June 9, 2008

The Fawlty Towers’ Pipeline to the White House

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The AP reports on Iraqi prime minister Nouri al-Maliki’s meeting today with Iran Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei. Who I believe Iran contra fabulist Manucher Ghorbanifar and Washington pals definitively declared dead over a year ago, based on Ghorbanifar’s amazing insidery deep, high priced network of Iran intelligence sources. Eventually, they are bound to be right about that. In the meantime, these are the folks that former deputy defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz and national security advisor Steve Hadley were turning to for Iran intelligence and operational advice? Can someone at the White House press briefing please ask spokeswoman Dana Perino to speak to Hadley’s judgment on this?

As Dave Wagner and I reported this weekend, a new Senate Intelligence report (.pdf) documents how Hadley himself authorized Ghorbanifar’s loyal Washington pal and fellow Iran contra alum to lead two Pentagon officials to Rome to meet supposed Iran agents. Has Hadley learned his lesson about the quality and reliability of information and related schemes his deputized freelance Iran intelligence sources brought to him? And whether the spigot is still open? On such objectively knowable issues as whether Khamenei is dead or alive? All the other nonsense they and Ghorbanifar’s more recent Washignton helpers like Curt Weldon have spouted: that Osama bin Laden was in Tehran, as Ghorbanifar and Weldon insisted, or that for just a few million dollars – $10 million, $25 million — they can provide such invaluable information and launch a coup in Iran, etc. It’s still sobering to realize that the people spouting this comical nonsense – and it’s not hard to find such people — had been authorized by no less than the current White House national security advisor to advise them on Iran intelligence operations and coup plans. It’s like something out of a John Cleese’ Fawlty Towers skit. But this is the White House. Wouldn’t a normal sane person even think twice about buying Mid East take out from people with such a track record?

(Photo courtesy of Cooperative Research).

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