Interview with Ghazal Omid

Dreams Into Lightning exclusive: Interview with Iranian activist and author Ghazal Omid.

She is the author of "Living in Hell: A Young Woman's Life in Revolutionary Iran". You can read her columns here. I've previously posted on Ghazal Omid here and here. Now I'm pleased to be able to bring you an interview with her. I spoke with Ghazal by phone for about 45 minutes this evening. What follows is not a verbatim transcript, because I was taking notes by hand, but it does represent the essential points of our conversation.

(Please tell us your thoughts on the recent terrorist arrests in Canada.)
I've been telling the Canadian government about terrorism for a couple of years. Canadian laws are designed to protect everyone; the terrorists understand this and use it to their advantage. [Terror suspect Abdul] Kahar was from a family of terrorists - his father was an officer of Osama bin Laden, and was killed in Afghanistan. We could have had another 9/11 on our hands. Canada is a backdoor for terrorism because of lousy laws. We need to be more careful. When somebody is proven guilty, why are we keeping them in this country?

(On Muslim identity and government incompetence.)
I receive hate mail and phone calls every day, from Muslim fanatics. And yet, I was detained at the border for 45 minutes after I returned from Dubai. Another example: When I took [copies of threatning messages] to the police, they said, "you choose your actions, you receive your reactions." The police showed no enthusiasm and shrugged their shoulders. This is ludicrous. The government needs to know who the good guys and the bad guys are. I believe it's my Muslim duty, and my human duty, to stand up to terrorism. I'm with you - what are you going to do to protect me?

(Tell me about your upcoming three books.)
The first book is called "Poverty in Paradise". It's inspired by my trip to Dubai. In many countries like Dubai, they have a misrepresented image of the United States. It's a corrupted image. They think everyone is like Paris Hilton and Pamela Anderson. When I asked male acquaintances in Arab countries what they thought about America, they thought of women running around in bikinis. The image that's presented abroad, via satellite programming, is even more distorted than the portrayals on domestic television. Working-class North Americans aren't portrayed. Yes, the United States holds a large share of the world's wealth, but most people in America work very hard, long hours. They're not rich. I want to make people in other countries feel we all belong to the same family. My second book is called "Islam 101" and it's an introduction to Islam. The religious section is separate from the political section, because I feel these things should be kept separate. The third book is about Iran's future. It's essential to educate women and children if you're going to stop terrorism. You don't want to get to them when they're 20; you want to get to them when they're 3. This book will be a message of humanity and education about Islam and other things.

(You've brought up the subject of wealth and poverty, and the fact that many people in other countries have a false - and harmful - belief that "all Americans are rich and decadent". As you were speaking, I was reminded of the section early in your book "Living in Hell" where you describe the paradox of growing up being rich and poor at the same time. Can you tell me a little more about how this experience influenced your thinking?)
When I was 12 years old, my father would bring home money in potato sacks. When I asked him why, he said, "People give me money so I can hide it." They trusted him more than they trusted the banks. My mother would have me count the money by hand. She wanted me to hold it in my hand so I would get used to the feel of it and not yearn for it. But although Father didn't take care of us - how many days did I live on bread and milk? - we never took his money. He could leave it in his coat pocket and we would never touch it. I have my pride - I'm not gonna beg! But I want to educate people about what they can say and what they can't [so that they can speak out on injustice in a productive way]. I need to respect me before I respect anybody else; I need to love me before I can love anybody else.

(Tell me why, as a religious Muslim, you feel it's important to end the Mullahs' dictatorship in Iran.)
The Mullahs are parasites - they're charlatans. They are distorting the image of Islam; they're no better than bin Laden.

Apart from getting rid of the regime, what changes do you think are necessary for Iranian society?
Education is critical, especially for women. And cultural education. The practice of marrying young girls has nothing to do with the current government, they only increased the problem that was already there. Educating a young girl is like painting a masterpiece - it takes time. We need to raise a generation of strong women.

Do you think you might seek political office in a future, democratic Iranian government?
Yes. I will change the pace of society and work for women's rights. There will be a new sheriff in town!

(Other comments.)

Shirin Ebadi is an opportunist; millions of dollars are funneled to her organization.

When you have a charity in Iran, you have to have someone in the government [who's getting paid off]. When you give money to that charity, your money goes to the government.

Voice of America is using its funding the wrong way; it's actually helping the regime. The Iranian government shows the same images of wealthy, decadent Americans and says to the people, "look, do you want to be like that?" There have been some positive changes at VOA, but it needs to change more.

The US Government is wasting a lot of its money for Iran. Many of the grantees are crooks. The Iranian people need to see tangible efforts, not just TV broadcasts.

A couple of years ago, I saw how people in Washington State took up a collection from their own money to help Iranians after the earthquake. The US needs to do a better job of publicizing efforts like this - sometimes it's OK to let people know when you're doing something good.

I would have loved to help the US Government, if they would listen. I would like to immigrate to the United States, but it could take 15 years unless I can find a way to speed up the process. They did it for Pamala Anderson. Look, Pamela Anderson got into the US because of her breasts ... I should be able to get in because of my brain.

We can help children understand that they are not different from one another because of nationality. We can touch the hearts of children with things they can relate to. Things that touched me as a child: bedtime stories, and listening to radio programs. We love our history. If people in Iran knew how much other people around the world care, they would throw this regime out. If Americans and Iranians really understood one another, they would fall in love with each other.

Tammy to Air on New, All-Woman WVIE Baltimore

Tammy Bruce:

Starting Monday, June 5 the Tammy Bruce Show welcomes a new East Coast flagship to the Tammy Radio family--WVIE AM 1370 in Baltimore. A 50,000 watt station, WVIE will carry the show live, 12p-3pm ET, and it will be heard throughout the entire region. It's uniqueness will be immediately obvious--all the hosts are women. The Baltimore Sun broke the story today.

Baltimore Sun: Women's Voices at WVIE

In the Land of the Living

My sister would have been 42 years old last Friday.

I try to imagine Stephanie at age 42. Would she still be writing? Would she still wear leather jackets? Would she still have that michievous smile? I try to imagine how she would look now, if she had lived.

She died in 1992, a couple of weeks after her 28th birthday, in her apartment in the Haight-Ashbury neighborhood of San Francisco. She had given up heroin about a year earlier, and despite some setbacks, she was struggling bravely with the agonies of withdrawal. But she was also drinking heavily to ease the pain, and was probably anorexic as well. She knew that the alcohol was harming her, and she resolved to give that up, too, after she had the narcotic addiction under control; but her time ran out. The coroner said she died of liver failure.

I remember her body on the steel table, how small it looked.

She did not want to die. She even wrote it in her diary:

I don't wanna die. I was thinking the other day that I should have that tattooed someplace on my person, somewhere in small letters, like

I dont
wanna
die

maybe in the middle of my chest or inside my arm or my ankle, inconspicuous and small. I was thinking about the undertaker who with my cold and white body laying stiff on his stainless steel table would find the small tattoo and read it. I don't wanna die. A message for the undertaker, for my lover, for God, for my aging skin. I would like to see his face, the undertaker's.

When we were growing up, we didn't have much exposure to death. I don't believe we ever went to a funeral as kids. As I grew older, I began to think - with all the sophistication of a young adult - that this kind of insulation was unhealthy and stultifying; and that, therefore, people who had had contact with death must be privy to some insights that were denied to me. Now I know that this was wrong and stupid; that you do not learn anything from death, you only learn from life.

You can read Stephanie's poetry here and her fiction and prose here.

Cross-posted at Dreams Into Lightning - TypePad.

Ted Nugent's Liberalism

Ted Nugent:

I consider myself a true liberal. I am armed in order to stop good people being destroyed by bad people. Liberalism is assisting quality of life, whatever you may choose. I think that homosexuality is wrong. I think that people who drink, smoke and take drugs are doing wrong.

But I'll tell you how I judge people. The people that ran up those burning towers on September 11 were my heroes. And among those warriors who ran back to save their fellow human beings, you know what there were? Homosexuals. Smokers. Drinkers. People I wouldn't agree with on numerous conduct levels. I judge people on this: are they in the asset column, or the liability column?

Hat tip: Little Green Footballs

Cross-posted at Dreams Into Lightning - TypePad.

Ayaan Hirsi Ali Coming to the US

Thanks to the invaluable Little Green Footballs for breaking the good news. LGF:

More than 20 people emailed this morning about the report that Dutch MP Ayaan Hirsi Ali is resigning from Parliament and moving to the United States, to work at the American Enterprise Institute. Liberty and Justice has translations of the Dutch report: Ayaan Hirsi Ali Heading To The US.

That report:

According to De Volkskrant she will she will leave to the US September 1, 2006.

Exactly what I was afraid of. She will be welcomed into the US and she will get the respect she deserves there, but it is a crying shame that we force people like her to leave our country.
Do we, finally, have someone who defends our freedom of speech, even putting her life on the line, we force her to leave our country and move to the US. It is making me all sick.

Peaktalk:

Well, that didn't take long. Ayaan Hirsi Ali will in September leave The Netherlands and join the AEI. This outcome was expected and in a way I think it is very good news for her, but it is not all that good for the Dutch. Not only will they lose a talented, vocal and original thinker, they allowed - quite probably deliberately - her to fall in a very public manner and I don't think she deserved that. ...

Volksrant (in Dutch).
Follow the links to the original posts for updates.

Iran Report

Taheri: Ahmadinejad's letter to Bush. Amir Taheri, after a brief history of the art of letter-writing in the Persian/Islamic world, concludes:

Ahmadinejad believes that the Hidden Imam is about to return and that it is the duty of the Islamic Republic to provoke a "clash of civilizations" to hasten that return. As he asserts in his letter, Ahmadinejad also believes that the liberal democratic model of market-based capitalist societies has failed and is rejected even in its traditional homeland. Ahmadinejad has been impressed by the extent of recent riots in France in which the extreme Left provided the leadership while the Muslim sub-proletariat offered much of the muscle in the streets.

Rather than ignoring Ahmadinejad's letter, President Bush should reply to him by inviting him to abandon Khomeinism and convert to liberal democracy. For, when all is said and done, the fight over Iran today is not about real or imagined nuclear weapons; it is about the kind of Iran with which the Middle East, indeed the whole world, can feel comfortable. Ahmadinejad's letter shows that a majority of Iranians, let alone the world as a whole, cannot feel comfortable with the kind of Iran he represents.

Khomeinist regime faces "challenges". Writing in the Arab News, Taheri has this to say:

Talk to any "Iran specialist" about opposition to the present regime and you are likely to hear that it is marginal, exists largely in exile, and affects segments of the urban middle classes, especially students, mainly in Tehran.

The conclusion, therefore, is that the system now headed by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is firmly entrenched with no credible challenge looming on the horizon.

However, that picture, largely accurate for much of the past two decades, may be about to change as the system created by the late Ayatollah Khomeini faces new challenges.

These new challenges come from several sources.

The first, and possibly the most important, is the urban working class that has just started to flex its muscles. ...

Workers' protests, unlike student protests, could have an impact on the economy. Ahmadinejad has responded with a "buy-in" program in which workers can buy stock in state-owned companies (most of which are operating at a loss); and by filling the workers' ranks with strikebreakers. Labor Minister Jaromi, believing the oil sector paramount to Iran's economy, goes the head chief one better and recruits only regime loyalists to the oil industry.

IRI: No talks with US over Iraq. The party's over. All hopes for a coridal dialog between the US and the Islamic Republic of Iran over the fate of Iraq have been dashed. We are shocked. Iran Focus reports: ' Iran announced on Sunday that it will not hold direct talks with the United States on the issue of Iraq. “The issue of negotiations between Iran and the U.S. regarding Iraq is no longer on the table”, Iran’s newly-appointed ambassador to Iraq Hassan Kazemi Qomi told the official new agency. Qomi said that the issue of Iran-U.S. talks over Iraq had been raised for close to a year but had been repeatedly rejected by Tehran until it was formally proposed by Iraqi officials. “Following the establishment of a permanent government in Iraq, we have no issue to negotiate about”, he said.' A terrible shame; those talks showed such promise.

German embassy next? A subscription article at Debka suggests a seizure of Germany's embassy in Iran may be in the works, a nostalgic recollection of the "444 days" of 1979. An alleged American spy ring operating out of the German embassy is said to be the pretext. They are hoping that the stunt would bring German pressure on the US in Iran's favor and distract attention from the nuclear crisis, perhaps yielding secret back-channel negotiations between Tehran and Washington. Good luck with that.

Hadley: No direct talks with Iran. From Stratfor (subscription): 'Direct engagement between Iran and several other countries within the framework of the U.N. Security Council (UNSC) is the best way to resolve the current standoff regarding Iran's nuclear program, U.S. National Security Adviser Stephen Hadley said May 14. Hadley dismissed suggestions that the United States should engage in direct talks with Iran, calling the UNSC the preferred forum for talks at this time.'

Iran: That goes for us, too. Iran Focus: ' Iran announced on Sunday that it will not hold direct talks with the United States on the issue of Iraq. “The issue of negotiations between Iran and the U.S. regarding Iraq is no longer on the table”, Iran’s newly-appointed ambassador to Iraq Hassan Kazemi Qomi told the official new agency.'

Cross-posted at Dreams Into Lightning - TypePad.

Daniel Wurtz dies.

Ha'Aretz:

An American teen wounded in a suicide bombing in Tel Aviv last month died Sunday of organ failure, a hospital spokeswoman said.

Daniel Wultz, 16, of Weston, Florida, is to be flown home for burial on Monday, said Yael Tzuberi, a spokeswoman for Ichilov Hospital in Tel Aviv, where he was hospitalized.

Wultz and his father, Tuly, were having lunch at the Rosh Ha'ir falafel stand in Tel Aviv's old central bus station when a Palestinian suicide bomber detonated 5 kilograms (approximately 10 pounds) of explosives. Eleven people, including Wultz, died as a result of the attack.

Ocean Guy links to One Family Fund.

Cross-posted at Dreams Into Lightning - TypePad.

United 93: A Walk-On Part in the War

United 93 doesn't have a "plot" or "characters" in the conventional sense. Most of the characters are never named. Only one that I noticed - Ben Sliney - is ever identified by first and last name. Two we recognize - Mark Bingham and Todd Beamer - but most are simply there. They appear onscreen as people appear to us in life, without introduction or fanfare.

Many of the surviving characters are played by their real-life counterparts. Look at the cast list and the first thing you will notice, after the absence of "superstars", is the number of roles identified as "Himself/Herself". Many others are known only by their role titles, "Boston 5", "Herndon 1", "Cleveland Supervisor".

It is a cast of walk-ons - again, just as in life. And yet paradoxically, it's a movie about ordinary people who become actors: not "actors" in the sense of performers, but actors in the original sense - people who take action.

The movie does not try to "explain" United 93. It does not bother to fill you in on what everybody knows, because you already know it. It's very much like the classic horror device, where you (the viewer) know the danger awaiting the characters, but the characters themselves are blissfully ignorant. In other words, it is simply excruciating.

I like relationship films. I cry in movies. I cried in "United 93" because it is a movie full of ending relationships. To say that there is "no happy ending" doesn't begin to tell it. There is not one tragedy but many: the sundering of romances we have not seen develop, the bereavement of families we've never met, the goodbyes to people we will never know. There is no redeeming moment at the end; no "boy gets girl"; no tender embrace amid the smouldering rubble, pregnant with the hope of life renewed. No. There is only the spinning ground and the silent blackness.

Did I give away the ending? But you already knew how it would end.


*

"Somebody give me a fucking weapon!" she screamed.

Kat at The Middle Ground has a terrific roundup on women in combat:

Every bit helps and this is just as dangerous as any "combat patrol" by the men. Last year around this time, three women marines were killed and 11 injured when their convoy was struck by a suicide bomber when returning from such a mission in Fallujah. Blackfive reminds us with a follow up report on these women and the complete story of that day as covered in Glamour magazine.

The convoy had been rolling down the highway for only a few minutes when Harding heard a fast exchange between her truck's driver and the gunner; it was something like "Are you going to shoot it or what?" An Iraqi car had pulled up alongside them. The marines in the lead Humvee had seen the car approaching and waved it off to the side of the road, but the car came barreling back toward the convoy.

Harding barely had time to process the driver's words when she heard the sound she'd feared since the moment she arrived in Iraq: the menacing hiss of a bomb about to go off.

The injuries some of these women suffered were terrible including second and third degree burns over 13% or more of the body. But, showing that these women are no wilting flowers, as soon as Cpl Salmaan got up she was yelling for a weapon:

Just as Padmore reached the scene, he saw Saalman staggering toward him, her charred, flayed hands held up before her, her eyes vacant in a blackened face. She'd lost her rifle during the explosion. "Sally, pull yourself together," he said. "You are not going to die. I promise: You are not going to die. But we need some leadership." He watched her expression change instantly from shock to rage. "Somebody give me a fucking weapon!" she screamed. "I need a fucking weapon!" The adrenaline pumping through her body obviously masked her pain. Padmore handed her his own M16 and headed off to find other wounded marines, with the sound of Saalman firing her gun toward the insurgents ringing in his ears.

Read the rest at the link.

Morning Report: May 10, 2006

Iranian opposition leader meets with Richard Perle. Via Free Iran News Forum: 'Less than 24 hours after one of Iran's leading dissidents and authors escaped to a neighboring state, the former chairman of the Pentagon's Defense Policy Board, Richard Perle, interrupted his trip to central Asia to meet with him in a cramped hotel room. The meeting between Mr. Perle and Amir Abbas Fakhravar on April 29, in a location both men have asked not appear in print, may end up being as important as the first contacts between Mr. Perle and the ex-Soviet dissident Natan Sharansky in the 1980s. Like Mr. Sharansky with the Soviet Union, Mr. Fakhravar is making an appeal to the world to support the cause of Iranian freedom. Mr. Perle first made contact with Mr. Fakhravar while he was first in prison and the two have kept in touch since the Iranian student leader went into hiding. They have spoken regularly for three years and Mr. Fakhravar is hoping to use Mr. Perle's contacts in America to build solidarity for his country's democratic movement. (Free Iran)

Islamist militia commander killed in Iran. SMCCDI: 'A senior Islamist militia commander was killed, on Saturday, by 'unknown assailants' according to the Islamic republic's official sources. The victim, named Hassan Mohammad-Poor, was killed while driving in the Tapeh Zibashahr road of the Golestan province located in northeast Iran.' (SMCCDI)

Iranian ambassador to meet Talabani. Debka: 'Hasan Hazemi Qomi, Iran’s first ambassador to Baghdad in two decades, meets Iraqi president Jalal Talabani Wednesday. The two countries withdrew their ambassadors before the 1980-1988 Iran-Iraq war and kept their relations at charge d’affaires level. Iraq and the US accuse Iran of meddling in Iraq’s internal affairs. Talabani said the upgraded relations should open a new page in the two countries’ history.' (Debka)

Uncle Jimbo: Our Iranian allies need a visit from Ed McMahon. Uncle Jimbo:

The same clowns who yowled about warrantless searches and waterboarding and Gitmo and Gulfstreams, are the first to complain that we don't know enough about Iran's nuke program to justify Tomahawking their facilities. I agree that we don't have enough intel, and I propose that we detail just exactly what steps we are willing to take in order to find out. Let's see if they really want an option to direct military action. Obviously no classified info or techniques and the Iranians already know what we can do, this is for our leaders in DC. I'll start, but please chime in with more suggestions:

Recruitment of Iranian Scientists and others as agents- I assume we are actively engaged in this but I would hope we are spending money over there like they won the lottery. Free gifts for all my Uranium-enriching friends. I would also target family, government opposition (HA!), and would be recruiting every Iranian studying in the US. Oh boy would I be working on them, hookers, booze whatever they want. Then we send them back home to see how much it sucks, and wait for the coordinates of the nuke facilities to arrive via email. I would also tap any and all electronic communications by Iranian students and run it through the same computers the NSA uses, oh and don't feel like I'm picking on the Iranians there are plenty of other countries students we should be eyeballing also.

Kidnapping of Iranian Scientists- Preferably while they were traveling, but since many of those we really need to talk to are sequestered it may involve a raid into Iran.

Industrial Sabotage of Equipment used in Nuke Program- We know who is supplying them, mostly the French and Russians, we can infiltrate their operations or intercept in transit equipment and material destined for use in these programs. Or we can include surveillance and other electronic goodies along with the gear.

Hack Attack- I hope we have a room somewhere where we keep the best hackers and that they are actively involved in violating every crevice of the Iranian computer network, government and private. I hope they have them chained to the highest speed machines, feeding 'em Mountain dew and Cheetos while they digitally assault every electronic action any Iranian does anywhere on the planet.

Funding of any and all Iranian Resistance Groups- Start with the Shah's kid Reza Pahlavi to remind the Iranians that back in the day, Iran was a cool place to be, not a theocratic nightmare. We should be helping the internal student and other groups to organize electronically and how to avoid the religious Thought police. This is where we plug in all those co-opted students who lived the good life and let them tell their countrymen about the land of booze and hookers.

Information Warfare- I am perpetually amazed that a country with the greatest story ever to tell the world is chronically unable to tell it. maybe we should chain a few Hollywood types up with our hackers and have them churning out revolutionary propaganda to embolden the Iranian people. Beam them Tehran Housewives, Iranian Idol and give them a reason to resist and hopefully revolt.

Morning Report: May 9, 2006

Blair rejects Iran strike, dismisses speculation on Straw's sacking. British Prime Minister Tony Blair has rejected the idea that the replacement of former Foreign Minister Jack Straw was connected with a difference of views on Iran. The Scotsman: 'There has been widespread media speculation that differences over how to deal with Iran's nuclear programme were behind Blair's decision to axe Foreign Minister Jack Straw last week in a major government reshuffle. Blair replaced Straw with former Environment Minister Margaret Beckett. "The idea I moved Jack because of Iran ... because the Americans objected to him ... (is) rubbish," Blair said. "Any notion that it is linked to a decision about invading Iran -- which incidentally we are not going to do -- any notion that it is linked to such a decision is utterly absurd."' Via Regime Change Iran. (Scotsman via RCI)

Rice on Ahmadinejad letter: Ho-hum. Voice of America: 'U.S. officials say an unusual letter to President Bush from his Iranian counterpart Mahmoud Ahmadinejad does not present any breakthrough in the current dispute over Iran's nuclear program. The response came as Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice prepared to discuss the nuclear issue in New York with her counterparts from the other permanent U.N. Security Council member countries. ... However administration officials are dismissing comments from Tehran that the message is a significant overture in the frozen relationship, with Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice saying there is nothing in the letter to suggest the parties are on any different course than they were before it arrived. Secretary Rice made the comments in a session with the Associated Press in New York as she prepared to discuss the Iranian nuclear issue over dinner with her colleagues from the other veto-wielding Security Council member countries. She told the AP the Ahmadinejad letter was 17 or 18 pages long and covered history, philosophy and religion, but was not a diplomatic opening or anything of the sort, and did not address the nuclear issue in a concrete way.' Debka: 'DEBKAfile’s Iranian sources are first to reveal contents of - not one but two - letters Iran’s Ahmadinejad has sent to President Bush. Neither of the letters Mahmoud Ahmadinejad mailed Sunday, May 7, to George W. Bush represents an olive branch – just the reverse: Their writer takes a high moral tone and emphasizes the importance of Islam to mankind and the world. Neither does the Iranian president deign to offer concessions to ease international concerns and the standoff on Iran’s nuclear program. DEBKAfile’s sources in Tehran obtained access to the first drafts of two separate communications – only one of which Iranian proposes to release to the media. The private Note trots out the Islamic Republic’s reiteration of its right to develop nuclear energy for purely peaceful purposes and Iran’s greatness as the cradle of human civilization. The Note intended for release is longer and couched in phrases designed for propaganda effect. Ahmadinejad complains that Iran is anxious for progress in the sciences but is constantly persecuted by the forces of “world arrogance” ' and blah blah blah. The Israeli analysis adds that the stunt is meant to recall Ayatolla Khomeini's 1979 letter to Mikhail Gorbachev, the last leader of the Soviet Union, urging him to adopt Islamic principles for his country. (VOA, Debka)

China says it won't veto UNSC action on Iran. Jerusalem Post: 'The Chinese ambassador to the United Nations announced late Monday night that Beijing would not veto a UN Security Council decision to impose punitive measures against Iran, Army Radio reported. The announcement may represent some progress in the attempt made by the Western permanent UNSC member states - the United States, Great Britain and France - in trying to adopt a resolution that would force Iran, under the threat of sanctions, to comply with international demands to halt its nuclear development program and permit supervision of its nuclear sites. (JPost)

Morning Report: May 7, 2005

Israel appoints Iran expert as security council chief. Debka: 'New focus on Iran prompts appointment of deputy Mossad chief Ilan Mizrahi, 56, as Israel’s next National Security Council chief. He replaces Gen. Giora Eiland who asked to be relieved of the post last year. DEBKAfile’s intelligence sources report the new appointee, an experienced field operative, is a world class authority on Iran and expert on Muslim and Arab affairs, although less conversant with Palestinian issues. Selecting Mizrahi for the job signposts PM Olmert’s order of strategic priorities. The NSC’s relocation from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem places a security-clandestine branch directly alongside the incoming prime minister. He acquires an ace in secret diplomacy should he wish to bypass defense minister Amir Peretz, foreign minister Tzipi Livni or his inner security cabinet, for discreet exchanges with Washington, foreign intelligence chiefs, or key Arab officials. Mizrahi knows how to reach the right person without go-betweens. He also prefers to keep a low personal profile, a rare attribute in Israeli officialdom. Father of three, the prime minister’s new national security adviser spent four years as deputy Mossad chief. He has a master’s degree in Oriental Studies.' (Debka)

Changes in the CIA. In from the Cold reports: 'Indeed, the CIA of the future will be a shadow of its former self (no pun intended). Much of its analytical function will eventually move to other organizations, such as the National Intelligence Council--which works directly for the Director of National Intelligence, John Negroponte--or the recently-established National Counter-Terrorism Center (NCTC). Both are seen as more logical homes for much of the analytical capabilities that once resided at Langley, when the CIA chief also led the nation's intelligence community.' Spook86 predicts resistance to incoming Director George Hayden's reforms, but expresses confidence that Hayden is the man for the job. Full analysis at the link. (In from the Cold)


Cross-posted at Dreams Into Lightning - TypePad.