, 2007 by Allahpundit
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We got him. If Israel is encompassed by “we.”
Which I think it is.
A former Iranian deputy defense minister who once commanded the Revolutionary Guard has left his country and is cooperating with Western intelligence agencies, providing information on Hezbollah and Iran’s ties to the organization, according to a senior U.S. official.
Ali Rez Asgari disappeared last month during a visit to Turkey. Iranian officials suggested yesterday that he may have been kidnapped by Israel or the United States. The U.S. official said Asgari is willingly cooperating. He did not divulge Asgari’s whereabouts or specify who is questioning him, but made clear that the information Asgari is offering is fully available to U.S. intelligence…
Another U.S. official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, … suggested that Asgari’s disappearance was voluntary and orchestrated by the Israelis…
An Iranian official, who agreed to discuss Asgari on the condition of anonymity, said that Iranian intelligence is unsure of Asgari’s whereabouts but that he may have been offered money, probably by Israel, to leave the country. The Iranian official said Asgari was thought to be in Europe. “He has been out of the loop for four or five years now,” the official said…
Former Mossad director Danny Yatom, who is now a member of Israel’s parliament, said he believes Asgari defected to the West. “He is very high-caliber,” Yatom said. “He held a very, very senior position for many long years in Lebanon. He was in effect commander of the Revolutionary Guards” there.
Israel denies involvement. Alas, Asgari seems not to have been involved in the nuclear program so this isn’t quite the intel coup for which we’d hoped. Sounds like he was the man to know if you were a Shiite terrorist in Lebanon as of a few years ago, though, which should be of use to the IDF and Mossad. Plus there’s the propaganda windfall, plus the paranoia this must be seeding among the mullahs. How’d you like to be an officer in the Revolutionary Guard who was friendly with Asgari? Sleep with one eye open, jerkies.
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Pilots
Start your engines…
EricPWJohnson on March 8, 2007 at 12:32 AM
Keep watching: he’s only the first of several
Much Sh+t will be hitting Many Fans…………
Janos Hunyadi on March 8, 2007 at 12:36 AM
Luggage should be selling briskly in Tehran at the moment.
Chutzpah! Now if the Mossad would just teach it to the CIA.
Limerick on March 8, 2007 at 12:37 AM
..Ok.
Just a little pinprick. [ping]
Therell be no more –aaaaaahhhhh!
But you may feel a little sick…
Pink Floyd -Comfortably Numb
Thought this sounded appropriate.
x95b10 on March 8, 2007 at 12:38 AM
I think it’s still too early to put much credence in any of this. Wait and see.
Doug on March 8, 2007 at 12:38 AM
He is trading the info for a lifetime membership to the Iranian island inhabited entirely by women.
csdeven on March 8, 2007 at 12:38 AM
Who was the original source on this story again? That paper’s credibility just went up.
Ripclawe on March 8, 2007 at 12:38 AM
Liberal Dem traitors,
Start your spin machines.
csdeven on March 8, 2007 at 12:39 AM
Interpol declined, on account of being too busy hunting for the Polish man who far–d in protest of the current government.
Entelechy on March 8, 2007 at 12:43 AM
Washington Post
Buttah..like a big stick uh buttah.
spazzmomma on March 8, 2007 at 12:45 AM
Of course, he’ll gladly spill the beans, only to turn incredulous at our passivity and denial about the enemy we face.
Lazarus on March 8, 2007 at 12:47 AM
This defense minister knows the same thing all his former pilots know: On board the U.S.S. GHW Bush, Reagan, Truman, Stennis, Washington, Lincoln, Roosevelt, Vinnson, Nimitz, Enterprise and Kitty Hawk there is a plaque in the officers mess that has this written on it…
“I wish to have no connection with any ship that does not sail fast for I intend to go in harm’s way.”-John Paul Jones
Ya listening George?
Limerick on March 8, 2007 at 12:54 AM
They’ll have to vet this guy but he could end up being a walking, talking battle plan.
(Nerd alert) It will be sort of like having the “Death Star” plans smuggled out of the Empire.
Mojave Mark on March 8, 2007 at 12:54 AM
Hey mullahs – boo freakin’ hoo!
CP on March 8, 2007 at 12:56 AM
Can you say smoking gun???
Trot him out before the Press, and the UN!!!!
One of the reasons we are having so much trouble is that our intelligence services are TOO secret… sometimes you need to just put out the facts…
Romeo13 on March 8, 2007 at 12:56 AM
The CIA lacks Chutzpah? Isn’t hubris gentile for chutzpah?
Stephen M on March 8, 2007 at 12:57 AM
When you figure out how Haganah received their weapons in the 48 war you will understand Chutzpah. In spades.
Limerick on March 8, 2007 at 1:00 AM
The Main Stream Media was wrong………… we actually have a victory?????????
Ask the Democrats in power, “should we let him go?……..
PinkyBigglesworth on March 8, 2007 at 1:24 AM
Gosh, I hate this Iranian regime. This is a major score assuming it is true (as it seems to be looking). This with all the protests covered at GatewayPundit (and not at all on the MSM), something sure seems to be starting to boil in Iran.
Godspeed to the Iranian people and their quest for freedom.
gmoonster on March 8, 2007 at 1:35 AM
God, I love the Israelis!
RedCrow on March 8, 2007 at 1:40 AM
Cool, I hope this all works out.
Except…the part of me that watches too many movies thinks that maybe they sent him to us to feed us false information.
Boy, that would make a good movie, huh? With a soundtrack by Flock of Seagulls?
“…and Iraaann, Iran so far awaaaay…”
/terrible 80s pun/reference
PaisleyCow on March 8, 2007 at 2:01 AM
Woot!
It’s like a scene out of a frickin’ Tom Clancy. All they need now is a man named “Snake” who went on the beach in Turkey to get him out.
In other news: Allah’s new favorite namecall, “jerkies” and variants thereof. Repressed cussing, poor boy, but it’s funny.
Anwyn on March 8, 2007 at 2:32 AM
Valarie Plame………… “let my people go…..”!, “I need another cover of Vanity Fair, “I just want to be left alone….”!
Where’s “Blinky” and “Depends”?
PinkyBigglesworth on March 8, 2007 at 4:54 AM
Hehehe.
“I love it when a plan comes together”
Theworldisnotenough on March 8, 2007 at 5:10 AM
From the WaPo article:
I don’t know, AP. I still have hope. Why wouldn’t the anonymous Iranian officials spin it as best they can, and why would our guys tip their hand?
flipflop on March 8, 2007 at 6:45 AM
Hopefully he’ll provide the finer points needed for an actionable plan… pockets of resistance, others who could be turned, blind spots, whatever.
Zorro on March 8, 2007 at 6:45 AM
Paisley, I was thinkin’ that too. What if he’s a plant? He tells us where Iran’s N.B.C.’s are, we go in and can’t find ‘em. Then here we go again: “Bush lied! Halliburtin! Bad Intel! No WMD’s! All about the oil! BLAH BLAH BLAH!”
But, I’m also very opitimistic about this guy. The Iranians will now hafta shuffle their equipment around and that’ll give us a chance to spot them for targeting.
Welcome aboard General, your people will thank you when they’re free.
Tony737 on March 8, 2007 at 6:51 AM
Oh yeah and did ya’s notice how the Iranians tried to play it off like it was no big deal? He’s been out of the loop for years now, huh? We’ll see.
Tony737 on March 8, 2007 at 6:54 AM
He has been out of the loop for four or five years now
Interesting phraseology for an Iranian to be using, no?
TheBigOldDog on March 8, 2007 at 8:02 AM
waterboarding…tell all…waterboarding…tell all…waterboarding…tell all…
“Excuse me, could you hand me a pen and paper.”
The quickest “cooperation” in history.
right2bright on March 8, 2007 at 8:10 AM
Pelosi and Reid demand his immediate return to Iran. Claiming a sneaky Rove plot.
roninacreage on March 8, 2007 at 8:36 AM
Pelosi should fly his happy @$$ home her own damned self on that friggin’ widebody jet she’s so fond of.
And stay there snuggled up to that flap earred Oompah Loompah forever.
seejanemom on March 8, 2007 at 9:15 AM
Why? So they could continue to use it to undermine the Bush administration?
Alcibiades on March 8, 2007 at 9:20 AM
Has anyone seen Zubin Mehta lately?
Attila (Pillage Idiot) on March 8, 2007 at 10:28 AM
Hey, I guess those wacky lefties were right: It is better to talk to the Iranian leaders before we go to war.
For all those Iranian leaders in the atom bomb program, please form a line for your lovely parting gifts.
Tantor on March 8, 2007 at 1:09 PM
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