[Telegraph-UK] Tim Butcher - Asgari was the main Iranian point man in Lebanon in the 1980s and 1990s when Iran help found, fund and run Hizbullah and there can be few better sources on how it receives weapons and support from Iran. He could also provide crucial information about a Hizbullah attack on the U.S. Embassy in Beirut in 1983 in which eight of the CIA's top regional specialists, including the CIA's Near East director Robert Ames, were among those who died, something that explains America's continued reluctance to downgrade its listing of Hizbullah as anything but a terrorist group. In spite of Iran's efforts to play down his significance, Asgari's defection represents a genuine coup for foreign intelligence.
2007-03-09 01:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive