[MUSIC].
From Pacifica,[COUGH], this is Democracy 
Now.
>> The MEK is an organization of Iranians,
both inside Iran and outside Iran, that 
opposes the current regime, favors
government in Iran. 
That is organized along democratic,
secular, non-nuclear lines, a democratic, 
secular, non-nuclear republic.
And I should add, this not one of the few 
organization of Iranians that fit that
description. 
It is quite the fact the only one.
>> Our men in Iran?
New revelation. 
The Bush administration secretly trained
an Iranian opposition group on the State 
Department's list of foreign terrorists.
We'll speak with Pulitzer Prize winning 
journalist Seymour Hersh of the New
Yorker magazine. 
Then to Egypt, Omar Suleiman, Mubarak's
long time spy chief, has announced he's 
running for president, sparking alarm and
outrage. 
[MUSIC] .
>> [FOREIGN] I call all fellow presidential
candidates to sit together. 
We have to work together to save the
democracy, and protect the revolution 
from the return of Mubarak Number 2.
>> We'll speak with Democracy Now
correspondent, Sharif Abdel Kouddous . 
He's just back from Cairo to accept the
Izzy Award, named for IF Stone. 
For his reporting on the Egyptian
Revolution. 
All that and more coming up.
[MUSIC] Welcome to Democracy Now, 
democracynow.org, the War and Peace
Report. 
I'm Amy Goodman.
Hopes of a United Nations sponsored cease 
fire in Syria are receding.
As Syrian troops continue to show the 
city of Humps in the northern village of
Mariya. 
The French Foreign Ministry said Syria's
promises to implement a cease fire plan 
are quote blatant an unacceptable lie.
As the dead line for Damascus to 
implement the cease fire plan crafted by
UN Arab League Envoy Kofi Annan rundown. 
Syria demanded guarantees from the former
United Nations chief that armed 
insurgents would honor a truce.
The rebel Free Syrian Army has said it 
will cease fire only if convinced that
Bashar al-Assad's forces have pulled 
back.
On Monday, at least five people, 
including two Turkish citizens, were
wounded by cross-border fire into the 
Syrian refugee camp in Turkey.
Another neighbor of Syria's, Lebanon 
condemn the killing of a local journalist
by Syrian soldiers firing over the border 
Monday.
Ali Shaaban worked as a cameraman for 
Lebanon's Al Jadeed television channel.
Salal Abu Mujahid is director of TV 
operations at the station.
>> He's a martyr for all the media he's
another martyr for all photo journalist 
and for the country.
As a television station, we are proud 
that we had a member in our team like
him. 
May God bless his soul.
>> In other news from Syria, Human Rights
Watch has released video of a the Syrian 
refugee describing military attacks on
civilians.
>> And in front of us, they started to beat 
them with the butt of their Kalashnikovs.
They started beating their bodies, their 
legs and their heads.
After they tortured them and all that, a 
general and lieutenant general came and
gave the order to open fire on the 
soldiers dissenting from Syrian army.
They started to shoot at them. 
There were about four soldiers, and each
shot about 30 bullets.
>> On Monday, Human Rights Watch released a 
report titled In Cold blood.
Summary executions by Syrian security 
forces and pro-government militias.
This is Tom Porteous of Human Rights 
Watch.
These are very serious abuses. 
They are violations of international
human rights law. 
and it's it's, it's, it's, it's a
complete shame that this kind of thing 
is, is taking place.
Some of the incidents that we've 
documented are really quite
blood-curdling. 
US military officials have quietly
admitted the US Special Operations Forces 
will continue to conduct night raids on
Afghan homes without the approval of the 
Afghan government.
The admission comes just days after the 
United States and Afghanistan signed an
agreement placing restrictions on the 
raids.
Navy commander John Kirby admitted 
Monday, US Special Operations Forces can
still carry out searches and detain 
Afghan residents without a warrant from
the Afghan government. 
The European court of Human Rights has
ruled Brittian can send 5 suspects to the 
United States to face terrorism charges.
Lawyers for the suspects had argued their 
human rights could be breached if they
were convicted in the United States. 
But the court decided sending the men to
high security US prisons would be lawful 
and they would not received inhuman and
degrading treatment. 
Huffington Post reporting a federal
bankruptcy judge in Louisiana has ordered 
Wells Fargo to pay $3.1 million in
punitive damages, one of the biggest 
fines ever for mortgage servicing
misconduct. 
Judge Elizabeth Magner characterized
Wells Fargo's behavior as highly 
reprehensible.
She wrote quote. 
Wells Fargo has taken advantage of
borrowers who rely on it to accurately 
apply payments and calculate the amounts
owed. 
But perhaps more disturbing is Wells
Fargo's refusal to voluntarily correct 
its errors.
A new report by a Citizens for Tax 
Justice has revealed the names of 26
major US corporations that paid no 
federal income tax between 2008 and 2011.
The list includes General Electric, 
Verizon Communications, Boeing, PG & E,
Duke Energy, and Con Ed. 
A Pakistani lawyer who represents victims
of US drone strikes has been forced to 
cancel a trip to the United States after
the US government failed to grant him a 
visa.
Shahzad Akbar was scheduled to speak at 
an international drone summit in
Washington DC later this month. 
Akbar's co-founder of the Pakistani human
rights organization Foundation for 
fundamental rights.
He filed the first case in Pakistan on 
behalf of family members of civilian
victims.
>> I think people are scared, they're 
definitely scared of seeing some people.
I've seen, I've interviewed some 
neighbors whose next door house was hit.
And I could feel that what's, what they 
are feeling because they are feeling this
imminent threat and they are actually 
feeling helpless at the same time because
they have no other place to relocate. 
Because they have a lot of them have no
skills, the no education, so they cannot 
can take, cannot relocate in any other
part of Pakistan.
>> While Shahzad Akbar has traveled to the 
United States in the past He's not been
granted permission to return since 
becoming an outspoken critic of drone
attacks in Pakistan. 
The special prosecutor investigating the
shooting death of the unarmed Florida 
youth, Trayvon Martin, has ruled out
using a grand jury in the case. 
Meaning her office alone will decide
whether to charge shooter George 
Zimmerman with a crime.
The decision means Zimmerman will not be 
charged with first degree murder, a
serious charge that would indicate the 
crime was premeditated and would require
the convening of a Grand Jury in Florida. 
The special prosecutor, Angela Cory said
her decision, quote, should not be 
considered a factor in the final
determination of the case. 
Meanwhile, George Zimmerman has launched
his own website in an attempt to raise 
money for what he described as his living
experiences and legal defense. 
The site contains photo's of pro
Zimmerman slogans including a sign at a 
rally by Koran burning Pastor Terry
Jones. 
And a photo of a vandalized black
cultural center at Ohio State University 
where someone spray painted the words,
Long Live Zimmerman. 
Every page on Zimmerman's website
includes this quote from Edmund Burke, 
the only thing necessary for the triumph
of evil is for good men to do nothing. 
In media news a Fox affiliate in Florida
is facing criticism after referring to a 
neo Nazi group as a quote, civil rights
group, in a report about Trevon Martin's 
killing.
Here is part of the Fox report that 
includes an interview with Jeff Schoep of
the National Socialist Movement.
>> There's another civil rights group in 
town, the National Socialist Movement.
>> A lot of, people in the community, in the
white community down there, had been 
contacting us out of concern for their
safety, just because of racial tensions.
>> Racial tensions after 17-year old Trevon 
Martin was shot and killed by George
Zimmerman. 
Zimmerman is claiming self-defense and
has been hiding now for weeks.
>> We're a civil rights organization and we 
go into areas where we are needed, and
where white citizens need our help. 
According to the Southern poverty Law
Center, the Nationalist Social Movement 
has its roots in the original American
Nazi party. 
It's now one of the largest neo-Nazi
organizations in the country the group 
openly idolizes Adolf Hitler and calls
for the deportation of every nonwhite 
person in the country.
Two white men accused of shooting five 
black people in Tulsa, Oklahoma, killing
three of them have reportedly confessed 
to authorities.
Tulsa police say 19 year old Jake England 
has admitted to police that he shot three
of the victims, and 33 year old Alvin 
Watts has said he shot two others.
Police said the suspects drove through 
the streets of North Tulsa a
predominantly black neighborhood and 
randomly shot pedestrians.
Both men were ordered held on bail of 
more than 9 million dollars during their
first court appearance Monday. 
The family of a 22 year old woman who was
fatefully shot last month by an off duty 
police officer in Chicago has filed a
wrongful death lawsuit. 
A lawyer for the family of Rekia Boyd,
said Detective Dante Servin shot Boyd and 
a man she was with after getting into an
argument with a man, 39 year old Antonio 
Cross.
The lawyer said neither victim was armed. 
Police originally claimed Antonio Cross
had pulled a gun, but no gun was found at 
the scene.
Rekia Boyd was shot in the back of the 
head, and died a day later.
There is a new development in the case of 
the police killing of 68 year Kenneth
Chamberlain the former marine who was 
killed in his own home in White Plains,
New York after a medical alert. 
According to an autopsy report obtained
by Juan Gonzales of the New York daily 
news, Chamberlain died from a single
bullet. 
That entered his right arm and ripped
through both lungs. 
A lawyer for Chamberlain's family said
the autopsy contradicts the police 
account of his death.
Police say Chamberlain was holding a 
butcher's knife when police officer fired
two shots to stop him. 
But an attorney for Chamberlain 's family
says the trajectory of the fatal bullet 
suggests that Chamberlain was neither
facing the police nor holding up a 
weapon.
For a complete coverage of the killing of 
Kenneth Chamberlain Sr, you can go to our
website at democracynow.org. 
President Obama welcomed Brazillian
president Dilma Rousseff to the White 
House Monday.
Obama praised Brazil for it's rapid 
economic growth.
It gives me an opportunity as well to 
remark on the extraordinary progress that
Brazil has made under the leadership of 
President Rousseff and her predecessor,
President Lula, moving from dictatorship 
to democracy.
Embarking on an extraordinary growth 
path, lifting millions of people out of
poverty, and becoming not only a leading 
voice in the region, but also a leading
voice in the world.
>> Brazilian president Dilma Rousseff 
criticized US monetary policies saying it
has harmed Brazil and other developing 
countries.
She said the US decision to leave 
benchmark lending rates near zero has
created an overload of speculative money 
that floods into economies like Brazil.
>> [FOREIGN] Such expansionist monetary
policies in and of themselves, in 
isolation[FOREIGN] regarding the fiscal
policies[FOREIGN].
>> Ultimately lead to a deep appreciation in 
the value of the currency of developed
countries.
>> [FOREIGN] That's impairing growth outlook 
and emerging countries.
Brazilian president Dilma Rousseff is a 
former Brazilian gorilla who was held for
nearly two years in prison and tortured. 
Wisconsin republican governor Scott
Walker has privatly signed a series of 
controversial bills at curbing access to
abortion and sex education. 
The first bill bans most abortion
coverage under policies obtained through 
a health insurance exchange set to be
created under the Obama administration's 
health care reform law.
Allowing coverage only for rape, incest 
or med, medical necessity.
A second bill requires every woman 
seeking an abortion to meet privately
with a doctor and undergo an exam before 
the procedure.
So the doctor can ensure she is not being 
pressured.
Doctors who violate the law could be 
charged with a felony.
A third bill requires teachers in schools 
that offer sex education to stress
abstinence and say they no longer need to 
address contraception.
Wisconsin's current law requires some 
instruction on birth control options.
Walker signed the bills Thursday, but did 
not announce the move until the next day,
on Good Friday, when his office released 
a list of about 50 bill he'd recently
signed. 
Democrats slammed Walker for signing the
laws in private, and for attacking the 
rights of women.
Among the other bills Walker signed was a 
repeal of the states equal pay
enforcement act, which gave women and 
other marginalized groups more power to
fight wage discrimination. 
According to the Wisconsin Alliance for
Women's Health, women in Wisconsin make 
$0.75 for every dollar men earn.
Regulators have discovered some nail 
polishes, found in California salons,
contain high levels of substances known 
to cause birth defects despite carrying
labels that identify them as being free 
of certain toxic chemicals.
A report due to be released today found 
10 out of 12 products that claim to be
free of the chemical Toluene, actually 
contained it.
With four products containing a 
dangerously high level.
The report says, nail products could harm 
thousands of people who work in
California nail salons as well as their 
clients.
And the Environmental Protection Agency 
has denied a bid by an environmental
group to revoke approval of the weed 
killer 2,4-D, one of the most widely used
weed killers in the world. 
The national resources defenses council
has said the weed killer may cause 
cancer, hormone disruption and other
problems, and that the APA... 
Has underestimated how much people might
be exposed to the chemical. 
And those are some of the headlines, this
is democracynow.org, the War and Peace 
Report, I'm Amy Goodman.
In what appears to be a first for foregin 
policy, new revelations have emerged that
the Bush administration secretly trained 
an Iranian opposition group despite it's
inclusion on the State Departments list 
of foregin terrorists.
Writing for the New Yorker magazine 
Pulitzer Prize winning journalist Seymour
Hersh reports U.S. 
Joint Special Operations Command trained
operatives from Mujahadeen-e-Khalq or MEK 
at a secret site in Nevada beginning in
2005. 
According to Hersh, MEK members were
trained in intercepting communications, 
cryptography, weaponry, and small unit
tactics at the Nevada site. 
Up until Pres.
Obama took office, the MEK has been 
included in the State Department's list
of foreign terrorist groups since 1997. 
It's been linked to a number of attacks
spanning from the murders of six US 
citizens in the 70s To the recent wave of
assassinations targeting Iranian nuclear 
scientists.
Although the revelation that the U.S. 
government directly trained the MEK comes
as a surprise, it's no secret the group 
has prominent backers across the
political spectrum. 
Despite its designation as a terrorist
organization by the State Department for 
15 years A number of prominent former US
officials hadn't paid to speak in support 
of the MEK.
The bi-partisan list includes two former 
CIA directors James Woolsey and Porter
Goss, former homeland security director 
Tom Ridge.
New York City Mayor, Rudolph Guiliana, 
former Vermont Governor, Howard Dean,
former Attorney General, Michael McCasey, 
former FBI Director, Louis Freeh.
Former US Ambassador, John Bolton, and 
former Pennsylvania Governor, Ed Rendell.
Last month Rendell and other unnamed 
officials were subpoenaed by the Treasury
Department over their ties to MEK. 
McCasey and Free have retained former
Clinton administration solicitor general 
Seth Waxman to, in response to the
treasury department probe. 
Rendell, meanwhile, has shrugged off the
scrutiny, speaking at a public event in 
support of the MEK Friday in Washington.
He told the crowd, quote, I never knew 
obtaining a subpoena from your own
government would be so much fun.
>> Well for more on the US and its ties to 
the MEK, we're joined by Seymour Hersh in
Washington D.C. 
His new piece for the New Yorker is
called, Our Men in Iran. 
welcome to Democracy Now, Sy Hirsch.
Oh, and, happy birthday.
>> [LAUGH] Oh, yes, that's right. 
It's great to be older.
>> [LAUGH] Well we'll focus on the wiser
part. 
Tell us what you have learned.
Who are, as you call it, are men in Iran?
>> [LAUGH] They are as you said. 
They're, the MEK, and by the way again,
once again, Amy, the piece was on the New 
Yorker blog, not in the magazine.
It's a shorter piece. 
But anyway, the point is, it went through
the same sort of intense checking as 
anything in the New Yorker of course.
Simply, they're just, the MEK. 
We began to, I learned about this many
years ago. 
It's just one of those things that it
never quite occurred to me how important 
it was.
And what is important about also the they 
did stop, there's no question this sort
of training that was going on. 
It was going on at a place called the the
Nevada Nuclear Security or National 
Security test site.
It's a former site for World War post 
World War II nuclear testing of weapons.
Testing of nuclear weapons. 
And it's off limits to people.
And there is an air base there, God knows 
what went on there, my guess is rendition
flights also flew into that airbase in 
02, 03.
There's some evidence for it. 
But certainly the groups of MEK were
flown in secretly. 
By, I presume, the Joint Special
Operations Command. 
This is this new high powered group
that's been doing all the night raids in 
Afghanistan, that also came up in your
news broadcast. 
What's important to me about it is not
only that it did end this kind of direct 
training.
Of this group that is, as you said, a 
terrorist group.
it's also very clear that the United 
States is still involved as is Israel and
as was for many years England. 
in using the MEK and other dissident
groups inside Iran as surrogates. 
for the continued pressure we're putting
covertly on inside of Iran. 
And that is as you said there are
assassinations done by the MEK, and let 
me make it clear the MEK has been in a
virtual war with mullahs in Iran since 
the fall of the Shah.
And you don't have to, you don't have to 
urge them to kill anybody, they're very
eager to do it themselves inside that 
country.
but still, nonetheless, we provided 
intelligence.
we the Americans have continued to 
provide intelligence and other kinds of
material support for the MEK. 
Don't forget they speak Farsi, which is a
great asset to us. 
These are people who are able to
translate intercepted communications 
inside Iran for us very quickly and very
with great skill. 
And so we have a lot of reasons to rely
on them as we rely on other ethnicity 
groups inside Iran, the Kurds, the
Azeries, the others. 
To cause basically they try and keep some
sort of internal chaos and mayhem going 
inside the country.
>> Is it believed the MEK were involved in
the assassinations of the Iranian nuclear 
scientist?
>> Well, nobody has a video of it, but that
seems clear. 
One of their goals is to prevent the the
Iranians from developing nuclear weapons. 
And it's not clear who they're really
assassinating, whether they're, I know 
they're, one time.
My government, I wrote about this in a 
New Yorker many years ago in 05 or 06.
We've been actively involved beginning in 
the Cheney Bush days of encouraging
insurrection inside Iran. 
I, I, whether it's aimed at a regime
change or not isn't clear, I doubt that 
but basically.
blowing up things, etc. 
we did have a list at one time we created
here in Washington of, of people we would 
like to see gone, captured perhaps,
turned over, turned into our agents, 
double, you know, double agents inside
Iran, we tried to do that too. 
but certainly, the Israelis are pawing
the ground as if they're directly 
responsible or deeply involved with the
MEK in the recent assassination of a 
32-year-old scientist whose role in terms
of, 
There's not much evidence he was involved
in making weapons because there's no 
evidence that the Iranians are making
weapons.
>> Can you talk about the bombs that were 
used in the assassinations?
Well, that most certainly, bombs, they're 
limpet bombs, marine limpet bombs.
They're designed to have a special 
charge, and they're designed to go in,
inside. 
They blow inside, and they're of course,
of great use, by the Navy Seals. 
And the Navy Seals for, if you're going
to do an underwater demolition. 
If you're going to blow up a ship from
underwater, which is the Seals' 
traditionally were trained to do.
Most of them are involved in day to day. 
Combat in in Afghanistan etcetera and
much different from their initial role of 
underwater stuff.
But if you want to blow up something 
underwater you have to have a charge that
blows, explodes in, inward, to cause 
water to rush in etcetera.
And these kinds of very sophisticated 
charges have been used.
By the MEK, in the assasinations. 
And the reason we know it is, the car
that was hit for example in January in 
Tehran, that killed a young scientist, or
the nuclear physicist, or whatever he 
was.
exploded inward. 
you can argue this is also good because
it, it avoids non-combatant deaths. 
You know, you don't want to kill a lot of
people, other than the one you're trying 
to kill.
It's also useful because you make sure 
anybody in that car gets it.
Because it does blow inside. 
It's a very sophisticated shape charge,
and there's no question that, some of the 
best minds in the Navy mine making
business were, some of that information 
was obviously passed on.
Whether directly to the MEK or through, 
Israeli assets, explicitly how.
But the, there, it's it's not an accident 
that these kind of sophisticated weapons
can be traced to the Navy seals who are a 
major element of the joint special
operations command.
>> Interestingly, you end your piece by 
quoting Defense Secretary Leon Panetta at
Fort Bliss in Texas. 
acknowledging the US has some ideas as to
who might have been involved but we don't 
know exactly who was involved.
You know, being questioned about this is 
the day after few days after the
assassination by, of the Iranian nuclear 
scientist.
He said I can tell you one thing. 
The US was not involved in that kind of
effort. 
That's not what the United States.
>> Well, I think that's technicially
correct. 
I don't think there's any other way to
read that comment as the use of that last 
graft as an ironic statement perhaps.
I, I think it's correct that also it's to 
my knowledge this isn't in the piece
because only one particular source about 
it, but I do understand that we really
don't know what's going to happen until 
after it happens.
And then we are put on notice, we do get 
notice that some things happen before
it's released to the public. 
We have that kind of communication
essentially through Israel. 
Israel's obviously a little closer to
everything that's going on that we are, 
but we're certainly We, we're not picking
targets. 
I, I doubt that now.
I at least I don't have any evidence we 
are.
But we're provided general intelligence. 
And it's not an accident that the the
first units of the MEK to show up in, in, 
in Nevada late 04 or early 05.
And it was months and months of training. 
It's not the, the first word used by two
different people about it was COMO, 
Communications Encrypto.
The point is that there was a story in 
the Washington Post just the other day
here. 
describing how America has been using
drones to overfly Iran for at least three 
years.
I, I would argue that long before that 
we've been using American satellites
flying high that can't be detected. 
And obviously, you can uplink and
downlink communications to satellites. 
You can if you're on the ground, and you
find out something very useful 
technically.
By training the MEK in communications, 
and how to use encrypt communications
you're also enabling them to become an 
asset on the ground for us.
there was a period I would say in the 
Bush administration I also think it
stopped under Obama, when our boys our 
joint joints special operation command
guys were directly inside Iran. 
We came in through Harat in Afghanistan,
we also that was one what we called a rat 
line.
There are other rat lines through 
Baluchestan in, in, in Pakistan and, et
cetera. 
There were ways to get inside Iran,
clandestinely that we've been using for 
at least since I'd say late 04 until
probably right before Bu, Obama got in. 
so we were there, look, it's been a huge
big internal gain. 
designed to destabilize and if somebody
said to me in one of the pieces, one of 
the quotes of the pieces.
We're not necessarily looking for 
Einsteins.
I, I, that's suggests to me that that the 
scientists are really the most deeply
involved in enrichment. 
And by the way let me say again there is
no evidence that our intelligence 
community or even the Israeli
intelligence community has and I know 
that first hand, suggesting that there is
on going bomb program. 
So we are now, the United States is now
in the position of increasing sanctions 
and pressuring all sorts of economic
pressure on the Iranians to stop. 
The whole purpose of the economic
sanctions is to stop the Iranians from 
making a bomb that we know they're not
making. 
once again, I don't know how we get in to
this convoluted position. 
And, and then as, as readers of the of
the major newspapers know We are now also 
entering new talks with Iran, with new
preconditions. 
And basically telling them that they must
stop doing, enriching what they are 
legally entitled to do as members of the
Nonproliferation Treaty.
>> Ir-, Iran may be secretly wanting a bomb 
and they may have that passion and they
maybe you know dream about it at night. 
But we haven't a shred of evidence that
they've done anything concretely 
physically to create a facility for, for
making a weapon.
>> We're talking to Seymour Hersh . 
We are going to come back to him in 30
seconds, a Pulitzer prize winning 
journalist who has written a piece for
the New Yorker online called Our Men in 
Iran, Stay With Us.
[MUSIC]
Iranian rap artist Hichkas, Ye Rooze 
Khoob Miad, A Good Day Will Come".
This is Democracy Now, democracynow.org, 
the Warren Peace Report.
We're talking to Pulitzer prize-winning 
Seymour Hersch.
His latest piece is online. 
At the New Yorker magazine's news desk
blog, it's called Our Men in Iran, and it 
tells the story of a group still
designated as terrorists by the State 
Department.
The MEK which was trained at the 
Department of Energy's Nevada National
Site with its arid high plains and remote 
mountain peaks has a look of northwest
Iran. 
Sey Hersh, why The Department of Energy?
And again this is under the Bush 
administration, they're labeled
terrorist, but they are training them not 
only in communications, you point out.
>> they've had, there is a secret side, it's
about 60 somewhat miles out of Las Vegas 
in the, deep in no man's land, in, in,
southern Nevada where we've been doing an 
awful lot of stuff for many years.
There's a, it's called Site 12. 
that particular site it, it, it's our CIA
and other agencies have been training 
foreign troops.
It's where our I, I would guess when we 
do joint training with the special units
of the Israeli army and other units that 
we train, we do train foreign soldiers.
We can fly to this base, it's, it's got a 
long landing strip, 7,500 feet.
Concrete landing strip. 
for a long time it had yellow crosses on
it, which meant for even aircraft, 
commercial aircraft in trouble do not
land here. 
And this is a, a strip that
you come in and you, I presume you come 
in a military plane, you can turn off the
transponder, nobody, no FIA is checking 
anything, nobody is got to get a tail
number. 
You can land and there is a facility
there, there is barracks and other work, 
other facilities on Site 12.
And a food hall it's all, you can 
actually find that online if you go to
the Department of Energy's annual, they 
provide annual environmental impact
reports. 
And they described what's going on in
each side in terms of environment and 
there you get a pretty good description.
In fact they actually used the word 
there's a training facility used for
other government agencies, an OGA, Other 
Government Agencies is a long standing
phrase that means the CIA essentially, 
actually specifically to people in the
inside. 
So there's been training there forever.
And it just so happens, if you take a 
look at Northwest Iran and take a look at
the topography in that part of the desert 
in Nevada, it's very arid area, I think
15 inches, or something like that, a 
year.
It's got desert. 
It's got valleys.It's got mountain
ranges, and it really is similar. 
I'll tell you what the most frightening
thing was when they first began the 
training one very senior 4 star officer
was called by somebody who knew about the 
training in Nevada very worried about it.
And because the joint special operations 
command people were training.
In not only in communications and 
cartography, small units tactics, but
other cute things, which to me of course 
and to my friend meant interrogation
tactics. 
You know, how to, you know, I, I
wouldn't, I don't know this but I presume 
included the standard sort of horrible
stuff that we know American Intelligence 
Agencies have and CIA and other personnel
have done to various prisoners of war 
since 9/11 water boarding and like.
It was very troubling, that message that 
this kind of training is being done on a
group that's listed as a terrorist group.
>> Meanwhile..
>> but so it goes they.
>> And yet so many public officials, Bush, 
and Reublican and Democrats are calling
for them to be taken off the list. 
Among the US officials to speak in
support of MEK is former Vermont 
government Howard Dean speaking to CNN
last year, he said the US should lift the 
terror group designation to help protect
MEK members living in Iraq. 
The FBI screened all these people.
The FBI counterterrorist folks screened 
all these people in 2006.
Not one of them is a terrorist according 
to our FBI.
This is outrageous what's going on. 
It's an outrageous behavior by the State
Department, and frankly the 
administration has direct responsibility
For making sure that the promises were 
kept.
We kept one promise, that is we kept 
George Bush's promise to get out by the
end of 2011. 
we need to keep the promise of the people
of Ashram. 
We ought not to be complicit in human
rights massacres. 
Among those appearing at the public in
Washington on Friday in support of the 
MEK was Michael, was Mitchell Reese, a
former polic-, a foreign policy advisor 
to Republican presidential candidate Mitt
Romney. 
He acknowledged to the crowd that the
Treasury Department considers MEK 
supporters quote, potential criminals.
At a campaign stop in New Hampshire last, 
an audience member asked Romney
>> About Reese's nsupport for the MEK.
>> Have you heard of or do you support the
MEK? 
[CROSSTALK]
>> I have not heard of, I have not heard of
the MEK, and I, so I, I can't possibly 
tell you whether I support the MEK.
But I kid /g, alright? 
But what is, what is, what is the MEK?
>>  >> Why would you think that I supported the,
you said it's a terrorist group?
>> There's been, there's a terrorist group 
in Iran which is inadvertently violent.
It's attacked a civilian before. 
It's called MEK, Mujahedin-e Khalq.
If you look into it, some of your staff 
members I believe Mitchell Reiss, to
lobby the executive branch to remove them 
to the terrorist list.
>> I, I'll take a look at the, at the issue.
I'm, I'm not familiar with that 
particular group or, or that effort on
the part of any of my team.
>> That was Mitt Romney being questioned 
about his foreign policy advisor Mitchell
Reiss' support for the MEK Seymour Hersh 
your response?
Well I, I would say that the Obama 
administration has even more trouble than
Mr. 
Romney does I I, it's clear he didn't
know much about it. 
This administration knows an awful lot
about it. 
Because they have access to what was
going on in the previous administration 
in this area in terms of the MEK, in
terms of operations inside Iran. 
And they're still going on.
And so the question then becomes I'm, 
I'm, I'm amazed that we've had nothing
from the White House about this story. 
And there's also been sort of a I
shouldn't complain about it because I 
understand that it's, you know, it's an
invented here syndrome. 
But I, I, I'm a little amazed that more
reporters aren't asking more questions 
about this.
Because it seems to be so egregious this 
is a right now.
our treasure department is actually 
asking questions because no matter how
you cut it it's a terrorist group, and if 
your aiding and supporting a terrorist
group under the law of the United States 
as you know, there's been some
prosecutions in this area. 
Of people of Middle East descent
supporting groups that we consider to be 
terrorists, and they get put away in
jail. 
There certainly seems to be a double
standard here at work. 
And, yeah, Romney seems lost in space on
this issue, but I can assure you right 
now there are people in this White House
who are not.
>> Is the Obama administration still 
training MEK?
>> I don't think the word is training any
more, because are we directly training 
them down in, in Nevada?
No, there's no reason to believe that. 
I don't know that.
I've been told that the there, there is 
more stuff going on than, than we know of
of course, and that's all also possible. 
You know, one of the things that[LAUGH]
that I, I've learned. 
I've been doing a book about Cheney for a
number of years. 
It's, it's just amazing how many things
we really don't know about what our 
government can do.
There are amazing things out there that 
happened that we just don't know about.
And so they can keep secrets. 
Of course the government would like to
keep pressure on Iran as much as it can. 
And I don't think we can totally walk
away from a responsibility in terms of, 
at the minimum, we've been providing
intelligence that we know goes to the 
MEK.
and also to other ethnicity groups inside 
in, inside Iran.
does that mean we're aiding and abetting 
in the specific killing of somebody?
No, I have no reason to believe that 
anybody can make that case, but what the
hell are we doing in there? 
why are we putting so much pressure, why
do we take so much pleasure in bombings 
and explosions that that place inside
Iran which may be linked to us. 
And I, I, I just don't quite understand
the policy. 
It's certainly not one that's conducive
to having good negotiations and good 
faith.
the latest news that nuclear talks in 
Turkey are taking place.
talk about how the international atomic 
energy agency say the IAEA has found what
they have found in relation to the 
nuclear program and also.
Mohamed ElBaridei. 
In a minute, we're going to be speaking
to Sharif Abdel Kouddous. 
Mohamed ElBaridei, who is the Pulitzer
Nobel prize winning head of the IAEA, was 
going to run for president of Egypt, then
pulled out. 
But what he had to do with information
that came from the MEK. 
Well, very early the MEK was the first
group to announce that the that they had 
discovered.
In 2002 they had a news conference, and 
by the way, at that point they were
considered, the MEK were always 
considered a cult group.
Very fringe marginal irrational group. 
They had been involved in the 70s, so we
believe, in the killing of some Americans 
inside Iran.
And they were a Marxist leftist group in 
opposition to the Shah.
That couldn't connect with the, the 
Mullahs.
The religious Mullahs that took over 
Hominid in those days.
They couldn't connect with them, and they 
began a protracted struggle.
And which murder, murder, murder was all 
over the place.
Both sides killing each other. 
Very brutal stuff.
And so they were always considered to be 
outside the normal realm of, of groups
and suddenly in 2002 they get a lot of 
street cred, credibility because they
announce that they, the Iranians are 
building a nuclear facility.
They didn't say they were enriching 
uranium there.
but it was clear from the import of what 
they said, the only reason they're
getting involved in building a facility 
for nuclear production was for
weaponization. 
And I learned, I was told at the time.
That Israel is behind that intelligence, 
that it really didn't come from the, the
MEK themselves. 
Israel as you know there are there are
what something like a million and a half 
Iranian Jew many of them fled the country
when when the Shah fell. 
And Israel still has a pretty good net of
of intelligence that inside Iran, so it 
wasn't illogical.
And I began to see Mr ElBaradei, the 
director general of the IAEA, pretty
regularly. 
Certainly, at least, once a year.
And talked to a lot of people in Vienna 
about what was going on in terms of
nuclear development around the world, and 
this is a wise man.
We didn't like him because he's Egyptian 
but that was a big mistake.
He turned out to be He was enraged of 
Iran when I first began to talk to him
about it. 
He thought they cheated.
He was quite angry. 
But he also told me I told him, we talked
about the fact that I had heard that the 
Israelis were involved in providing that
intelligence and he also had heard the 
same thing.
And in fact before this article was 
published online for the New Yorker the
fact checkers went back to his office to 
his secretary.
And once again reminded him of that 
conversation and got his permission to
say something he wouldn't let me say 
earlier which was that he provided me
with that information too. 
So Israel's had a tremendous role in
supporting the MEK. 
I would be surprised if Israel was also
deeply involved in helping us or helping 
with embedding the training inside, in
Nevada. 
That would make a lot of sense and Israel
certainly is a key player right now in 
the MEK activities, along with us.
And for many years, along with the Brits, 
who were also involved in providing
signals intelligence inside Iran, or 
collecting intelligence.
the good thing about having Britain 
around is they're actually more hated
than we are in the middle east because of 
their long history of exploitation.
That's always a plus. 
But, having said that...
Veradi's been, he's been a very neutral 
arbiter of what was going on, very
critical of Iran for many years. 
He eventually turned, his position turned
as he learned more, as the Iranians 
trusted him more, began to talk more to
him and his people, and what we now have 
is, he left a few years back, we have a
new director general, a Japanese sort of 
center right politician named Amato .
Who is different. 
He is much closer to us.
There's been wikileaks cables released by 
Julian Assange that show very clearly
that we helped him get elected as 
director general.
There was, it's a UN agency, the 
International Atomic Energy Agency in
Viena that Elbaradai had for so many 
years.
It's UN and the new leader was Voted, I 
think there were seven ballots.
And it was ours, our ability to swing 
some votes that got Amano the job and he
immediately told us how he would be 
different about Iran, etcetera.
There's a whole series of Wikileaks 
cables.
about this that, that Julian's group 
released that are pretty devastating that
aren't enough in the American currency 
they were there, they were published
widely in the British press but not here. 
We really need to take a look at this
relationship. 
Because it raises a lot of questions,
just about, I'll be honest, I'm not sure 
we come into negotiations with very clean
hands on this. 
And we begin negotiations really behind
the eight ball with the Iranians because 
they are very deeply involved, they have
very good intelligence, They know what 
we've been doing.
despite all this talk you have about 
Iranians being involved inside
Afghanistan, right now and all this talk 
about Iranians being involved inside Iraq
and killing Americans. 
There's never been much of a case for
that. 
And I will tell you right now, after
nine-eleven. 
The Iranians were absolutely willing to
work with us, particularly against Al 
Qaeda .
Don't forget Iran's Shia and Al Qaeda are 
mostly Sunni, Sunni fanatics and there
was not love loss, and they actually in 
the first few, six months or so after
9/11 they closed their borders and 
captured a lot of Al Qaeda.
That were being driven out of the country 
by us.
And, and they were looking for refuge in 
Iran, and they've been jailed.
I think they're still there in jail, over 
100 of them.
And so, we really blew a chance by 
putting 'em on the axis of evil.
I'd sure like to do a takeover of 
American history after 911.
I think the, the history books are 
going to be.
As bad as we think it is, it's worse.
>> Seymour Hersh, I want to thank you very 
much for being with us.
Pulitzer Prize winning journalist for the 
New Yorker.
His latest piece is online at their news 
desk blog.
It's called, Our Men in Iran. 
When we come back, another prize winning
journalist will be joined by our very own 
Democracy Now correspondent.
Sharif Abdel Kouddous, he's just flown in 
from Cairo.
He's heading up to Ithaca college this 
evening to give a major address as he
receives the Izzy award from the Parks 
Center for Independent Media.
Named for the muck-raking journalist IF 
Stone.
This is Democracy now, back in a minute. 
[MUSIC] A wish by the late Nubian
Egyptian singer, Hamza El Din. 
This is Democracy Now, Democracynow.org.
The War and Peace report as we turn to 
Egypt where the former intelligence chief
of ousted dictator Hosni Mubarak has 
joined the presidential race Omar
Suleiman announced his bid on Friday. 
Well over a month before Egyptians head
to the polls. 
Suleiman headed Egypt's intelligence
services for more then 18 years, becoming 
a close US ally and playing a key Key
role in the Bush administration's 
extraordinary rendition program.
During the Egyptian uprising last year 
Mubarak appointed Suleiman, his first
ever vice president before he was forced 
out of power.
The presidential candidate for Egypt's 
Muslim brotherhood, Khairat El-Shater,
criticized Suleiman's entry into the 
race.
We strongly reject any attempt to restore 
the previous political regime in the same
form and represented in the person of 
General Omar Suleiman.
And, we think that this is an insult to 
the revolution, and shows a lack of
awareness on the type of change that have 
taken place in the lives of the Egyptian
people and it's impact. 
But, in terms of how to deal with this
issue, and having just one as someone's 
candidate.
The issue is not about whether the 
candidates are Islams or not, the issue
is about the attempt to steal the 
revolution.
And if any attempt is made to steal the 
revolution, or to carry out fraud, then
naturally, ourselves and others will go 
out on the streets.
>> Egypt's presidential elections begin May
23rd with Suleiman's entry into the race. 
One of the most public faces in the
Mubarak regime joins an already crowded 
presidential field.
In a critical vote for post revolution 
Egypt.
For more we're joined by Shariff Abdou 
Cadouse.
He is based in Cairo. 
Democracy Now correspondent, fellow at
the nation institute. 
He's here tonight to receive the Izzy
award for special achievement in 
independent media.
Named after the legendary maverick 
Journalist IF Stone, who launched IF
Stone's Weekly in 1953 and exposed 
government deception, McCarthyism, racial
bigotry. 
Sharif's being honored for his reporting
on the Egyptian revolution. 
In a statement, the Park Center for
Independent Media said with breathtaking 
bravery, Sharif's unflinching, on the
street reporting simultaneously brought 
us the voices and faces of Egyptians, the
drama of the moment, and big picture 
analysis.
Sometimes while tear gas or live rounds 
exploded in the background.
That is Sharif Abdel Kouddous, he's here 
in studio.
Welcome back to Democracy Now here in New 
York, Sharif.
It's great to have you with us.
>> Thank you. 
It's good to be here.
>> talk about the elections.
>> Well, as you mentioned in the lead, Omar
Suleiman is the last candidate to join 
the presidential race.
He submitted his candidacy papers 20 
minutes before the windows closed on
Sunday. 
he, in fact had said he wasn't going to
run just days earlier and then reversed 
that decision, and apparently in one day.
obtained more than 70,000 signatures for 
his candidacy, which is you know more
than double the 30,000 that's needed to 
be an official candidate.
it's ironic that he's running I mean this 
is the man that Mubarek appointed as vice
president once the revolution began and 
In a bid to quell the uprising.
During the 18 day uprising he actually 
went on ABC in an interview and said
Egyptians are not ready for democracy. 
Now he's running for, president.
Many consider him the candidate now of 
the supreme council of the armed forces,
which has ruled Egypt since Mubarak's 
ousted on February 11th of last year.
He's a career army officer that served 
with many of the two dozen generals that,
that serve on the military counsel. 
And as you mentioned since 1993 he's been
the head of the General Intelligence 
Services in Arabic that's known
as[FOREIGN] , a very powerful 
intelligence position.
He played a key role in suppressing the 
Muslim Brotherhood and other Islamists
during Mubarak's era. 
He played a key role in in Egypt's
relationship with Israel helping to 
enforce the siege on Gaza, helping to
crush Hamas who, destroying the tunnels 
that provide a lifeline to Gaza.
but of course, also he was the CIA's 
point man in Egypt for the Extraordinary
Rendition program, and was involved by 
some accounts actually in torture itself.
one prisoner who is an Egyptian-born 
Australian citizen by the name of
um[UNKNOWN], who was rendered to Egypt 
where he was he says he was electrocuted.
Hung from metal hooks, suspended in water 
up to those nostrils.
He was later sent to Guantanomo where he 
was held for a number of years before
being shipped back home to Australia 
without charge.
He penned a memoir, he said at one point 
that while he was being interrogated the
interrogator slapped him so hard That the 
blindfold dislodged off his eye.
And sitting in front of him was Omar 
Suleiman.
Omar Suleiman was also the liaison for 
the CIA in the rendition of Ibn al-Sheikh
al-Libi, who of course played a key role 
in the Bush administration's
justification for the war in Iraq. 
So that's his background.
And he has now entered the race It has 
caused widespread outrage in Egypt.
Calls for protests have already begun for 
big protest on Friday against his
candidacy. 
a committee in parliament has approved a
law. 
This is not approved by the parliament
yet. 
Just a committee putting it forward to
ban any former regime members who served 
in top level positions.
in the last five years leading up to 
Mubarak's ouster from running in the
presidential election. 
it's not understood whether this will
actually pass especially after the 
nomination window closed.
But that's where it stands right now, and 
I, I don't know what kind of backing he
would have popularly. 
I mean, let's remember that on February
10th Mubarak actually, the day before 
Mubarak stepped down he tried to pass
over all his constitutional powers. 
To the vice president, to Omar Suleiman
and this was met with widespread 
disapproval.
So, we'll have to see what happens but 
another key person that is running in the
presidential race, as you mentioned and 
we heard a clip of him, in the lead was
Khairat El-Shater. 
Khairat El-Shater is probably the most
powerful member of the Muslim 
Brotherhood.
he is a multimillionaire business tycoon, 
who was jailed for 12 years, a total of
12 years during Mubarak's era. 
He ran the Muslim Brotherhood largely
from his prison cell. 
he was released by the Supreme Council of
Armed Forces in march of last year. 
his nomination actually caused outrage as
well, because it reversed a pledge by the 
Muslim Brotherhood not to field a
presidential candidate. 
This is their pledge early on in the
process. 
as we know, they dominate.
They have about 50% of the seats in the, 
in the legislature.
they've dominated the Constituent 
Assembly which we'll talk about in a
moment. 
And they have now said they're going to
field a candidate. 
They actually kicked out a key member of
the[UNKNOWN] , who's a liberal Islamist 
thinker.
favored by many youths of revolutionary 
figures.
Especially after the withdrawal of 
Mohamed ElBaradei .
They picked him out of the Muslim 
brotherhood because he decided to run
against their pledge and now they are 
fielding this candidate.
in fact also it's unclear, I mean this is 
also all part of Egypt's very confusing
and erratic transition plan that's been 
headed by the supreme counsel.
We don't know if Khairat El-Shater will 
be allowed to run.
He has this military court ruling against 
him.
He was pardoned by Tumtawi, but another 
candidate, Amanur, who ran against
Mubarak in 2005, a court just ruled, that 
even though he received a pardon, he
can't run. 
So the Brotherhood have now fielded a
back up candidate, a man named Hamad 
Morsi, who's the head of their party.
just in case. 
So, this is where, where.
>> The candidate whose mother is an American
citizen?
>> Well this, this was another, I mean, it's 
hard to keep up with everything that's
happening in Egypt, but this 
Hasimubusmil, whose, selafi, preacher.
Selafies are, practice in ultra 
conservative, a form of Islam, they won
about 25% of Parliament in the elections, 
late last year.
so he had widespread support. 
He also while he was a sultry preacher,
he also is very critical of the supreme 
counsel of armed forces.
So he tapped into this section of 
Egyptian society that is very religiously
conservative. 
But also against the military counsel.
he obviously is quite anti-American in 
his rhetoric.
And it's very ironic because, the, the 
law right now in Egypt is that you can't
run as potential if you're, you have to 
be born to Egyptian parents, and neither
of them can have ever had, eh, any 
foreign citizenship.
It turns out that, Hazem Ismail's mother 
did get Eg-, American citizenship.
His sister was married to an American, 
and he, she would come visit visit her
here and it turns out the Presidential 
Elections Commission has received
confirmation he was an American citizen. 
The New York Times reported that she was
actually registered to vote in 
California.
>> And so he's not allowed to run anymore
and, he's calling for mass protests, of 
his own.
>> You recently, wrote a piece for the
Nation Egypt's economic shock doctrine.
>> Right, what's happening right now is that 
Egypt, Egypt's on the edge of an economic
crisis and this has been really the 
result of a badly mismanaged political
transition. 
The issue is.
That we been backed into a corner with 
the issue of foreign currency reserves
Egypt relies very heavily on imports for 
many of its staple items including
weight. 
Egypt is the biggest importer of wheat in
the world relying on about 60 percent for 
domestic consumption.
On imports, so but we're running out of 
foreign currency, which we use to buy
these imports because there has been a, a 
big decline in foreign, in foreign direct
investment and in tourism, which are main 
inputs for foreign currency.
And so what has happened right now is we 
have about 15 billion dollars left in
foreign currency reserves. 
That's about left for three months of
imports. 
We've spent all this money to try and
keep the Egyptian pound where it is, to 
prop up the currency.
But if we do have to devalue the Egyptian 
pound then all these imports would become
very expensive and would severely deepen 
Egypt's recession.
So what's happening right now is the 
Egyptian formally requested the IMF for a
loan in January, a3.2 billion dollar loan 
from the IMF.
Now what the IMF does now is not impose 
direct conditionality as they used to
with the structural adjustment programs. 
But what they have asked for is that the
government puts forward an economic 
reform package which they then must agree
to, to release the funds. 
so this is kind of an indirect
conditionality. 
The government reform package was.
Was drawn up by this staff appointed 
military pointed government it was not
open to public debate what so ever a copy 
was leaked to the media very poorly
written economical ports. 
And instead of let's remember this
revolution was, was sparked in large 
parts from because of economical
grievances the revolutionary cause of. 
Bread, freedom, social justice.
Two of those are essentially economic 
calls, and, and the policies put forward
in this economic reform package go much 
further towards promoting Mumbarak era
policies that people in part revolted 
against than to promoting social justice.
so there is there is a talk of including 
expanding the sales tax Which puts,
really, the burden on the majority poor, 
because they pay more for basic staple
items. 
There's talk of energy, subsidy reform
but no talk of which subsidies are 
going to be targeted.
Egypt has about 30 percent of its budget 
spent on subsidies.
So it's but we're put in a position where 
we really need to take some kind of
foreign currency loan. 
And so, it's a, it, it, it's a, I mean
the reason it's called the looming 
economic shock doctrine is because we're
in a position where we've been backed in 
to a corner.
And it's unclear exactly what budgetary 
and fiscal policies are going to be
accepted to take this long.
>> Surely you find a recent visit to Cairo, 
U.S.
congress member David Dreier, and other 
U.S.
lawmakers met with Egyptian 
parliamentarians, also with the Muslim
Brotherhood presidential candidate.
>> Khairat El-Shater. 
And congressmen Dryer told reporters
during a news conference, future USA 
teacher remains uncertain given the
ruling military councils cracked down on 
pro-democracy groups, including some US
groups.
>> And we know that the decision that 
Secretary Clinton made is going to see a
continuation of assistance, the $1.3 
billion in military assistance and the
$250 million in civilian assistance. 
That that assistance is going to be
continuing now, but with, challenges that 
lie ahead, questions that, that exist
There is no certainty about that. 
That'll be a decision that we in the
United States Congress will make. 
And again I can't predetermine the
outcome.
>> Egypt was the biggest recepient of US aid 
after Isreal.
>> Well, Congress passed a law that Eqypt
has to, they have to prove that Egypt is 
going on a democratic path to release the
funds but the Obama administration 
actually waived that.
On national security grounds and has 
continued the same policies of many US
administrations in providing military aid 
to Egypt.
So, we'll have to see where that goes. 
One thing I want to mention, before we
run out of time, is that there was was 
news that just broke just before we went
to air, again throwing Egypt's political 
process up in the air,
