Well, now you can play at being Smiley!

Suppose that you have just been 'tapped up', frightfully discreetly, of course, at your club - no, no, not the British Legion Club, and certainly not the Diamond Spangles Club for Men Only, I mean your very private but up-market gentlemen's club just off St. James - by a smooth, anonymous chap with Old Etonian written all over him, who invites you to head up MI6.  Naturally you accept but with some premonitions of doubt when you are told that your predecessor was the canny, shrewd, old veteran, George Smiley.  Never mind, you say, let's give it a try!

The first report you receive is, of course, stamped TOP SECRET despite the fact that the whole thing has appeared in today's American Thinker.  The source is 'Reza Kahlili', not his real name, naturally, because he is an Iranian who was a member of the Revolutionary Guards and who was also a source for the opposition - ooops, sorry, I mean - our allies, the CIA.  Anyway, he brings news of big splits in the Iranian hierarchy:

Many within the Revolutionary Guards, the very force that has protected the clerical regime since its inception in 1979, have become disgruntled.  Former high commanders have publicly criticized Khamenei, something that courts execution, as the regime's clerics have stated that obeying the supreme leader is like obeying Allah; those disobeying him will be considered a "Mohareb," an enemy of God, and therefore killed as justified under Islam.

Former senior Revolutionary Guard commander Hossein Alaei, in an op-ed in a state-owned newspaper, openly criticized the Islamic leadership for suppressing the people and not allowing criticism of the supreme leader and of the direction of the country.  He came immediately under attack by Khamenei's supporters, the piece was pulled from the paper's website, and radicals attacked his home.

The report goes on to list several other members of the ruling hierarchy who appear to be very dissatisfied with the Iranian leadership and who are prepared to risk all in saying so .  The point is, as an intelligence officer, how do you evaluate this report?

I ask the question because it is one that faces every intelligence officer practically everyday.  Of course, the news he brings is very welcome to our ears because such splits might presage a change of government in Iran.  On the other hand, we all know to our cost at the end of the Iraq war that intelligence sources like to tell their handlers what their handlers want to know!  And in turn, the handlers themselves like even better to tell their political masters what they want to know, especially if it means a knighthood and possibly even a seat in the Lords.  Just think, you could become Lord 'M' of 'I6' - very mysterious!

'Reza Kahlili's report is of interest but exactly how much weight one would give it is a matter of controversy, I feel.

 

Comments

[Whyaxye]

Two points.

1). "the Diamond Spangles Club for Men Only". How the hell did you find out, DD? Have your team been following me again?

2) Never trust anything an Iranian says. They all have a relationship to the truth which is unnecessarily convoluted and related to their sense of pride.

[David Duff]

1) My spies are everywhere - now, will someone get this bloody white cat off my lap!

2) Actually, you should never trust any intelligence source whatever his nationality. Confirmation by other means is essential and even then you can't be absolutely certain!

[JK]

Wonder if the fellow is a cousin to:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Curveball_(informant)

Or:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ahmed_Chalabi

What's your Tony Blair up to these days David?

[David Duff]

Possibly 'brothers under the skin', JK. And Blair is making zillions but I doubt he is paying much tax on it!

[Andrew Duffin]

"...radicals attacked his home..."

So...people who defend one of the two or three most backward, primitive, and conservative regimes in the world* are now known as radicals?

Blimey.

* The others being Afghanistan and North Korea.

[David Duff]

Don't forget Liverpool!