[THS] Iranian Defector: I've Escaped from CIA

[The Harder Stuff in news and commentary]

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article25852.htm

Iranian Defector: I've Escaped from CIA
In Latest Videos, Nuclear Scientist Claims He's Retuning to Iran; U.S. Says He's Here
on Own Will
By MATTHEW COLE

June 30, 2010 "ABC" -- —  The Iranian nuclear scientist in the middle of the high
stakes battle between Washington and Tehran has released two new videos, claiming
to have "escaped" U.S. intelligence and says he's on his way back to Iran.

The scientist, Shahram Amiri, who, according to U.S. intelligence officials resettled in
the U.S. last year after working for several years as a CIA spy, has claimed that he
escaped "U.S. intelligence officers in Virginia." He says he is now in a "safe place" but
that he is in "danger and could possibly be arrested again by U.S. intelligence officers
at any moment."

"In case anything happens to me or if I do not make it back home safely, the
responsibility will solely rest on the officials of the United States," Amiri says in a video
posted to YouTube, which says was recorded June 14.

A U.S. official tried today to quickly rebuke Amiri's claims.

"The guy's ability to make and release messages is clear proof that he hasn't been
held in the United States against his will, says that theory's absurd. That's not the
way it workswe don't have to compel people to defect. Maybe he's just trying to
build a story for the folks back home. The fact that he can say what he wants doesn't
make his statements true. He's shown to the world that he has the power to make
choiceseven bad ones."

The latest video aired today on Iranian state television and continues the propaganda
efforts of Tehran to show Amiri was kidnapped and brought to the U.S. against his
will.

To view the two latest Amiri videos, click here and here.

In fact, U.S. officials say, Amiri was a key CIA spy inside the Iranian nuclear weapons
program and helped reverse the CIA's understanding of the Iranian program.
According to one intelligence official briefed on the operation, Amiri directly
contradicted the 2007 National Intelligence Estimate, which concluded that Tehran
had suspended their nuclear weapons program in 2003. Amiri, according to the
official, proved to the Americans that the program had not been suspended.

CIA director Leon Panetta acknowledged this week to ABC News that the CIA no
longer believed the conclusions of the 2007 NIE, saying that Tehran continues "to
work on designs" for a nuclear weapon.

"I think they continue to develop their know-how," Panetta said. "They continue to
develop their nuclear capability."
Iran and Nuclear Weapons

Iran's nuclear ambitions have been the subject of international debate. The Obama
administration recently called for increased U.N. sanctions. Amiri, once a star scientist
for the Iranian nuclear program, according to U.S. officials, has become the center of
efforts of both countries to characterize Iran's nuclear ambitions.

Tehran has said that its nuclear program is for energy purposes only and denies
ambitions for a nuclear weapon.

Both the Iranian intelligence agency and the CIA have posted dueling videos of the
scientist in past several weeks. In one video, Amiri claims the U.S. kidnapped,
drugged and tortured him, in the other he says he is happy to be in the U.S.

Behind the scenes, the situation has become so grave that American officials fear
Amiri could re-defect, according to the people briefed on the situation.

CIA officials pushed for Amiri to flee the country out of fear that his disclosures might
have exposed him to Tehran as a spy.

Amiri vanished last June during a pilgrimage to Saudi Arabia. The Iranian
government claimed then that their scientist, a professor at Tehran's Malek Ashtar
University, had been kidnapped by the CIA. In fact, say U.S. officials, the CIA, with
the help of the Saudi government, whisked Amiri to the U.S., where he was to
permanently resettle.

A few months after Amiri arrived, the Obama Administration announced that U.S.
intelligence had discovered a second, hidden nuclear enrichment facility in the
Iranian city of Qom.

Both the CIA and the White House have refused to comment on Amiri.

Complicating the defection is the fact that he left behind a wife and child. Since
arriving in the U.S., and being secluded in Arizona, U.S. officials say Amiri has
struggled with his decision to flee Iran.

Then came the alleged threats by Iranian intelligence, which set off the bizarre battle
of dueling videos that were released earlier this month. The first, which was
broadcast on Iranian state television, shows Amiri speaking to a computer camera
and announcing that the U.S. had drugged and kidnapped him and forced him to
Tucson, Arizona.

He appeared to be looking down at a script as he spoke.

According to the two current U.S. officials, Amiri called home earlier this year because
he missed his family. On a second call, Iranian intelligence answered and threatened
to harm his son, unless he taped an internet video saying he'd been kidnapped.
Amiri, fearing for his family, agreed, according to a person briefed on the case.

"He missed his son," said the person. "And he couldn't help calling home to speak to
him."

Within days, the CIA learned that Amiri had given the Iranians a video and moved
quickly to produce a version of its own. The second video shows Amiri well-dressed
and manicured with a globe - turned to North America - and chess set behind him as
he appears to read from a teleprompter. He says, in Farsi, that he is happily living in
the U.S. and going to school. He also denied having worked in the Iranian nuclear
program and made a plea to his wife and son. "I want them to know that I never
abandoned then, and that I will always love them."

According to one U.S. official, the CIA intended to produce the video and launch it on
the internet before the Iranians had a chance to air their version.

Instead, the video languished at CIA headquarters for weeks, according to a senior
intelligence official. Then, earlier this month, Iranian state television aired the Amiri
video. Within a day, the CIA posted their Amiri video on YouTube, with a user
identification of "shahramamiri2010."

The Iranian government has since formally requested the U.S. government to return
Amiri, accusing the Americans of holding him against his will. A spokesperson for the
State department has acknowledged that the U.S. government has received the
request, but has had no further comment.