Seized Iran militant 'confesses' to US help offer

Holy Crap this is the guy you are all defending!

Born in 1979[2], Born in 1979[2], Abdolmalek Rigi is from the Regi tribe who are an ethnic Baloch people. Prior to founding Jundallah, while a teenager, Rigi was convicted of assault with a knife, for which he served time in prison.[3]

Although lacking any formal secular education[3] , Rigi had been educated at Karachi’s Binnori Town seminary, a Sunni Madrasah which was school to many of the Taliban leaders. [4]

Rigi and his group have been the main cause of the killing of civilians in Iran in recent years. In 2006 Rigi and his group blocked the Zabol - Zahedan road in eastern Iran and killed 22 civilians who were passengers of vehicles using the road, just before the New Years' holidays. A list of other attacks and insurgencies of the group can be found on the Jundallah article.

In recent years, there has been considerable controversy over their support and international ties. Jundallah is believed by many experts to be linked to Al-Qaeda[5]. There are also claims that Jundallah has had contact with the US government and receives funding from Baluchi Iranians abroad.[6]

Dan Rather, on the US cable channel HDnet's television news magazine Dan Rather Reports, interviewed Rigi and showed a video of Rigi personally cutting off a captive's head. In the same interview, Rigi described himself as "an Iranian" and denied that his goal is to form a separate Baluch state. He claimed that his goal is to "improve conditions for ethnic Baluchis", and that his group is "fighting exclusively for the rights of Sunni Muslims in Iran"[7][8] According to the IRIB, Rigi "is personally responsible for the death and injuries to more than 50 Baluchi Iranians."[9] Abdolmalek Rigi has accused and criticized Sunni Ulemas of Balochistan for supporting the Iranian government against him and his group.[citation needed]

On April 2, 2007, Abdolmalek Rigi appeared on the Persian service of Voice of America, the official broadcasting service of the United States government, which identified Rigi as "the leader of popular Iranian resistance movement" and used the title of "Doctor" with his name. This incidence resulted in public condemnation by the Iranian-American community in the U.S, many of whom are opponents of the Iranian government, as well as the Iranian government.[10][11]

According to a former hostage, Rigi never slept in one place for two consecutive nights and did not shake hands with other people without wearing gloves. He is also reported to emulate Al-Zarqawi in his conduct and videos of hostage executions.[3] It has also been reported that he has killed his brother's wife, shooting her to death while she was asleep.[12][13][14]

The Iranian newspaper Kayhan incorrectly reported on 7 April 2005, "Abdolmalek Rigi, leader of the terrorist group, the Jundullah... was killed in an operation on the border with Afghanistan."[15] A video surfaced on 11 April showing Rigi alive.[16] Rigi's brother Abdulhamid Rigi has accused his brother to be working with Americans against Iran.[17]

3]

Wikipedia

Wow this is too classic!

Politics sure do make strange bedfellows!

So tell me guys are there any other people who cut off heads for Dan Rather to witness you feel a odd need to help keep from being persecuted!

Geeze, I love a good laugh but my sides are about to burst here, stop already!



[edit on 1/3/10 by ProtoplasmicTraveler]

reply to post by ProtoplasmicTraveler

Holy Crap this is the guy you are all defending!

Who's defending? Not I...

If he's going to play the game, he gets what he gets.

I do not care what happens to him.

Originally posted by LadySkadi
reply to post by ProtoplasmicTraveler

 

Holy Crap this is the guy you are all defending!

Who's defending? Not I...

If he's going to play the game, he gets what he gets.

I do not care what happens to him.

Well though I must confess I much more admire your Blue Dress Avatar I don't consider you one of the guys!

I just find it very odd that a couple of posters believed this man to be unfairly singled out by the Iranian Government.

He's clearly a murderer and not even thought of too highly by Iranian-Americans who would like to see an end to the Theocracy in Iran.

Wow this thread has been embarassingly light on research.

Be Well!

Originally posted by December_Rain
reply to post by nenothtu

 

Hi I just checked the links both are working perfectly fine. Anyway here is the article

It could have been my script blocker not wanting to play nice with Yahoo, or some other arcane secret of the inner workings of this machine. Thanks for posting the article in full, and when I tried the link in that post, it worked for me.

Who knows why Windows does what it does sometimes?

Anyhow, after reviewing the full article, I'm somewhat less convinced of the veracity of Mr. Rigi than I was before. Some things don't add up.

Rigi's arrest, which Iran touted as a blow to the United States and Britain, came as Tehran faces pressure by world powers and the threat of tougher sanctions over its controversial nuclear programme.

I hadn't really considered this, and had to slap myself upside the head. The timing DOES seem to suggest a diversionary tactic. Not that it COULDN'T be so, but it raised the needle on the meter just a bit.

The Americans "said they would cooperate with us and will give me military equipment," Rigi said in a pre-recorded statement broadcast on Iran's state-run English-language Press TV.

Again, I've seen no evidence of this promised equipment. Maybe the Iranians are holding it in reserve, for evidence at trial? I know that when we were supporting the mujahideen against the Soviets, the promised equipment was pouring over the border by the donkey-load, and there was no shortage of it. However, for purposes of plausible deniability, the bulk of it was Egyptian, Chinese, etc. Some things, however had to be US made, since there just weren't any acceptable alternatives.

"They also promised to give us a base along the border with Afghanistan near Iran," said the ringleader, stubble-faced, wearing blue prison pyjamas and speaking in Farsi.

That I could believe. It's the most likely place for a base, and I would imagine where the bulk of such activity, whoever the players, would be.

Rigi was seized on Tuesday after Iranian warplanes reportedly forced a flight from Dubai to Kyrgyzstan to land in Iran.

Well now, THAT just wasn't very nice, forcing down an international overflight!

Rigi said in his taped statement that he was on his way to meet a "high-ranking American person" in Kyrgyzstan.

This bothers me a bit. Kyrgyzstan? When there are so many better, closer places which are at least as secure? Why go through Dubai, when Kyrgyzstan is just north of Afghanistan, where I hear there are just boatloads of Americans at the moment? I was under the impression that Kyrgyzstan had closed that base and thrown us out, a tiff ostensibly over the amount of rent we were paying, which was alleged to lead back to Putin being ill at ease with a US base in a Russian satellite country. I reckon I must have been misinformed in that.

He added Americans met him in Pakistan around March 2009 and had also sought a meeting "after the last major operation we took part in."

That would be a far more logical location for a meeting than Kyrgyzstan. They could get right to work transporting those military supplies.

"The Americans said Iran was going its own way and they said our problem at present is Iran... not Al-Qaeda nor the Taliban," Rigi said.

Troubling, given that the US is still engaged with the other two foes mentioned, and has just begun this most recent offensive. Perhaps Iran seeks to build it's prestige as "US enemy number one"? I've heard it said that we are known as much by who our enemies are as who our friend are.

Washington dismissed as "totally bogus" claims on Tuesday by Iranian Intelligence Minister Heydar Moslehi that Rigi had been issued an Afghan passport by the "Americans" and had met a NATO military chief in Afghanistan.

Now, with all these prior meetings Rigi and the Iranians mention - Afghanistan - Pakistan - Dubai - Iraq, etc, It seems that some of that military hardware should have already begun to flow. One thing is for sure, this Rigi gent sure does get around!

Soon after the October bombing, Revolutionary Guards chief Mohammad Ali Jafari demanded Islamabad hand over Rigi because Tehran had "proof" he was backed by Pakistan's intelligence agency.

US is backing him. Pakistan is backing him. Britain is backing him. Mossad is backing Jundullah. With all this backing, where is the help these people are giving? Where is something concrete to show, beyond a "confession"?

Pakistan's ambassador to Tehran, Mohammad Abbasi, said earlier this week Islamabad had helped to capture Rigi and that he was detained outside Pakistan. He gave no further details.

All right now. Is Pakistan backing Rigi, or are they backing Iran? To be honest here, I've known the ISI to hedge their bets by backing EVERYONE, so as to insure coming out on the winning side. This, then, could be so. Confusing, but so.

Rigi, "who came from Kabul and carried on to Kyrgyzstan, stopped over for two hours at Dubai airport and did not use his visa to enter in Dubai," it said in a statement.

See I'm still having a little bit of trouble trying to figure out why this fellow, with all these high-level US contacts, couldn't just hop a military or CIA flight from Afghanistan straight to Kyrgyzstan. That would have been much more efficient. CIA has all manner of air assets, if they were negotiating with him and the USAF was just too busy to fly to their base in Kyrgyzstan. Assuming he just HAD to leave the Americans in Kabul to go to Kyryzsan for some meeting involving the Americans.

Add: IF Iran were "US enemy number one", and IF they CIA had their fair-haired boy in the person of Rigi, and IF all these previous meetings had come up dry, with no support agreed upon, it seems that CIA would have been inclined to run a dedicated flight on a priority basis to get Mr. Rigi to his meeting in Kyrgyzstan with this "important" American official.

On Wednesday, an Iranian prosecutor said Rigi would be put on public trial in Sistan-Baluchestan.

That should prove enlightening, one way or another. At the very least it should be entertaining. Maybe they can release these photos they claim to have of Rigi meeting with CIA in Iraq during this trial?

Those photos would be a LOT more interesting than a mere dry claim of having such photos.

Can't wait for the trial. I may subscribe to an Iranian PressTV satellite feed just for the occaision!

Edit: spelling and such.

2nd edit: To add another of my rambling, random thoughts.

[edit on 2010/3/2 by nenothtu]

Did the U.S. Have Contact With Terror Group That Attacked Iran? Posted Monday, March 01, 2010 3:50 PM

After Abdolmalek Rigi—the suspected leader of the anti-Iranian jihadist group Jundullah—was arrested by Iranian authorities last week, he made a startling public claim: the Obama administration offered to give his group money and munitions to help in their efforts to undermine the government of Iran. Obama administration officials say Rigi is making up stories. They insist the United States has never had a relationship with Jundullah, a little-known group of Sunni jihadists based along Pakistan’s border with Iran. The group has carried out deadly bombing attacks that have killed hundreds of Iranian soldiers and civilians. Yet there appears to be at least some brief history between the U.S. and Junduallah. Declassified has learned that several years ago, the group did in fact try to cut a deal with U.S. officials—but were rebuffed. A former U.S. intelligence official said that soon after the 9/11 attacks, a top Jundullah operative, claiming to be acting on Rigi's authority, approached CIA representatives in Pakistan and told them the group would help the U.S. against both Iran and Al Qaeda. According to the former U.S. official—who like others cited in this article asked for anonymity when talking about sensitive information—the Jundullah operative proposed that the group would kidnap leaders of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard and Al Qaeda and turn them over to the Americans. U.S. officials flatly rejected any relationship with the group, said the former official. But the official did say that the door was left slightly ajar in case Jundullah really did capture important Al Qaeda operatives. That never happened. Jundullah has become the focus of news stories following Rigi’s reported capture. Iranian state-run television broadcast what it claimed was Rigi’s confession. On camera, Rigi said, that the Obama administration promised him unlimited military aid and funding for an insurgency against Iran's embattled clerical regime. "After Obama was elected, the Americans contacted us and they met me in Pakistan,” Rigi told his Iranian interviewers.

Link

This is the most recent newsweek article I found. Note that after Obama was elected the Americans contacted this group and met Rigi in Pakistan. At least Rigi claims this. This is a good article and this was the first place I believed the content and link should go.

ABC News Exclusive: The Secret War Against Iran April 03, 2007 5:25 PM

A Pakistani tribal militant group responsible for a series of deadly guerrilla raids inside Iran has been secretly encouraged and advised by American officials since 2005, U.S. and Pakistani intelligence sources tell ABC News. The group, called Jundullah, is made up of members of the Baluchi tribe and operates out of the Baluchistan province in Pakistan, just across the border from Iran. It has taken responsibility for the deaths and kidnappings of more than a dozen Iranian soldiers and officials. U.S. officials say the U.S. relationship with Jundullah is arranged so that the U.S. provides no funding to the group, which would require an official presidential order or "finding" as well as congressional oversight. Tribal sources tell ABC News that money for Jundullah is funneled to its youthful leader, Abd el Malik Regi, through Iranian exiles who have connections with European and Gulf states.

Notice the date of the two articles. This was from 2007 and the other one was from March 1st 2010. The link to this article can be found in the first article I posted. I find it curious how in the 2007 article they mention not providing funding to the group because it would require an official presidential finding as well as congressional oversight. In the 2010 article Rigi claims that as soon as Obama came to office they were contacted.

The leader, Regi, claims to have personally executed some of the Iranians. "He used to fight with the Taliban. He's part drug smuggler, part Taliban, part Sunni activist," said Alexis Debat, a senior fellow on counterterrorism at the Nixon Center and an ABC News consultant who recently met with Pakistani officials and tribal members. "Regi is essentially commanding a force of several hundred guerrilla fighters that stage attacks across the border into Iran on Iranian military officers, Iranian intelligence officers, kidnapping them, executing them on camera," Debat said. Most recently, Jundullah took credit for an attack in February that killed at least 11 members of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard riding on a bus in the Iranian city of Zahedan. Last month, Iranian state television broadcast what it said were confessions by those responsible for the bus attack. They reportedly admitted to being members of Jundullah and said they had been trained for the mission at a secret location in Pakistan. The Iranian TV broadcast is interspersed with the logo of the CIA, which the broadcast blamed for the plot.

I messed up and said both were from abc and had to edit. Also I wanted to add that second part in case no one wanted to go to the link, we have it here and it is damn interesting. Both parts are from the same article and external source link.



[edit on 2-3-2010 by jackflap]