by David Crist
12. “Hizballah External Security Organization,” Government of Australia, November 8, 2010, www.nationalsecurity.gov.au/agd/www/nationalsecurity.nsf/AllDocs/7986D1536C0FFD5FCA256FCD001BE859?OpenDocument.
13. Myers interview.
14. “Top General Casts Doubt on Tehran’s Link to Iraq Militias,” CNN, February 13, 2007.
15. Peter Rodman memorandum to Donald Rumsfeld, “Démarche Iran,” May 28, 2006.
16. Donald Rumsfeld memorandum to Eric Edelman, “Iran’s Activities in Iraq,” July 11, 2006.
17. Donald Rumsfeld memorandum for Peter Pace, “Intel Paper on Iraq,” July 19, 2006.
18. “TF 5-73, Cross Border Complex Attk on 5-73 Cav Ivo Balad Ruz: 1 Iranian Army KIA,” summary of incident along Iraq-Iran border on September 7, 2006, accessed at “Secret Dispatches from the War in Iraq,” New York Times, www.nytimes.com/interactive/world/iraq-war-logs.html#report/A7868E9B-3E71-4CBE-93DF-EBEE44E49FD4.
19. MND-N Report, Event ID: 1202 Report Key, 672E9781, November 21, 2005.
20. Donald Rumsfeld memorandum to Peter Pace, “Acting on Intelligence,” November 2006.
21. Robin Wright and Nancy Trejos, “Iranians Captured inside Iraq,” Washington Post, January 12, 2007.
22. Mark Kimmitt e-mail to Eric Edelman, December 22, 2006.
23. Mohammad Jafari interview, PBS Frontline, August 2, 2007.
24. Dafna Linzer, “Former Iranian Defense Official Talks to Western Intelligence,” Washington Post, March 8, 2007.
25. Secretary Robert Gates memorandum to President George Bush, “Trip Report,” January 14–20, 2007.
26. Crocker interview.
27. “Karballa, PJCC, Direct Fire on 1-501 Pir Ivo Karbala: 3 CF WIA 5 CF KIA 1 Civ WIA, 201800,” January 2007.
28. John Burns and Michael Gordon, “U.S. Says Iran Helped Iraqis Kill 5 GIs,” New York Times, July 3, 2007.
29. John Leland and Jack Healy, “Briton Kidnapped in 2007 Is Freed in Iraq,” New York Times, December 31, 2009; “Suspect in Deaths of 5 GIs Is Freed, Iraqi Official Says,” New York Times, January 6, 2010.
30. Press Conference by President George W. Bush, February 14, 2007, http://georgewbush-whitehouse.archives.gov/news/releases/2007/02/20070214-2.html, accessed July 23, 2011.
31. Scott Carpenter, interview with author, June 14, 2010; “Fearing Escalation, Pentagon Fought Cheney Plan,” Inter Press Service, June 6, 2010, http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=42696, accessed June 14, 2010.
32. Carpenter interview; also substantiated by interviews with three other former Bush officials and two military officers. Also see Helene Cooper, “In Bush Speech, Signs of Split on Iran Policy,” New York Times, September 2007.
33. Abizaid interview.
34. Cosgriff interview.
35. Cheney, In My Time, pp. 477–78.
36. Ibid., p. 478.
37. Paul Krugman, “Scary Movie 2,” New York Times, February 12, 2007, http://select.nytimes.com/2007/02/12/opinion/12krugman.html?_r=2.
38. Michael Slackman and Hassan Fattah, “Amid Friction, Plans for U.S.-Iran Talks on Iraq,” New York Times, May 14, 2007.
39. Paul von Zielbauer, “U.S. Calls Iranian Official Part of Elite Force,” New York Times, October 8, 2007.
40. “Remarks by Ambassador Ryan Crocker at the Press Availability after Meeting with Iranian Officials,” U.S. Embassy Baghdad, May 28, 2007; “On-the-Record Briefing with U.S. Ambassador to Iraq Ryan C. Crocker on His Meeting with Iranian Officials,” U.S. Embassy Baghdad, May 28, 2007; interview with former U.S. government employee.
41. Crocker interview.
42. U.S. Embassy London message to Secretary of State, “Iran: Brother of IRGC’s Safavi Says a U.S. Terror Designation of IRGC Will Preclude Iraqi Security Cooperation” (170834Z), August 2007.
43. Knights interview.
44. Michael Knights, “Iran’s Ongoing Proxy War in Iraq,” Washington Institute for Near East Policy, Policy Watch 1492, March 16, 2009.
45. Michael Knights, “The Evolution of Iran’s Special Groups in Iraq,” CTC Sentinel, 2010.
46. U.S. Embassy Baghdad, “Analysis of May 12 16-point Sadr City Cease-Fire Agreement,” May 14, 2008.
47. “MND-C, Friendly Action, Detain RPT 41 Fires BDE: 1UE, Report Key, 3144FC46,” October 23, 2008, www.nytimes.com/interactive/world/iraq-war-logs.html#report/CBEA1920-423D-4561-50EF2C11CE525E79, accessed at “Secret Dispatches from the War in Iraq,” New York Times.
48. “MND-B EVENT 2, Friendly Action, Confiscation Rpt 2/B/2-30 In: 0 Inj/Dam,” October 5, 2008, www.nytimes.com/interactive/world/iraq-war-logs.html#report/CBEA1920-423D-4561-50EF2C11CE525E79, accessed at “Secret Dispatches from the War in Iraq,” New York Times.
49. Bush, Decision Points, p. 420.
CHAPTER 27 AN EXTENDED HAND AND A CLOSED FIST
1. Michael Luo, “Obama Talk on Iranians Draws Fire from McCain,” New York Times, May 20, 2008; transcript, presidential debate between Barack Obama and John McCain, September 26, 2008, Oxford, Mississippi.
2. President Obama would later have to reverse the decision to close Guantánamo Bay prison when he found no other suitable location to house the al-Qaeda prisoners.
3. “Mapping US Drone and Islamic Militant Attacks in Pakistan,” BBC, July 22, 2010, http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-south-asia-10648909, accessed March 22, 2011; “Obama has Increased Drone Attacks, CBS News, February 12, 2010, http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2010/02/12/politics/main6201484.shtml, accessed March 22, 2011.
4. Dennis Ross, interview with author, January 6, 2012.
5. “Iran-U.S. Ties May Resume under Obama,” Fars News Agency, November 11, 2008; “Obama May Bring Opportunity for Iran-U.S. Ties,” Iranian News Agency in English, November 10, 2008; “Iranian FM Spokesman Says President’s Letter to Obama Sign of Active Diplomacy,” Fars News Agency, November 10, 2008.
6. “Larijani: It Is Presently Naive to Think Obama Will Take a New Way,” Iranian Students’ News Agency, November 9, 2008; Seyyed Hoseyn Alavi, “An Examination of the Real Strategy of the United States: The Great Satan behind the Mask of Obama,” IRNA, November 5, 2008.
7. “Iranian Wrestle Over Policy Towards Obama,” BBC Monitoring, November 10, 2008.
8. Ross interview.
9. President Barack Obama’s Nowruz message, March 19, 2009.
10. “Iranian Leaders Call for Real Change after U.S. Nowruz Message,” Open Source Center Analysis, March 23, 2009; “Tehran Welcomes U.S. Policy Change,” Iranian News Service, April 7, 2009.
11. Dennis Ross, Op-ed, Newsweek, December 8, 2008.
12. “Presidential Debate,” Visions of the Islamic Republic of Iran Network 3, June 3, 2009.
13. Twitter allows text-based posts of up to 140 characters.
14. MSNBC report, June 16, 2009.
15. “Iran’s Ahmadinejad Calls Geneva Talks a ‘Step Forward,’” AFP, October 7, 2009.
16. Limbert interview.
17. “Remarks of President Obama Marking Nowruz,” March 20, 2010.
18. Interview with Iranian diplomat.
19. General James Cartwright, USMC (Ret.), interview with author, November 28, 2011.
20. Josh Halliday, “WikiLeaks: U.S. Advised to Sabotage Iran Nuclear Sites by German Think Tank,” Guardian, January 18, 2011, www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/jan/18/wikileaks-us-embassy-cable-iran-nuclear.
21. Ibid.
22. Christopher Williams, “Israeli Video Shows Stuxnet as One of Its Successes,” Telegraph, February 15, 2011, www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/israel/8326387/Israel-video-shows-Stuxnet-as-one-of-its-successes.html, accessed December 4, 2011.
23. “Iran to Boost Soft Power Through Establishing New Cyber Command,” Fars News Agency, June 15, 2011; “Minister Says Iran Prepared to Defuse U.S. Internet in Suitcase Plot,” Fars News Agency, June 29, 2011; “The Active Cyber War Front Against Iran,” Jam-e-Jam, June 14, 2011.
24. Saeed Kamali Dehghan, “Man Pleads Guilty to Assassinating Iranian Nuclear Scientist,” Gua
rdian, August 23, 2011; David Sanger, “America’s Deadly Dynamics with Iran,” New York Times, November 5, 2011; “Is the Mossad Targeting Iran’s Nuclear Scientists?” Time, November 30, 2011.
25. David Sanger and William Broad, “Explosion Seen as Big Setback to Iran’s Missile Program, New York Times, December 4, 2011.
26. Jeffrey Richelson, Spying on the Bomb: American Nuclear Intelligence from Nazi Germany to Iran and North Korea (New York: Norton, 2006), p. 507.
27. James Risen, State of War: The Secret History of the CIA and the Bush Administration (New York: Free Press, 2006), pp. 194–212.
28. According to James Risen, the Russian had spotted the design flaws, and in an attempt to help the plan, he penned a letter to the Iranians essentially stating the blueprints were not perfect. By doing so, it tipped off the Iranians to look for the flaws. As much of the blueprints remained accurate, it could have actually aided Iran in designing the triggering device.
29. “Iran Scientist Shahram Amiri—Video Transcripts,” BBC News, June 8, 2010, www.bbc.co.uk/news, accessed November 12, 2011.
30. Michael Shuster, “Covert War with Iran: A ‘Wilderness of Mirrors,’” National Public Radio, May 11, 2011, www.npr.org/2011/05/10/136054851/covert-war-with-iran-a-wilderness-of-mirrors, accessed December 1, 2011; David Sanger, “A Defector Goes Home, but to What End?” New York Times, July 17, 2010.
31. Shuster, “Covert War with Iran.”
32. Mark Duell, “‘I Don’t Think We’ll Ever See Them Again’: More Than a Dozen CIA Spies Captured in Iran and Lebanon Feared Executed,” Daily Mail, www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2064286/CIA-spies-captured-Iran-Lebanon-Hezbollah-feared-executed.html, accessed November 21, 2011.
33. Robert Baer, “Did Hezbollah Beat the CIA at Its Own Techno-Surveillance Game?,” Time, November 30, 2011, www.time.com, accessed December 1, 2011.
34. “Hizbollah Behind Unraveling of CIA Network,” Associated Press, November 26, 2011; Ken Dilanian, “CIA Forced to Curb Spying in Lebanon,” Los Angeles Times, November 20, 2011.
35. Nicholas Blanford, “Collapse of CIA Operations Benefits Iran,” Daily Star, December 15, 2011; “Talk of the Hour,” interview with Deputy Hasan Fadlallah, al-Manar, December 9, 2011; Jinan Jam’awi, “Beirut’s Curse on the CIA from 1983 until 2011: Hezbollah Takes Advantage of the Sophisticated Techniques and the Agency’s Folly,” al-Safir, December 5, 2011; Scott Shane, “Hezbollah Station Identifies 10 Supposed CIA Officers,” New York Times, December 13, 2011.
36. “Connelly Meets Aoun, Says Concerned Over Hezbollah Accusations,” Daily Star, June 30, 2011; “Hezbollah Will Give Spy Probe Findings to State,” Daily Star, June 28, 2011; “This Is How the Americans Recruit the Agents in Awkar and These Are Their Lebanese Targets,” al-Safir.
37. “Second Intelligence Shock Inflicted by Iran as 12 Spies Arrested,” Raja News, November 29, 2011. The minister of intelligence and security, Heydar Moslehi, accused one of these agents of being inside the government, a charge that was aimed more at discrediting President Ahmadinejad. Earlier, Ahmadinejad had tried to fire Moslehi, only to be overruled in a very public rebuke by the supreme leader. CIA spies have always been an easy scapegoat for Iranian officials.
38. General Martin Dempsey interview with Barbara Starr, Cable News Network, The Situation Room, December 20, 2011.
39. Scott Peterson, “Iran Hijacked U.S. Drone, Says Iranian Engineer,” Christian Science Monitor, December 15, 2011; Bob Orr, “U.S. Official: Iran Does Have Our Drone,” CBS News, December 8, 2011; Tim Lister, “Crashed Drone Was Looking at Iranian Nuclear Sites,” CNN, December 15, 2011.
40. Lieutenant General Patrick O’Reilly, “Ballistic Missile Defense Overview for the International Air and Missile Defense Symposium,” March 2010.
41. Comments by General David Petraeus at the Institute for the Study of War, January 22, 2010.
42. “Integrated Air and Missile Defense Center of Excellence: Information Briefing to 3rd Annual International Air and Missile Defense Symposium,” March 2010; Lieutenant Colonel Ahmed al-Shehhi and Lieutenant Colonel Michael Tronolone briefing, “Integrated Air and Missile Defense Center,” March 2010.
43. Cosgriff interview.
44. Nicholas Burns, “Obama’s Opportunity in Iran,” Boston Globe, October 1, 2009.
EPILOGUE
1. U.S. Embassy, Riyadh message, “Saudi King Says Talks with Iranian FM ‘Heated,’”March (161418Z) 2009; cited in the Jerusalem Post, December 3, 2010.
2. Matthew Levitt, “Prepared Statement and Testimony,” Iranian Terror Operations on American Soil, joint hearing, U.S. House of Representatives, Committee on Homeland Security, October 26, 2011, p. 6.
3. Justin Rohrlich and Donn Fresard, “So, How Does an Iranian Terror Suspect Pay the Bills?” Minyanville, October 11, 2011, www.minyanville.com/businessmarkets/articles/manssor-arbabsiar-mansour-arbabsiar-iranian-bomber/10/13/2011/id/37367, accessed December 3, 2011.
4. United States vs. Manssor Arbabsiar, Criminal Complaint, Southern District of New York, October 11, 2011; U.S. Department of the Treasury, “Announcement of Sanctions Against Five Individuals Tied to Iranian Plot to Assassinate the Saudi Arabian Ambassador to the United States,” October 11, 2011.
5. Rich Gladstone, “Iran Scoffs at U.S. Account of Alleged Assassination Plot,” New York Times, October 13, 2011.
6. Lara Jakes, “Iran FM Says U.S. Buildup Near Iraq Lacks Prudence,” Associated Press, October 31, 2011.
7. Vice Admiral Mark Fox, interview with author, December 11, 2011.
8. “Europe Agrees to Ban Oil Imports from Iran as West Tightens Its Grip,” Moneynews.com, January 4, 2012, http://www.moneynews.com/Markets/Europe-Ban-Oil-Iran/2012/01/04/id/423032, accessed January 7, 2012.
9. International Atomic Energy Agency, “Implementation of the NPT Safeguards Agreement and relevant provisions of Security Council resolutions in the Islamic Republic of Iran,” February 24, 2012.
10. Mark Landler, “Obama Presses Netanyahu to Resist Strikes on Iran,” New York Times, March 5, 2012.
Index
Abizaid, John, 513
on establishing U.S. consulate in Tehran, 503
on Iranian-provided EFPs, 524–25, 532
on selling weapons to Gulf Arabs, 517–18
strategy for undercutting Iran, 515–16
and unintended conflict with Iran, 513–15
Abrams, Elliott:
on Abizaid’s Iran strategy, 516
on establishing U.S. consulate in Tehran, 503
and Iranian “road map,” 476, 479
and Iran strategy for Bush’s second term, 492–93
in Iran-Syria Working Group, 495–96, 502
Afghanistan:
international diplomacy on, 429–36
Iranian support for mujahideen, 68, 70, 428, 430, 435, 442
Soviet invasion, 34, 39, 60, 66–67, 163, 165–66, 181, 373
U.S. invasion, 426, 439, 440, 454, 495, 500, 571, 586n31
U.S. support for mujahideen, 40, 63, 66, 71, 196, 301, 302
See also Taliban
Ahmadi, Saeed, 462–63
Ahmadinejad, Mahmoud, 499–501, 508, 515, 542–43, 545–47, 549
Algiers Accords, 10, 86–87, 384, 401, 446
Allen, Charles, 130, 156–57, 187
al-Qaeda:
in Cole attack, 417, 619n4
Iran accused of cooperating with, 492
Iranians and, 428, 435
in Iraq, 512
links to Iraq sought by U.S., 427
Obama administration attacks on, 540, 562
presence in Iran, 437–38, 443, 445, 474, 480
Saudi Arabian attacks of May 2003, 480–81
in September 11, 2001, attacks, 425
Sunni-based objectives of, 428, 444
U.S. invasion of Afghanistan and, 426, 439
Amirahmadi, Hooshang, 394, 413–14, 455–57, 458, 477
Amiri, Shahram, 554–55
Arab-Israeli conflict:
Arab League peace proposal, 445
Clinton and peace process, 390–94
Israel’s Lebanon invasion of 1982, 106–21
Revolutionary Guard ships weapons to Palestinians, 436
U.S. sees in Cold War context, 63–64, 109
U.S. wants Iran to support peace process, 470
Arbabsiar, Mansour, 564–66
Armish-Maag plan, 62
Armitage, Richard, 52, 53
and al-Qaeda attacks in Saudi Arabia, 481
on al-Qaeda presence in Iran, 438
on George W. Bush administration Iran policy, 416, 441, 447
on Chalabi, 447, 469
and Crist, 269, 286–87, 291, 292
on Crocker mission, 430
and Ghorbanifar plan, 449, 451
on Iran and al-Qaeda, 428
and Iran-Contra affair, 189–90, 203, 449
on Iran-Iraq War, 97, 361
and Israeli invasion of Lebanon, 111
on Kuwaiti request to reflag its tankers, 213
Lang briefs, 359
and Lyons, 257, 258, 272
and McFarlane’s proposed change in U.S. policy toward Iran, 176
and “road map” document for normalizing relations with Iran, 476, 477–79
and Stark incident, 226
on U.S. aid to Iran after earthquake of December 2003, 482–83, 515
and war on terrorism, 427
Asa’ib Ahl al-Haq, 529–30, 536
al-Bader, Abdul Fattah, 213, 217, 251, 261, 279
Badr Corps, 467–73, 481, 518, 521, 527, 528
Bahrain:
agrees to joint air strikes with U.S., 242
bilateral defense arrangement with U.S., 170, 171–72, 595n39
Iranian involvement in, 401, 571
Patriot missile deployment, 557
Shia population, 171, 563
Bahramani, Ali Hashemi, 195–97, 598n45
Bakhtiar, Shapour, 78, 82, 89, 388, 391
Bandar bin Sultan:
in allowing U.S. planes in Saudi airspace, 267
on Central Command, 56
and CIA aircraft in Saudi Arabia, 314
and Iranian attacks on Saudi Arabia, 301, 303
