NYT:German Official Adds to Mystery of Iranian Missing in Turkey

[maddezmom]

German Official Adds to Mystery of Iranian Missing in Turkey
By SEBNEM ARSU
Published: March 14, 2007
ISTANBUL, March 13 — More than a month after a former top official in Iran’s Defense Ministry disappeared in Turkey, a German official on Tuesday stirred up the controversy over whether he had defected with the collusion of the West.

On an official visit to Ankara, the German defense minister, Franz Josef Jung, was asked about the whereabouts of the former Iranian deputy defense minister, Ali Reza Asgari, and whether he was in Germany undergoing questioning. Mr. Jung merely replied: “I cannot say anything on this issue.”

~snip~

But the official, who declined to be identified because of diplomatic protocol, was not optimistic about finding him, saying, “Every year millions of Iranians enter Turkey, so it’s impossible to keep personal records.”

The official said accounts in the news media should be viewed “as pure speculation before our collective and comprehensive investigation is finalized.” He was referring to coverage in the mainstream newspaper Hurriyet that said Mr. Asgari arrived at the Istanbul airport on Feb. 7 after moving his family to safety in Damascus, Syria. The newspaper said he was given a passport under a new name, enabling him to flee Turkey over land.

more:http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/14/world/middleeast/14tehran.html?ref=middleeast

[maddezmom]

1. Exclusive: Curveball, the Defector Whose Lies Led to War in Germany

Exclusive: Curveball, the Defector Whose Lies Led to War
March 13, 2007 1:46 PM

Brian Ross and Rhonda Schwartz Report:

The Iraqi defector known as Curveball, whose fabricated stories of "mobile biological weapons labs" helped lead the U.S. to war four years ago, is still being protected by the German intelligence service, an ABC News investigation has found.

Intelligence sources, who provided ABCNews.com with the first known photo of the man, say he has been resettled in a small town near the Munich headquarters of the German service, which has continued to honor its original commitment made when he fled Iraq in 1999.

Curveball's false tales became the centerpiece of Secretary of State Colin Powell's speech before the United Nations in February 2003, even though he was considered an "unstable, immature and unreliable" source by some senior officials at the CIA.

more:http://blogs.abcnews.com/theblotter/2007/03/exclusive_curve.html

:shrug: