"Dr Matthew Levitt, an expert in counter-terrorism with pro-Israel think tank the Washington Institute, said he believed most dire predictions of critics would probably not happen, and noted that Trump's statement on the decision was nuanced, calling for all parties to maintain the status quo at Jerusalem's holy sites." (Trump's week of wins, at long last, Nick O'Malley, Sydney Morning Herald, 9/12/17)
Hello? Nuance? Trump?
You can just imagine the likes of Levitt commenting on the Balfour Declaration in 1917: 'Balfour's declaration was nuanced, stating that "nothing shall be done which may prejudice the civil and religious rights of existing non-Jewish communities in Palestine".'
Showing posts with label Matthew Levitt. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Matthew Levitt. Show all posts
Monday, December 11, 2017
Sunday, March 10, 2013
The Latest Israeli Innovation in Spycraft
Now you may or may not have been following the trial in Cyprus of 'Yaacoub', the alleged Hezbollah operative supposedly engaged in checking out potential terrorist targets there.
After reading the report below, particularly the following bit, all I can say is that, if Yaacoub is for real (and who am I, a mere pair of ragged claws, to argue with the likes of Matthew Levitt?), Hezbollah has a lot to learn:
"They send this guy to Cyprus after all the training, all the courier stuff, which I think is part of the training as well as missions," said Matthew Levitt from the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, a pro-Israel think tank. 'People recognise you - very slow, methodical. This is old school'... Mr Yaacoub told investigators that his first handler, a man named Wahid, told him he was to operate in complete secrecy. 'He always pointed out that nobody should know anything, neither my family nor my friends,' he said." (Swedish recruit reveals Hezbollah's dark side, New York Times/Sydney Morning Herald, 9/3/13)
How dated is that 'no friends' stuff? Mat's right, it's so 'old school'. If only Hezbollah could learn from the vibrant, innovative Mossad:
Hayden Cooper: [Lior Brand] says some of Ben Zygier's friends had warned Israeli intelligence that he wasn't suitable agent material. He says this happened when the authorities were conducting background checks on the Australian before he joined Mossad.
Lior Brand: And we were approached, and this is when we said that 'We don't think he's up to the job' - we didn't know, of course, for what, but as much as he wanted it we didn't think it's for him. Now it's really painful to say... 'We told you so'. (Prisoner X questions remain after Government admits failures, 7.30, abc.net.au, 6/3/13)
Check out the super cool Mossad approach to recruitment:
Mossad Spook: Hi, I'm from Mossad. Do you mind if I ask you a few questions about your friend, Ben Zygier?
Lior Brand: Mossad, eh? Cool! So what do you want to know?
Mossad Spook: Well, we think Ben'd make a great Mossad man, but we thought we'd better ask his friends what they think first, you know, Israel being the only democracy in the Middle East and all.
Lior Brand: You have got to be joking! Ben?!!! Mossad?!!! He wouldn't even know which end of a fly swat to hold.
Mossad Spook: OK, thanks for that. Now can you give me the names, addresses and phone numbers of all his other friends so we can get their opinions too?
Lior Brand: Sure, anything for Israel. First there's...
So listen up, Hezbollah! I know it sounds a tad counterintuitive but if you really want to be as successful as Mossad, you've got to talk to a recruit's friends, OK? The more the better. Spread it around. I mean, how else do you think Mossad keeps its secrets? As Greg (Jerusalem Prize) Sheridan once sagely informed us: "Mossad secrets, including secrets involving Australians, are very hard to crack." (Mystique of Mossad its greatest weapon, The Australian, 14/2/13)
After reading the report below, particularly the following bit, all I can say is that, if Yaacoub is for real (and who am I, a mere pair of ragged claws, to argue with the likes of Matthew Levitt?), Hezbollah has a lot to learn:
"They send this guy to Cyprus after all the training, all the courier stuff, which I think is part of the training as well as missions," said Matthew Levitt from the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, a pro-Israel think tank. 'People recognise you - very slow, methodical. This is old school'... Mr Yaacoub told investigators that his first handler, a man named Wahid, told him he was to operate in complete secrecy. 'He always pointed out that nobody should know anything, neither my family nor my friends,' he said." (Swedish recruit reveals Hezbollah's dark side, New York Times/Sydney Morning Herald, 9/3/13)
How dated is that 'no friends' stuff? Mat's right, it's so 'old school'. If only Hezbollah could learn from the vibrant, innovative Mossad:
Hayden Cooper: [Lior Brand] says some of Ben Zygier's friends had warned Israeli intelligence that he wasn't suitable agent material. He says this happened when the authorities were conducting background checks on the Australian before he joined Mossad.
Lior Brand: And we were approached, and this is when we said that 'We don't think he's up to the job' - we didn't know, of course, for what, but as much as he wanted it we didn't think it's for him. Now it's really painful to say... 'We told you so'. (Prisoner X questions remain after Government admits failures, 7.30, abc.net.au, 6/3/13)
Check out the super cool Mossad approach to recruitment:
Mossad Spook: Hi, I'm from Mossad. Do you mind if I ask you a few questions about your friend, Ben Zygier?
Lior Brand: Mossad, eh? Cool! So what do you want to know?
Mossad Spook: Well, we think Ben'd make a great Mossad man, but we thought we'd better ask his friends what they think first, you know, Israel being the only democracy in the Middle East and all.
Lior Brand: You have got to be joking! Ben?!!! Mossad?!!! He wouldn't even know which end of a fly swat to hold.
Mossad Spook: OK, thanks for that. Now can you give me the names, addresses and phone numbers of all his other friends so we can get their opinions too?
Lior Brand: Sure, anything for Israel. First there's...
So listen up, Hezbollah! I know it sounds a tad counterintuitive but if you really want to be as successful as Mossad, you've got to talk to a recruit's friends, OK? The more the better. Spread it around. I mean, how else do you think Mossad keeps its secrets? As Greg (Jerusalem Prize) Sheridan once sagely informed us: "Mossad secrets, including secrets involving Australians, are very hard to crack." (Mystique of Mossad its greatest weapon, The Australian, 14/2/13)
Sunday, February 12, 2012
What's With SBS World News?
SBS Television's screening of The Promise is one thing. Its 6.30 pm World News coverage of the Middle East, though, is quite another, with some of its reports, on Iran and Syria in particular, in the distinctly dodgy category.
Given that SBS (and the ABC) provides no transcripts of its news reports, the dodgies tend to escape the kind of rap over the knuckles they so richly deserve. One item in tonight's news, however, proved so dodgy that I actually went to the trouble of preparing my own transcript. The offending item, which will probably disappear into the ether within days, if it hasn't already done so, was dubbed Friends of Syria. Here it is in italics, along with my comments:
Lee Lin Chin:
Syria's bloody crackdown on anti-government protesters has drawn global criticism but the country still has a few friends on its side, among them Iran and its powerful and far-reaching Quds security force.
Far-reaching? Please explain! And as for friends, what about the ones that really matter: "Despite the diplomatic crisis Syria now faces, Mr Assad still boasts strong local support. 'There's good reason why 55% of Syrians polled recently still support Assad. They prefer his (flawed) promise of security and stability to the (untested) opposition's offer of a democracy enveloped in blood', Ed Hussain, a senior fellow for Middle East studies at the Council of Foreign Relations, wrote in The New York Times. 'Assad's appeal is not that he offers freedom, but security'." (Russians to push Assad for reform, Ruth Pollard & Dylan Welch, Sydney Morning Herald, 8/2/12)
Brian Todd Reporting, Al-Jazeera:
Al-Jazeera? The fast-talking American, Brian Todd, is actually a CNN correspondent. Linking him to Al-Jazeera could be a cock-up. It could also, however, be a cover-up. Is SBS attempting to disguise blatant CNN propaganda by passing off Todd as an Al-Jazeera correspondent and hoping we won't notice? Later in the piece, as you'll see, Todd refers to his CNN employer directly.
A crackdown that's brutal, relentless and possibly part of a frightening collaboration. The commander of Iran's notorious Quds force has been inside Syria recently according to various media outlets. One report in the Haaretz newspaper says he's even been inside the war room of Syria's Bashar al-Asad helping Asad direct his forces.
Possibly... various media outlets: How vague is that? Haaretz: Isn't it interesting that Todd omits the adjective Israeli when mentioning Haaretz?
The Quds force, the secretive, lethal arm of Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps. Its leader a shadowy, ominous figure, General Qassem Suleimani.
Secretive... lethal... shadowy... ominous: This is the news?
Concern among US officials about Qassem Suleimani goes all the way to the top. Here at the Treasury Department he's been cited more than once for his repression of the Syrian people during this uprising and for taking part in terrorist plots.
Oh well, if the US Treasury Department says it's so, who am I to quibble? Still, for such a secretive, shadowy guy, Treasury sure seems to know a lot about him.
Treasury officials say Suleimani oversaw the Quds force officers involved in the alleged plot to assassinate Saudi Arabia's ambassador to the US, and analyst Matthew Levitt, who's written books about Iran's proxy in Lebanon, the terrorist group Hezbollah, says Suleimani's imprint is on some well known operations:
Matthew Levitt? Deputy assistant secretary for intelligence & analysis at the Treasury Department, former 'senior fellow' with Ziocon think tank, the Washington Institute for Near East Policy (WINEP), that is.
'We have the attacks in Argentina. We have the attack on the Khobar Towers*. We have lots of surveillance of US officials and diplomatic installations'.
Oh, and he'd know wouldn't he? As Sara Roy, of the Center for Middle Eastern Studies, Harvard University, has written of Levitt's book on Hamas: "[It] has many serious flaws and merits a detailed critique that extends well beyond the scope of this review. His is not a work of analysis or scholarship, to say the least, and despite certain points that are interesting and accurate, anyone wishing to gain a substantive, reasoned and critical understanding of Hamas would do well to look elsewhere." (Book Review, mepc.org)
Analysts say Qassem Suleimani is known as an aggressive commander. He's been called the sharp point of the Iranian spear, a rising star since the Iran-Iraq War of the 1980s when he led a series of daring missions behind Iraqi lines. He is such a powerful figure now experts say that he reports directly to Iran's supreme leader Ali Khamenei, not to president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
In the Syrian conflict... (to Levitt): 'What could he bring to the Syrians that they don't already have?
Well, you took the words right out of my mouth, Brian. Has anyone noticed the following recurring trope: The Iranians were supposedly so hopeless at putting down their own popular protests in 2009 that they needed the help of Lebanon's Hezbollah. Now, apparently, the Syrians are supposedly so hopeless at putting down theirs that they need the help of the Iranians, who were once supposedly so hopeless at putting down theirs they they needed the help of... Get the picture? (See my 28/1/12 post With My Own Eyes! Really!) This is getting rather silly, guys.
[Matthew Levitt speaking] 'We know that Iran, for example, provided Syria with the technical capability to follow Facebook and social media to be able to see where the next protest was going to be. We suspect and are concerned about Quds Force providing training and in fact weapons for advanced snipers and things like that'.
You couldn't possibly expect the technologically-challenged Syrians to handle all this on their own, could you?
It was the Quds force, analysts say, that played the key role in suppressing the 2009 Green Revolution inside Iran. Why would Iran send such a key figure to Syria?
Now I'm confused. If the Quds Force are so damn hot (Iran, Iran-Iraq War, whatever), how come Lebanon's Hezbollah was supposedly needed in 2009?
Aram Nerguizian, Centre for Strategic Studies: 'The loss of a strategic ally like Syria's Asad regime would be a critical blow to an Iran that looks at the region, sees a US that has withdrawn from Iraq, a Gulf that is up for grabs from a geo-political standpoint'.
Analysts say that's because Syria is a key pipeline for weapons, supplies and trainers sent from Iran to Hezbollah in Lebanon, and similar aid to another group the US considers a terrorist organization, Hamas.
Analysts? Would that be Ziocon or Israeli analysts by any chance?
Contacted by CNN, a Syrian official at the UN would not comment on the report of Qassem Suleimani being inside Syria other than to say that the Haaretz newspaper is hostile to Syria. An Iranian official at the UN did not respond.
Other than to say, Bugger off, Brian!?
For your interest, these are the SBS junketeers (that I know of) who've taken the Kool-Aid in Israel recently (See my 30/3/09 post I've been to Israel too):
Brian Thomson, SBS senior correspondent - 2012
Peter Charley, producer, Insight - 2008
Paul Cutler, SBS TV News & Current Affairs - 2007
NB: In a similar report from the UK's Daily Telegraph, its Washington correspondent, Alex Spillius cited the NATO/Saudi/Qatari-backed, Muslim Brotherhood-dominated, anti-Asad Syrian National Council (SNC) as the source for an alleged visit by Suleimani to Syria "to advise the regime on repressing protests and the armed resistance."
The headline for Spillius' piece in the February 9 edition of the Telegraph read Syria: Iran's elite Quds force 'advising Assad regime'. Spillius' article also appeared in the Sydney Morning Herald of February 11 but the Herald's headline treated the SNC allegation as fact: Iran sends head of elite force to Syria to advise Assad [sic] regime on repression tactics.
[*See US officials leaked false story blaming Iran for Khobar attack, Gareth Porter, antiwar.com, 24/6/09.]
Given that SBS (and the ABC) provides no transcripts of its news reports, the dodgies tend to escape the kind of rap over the knuckles they so richly deserve. One item in tonight's news, however, proved so dodgy that I actually went to the trouble of preparing my own transcript. The offending item, which will probably disappear into the ether within days, if it hasn't already done so, was dubbed Friends of Syria. Here it is in italics, along with my comments:
Lee Lin Chin:
Syria's bloody crackdown on anti-government protesters has drawn global criticism but the country still has a few friends on its side, among them Iran and its powerful and far-reaching Quds security force.
Far-reaching? Please explain! And as for friends, what about the ones that really matter: "Despite the diplomatic crisis Syria now faces, Mr Assad still boasts strong local support. 'There's good reason why 55% of Syrians polled recently still support Assad. They prefer his (flawed) promise of security and stability to the (untested) opposition's offer of a democracy enveloped in blood', Ed Hussain, a senior fellow for Middle East studies at the Council of Foreign Relations, wrote in The New York Times. 'Assad's appeal is not that he offers freedom, but security'." (Russians to push Assad for reform, Ruth Pollard & Dylan Welch, Sydney Morning Herald, 8/2/12)
Brian Todd Reporting, Al-Jazeera:
Al-Jazeera? The fast-talking American, Brian Todd, is actually a CNN correspondent. Linking him to Al-Jazeera could be a cock-up. It could also, however, be a cover-up. Is SBS attempting to disguise blatant CNN propaganda by passing off Todd as an Al-Jazeera correspondent and hoping we won't notice? Later in the piece, as you'll see, Todd refers to his CNN employer directly.
A crackdown that's brutal, relentless and possibly part of a frightening collaboration. The commander of Iran's notorious Quds force has been inside Syria recently according to various media outlets. One report in the Haaretz newspaper says he's even been inside the war room of Syria's Bashar al-Asad helping Asad direct his forces.
Possibly... various media outlets: How vague is that? Haaretz: Isn't it interesting that Todd omits the adjective Israeli when mentioning Haaretz?
The Quds force, the secretive, lethal arm of Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps. Its leader a shadowy, ominous figure, General Qassem Suleimani.
Secretive... lethal... shadowy... ominous: This is the news?
Concern among US officials about Qassem Suleimani goes all the way to the top. Here at the Treasury Department he's been cited more than once for his repression of the Syrian people during this uprising and for taking part in terrorist plots.
Oh well, if the US Treasury Department says it's so, who am I to quibble? Still, for such a secretive, shadowy guy, Treasury sure seems to know a lot about him.
Treasury officials say Suleimani oversaw the Quds force officers involved in the alleged plot to assassinate Saudi Arabia's ambassador to the US, and analyst Matthew Levitt, who's written books about Iran's proxy in Lebanon, the terrorist group Hezbollah, says Suleimani's imprint is on some well known operations:
Matthew Levitt? Deputy assistant secretary for intelligence & analysis at the Treasury Department, former 'senior fellow' with Ziocon think tank, the Washington Institute for Near East Policy (WINEP), that is.
'We have the attacks in Argentina. We have the attack on the Khobar Towers*. We have lots of surveillance of US officials and diplomatic installations'.
Oh, and he'd know wouldn't he? As Sara Roy, of the Center for Middle Eastern Studies, Harvard University, has written of Levitt's book on Hamas: "[It] has many serious flaws and merits a detailed critique that extends well beyond the scope of this review. His is not a work of analysis or scholarship, to say the least, and despite certain points that are interesting and accurate, anyone wishing to gain a substantive, reasoned and critical understanding of Hamas would do well to look elsewhere." (Book Review, mepc.org)
Analysts say Qassem Suleimani is known as an aggressive commander. He's been called the sharp point of the Iranian spear, a rising star since the Iran-Iraq War of the 1980s when he led a series of daring missions behind Iraqi lines. He is such a powerful figure now experts say that he reports directly to Iran's supreme leader Ali Khamenei, not to president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
In the Syrian conflict... (to Levitt): 'What could he bring to the Syrians that they don't already have?
Well, you took the words right out of my mouth, Brian. Has anyone noticed the following recurring trope: The Iranians were supposedly so hopeless at putting down their own popular protests in 2009 that they needed the help of Lebanon's Hezbollah. Now, apparently, the Syrians are supposedly so hopeless at putting down theirs that they need the help of the Iranians, who were once supposedly so hopeless at putting down theirs they they needed the help of... Get the picture? (See my 28/1/12 post With My Own Eyes! Really!) This is getting rather silly, guys.
[Matthew Levitt speaking] 'We know that Iran, for example, provided Syria with the technical capability to follow Facebook and social media to be able to see where the next protest was going to be. We suspect and are concerned about Quds Force providing training and in fact weapons for advanced snipers and things like that'.
You couldn't possibly expect the technologically-challenged Syrians to handle all this on their own, could you?
It was the Quds force, analysts say, that played the key role in suppressing the 2009 Green Revolution inside Iran. Why would Iran send such a key figure to Syria?
Now I'm confused. If the Quds Force are so damn hot (Iran, Iran-Iraq War, whatever), how come Lebanon's Hezbollah was supposedly needed in 2009?
Aram Nerguizian, Centre for Strategic Studies: 'The loss of a strategic ally like Syria's Asad regime would be a critical blow to an Iran that looks at the region, sees a US that has withdrawn from Iraq, a Gulf that is up for grabs from a geo-political standpoint'.
Analysts say that's because Syria is a key pipeline for weapons, supplies and trainers sent from Iran to Hezbollah in Lebanon, and similar aid to another group the US considers a terrorist organization, Hamas.
Analysts? Would that be Ziocon or Israeli analysts by any chance?
Contacted by CNN, a Syrian official at the UN would not comment on the report of Qassem Suleimani being inside Syria other than to say that the Haaretz newspaper is hostile to Syria. An Iranian official at the UN did not respond.
Other than to say, Bugger off, Brian!?
For your interest, these are the SBS junketeers (that I know of) who've taken the Kool-Aid in Israel recently (See my 30/3/09 post I've been to Israel too):
Brian Thomson, SBS senior correspondent - 2012
Peter Charley, producer, Insight - 2008
Paul Cutler, SBS TV News & Current Affairs - 2007
NB: In a similar report from the UK's Daily Telegraph, its Washington correspondent, Alex Spillius cited the NATO/Saudi/Qatari-backed, Muslim Brotherhood-dominated, anti-Asad Syrian National Council (SNC) as the source for an alleged visit by Suleimani to Syria "to advise the regime on repressing protests and the armed resistance."
The headline for Spillius' piece in the February 9 edition of the Telegraph read Syria: Iran's elite Quds force 'advising Assad regime'. Spillius' article also appeared in the Sydney Morning Herald of February 11 but the Herald's headline treated the SNC allegation as fact: Iran sends head of elite force to Syria to advise Assad [sic] regime on repression tactics.
[*See US officials leaked false story blaming Iran for Khobar attack, Gareth Porter, antiwar.com, 24/6/09.]
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