L. A. Detainees, Lehrer Newshour
Iraq News, SEPTEMBER 4, 1998
By Laurie MylroieThe central focus of Iraq News is the tension between the considerable, proscribed WMD capabilities that Iraq is holding on to and its increasing stridency that it has complied with UNSCR 687 and it is time to lift sanctions. If you wish to receive Iraq News by email, a service which includes full-text of news reports not archived here, send your request to Laurie Mylroie .
I. REVELATIONS REGARDING L.A. DETAINEES, NEWSHOUR TRANSCRIPT, SEPT 4
Former CIA Director, James Woolsey, speaking before the Senate
Judiciary Committee, Sept 3, strongly criticized US policy toward Iraq.
He described US policy since the Gulf war's end and the Mar, 91 post-war
uprisings, as "flaccid and feckless." Noting specifically the recent
resignation of Scott Ritter, Woolsey said that the US was appeasing
Saddam, while it was being hard on those opposing him.
And why not? They get in the way of the keep-everything-quiet policy
that the Clinton administration wants to pursue.
They include the Iraqi opponents of Saddam, six of whom are detained
in Los Angeles and whom Woolsey has represented since March. His
willingness to assist in their defense, following an order that they
should be deported, helped draw national attention to their plight, the
involvement of Congress, and the release of classified information that
had been used against them.
The Jim Lehrer Newshour report, following, described some of that
information. The charges against one man, a medical doctor, who treated
U.S. intelligence officials in Northern Iraq, Dr. Ali Yasin Mohammed
Karim, revolved around the Gov't's claim that Dr. Karim had not revealed
his true last name, "Al Ufayli," to hide his relationship to an Iranian
agent, whom the Gov't claims is named "Al Ufayli."
But neither individual is named "Al Ufayli." There is no such thing
as "Ufayli." "Fayli" was meant and it, as any knowledgeable Middle East
expert could explain, means a Shi'a Kurd. It is not a family name.
Indeed, as George Mason University professor, Adeed Dawisha, explained,
no one in all of Iraq is named Al Ufayli.
Dr. Karim is a cousin of Arras Karim, a close aide of INC head, Ahmed
Chalabi. But Arras is not an Iranian agent. A former US intelligence
officer who worked in Northern Iraq dismissed the idea as "a joke." He
said Arras was no agent. Part of Arras' responsibility was to deal with
the people passing through. And, as the former US intelligence official
explained, Arras dealt with everyone-Iranians and not Iranians-passing
through the area.
Indeed, Arras was very helpful to me during my several visits to
Northern Iraq. I know him and respect him greatly. His father is a
senior KDP official and Arras has been fighting Saddam since he was a
teen-ager. He is very smart, capable, and brave. Arras was in Irbil
when Saddam attacked in Aug 96 and his voice is heard in the ABC
News/Peter Jennings special on the US betrayal of the Iraqi oppositionm
which first aired in Jun 97 and was rebroadcast in Feb. In it, Arras
described what it was like to wait, as the Republican Guards advanced,
"Everybody was waiting for the American fighters. It was 6:00, 7:00
8:00, they will come at 9:00. We are waiting for the Americans. We are
waiting for their promise. And there was no answer. At last it was 7:00
pm and Irbil was surrounded and Irbil was right now under the control of
the Iraqi troops."
The Newshour also discussed the information revealed by the Gov't
against another INC member, Safa Batat, who some years before had been
poisoned with thallium by the Iraqis and evacuated by the CIA for
treatment in the UK. Although that would seem to suggest, beyond any
reasonable doubt, that Batat was a genuine opponent of the Iraqi regime
and should not be deported from the US to Baghdad, it was dismissed by
the FBI with the suggestion that Batat had used thallium as a
recreational drug.
I. REVELATIONS REGARDING L.A. DETAINEES
Assessing the Threat
September 4, 1998
The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer Transcript
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