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Prism

Iranian Physicist Murdered In Bomb Blast; Tehran Blames U.S., Israel

Aired January 12, 2010 - 12:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

STAN GRANT, CNN ANCHOR: An Iranian nuclear physicist killed by a targeted bombing. And Tehran is pointing a finger at the U.S. and Israel.

Former British Prime Minister Blair's press aide denies trying to sex up the case for going to war in Iraq.

And the suspected double agent who killed seven CIA employees in Afghanistan, was he truly a master of deception or is the CIA just not equipped to fight the war on terror? That is the focus of our "Prism Segment" tonight.

From CNN Abu Dhabi in United Arab Emirates, this is PRISM, where we take a story and look at it from multiple perspectives. I'm Stan Grant.

Iran is blaming the U.S. and Israel for the killing of a prominent nuclear physics professor. Massoud Ali-Mohammadi died in a bomb blast today in Tehran. A top scientist, Mohammadi, was known as a loyal supporter of the government. A group tied to the post-election violence has claimed responsibility for his death. But Iran's foreign ministry is blaming U.S., Israel and their allies for the killing.

Well, for the latest now, let's go right to Ivan Watson, at CNN New York.

Ivan, what can you tell us about this?

IVAN WATSON, CNN INT'L. CORRESPONDENT: Well, there are a lot of accusations running around. Let's stick with what we know as facts. This morning as Massoud Ali-Mohammadi, who is a lecturer in the physics department, at Tehran University, as he was going to work there was an explosion in broad daylight in North Tehran, not far from his house. He was killed in that blast. A rare, very rare, explosion of this type in the Iranian capital. This is not something we see, typically, in Iran.

Now, the accusations, now, coming from, as you mentioned, Iran foreign ministry, suggesting that the U.S., Israel, and it's so-called mercenaries in Iran, could have been responsible for they are describing as a terrorist act.

Now, we don't know a whole lot about this professor, Mohammadi. There have been conflicting claims, both by pro-government factions, and by the opposition. Which, of course, we have seen are in conflict right now in Iran and have been in conflict for months, as to which camp he could have belonged to. He has appeared in some opposition web sites, as a name on a petition, for -in support of the opposition candidate for president last June, Mir Hussein Mousavi. We can't confirm exactly the authenticity of that document.

Meanwhile some Iranian state media claim that he as strong supporter of the Iranian regime right now. The Iranian government appears to be painting this as something related to Iran's nuclear program. Last year an Iranian nuclear scientist disappeared in Saudi Arabia and Iran has accused the U.S. of kidnapping that individual. And now, this attack on what appears to be particle physicist. Now we have looked at a list of his publications at Tehran University. We have asked experts here in the U.S. to tell us whether this man could at all have been linked to Iran's nuclear program. And they say it is not entirely clear. He appears to be a particle physicist, we are not 100 percent sure whether his research could have been at all used for Iran's nuclear program, Stan.

GRANT: At the moment, any reaction from the United States? Any more reaction coming out of Iran, particularly those who are claiming responsibility for this, for this bombing?

WATSON: Well, we have had denials, blanket denials, from the U.S. State Department of any involvement in this. The senior administration official in the U.S. government calling any accusations absolutely absurd.

Some of the Iranian state media have accused Iranian exile groups of being behind this attack. And some of those groups have also denied those.

What is clear, right now, Stan, is we know that Iran society is deeply polarized. We know that Iran's government is facing a crisis of legitimacy, that it has been cracking down hard on the opposition movement and the nephew of an opposition leader was just gunned down two and a half weeks ago. But we also know that the Iranian government is facing a diplomatic battle against the U.S. and its Western allies over its nuclear program. We just don't know where this act of violence fits in yet, Stan.

GRANT: Ivan, thank you very much for that.

Ivan Watson, joining us there from New York.

Meanwhile, Iran says it's not concerned about new plans to reign in its nuclear program. Western diplomats are reportedly preparing to meet this weekend, in New York, to discuss Iran's continued intentions to enrich uranium. They are expected to discuss the possibility of tougher sanctions against Tehran, if it doesn't abandon the effort. But today a spokesman for Iran's foreign ministry said any new U.N. sanctions would not be effective. And warned this is not a constructive approach.

The media mastermind of former British Prime Minister Tony Blair's government is appearing today at the Iraqi war inquiry in London. Phil Black has more on Alastair Campbell and what he says now about the 2003 invasion of Iraq.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PHIL BLACK, CNN INT'L. CORRESPONDENT (On camera): Alastair Campbell was asked how close he was to former Prime Minister Tony Blair during his time in power.

(voice-over): His response was, "very" he admitted that he was more than a media advisor, he was part of the government's inner circle, a special advisor, he was privy and aware and involved in all the key matters of government during that time.

He was asked, at length, just when the British prime minister decided to join the United States and go to war in Iraq? And throughout, Alastair Campbell maintained that Tony Blair's first option was to try and solve the matter diplomatically. He said he believes that he was motivated to try and solve the Iraq issue without a shot being fired. He wanted Iraq to disarm, he wanted it to live up to its United Nations' obligations, but he wanted to achieve this diplomatically. War was always the final option.

Alastair Campbell was questioned at length about his role in presenting and designing the campaign, the government's case against Iraq; its evidence, in particular, a dossier of intelligence that was released by the British government in September 2002.

(On camera): He was questioned about longstanding allegations that he played a role in embellishing some of that intelligence - or sexing it up, as it became to be known - in order to allegedly exaggerate the threat posed by Iraq at that time. Those allegations were discredited by a previous inquiry, but years later, Alastair Campbell is still passion in his own defense.

ALASTAIR CAMPBELL, FMR. BRITISH COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR: I cannot stress strongly enough, in relation to anything that flows, from intelligence assessment, and I think this is very, very clear, from the memos that you refer to, both my memos to John Scarlet, and his response, that not a single one of them, at any time, sought to question, override, rewrite, let alone the gossipy sex-up phrase, the intelligence assessments, at any way, at any time, on any level.

BLACK: Some of the panel members at times tried to push Alastair Campbell and point out inconsistencies in some of the statements that he'd made over the years. Facts that they said didn't quite make sense. But throughout, Campbell was clear, calm, he was always on message and always loyal to his former boss, Tony Blair, who is due to appear at this inquiry in just a few weeks. Phil Black, CNN, London.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

GRANT: The Netherlands also supported the invasion of Iraq. Now an independent commission says that was a mistake. The group's highly critical reports says the war lacked legitimacy under international law. The investigation also revealed that the Dutch government did not properly inform parliament prior to the conflict. The committee says the Netherlands backed the war due to the perceived risk of Iraq possessing weapons of mass destruction. And to support its allies, the U.S. and Britain.

The British government is taking steps to ban an Islamist group that wants to march through an English town, a village best known for honoring soldiers killed in Afghanistan. The group Islam For You, wants to stage a protest march in Wooten-Bassett, a small market town northwest of London, near the RAF base where the bodies of service members killed in Afghanistan are returned for burial.

But the plans have created a nationwide protest. And today, Home Secretary Allan Johnson said Islam For You will be banned and its members arrested, should they try to meet.

In the aftermath of an attack on a CIA base in Afghanistan one terrorism expert is calling the episode the biggest deception ever. The December attack on the outpost in Khost Province, killed seven CIA operatives and a Jordanian intelligence officer. A former Islamic extremist, who now studies Jihadist movements, says the Jordanian doctor blamed for the suicide bombing was deceiving the CIA and Jordanian intelligence from the very beginning.

In our "Prism Segment" the CIA's role in the region, we are asking is the CIA equipped to fight the war on terror? The U.S. military's chief intelligence officer offers a bleak assessment of intelligence gathering in Afghanistan. Major General Michael Flynn writes that, "After eight years, the U.S. is still unable to answer fundamental questions about the environment in which we operate and the people we are trying to protect and persuade."

The American intelligence community is "Ignorant of local economics and landowners; hazy about who the power brokers are, and how they might be influenced."

In an exclusive interview with the commanding general in the region, CNN Chief International Correspondent Christiane Amanpour asked General David Petraeus about the root problems with intelligence in Afghanistan and what it would take to change that situation.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEN. DAVID PETRAEUS, COMMANDER, U.S. CENTCOM: Well, in fact we have not devoted the kind of resources to it that is necessary. I know what it takes. We built an intelligence structure, we built an entire organization, overall, in Iraq, to conduct counter-insurgency operations. And it requires a significant commitment. We are now making that kind of commitment to Afghanistan, but we had not before.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GRANT: With all the details that have filtered out in the past week, many in the intelligence community are asking how Humam Khalil Abu-Mulal al-Balawi managed to dupe the CIA and Jordanian intelligence. Senior International Correspondent Nic Robertson has been looking into this from Amman, Jordan.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SR. INT'L. CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): In the murky world of spying there are few rules. No right, no wrong, only shades of gray. Success is by its nature barely noticed, but failure is catastrophic.

(On camera): So how was a Jordanian doctor from here in Amman able to play double agent? Apparently outsmart his CIA handlers and prove that he was better at the deadly game of espionage.

HASSAN HANIEH, REFORMED EXTREMIST (through translator): This is the biggest deception ever of intelligence agencies, whether CIA or Jordanian intelligence, from the beginning he was deceiving them.

ROBERTSON: Hassan Hanieh should know, he was once and Islamic extremist, but not a member of Al Qaeda. He has read the bombers radical blogs and says intelligence agencies make an obvious mistake in believing Doctor Humam Abu-Mulal al-Balawi could change.

HANIEH (through translator): We have never seen, in the history of Al Qaeda, a person who changed his ideas completely in this sudden way. A person who writes jihadi stuff, then suddenly switches sides.

ALI SHUKRI, FMR. ADVISER TO KING HUSSEIN: This is always a red flag. It should always been there, for somebody who has been doing this to be turned, is not an easy thing to do.

ROBERTSON: According to Shukri, a veteran of Middle East espionage, it wasn't the only mistake intelligence agencies made. Al-Balawi was in Pakistan only a few months before offering high-grade tips. Too soon for him to be trusted by Al Qaeda.

SHUKRI: Was he really on the inside, that much on the inside, or was it a counter-intelligence operation?

ROBERTSON (On camera): Would that have been a warning sign for you?

SHUKRI: Exactly, yes.

ROBERTSON: Because he was providing apparently good information so quickly.

SHUKRI: So quickly, exactly.

ROBERTSON (voice-over): Sources familiar with intelligence operations here tell us that Al Qaeda takes at least a year to screen new recruits, check out their family background, get input from jihadists who know them.

(On camera): And Al Qaeda would never trust an outsider who had been arrested, and Al-Balawi blogged about his own arrest by Jordanian intelligence. Ignoring that, sources say, was another fatal error by the spy agencies.

(voice-over): In this picture taken two years before the attack, Al- Balawi looks calm, relaxed. But his family say he was under pressure. Sources say if he was pushed by Jordanian intelligence into infiltrating Al Qaeda, as his family believes, that made him potentially unreliable. And tempted by the possibility that Al-Balawi might lead them to Al Qaeda number two, American and Jordanian spies dropped their defenses, desperate for what he said he had to offer.

SHUKRI: Sometimes rules are broken when you've got something on a fast track. You tend to break rules, maybe this is what happened.

ROBERTSON: Another of the basic lessons of espionage. Patience and caution are everything. Nic Robertson, CNN, Amman, Jordan.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

GRANT: Jack Rice is a former CIA officer. A short time ago I asked him if the CIA is up to its role, in the war on terror?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JACK RICE, FMR. CIA OFFICER: I think they have to be, in the end if you don't have good intelligence, then everything else really falls away and that is particularly true when you are dealing with things like insurgencies. Because you have to understand not just what it is that the, quote/unquote, bad guys are doing, but what it is the people are trying to do and how they are surviving in the midst. If you have bad intelligence, then everything else really does fail behind it.

GRANT: And this is the question, is there bad intelligence? I see that you, in the past, have suggested that the new CIA, so to speak, is the old CIA with all of its failings. Why is that?

RICE: You know, you are absolutely right. Even a recent study took a look at U.S. intelligence in Afghanistan and we saw incredible failures. It has been real problem. I think what is really going on is we still don't seem to understand what it is that the people are seeing.

Look, I'm just back from Afghanistan. So, this is a simple example. What I frequently found is the focus of the U.S. and frequently NATO, too, was on fighting the Taliban, or fighting Al Qaeda. But the real problem when you are dealing with an insurgency -or anything else - it to really understand what the people want, what the people need desperately. When I un-embedded with the military, and I talked with people around Afghanistan, Kandahar, Kabul, Herat, elsewhere, near the Iranian border. What I found is that they were looking for an alternative to the Taliban. The West, NATO, U.S. is simply not giving it.

And the worst part is, is that the intelligence community strikes me as running blind to this. They don't even understand what's going on. Recent studies have proven that. And I don't know why they are not making the shift.

GRANT: Is it a resources problem? Is it a personnel problem? Is more money needed to be thrown at this problem to improve the capacity of the CIA?

RICE: I think in some ways they have had incredible resources thrown at them. After 9/11, you saw incredible amounts of money thrown at the agency. But the problem, again, I think seems to be focus. What we have seen here in the U.S. is that the CIA has been focused on fighting Al Qaeda, fighting the "bad guy", I keep saying. But the real problem with fighting the bad guy is if all you do is alienate all of the people around you, when you do it, it makes things far worse.

I can even reference something that General McChrystal said, who is essentially running all force in Afghanistan, Western forces in Afghanistan. And as he described it, this way, even the Taliban is not a finite number. SO the more people you go after, the more people you kill, potentially, the more enemy that you create. The agency doesn't seem to be able to get this through their heads, that the more that they are doing right now, in terms of that focus, the more it may actually hurt the entire mission in the big picture.

GRANT: So is their job made all the more difficult now, because of that recent attack in Afghanistan, killing CIA officers, does that just give an indication of how dangerous it is, how difficult it is, and how difficult it is to create these connections, to improve intelligence?

RICE: Without question. And again, I've been very up close and personal as a reporter on this. So, as I was embedded with the 82 Airborne, the U.S. Army, when I was imbedded with the 10th Mountain Division in Iraq and elsewhere around the world, I have seen the very same thing. Here is the difference between what the military does, whether they are U.K., whether they are Pakistani, whether or not they are U.S., is that the military can stay at arm's length. And I mean much further than that if you are in the military, if you are fighting an adversary.

On the other hand, if you are the intelligence community, if you are CIA, if you are MI6, if you are Pakistani ISA, you have to get very up close and personal. You need to be face-to-face with those who you are trying to recruit. That makes it, by its very nature, extremely dangerous.

Now, with seven dead CIA officers, maybe some of the best that the agency actually had, in some ways some have argued that the military - it was running blind, now with even less intelligence than before, they may be blind and deaf.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

GRANT: Jack Rice, there, former CIA officer.

Well, finally, another former CIA operative offers his advice in an opinion piece on CNN.com. Charles Faddis writes, "What is required is an organization with significantly higher standards, stronger leadership, and much more rigorous training. What we need is an outfit focused on mission accomplishment and built around operators not bureaucrats."

And tomorrow we'll look at how popular Al Qaeda is in the Middle East. Send us your thoughts on Twitter at CNNAbuDhabi.

A tournament goes on despite tragedy. That attack on Togo's football team raises concerns. What does it all mean for the World Cup in South Africa?

And the clean up continues in Argentina after strong wind and hail manage to make a mess. We'll bring you the latest and we'll take a look at your look at your worldwide weather picture.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

GRANT: Welcome back.

The Africa Cup of Nations football tournament goes on in Angola, that is after Friday's gun attack killed three people and sent the Togo team home before it even played. But there is a cloud of questions surrounding the tournament, the security provided and what threats remain, particularly for the World Cup this summer in South Africa?

Well, for more we go now to our own Nkepile Mabuse in Johannesburg - Nkepile.

NKEPILE MABUSE, CNN INT'L. CORRESPONDENT: Stan, you know, the local organizing committee here for the World Cup feels that it has been unfairly treated. That is how South Africa has been unfairly treated by those who are questioning its ability to host a safe World Cup because of what happened in Angola. That machine gun attack on the Togo on Friday.

And Danny Jordaan, its CEO was saying today that if something happens in Italy, would it cast doubt on Germany? So Africa should also be treated the same. He says that South Africa's record speaks for itself. This country, he says, has hosted over 140 major events, international tournaments, included, without a single security breach.

You know that the Africa Cup of Nations has been hosted by South Africa before. South Africa has also hosted the rugby world cup and at the moment, the English cricket team is in South Africa. So he is saying that they have proven themselves and people shouldn't doubt this country's ability to host a safe and efficient World Cup. Let's just take a listen to what Danny Jordaan said today.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DANNY JORDAAN, CEO, WORLD CUP ORGANIZING CMTE.: It is not just confined to Angola. It has happened over many, many events, as you have indicated. And therefore, hosting countries must make sure that you have a strong security plan and that you work with the international security agencies and international governments. It is an unfortunate reality.

As I've indicated you just saw the incident in the United States, in relation to the plane arriving there. So, this is unfortunately a reality of our lives, but what we can say, is that South Africa has shown its capacity to deal with this issue since 1994 and has not had a single breach.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MABUSE: He said South Africa is continuously evaluating its security measures for the World Cup and they are confident that they will be able to keep everybody, players, and spectators, safe, Stan.

GRANT: Thank you, Nkepile. Thank you very much for that.

Nkepile Mabuse, joining us live there, from Johannesburg.

Strong winds and hail make a mess in Buenos Aires. We will show you what the storms left behind. We'll look at the global weather picture. That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

GRANT: Time now to take a look at the global weather picture with Mari Ramos at the CNN World Weather Center.

Hi, Mari.

MARI RAMOS, CNN GLOBAL METEOROLOGIST: Hello, Stan.

We are going to start in South America this time around. And across northern Argentina people woke up to the sound of thunder and lightning and very strong wind and rain.

Take a look at the aftermath. Once the sun came out it was evident that this was a pretty intense weather system. The line of strong thunderstorms moved across the area around 3 or 3:30 in the morning, depending on the location. And it did cause some severe damage, roofs were blown off, homes were and business, as you can see from these images here. Trees came down and crews were busy in the early morning hours trying to clear roadways and streets, there, that were littered by these dozens and dozens of tree branches. And you can see damages to homes as well.

On top of that, they had very heavy rain. They are estimating the winds were in excess of 80, maybe 100 kilometers per hour. This is part of a large weather system and if you come back over to the weather map I'll show you what we're talking about, over here.

Moving across northern Argentina you can see the temperatures are rather warm, 24 in Buenos Aires, 31 in Asuncion, in Paraguay, farther to the north. Well, it is going to be in this area. As that cold front moves on through, that we could see these storms again regenerating. And there are some warnings in place for the northern Argentinean provinces here, and now into Uruguay, where you could see some heavy rain as well, in southeastern Brazil.

As the storm continues to move on, of course, this heating of the day really starts to get going. We are in summer, after all, in this part of the world.

I want to take you to North America and of course here we are in winter and what a winter it has been so far. Here in British Columbia, you know what, this is going to be the host of the 2010 Winter Olympics, Stan, and they have had temperatures up to 10 degrees above average for this time of year. They have only one night that the temperature fell below 32 degrees Fahrenheit, 0 degrees Celsius. And that means that they haven't had too much snow. They had record-setting snow last month and now this month it is all melting. Even some of the skiing and snowboarding areas are closed.

And there are so concerned that they are not going to have enough snow that they have it in storage. They have actually put away snow, on the side of mountains to actually be able to use it for the Olympics. And I guess they say they can make some, too, as they head up closer to that time of year.

But the temperature in Vancouver right now, again, above average, by 10 degrees, and rain. Back to you.

GRANT: What an irony. There is snow everywhere except where want it, to hold the Olympics.

RAMOS: I know!

GRANT: Incredible. Thank you for that, Mari.

RAMOS: Sure.

GRANT: And that's it for me, Stan Grant, in Abu Dhabi. "WORLD'S UNTOLD STORIES" coming up next.

END