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TechnoratiInterrogator says US military seeks evidence incriminating Tehran
US military officials are putting huge pressure on interrogators who question Iraqi insurgents to find incriminating evidence pointing to Iran, it was claimed last night.
Micah Brose, a privately contracted interrogator working for American forces in Iraq, near the Iranian border, told The Observer that information on Iran is 'gold'. The claim comes after Washington imposed sanctions on Iran last month, citing both its nuclear ambitions and its Revolutionary Guards' alleged support of Shia insurgents in Iraq. Last week the US military freed nine Iranians held in Iraq, including two it had accused of links to the Revolutionary Guards' Qods Force.
Brose, 30, who extracts information from detainees in Iraq, said: 'They push a lot for us to establish a link with Iran. They have pre-categories for us to go through, and by the sheer volume of categories there's clearly a lot more for Iran than there is for other stuff. Of all the recent requests I've had, I'd say 60 to 70 per cent are about Iran.
'It feels a lot like, if you get something and Iran's not involved, it's a let down.' He added: 'I've had people say to me, "They're really pushing the Iran thing. It's like, shit, you know." '
Brose said that reports about Washington's increasingly hawkish stance towards Tehran, including possible military action, chimed with his experience. 'My impression is they're just trying to get every little bit of ammunition possible. If we get something here it fits the overall picture. The engine needs impetus and they're looking for us to find the fuel - a particular type of fuel.
'It now really depends on who gets elected President in the US. If nothing changes in the current course, I'd say military action is inevitable. But we have to hope there will be a change of course.'
He denied ever being asked to fabricate evidence, adding: 'We're not asked to manufacture information, we're asked to find it. But if a detainee wants to tell me what I want to hear so he can get out of jail... you know what I'm saying.'
Other military intelligence officials in Iraq refused to comment, but one said: 'The message is, "Got to find a link with Iran, got to find a link with Iran." It's sickening.'
Last week in Baghdad the US military showed journalists a recently discovered cache of mortars, rocket-propelled grenades and bomb-making materials it claims are of Iranian origin. Rear Admiral Gregory Smith, spokesman for Multi-National Force Iraq, said it was possible they crossed the border before a recent promise by Iran to stop the flow of munitions into Iraq.
He said: 'Iran has had a historic malign influence here in Iraq. They have financed many of the activities of Shia extremist groups. In many cases they have done training, they have actually deployed some of their personnel here in theatre. The Qods Force (Iranian Revolutionary Guards) have come here - we know that, we've got some in detention. They have said in many cases they were not here and intend to support a more peaceful outcome in Iraq and we look for their excellence in achieving that.'
Among the weapons Washington has accused Iran of supplying to Iraqi insurgents are EFPs, or explosively formed projectiles, which fire a slug of molten metal capable of penetrating even the most heavily armoured military vehicle. The number two US commander in Iraq, Lt Gen Ray Odierno, said there has been a sharp decline in the number of EFPs found in Iraq in the last three months.
© 2007 The Guardian
32 Comments so far
Show AllA for-profit organization collecting intelligence? With financial incentives, apparently, to obtain intelligence that implicates Iran?
I wonder if they'll come up with anything.
Um...yeah, okay.
I'm not biting. Just wondering at the way it was framed and presented.
iammyself: agreed - this looks and smells like a trap. Look at Brose's face - a dead face if I ever saw one. He's not for real - there is no remorse in his eyes, no anger, no regret, no sadness - no emotion at all. He's saying what his commander / masters have told him to say. Maybe he was tortured, maybe brainwashed, maybe he has an implanted chip.
There's something more here.
Mckemper if any nation would invade Canada it most likely be the USA given the oil,water and timber resources ! I keep reading these far fetched notions that "I'm going to vote for Kucinich and make things right" ! Sorry, although I think Kucinich is a great guy for his stances, I have come to the cynical opinion that elections in the US are a ruse for the rubes and serve nothing more than to placate the masses! The oligarchy will never let a progressive agenda be implemented and i'm doubtful one would get off the ground given the apathy of the populace today!
Am I understanding this correctly? The White House wants the military to "ramp-up" torture in Iraq, until they hear something that will help sell another war to America? Pathetic!
Some years ago my wife and I were in Salzburg Austria and toured the Archbishop Prince's castle overlooking the city. Inside was a torture chamber with all kinds of stuff they used to extract "confessions" from people the Archbishop Prince wished to kill. The purpose of torture is not to get the truth, but to obtain whatever statement is wanted in order to justify something else.
"I'm just amazed that Brose spoke up at all - does he not like his job? What's in it for him? Sure, I'm thankful that he did speak out, but it certainly doesn't seem to be in his self-interest."
Yeah, I wonder the same thing.
This smells of a trap to me. Too easy, too in the open. Another enigma.
Anyone have any straight dope on this?
Good grief. Does Bush/Cheney/Pelosi sit around wondering "I don't think we screwed things up badly enough in Iraq. Lets attack Iran and see just how awful things can get."
He didn't tell most of us anything we didn't know or suspect for a long time now! But, I don't think there are many Americans but the 'fringe lunatics' on the right who are buying any of this slop. This Administration has lied and given us false information a dozen to many times. There isn't anything that comes out of their mouths that is believable. They are cried the 'the sky is falling' one to many times. The evildoers aren't in Baghdad or Tehran they are right here at home. When American's wake up to the fact this country is being run by 'snakes in the grass' it will be a great day! We need to get our asses out of the middle east and concentrate on the mounting problems this President and his corrupt Administration have brought to our shores with his unrealistic foreign policies! I don't think he can afford another war! He has wasted all of his creditability on Iraq!
If you torture people enough they'll tell you whatever you want to hear. With a little more torture; they'll confess, I'm sure, to killing Amelia Earhart.
This is gonna be another "Curveball " moment; I can tell. Boy! The people in the White House are absolutely depending on stupidity. And thank God, there's plenty of that in America.
"Iraqi Fighters 'Grilled for Evidence on Iran"
Really? Grilled or tortured, so that they would say and sign anything Bush/Cheney torturers tell them to say so as Bush/Cheney can have evidence(!) to attack Iran? What a farce.
This is yet another reason for our cowardly, conniving Congress to take action on torture. Intelligence gathered by such means is unreliable and merely fuels the insurgency.
jjpeter: Sorry, the Masters of this galaxy left. Oh...and impeachment is off the table, and Conyers isn't going to put it back on....AND, the UN is going to renew the resolution that allows the US to continue to occupy Iraq....AND, our brave new leaders running to replace the Current Occupant (except Kucinich and maybe Paul) are all for leaving nukes "on the table", continuing the occupation of Iraq, and invading Iran. Sooooo....I think the whole world is going to be toast. Nuclear fallout is such a bitch!
Will the last one leaving the building please turn out the lights. Thanks
As is Obvious this is the Big Time on this Earth, etc For those of you not
aware of the astoundingly accurate predictions concerning this Now moment;
The US and our global police role and the ongoing human war machine and it's
seemingly inevitable Cosmic climax--from the Plieadians via Billy Meier called
the HENOCH PROPHECIES check this out:
http://www.nexusmagazine.com/articles/Henoch%20Prophecies.html
This is an amazing admission. I see that it appeared in a UK newspaper, not the US.
Here we go again, making up a brief on Iran so that any "reasonable" person would conclude that war is necessary.
Next step: aerial photos of routine equipment and buildings, which could be for WMD, and therefore must be.
I don't understand why these tinfoil-hat paranoids aren't publicly laughed at, or better yet, institutionalized.
bobh wonders:
I'm just amazed that Brose spoke up at all - does he not like his job? What's in it for him? Sure, I'm thankful that he did speak out, but it certainly doesn't seem to be in his self-interest. And if he's for real and on the side of those who want war in Iraq to end and war in Iran not to begin, how's he going to keep alive?
******************
Sounds like he has the makings for a great book/movie script. "Searching for Curveball 2"--the real story of how Bushco got the inside scoop on iranian Islamofascism by torturing as many hapless victims as it took till they told us what we wanted to hear.
bobh, I was thinking that same thing. Wonder who he works for? Maybe he mistakenly went in thinking he was doing it for his country and then realized what our country has become all about...
I'm just amazed that Brose spoke up at all - does he not like his job? What's in it for him? Sure, I'm thankful that he did speak out, but it certainly doesn't seem to be in his self-interest. And if he's for real and on the side of those who want war in Iraq to end and war in Iran not to begin, how's he going to keep alive?
Unspoken threat?
mckemper,
Yours is the question that should be asked every day in America.
shakker,
The real purpose of US torture and terrorism is not to control external countries. The Bush administration has put US citizens on notice that these are tools of the state, equally applicable to all disent, domestic or otherwise. How foolishly weak is the American citizens' conviction that it can be ok to torture foreigners, but their upstanding government would never torture its own citizens?
After all, foreigners can never control US policy, but American citizens could, if they stood up. The unspoken threat of torture is there to make sure that never happens.
Jeese, you'd think they'd want to link them to Pakistan...
now, THAT is a dangerous country, but no oil.
The only reason they are 'grilling' these Iraqi fighters is to later to attribute the pre-written script that Iran is some kind of threat. Of course the whole concept of Iran being a threat is a joke. Our weapons could kill the majority of their population in a matter of hours.
What we do not have the power to do is to control the population of any other country without torture and terrorism. That is why those tactics were planned and used in the US and throughout the world long before 911.
mckemper, Americans are trained in K-12 bootcamp to uphold double standards because those are the building blocks of the capitalist hierarchy. Soldier-citizens also come to understand the unwritten contract: fossil-fueled luxury and convenience for ideological loyalty and empire construction labor.
Nobody's done more to empower Shia fundamentalists in Iraq than Bush, Rice and Rumsfeld. Iran's contribution is negligible. The interrogators should turn on their superiors, as Brose seems to have done.
mckemper: "If Canada were invaded by a foreign army would the U.S. stand by and watch?"
I suspect a lot of Canadians would hope so. US 'liberation' usually seems to carry a very high price tag.
Joking aside, however, your point is entirely valid. In fact, the governments of Iraq and Afghanistan have both spoken positively about Iran's help. It seems that only the foreign invaders are objecting to this other 'foreign intervention'.
Mckemper, I was just going to say the same thing. If Canada were occupied, we would be helping as much as we could. If our government embargoed help, I'm sure we would still be trying to help as private citizens. The same would go on if the shoe was on the other foot and we were occupied. Canada or its people would be helping.
In either case, the occupying power would be crying "foul" and trying to get the help to stop, or would possibly invade the other country. It would capture and torture, etc., to get the "proof" necessary.
This is little different from the Nazi occupations of countries in the late 30's and 40's. They had barbaric reprisals for any act of sabotage or the death of any German soldier, but the resistance went on, fueled by the allies with supplies and agents.
I would expect nothing less than that neighboring nations would help their invaded and occupied neighbors.
I would like someone to tell me why Iran should NOT be aiding the people of Iraq in pushing out the invaders. If Canada were invaded by a foreign army would the U.S. stand by and watch?
So now we have private contractor Blackwater-type thugs who do interrogation? The comment information on Iran is 'gold' indicates that bonus' may be had should gold be found, which makes any information discovered during "grilling" (or is that baking?) suspect.
Torture them, and get the answers Cheney/ Bush desire. Hell, Water bording works and it's now acceptable. You don't have to run white hot pokers up their ass. It's not necessay for torture to be cruel. Cheney HAS to have "real evidence" to give to Congress and to We The People before he bombs Iran.
He denied ever being asked to fabricate evidence, adding: 'We're not asked to manufacture information, we're asked to find it. But if a detainee wants to tell me what I want to hear so he can get out of jail... you know what I'm saying.'
And, of course, we're all aware, or should be aware, of just how effective "enhanced interrogation" can be in extracting any kind of "confession" the interrogator wants. In a pretend democracy like the US, torture is not only a useful tool for intimidating the populace, it has now also become essential for "evidentiary" purposes in manufacturing consent.
Just because the conspirators can't get any real evidence to support their charges and ongoing aggression against Iran, that doesn't mean they can't somehow put together whatever they need to persuade the sheeple -- AGAIN!
Bushcon is plotting premeditated mass murder, again.
In a just society, that is a crime, punishable by death.
When bush/cheney order the murder of more middle eastern people, they will have committed the ultimate crime against humanity, again.
And I fully expect the decent people of this planet, to take their full measure of righteous outrage against us, economically, morally, militarily.
WE will become the rouge, terrorist, feared and dispised nation, who went from being loved, and respected, to being hated - the world over, under the leadership of one group, and one man.
Please Masters of this galaxy - stop them