The Chameleon Conspiracy

by Haggai Carmon

  She stopped our car at the circular driveway. I got out and entered the chateau. On the right, connected to a spacious foyer on the ground floor, was a huge dining room with an ancient parquet floor and big windows looking out on the extensive gardens. An adjacent room was a winter garden, full of flower-pots and soft-colored couches.

  “Hello, Mr. Blackthorn,” said a prim, very proper sort of man in his early seventies. His white mustache was impeccably trimmed, and his black jacket beautifully tailored. “I’m M. Bellamy, and I’ll be your host during the convention. Please let me show you to your room.”

  I followed him up the marble stairs to what Europeans call the first floor and into a large room that had an elegant mahogany bed, night table, easy chair, and small desk. Another door led to a small bathroom. There were no telephones or television in my room.

  “If you need anything, please let me know,” he said in French-accented English. “Dinner will be served at eight o’clock.”

  Nothing but envy crossed my mind when I saw the accommodations. That’s what happens when your agency has a generous, nonpublic bud get. Compared to my office’s bud get that is cut every year, while the workload increases.…David never stopped reminding me of that.

  I went downstairs dressed casually for dinner. I opened the dining room door and was stunned. There were ten or twelve people seated, all dressed up—jackets, ties, the works. I stood shameful in my jeans and sneakers. I quickly turned around and returned to my room to change into my only blazer and white shirt, but I didn’t even have a presentable tie. During a dinner in Tel Aviv I had stained the only one I’d packed. When I’d left the U.S. three weeks before for Pakistan, I’d brought nothing but light and casual clothes suitable for a hot climate. However, they were obviously inappropriate for a fancy chateau in Europe in October.

  I seated myself at a table with a place card saying anthony p. blackthorn. Next to me, in a black evening dress, sat my blonde female driver. Her place card said NICOLE A. BLAIR.

  “Hi, Ms. Blair,” I said smiling. “Am I late for anything?”

  “No. Call me Nicole. We’re just having dinner.” The setting was perfect.

  A waiter came to our table and served us with terrine maison, a molded dish with smoothly ground meat and mushrooms. He poured Merlot into our crystal goblets.

  A tall, distinguished-looking, gray-haired man in his mid-fifties rose from his chair, holding his wine goblet, while the waiters were clearing the table. The staff that served us in the dining room and later on in the winter garden could never have guessed that the attendees weren’t gathered to hear lectures about art, but rather were (most of them) agents of the world’s largest spy agency.

  “Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. My name is Arnold Kyle, and I’m the chairman of this convention. Welcome to the annual meeting of the Arizona Chapter of the American Association of Impressionist Art Lovers. Cheers!” The men and women around the beautifully set tables raised their glasses and “cheered.”

  “One house keeping notice before dinner. We start our day tomorrow at nine a.m. with a lecture on post-Monet French Impressionists given by Dr. Louise Guillaume, a lecturer at the Institut Français. At ten thirty, after a short coffee break, we’ll have a general meeting of our chapter to elect a new board and president. I know you consider these matters boring, but we must go ahead with our agenda and approve a new bud get, so I ask all of you to attend. After lunch we will continue with our deliberations concerning the future of our chapter. In the late afternoon we will tour the Fondation Monet and the Musée d’Art Américain and return here for dinner. After dinner we will have a closed meeting to discuss the proposed merger of our chapter with the California chapter.”

  I was appreciative of the idea—a disguised meeting in the heartland of Impressionism. The legend was perfect. It effectively masked the identities of a bunch of clean-shaven Americans in Europe. Bring one or two lecturers from town to talk about Monet, display a welcome banner, and we were in business. The rest of the time spent behind closed doors would be dedicated to far craftier, but less artistic, matters.

  The main course was gigot d’agneau rôti aux herbes gratindauphinois, a roasted leg of lamb with herbs. For dessert we had plateau de fromages—a plate of French cheeses—and coffee. I skipped both.

  I made small talk with Nicole. She was as much “Nicole” as I was “Anthony.” She was rather attractive and friendly, but I had other things on my mind than getting friendlier, and I knew that the same went for her. So after a few drinks and non-revealing conversations, we retired to our respective rooms.

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  The following morning we had an illuminating lecture about Monet, to satisfy the appearance of a convention. Immediately after the lecturer left, two young men went and sat outside the closed doors, while two others continued patrolling under the windows, all in a seemingly relaxed mode. When we returned, Arnold Kyle rose and addressed the small audience. I counted the participants. There were nine men and two women. Nobody looked younger than twenty-five or older than fifty-five. There was one African-American woman. Two of the men looked Hispanic.

  “We are here in connection with our continued effort to combat terrorists by drying up their funding. This particular meeting focuses on Iran’s role in terror financing. In addition to a new member from the FBI’s Counterterrorism Unit, Matt Kilburn, we’ve another new member from the Justice Department’s Office of Asset Recovery and Money Laundering, Anthony Blackthorn. Matt and Tony, please identify yourselves.”

  All eyes turned to me and to Kilburn, who sat across the room. Both of us nodded. Kyle continued.

  “Matt has been working with us during the past two months in connection with our investigation of the affairs of Nada Management. Tony is a money-laundering expert who is currently investigating bank fraud perpetrated by an individual who may be helping finance Iran’s clandestine terrorist activities. Iran continues, behind a curtain of strict confidentiality, to promote terror through proxies. You can find details in the notes we handed you earlier. Please read and return them to me before the conclusion of this meeting. No written material leaves this room.” He paused to sip from his goblet. “Now, just as we sought cooperation with other nations to join a coalition to fight an overt war against Saddam, we are seeking collaboration in the covert war against terror. As you’re well aware, terror is stateless, but its sponsors are not. Our role here”—he circled his hands as if to grasp us—“is to break the lifeline between terror and its sponsors. In one word, money.”

  He sipped again from his water goblet and continued. “Among the foreign intelligence organizations with which we’ve a history of mutual cooperation is the Israeli Mossad. Israel has a clear interest in joining our combat. This isn’t only because we are close allies, but because Israel has been, and continues to be, victimized by terror. Some of it, and it is growing in frequency and severity, is Iranian backed. To make things worse from Israel’s perspective, Iran is leveling direct threats against Israel by announcing that it is starting to enrich uranium, and that it has long-range missiles that could reach Europe. In case anyone missed the hint, Israel is situated halfway between Iran and Europe. So,” he concluded, “we’ve asked the Israeli Mossad to send their representative to brief us and explore ways in which we can collaborate in combating terror financing as one battle of many against terrorism and its backers. Although much smaller than us, the Mossad is one of the big guys when we talk about Arab terrorism.”

  Kyle signaled a person at the door, and Benny Friedman walked in, escorted by a sleek young woman in her late twenties. Benny smiled at me when he sat next to Kyle. The woman who came with him sat near him.

  “Let me introduce Mr. Benjamin Friedman, head of the Foreign Relations Division of the Mossad, and his assistant.” Kyle then pointed at me. “And I’m sure you know Tony.”

  I nodded at Benny with a smile. He was too experienced to give any hint that Tony was an alias. Just for a moment I wondered wh
y we would need to use aliases in a secret meeting, when all participants were government agents and the two foreign representatives were there to cooperate, not to snoop. But I knew the answer. The identities of U.S. covert agents and their relationship with the U.S. intelligence community are protected by a special federal statute, the Intelligence Identities Protection Act, enacted in 1982. If any of the participants in the meeting ever defected, or were captured and forced to talk, he or she would be unable to identify other agents by name, since no names are ever revealed, and aliases always change. Flies never visit an egg that has no crack.

  Benny cleared his throat, drank soda water from a crystal goblet that had probably always been used before for wine, but not for Benny, who’d drink only kosher wine, and said, “Ladies and gentlemen. I’ll be brief. The United States and Israel have a joint enemy: terror.” He paused. “We’ve long realized that the battle against world terror cannot be complete or won unless we cut their lifeline—money to finance their operations.”

  Benny then commenced with a brief history of Iran’s sponsorship of terrorism, saying that world terror is the Iranians’ illegitimate son. He said that the Iranians make terror a strategy, not a tactic. They’re the masters of implementing the slogan, “Hit and weep.” They have managed always both to be the assassin and to claim to be the victim or assume the role of the good neighbor showing sympathy, and have reaped the benefits of all positions. He talked about Iran’s nuclear aspiration to help them become the kings of the oil-rich region. He described the good relationship Israel once had with Iran, which had stopped when fanatic Islam took over and friends became foes.

  “If you want to defeat terrorism, we’ve a unique joinder of interests here,” Benny said.

  Benny sipped from his goblet and continued. “The Mossad has recently learned of a link between Iran and financial institutions in the United States and Europe. That unholy alliance is one of the most closely guarded secrets of the Iranians. As you well know, since the Islamic Revolution of 1979, Iran has had a policy of exporting the revolution, first to Islamic countries that don’t follow Iran’s extreme interpretation of Islam, and then to other parts of the world. In their dictionary, ‘exporting the revolution’ means a reign of terror to undermine legitimate governments of other countries by wreaking havoc, fear, and uncertainty.

  “The manner in which they export their doctrine is always through third parties, never directly. Look at the Hezbollah in Lebanon, or Hamas in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank. These organizations take money, weapons, and instructions from Iran. Of course, they all deny any such relationship, but nobody takes these denials seriously. We certainly don’t. The facts are strong and clear. There are also indirect links that tie Iran with Al-Qaeda, the Gamaa Islamiya in Egypt, and Al Taqwa in Europe.

  “I won’t go into too many details here; you know the facts. There are also ties between the various organizations, not necessarily through Iran, but certainly with its blessing. Many foreign intelligence agencies, including your agencies, have evidence that after the nine eleven attacks, Al-Qaeda received financial assistance from Nada, which is Al Taqwa’s new name. The terror they’re financing has no borders, no territory, and no government. Therefore we must abandon conservative thinking, which has always been simplistic. If your enemy attacks you, you retaliate or conquer. But now? Your enemies could be in a bordering country, but they could also be five thousand miles away, planning how to send their tentacles to hurt you. They have no tanks and planes that you can match against yours to create a balance. All they need are explosives and good Organization. They don’t want to conquer your country. They want to wreak havoc so that your government will implode.”

  Benny continued with his presentation for another hour, overwhelming his listeners with the amount of information the Mossad had gathered on Iran’s major role in terror financing. Benny paused dramatically to see how deeply his audience was concentrating. I looked around; it couldn’t have been deeper. Benny had their complete attention.

  “Any questions so far?”

  None were asked.

  “OK,” said Benny. “Let’s move to more current events. At the end of my presentation you will see how all the pieces fall into place in a current event.”

  Benny continued.

  “I’ve my government’s consent to cooperate with you in combating terror financing. Needless to say, the consent is general in nature. Before we take joint action Mossad must be convinced that any suggested plan is reasonably possible.”

  “Why do you need our cooperation? You’ve done fine so far. And more importantly, why does the U.S. need you in this matter?” asked Kyle.

  “It’s a valid question, and I’m happy it has been asked,” said Benny. “The terror-fighting arena has become crowded. There were quite a few cases where we ran into American and other Western intelligence services. That has caused several problems. First, it took us—and probably you, also—time to realize that the other guy working on the same matter was a friend, not a foe. Obviously agents don’t wear uniforms or carry other identifying credentials such as name tags with the name of their organization. The hairy guy with a week-old beard who reeks of tobacco may be one of us, rather than a conniving terrorist.

  “Second, the law of supply and demand works here as well. If we compete with others on sources, the price goes up, and most likely the quality goes down, because the suppliers don’t particularly care about after-sale service or warranty. These things create friction we want to avoid. We know that in the battle against terrorism, if you claim exclusivity and superiority, all other players are in your way and must leave the stage to you. But, as a sovereign nation with life-and-death interests in fighting terrorists, we can’t outsource our national security. Therefore we aren’t going anywhere. The conclusion is, let’s work together.”

  “I see your point,” said Kyle. “Thus far our achievements in the battle against global Islamic terrorism have been mainly through SIGINT, interception of radio and other electronic signals.”

  That was an understatement. No other nation in the world has capabilities in that area of electronic intelligence that come even close to those of the United States. In this field, size does matter. But America is sorely lacking in HUMINT, human intelligence, and inside Iran there are no longer any viable human assets. Therefore, cooperating with the Mossad made perfect sense.

  Kyle turned to Benny. “You have made some notable achievements in gathering intelligence by recruiting sources.”

  Benny nodded in accord. “As I said, we don’t outsource our defense,” he proudly pointed out. “We continue to be active not only in drying up terrorist financing, but we vigorously toil to limit the number of terrorists to ease the burden on their financiers,” he said with a chuckle. “Accidents happen—for example in Lebanon, which has always been a hub of terror.”

  I could understand why he chuckled. Although there were several such “events” each year, I thought of two that had attracted my attention. In 2002, two “accidents” happened in Lebanon: one to a drug dealer who provided intelligence to Hezbollah, and one several months later to an Al-Qaeda operative. The Lebanese media attributed these misfortunes to the Mossad.

  “But who knows who is really responsible for these accidents? I hear that two Hezbollah operatives were sent to rest with their ancestors. In other news I heard that two Hamas men in Damascus, Syria, were killed. They should have been more careful,” concluded Benny, and all smiled. What Benny did was a smart job of insinuation. It is quite possible the Mossad was behind those killings, but maybe some or all of the other eliminations had been a result of internal rifts and local rivalries. Benny left this open. It was nice to know he wasn’t cryptic only with me.

  Benny’s tone of voice became serious. “The Iranians believe in tit for tat—Aemaeli ya:t _e_ taela:fi ju:ya:neh. After the capture of the U.S. Embassy and the taking hostage of sixty-six U.S. diplomats and embassy staff, President Carter froze all Iranian assets in the U.S., ap
proximately $8 billion. The asset freeze and the other economic sanctions imposed by the U.S. had a devastating effect on Iran’s economy. Most of Iran’s foreign-currency reserves became unreachable, and that compounded the difficulties that the Iranian economy suffered as a result of the other sanctions imposed by the U.S. Therefore, getting back at the Americans by looting their economy seemed to be a legitimate and natural response to the Iranians, who believed that ‘an eye for an eye’ could also be interpreted in economic terms as ‘a dollar for a dollar,’ and whenever possible, even a better revenge-exchange rate.

  “We discovered that the new Iranian government made a strategic decision soon after the seizure of its funds by the U.S.: recoup through unconventional means the money that the U.S. had frozen, plus interest and penalty,” he added, smirking. “If additional goals could be achieved along the way, such as undermining the U.S. economy, then tefadlu, as they say in the Middle East—welcome!

  “We don’t know if the decision of the Iranian government was fully implemented. But we do know that as part of that decision, they earmarked money to be stolen from the U.S. to finance terror and clandestine activities. The slush fund created for that purpose was very beneficial, because terror funding didn’t go through the regular Iranian government bud get, which many eyes see.

  “This is where U.S. and Israeli interests join. You want to get those bastards who collapsed some of your banks, and we both want to stop the money flow which finances terror organizations that murder our and your citizens. As nine eleven has shown the world, terror does not stop in the Middle East. May I remind you all,” he said, just a touch theatrically, “that many people maybe haven’t noticed, but World War III has already begun. It’s the terrorists against the rest of the world.” Benny sat down.

  Kyle looked at his watch. “I’m sorry. I didn’t realize it’s already four thirty. Let’s break now and meet at eight o’clock for dinner.”