Mousavi, Celebrated in Iranian Protests, Was the Butcher of Beirut

[Sweet and Spicy]

CQ Politics
By Jeff Stein | June 22, 2009

He may yet turn out to be the avatar of Iranian democracy, but three decades ago Mir-Hossein Mousavi was waging a terrorist war on the United States that included bloody attacks on the U.S. embassy and Marine Corps barracks in Beirut.

Mousavi, prime minister for most of the 1980s, personally selected his point man for the Beirut terror campaign, Ali Akbar Mohtashemi-pur, and dispatched him to Damascus as Iran's ambassador, according to former CIA and military officials.


The ambassador in turn hosted several meetings of the cell that would carry out the Beirut attacks, which were overheard by the National Security Agency.

"We had a tap on the Iranian ambassador to Lebanon," retired Navy Admiral James "Ace" Lyons related by telephone Monday. In 1983 Lyons was deputy chief of Naval Operations, and deeply involved in the events in Lebanon.

"The Iranian ambassador received instructions from the foreign minister to have various groups target U.S. personnel in Lebanon, but in particular to carry out a 'spectacular action' against the Marines," said Lyons.

Read more: http://blogs.cqpolitics.com/spytalk/2009/06/mousavi-celebrated-in-iranian.html

[Oregone]

1. Dont you poison my romantic revolution

[Tarheel_Dem]

2. 30 years ago? Perhaps Mousavi had a change of heart from three decades ago?

This sounds like some Bill Ayres hype to me. A lot of us are much different today than we were thirty years ago.

[Sweet and Spicy]

3. 20 years ago, too

From the article: "Lyons, sometimes called "the father" of the Navy SEALs' Red Cell counter-terror unit, also fingered Mousavi for the 1988 truck bombing of the U.S. Navy's Fleet Center in Naples, Italy, that killed five persons, including the first Navy woman to die in a terrorist attack. "

[Tarheel_Dem]

5. Well, I remember the president, in one his first statements, saying that

we should let the process play itself out, because a change in Iran's government may not be the change a lot of us are expecting (or something to that effect). Perhaps this is what he meant.

[balantz]

4. He ain't no angel. I'm concerned for the Iranians because it looks like they think he's a good guy.

Was it because they had few choices? Are they misinformed? Do they just want any kind of CHANGE?

[Karenina]

23. How very white of you. Concern noted. n/t

[balantz]

27. No problem. n/t

[MarjorieG]

6. Also part of Iran-Contra illegalities.

[libodem]

7. Iran/Contra you say?

Very interesting.

[Recursion]

10. Iran/Contra was what got Rafsanjani & his crew out of power in the first place

It was actually a bigger scandal over there than it ended up being over here.

[BridgeTheGap]

12. Swept under the rug here... n.t

[Turborama]

8. So, khamenei/Ahmadinejad would be your preferred option?

[Sweet and Spicy]

9. No, but if Mousavi killed Americans, he should be prosecuted

The article says he is the main suspect on the killing of the first US. Navy woman to die in a terrorist attack. Shouldn't we prosecute him so that he pay for that action, if it's proven that he's guilty?

[Turborama]

11. Who would be your preferred option, then?

Besides...

"He was prime minister," Lyons said of Mousavi, "so he didn't get down to the details at the lowest levels. "But he was in a principal position and had to be aware of what was going on."

Maybe, maybe not. You've only got the opinions of the men in that article to go by, who might have a bit of a personal grudge against him for all we know. If it's true and there's evidence to prove it, why isn't there an international arrest warrant ordered against him?

This is reminiscent of Sarah Palin going after William Ayers during the election.

[Sweet and Spicy]

14. In this thread, I don't seek to pick sides

I seek to urge the government to go ahead and investigate this incident, if it hasn't done so, because a very high official has him as the main suspect in this bombing.

[Turborama]

15. LOL You "don't seek to pick sides" in this thread

Yet the topic of the thread you started is titled:

Mousavi, Celebrated in Iranian Protests, Was the Butcher of Beirut

Give me a break. It's obvious what your agenda is.

[Sweet and Spicy]

16. Does my title suggest that Ahmedinejad is a good guy?

When did I compare Ahmedinejad to Mousavi?

Quick guess: never.

[Turborama]

17. Well, seeing as you avoided my question...

Why are you so reluctant to tell us who your preferred option is?

[Sweet and Spicy]

18. First I'd like to know why you falsely stated that I picked sides

Can we safely state that you jumped the gun?

Your eagerness to make me pick between a suspected murderer and a holocaust denier is interesting.
Would you tell the family of the Navy woman that you are rooting for the man suspected of killing her?

[Turborama]

20. What a weird attempt at emotionalizing this.

I'm not 'rooting' for anyone other than the Iranian people. Whoever they decide to be their president is up to them.

However, I agree with the posters on #13 & #19 below, this isn't just about the rigged election any more.

[IndianaGreen]

25. Who ordered the US Navy to shell the Shia neighborhoods of Beirut?

Let's start hanging some of our former Presidents first.

[ginnyinWI]

13. This revolt isn't so much about Mousavi

It's about an overall discontent with the regime, the suppression, the constraints the people have been under. The younger people are now educated and have clearly outgrown their current form of government and are crying out for a change.

If somehow they would get Mousavi, that wouldn't be enough for long. They want the same freedoms as Western countries.

[Uncle Joe]

19. I agree, this isn't about Mousavi, it's about the people of Iran and their

yearning for a legitimate democracy representing their will.

[bertman]

22. Could it simply be a domestic power struggle? Seems to me that some of the ayatollahs

are not happy with the way things are going in Iran and may be fomenting this as a means of changing the leadership to one more favorable to their side, but not necessarily one that will significantly change the politics in the country.

[Prometheus Bound]

21. Signs Mousavi's rebel stature being eroded in Iran

By BRIAN MURPHY – 44 minutes ago

CAIRO (AP) — Mir Hossein Mousavi is still nominally the guiding force of the fury over Iran's disputed election. But there are ample signs his rebel stature is being eroded by his hesitation to shift from campaigner to street agitator as his supporters challenge security forces.

.....What's still missing, however, are clear signals from Mousavi.

He left many followers bewildered with twin messages this week. He called on his backers to maintain the cries to annul the election results that showed a landslide victory for Ahmadinejad. But he also declared full respect for Iran's Islamic system and even described as "our brothers" the pro-regime militias who have beaten demonstrators and been blamed by protesters for gunning down marchers last week.

Other indications point to a drift away from Mousavi.

The ribbons and banners of his "green wave" election campaign have been much less conspicuous at recent marches and clashes. The chants were less about Mousavi's demand for a new election and more about general outrage toward the ruling establishment, including once unimaginable denunciations of supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5irFQnr5TZ41eoqFJ384_FVgezb4gD990JF202

[IndianaGreen]

24. Who lobbed those 16-inch shells on Beirut's Shia neighborhoods?

Our hands are not clean! Our Marines paid with their lives for the stupid decisions made by our political leaders, just as our soldiers did in Somalia 10 years later. Our heroes get buried while the policy makers responsible for their deaths go on to publish their memoirs or get rewarded with the Medal of Freedom.

[bemildred]

26. Sounds like a guy I wouldn't want to mess with. nt

[Vidar]

28. Thought that title more properly belonged to Ariel Sharon.