"Walk back the cat" is spy slang for retracing the train of evidence and assumptions until the double agent, the false source or the analytic error is identified.
In 1991 the Rendon Group got a contract to create the conditions for regime change in Iraq. Richard Perle introduced Ahmad Chalabi - on the run from 32 indictments for fraud and embezzlement. They created the Iraqi National Congress and began lobbying for overthrow of Saddam Hussein. Key allies included Conrad Black and Rupert Murdoch, whose newspapers spread disinformation.
The same cast and crew have moved on to Iran. Their new posterboy is Amir Abbas Fakhravar, a writer who has gained profile since 2000 when he was first introduced to Ledeen and Perle. He has been groomed to be a sympathetic dissident voice of Iranian youth. Black and Murdoch newspapers say that he "escaped" from Iran in April. He alleges torture and says Iranians will welcome American strikes which deliver them to "freedom". Perle has taken Fakhravar to Washington to meet with opinion formers and Congressmen. Hmmmm.
Calling all Kossack Cat Walkers! We're going to test the new
Walk Back the Cat collective research capability.
Objectives:
- A timeline of the Fakhravar story - going back as far as possible;
- Cataloguing stories which "broke" in Black or Murdoch papers (include the Telegraph in the UK and National Post in Canada, as being founded by Black even though no longer owned by him);
- Cataloguing and sourcing the stories of Fakhravar torture which seem to have started cropping up around 2004 with reports to Amnesty International and others;
- Identification of any contracts or programmes started in 2000 which look like the Rendon Group/INC contract but which targeted influencing opinion on Iran;
- Isolation of the image of Fakhravar created by Ledeen/Perle since 2000 from any profile he had before their intervention;
- Fakhravar participation in staged events - like his call-in to an Orange County protest featuring Reza Pahlavi;
- Identification of anomalies and inconsistencies in the stories put out by or about Fakhravar;
- Inconsistencies between what Fakhravar says and known facts (e.g., he quoted as saying Iran lacks hospitals and schools, meanwhile the UN commends them on their public health, high adult literacy and growing university enrollment).
- Establishing whether Ledeen/Perle have been the sole conduit for Fakhravar's communication with western media (Perle admits to regular telephone contact and meetings with Fakhravar, even while Fakhravar was in prison);
- Links between the Fakhravar story and what we're buying with our $97 million expenditure by Cheney's daughter at the State Department;
- Establishing what passport Fakhravar is using (I suspect British, since they gave Ahmad Chalabi one within weeks of his flight from Jordan, but it could be UAE, since Fakhravar first turned up in Dubai in April);
- Links to Chalabi, Gorbanifar, National Review, the Aspen Strategy Group, the American Enterprise Institute and other known PsyOps organs;
- Anything about how Fakhravar was introduced to Ledeen/Perle in 2000 and whether he went on the payroll in advance of writing the book that got him convicted and jailed;
- Patterns and themes that come up in Fakhravar sourced stories and how they change over time (e.g., early Chalabi stuff warned of anthrax and smallpox in 2001 but that morphed to WMDs by 2003).
I'm particularly intrigued by the role of Amnesty International as part of the neo-con echo chamber. They have been implicated in other PsyOps regarding Iran in 2004-2005, for example, the attempts to stir up interest in allegations of abuse and torture of Ahwazis in Khuzestan (which coincidentally has 90 percent of Iran's oil reserves).
I will take the collective work product of today's effort and do the parsing, reconciling and writing necessary to present a coherent view on the Fakhravar story as a resource for anyone in the media who is confronted with the PsyOps/propaganda effort.
Documents and spreadsheets too long for posting as comments can be sent to me at LondonYank (a) aol.com.
Spend what time you can on this, looking to sources you are comfortable researching. Collectively we have a huge power to turn over information and make a difference.
If you want specific responsibility for one of the pieces of the puzzle, just note that you're taking it as your own in the comments below. Then come back and give us what you find or produce. If you need help finding something or connecting something, ask for it the same way.
Ready! Set! GOOGLE!
Please Unrecommend yesterday's diary, and recommend this one instead.