Por Roger F. Noriega

La predicción del jefe de inteligencia de EE.UU., James Clapper, de que el candidato  chavista, Nicolás Maduro, probablemente ganará las elecciones presidenciales del domingo en Venezuela es tan simplista que es engañosa . “Con una cómoda ventaja en las encuestas,  se espera que Maduro gane, y probablemente continuará con la tradición de Hugo Chávez”, dijo Clapper en el párrafo final de su testimonio por escrito ante los comités de inteligencia del Congreso de EE.UU. el jueves. Con ese tipo de análisis superficial, no es de extrañar que Washington no tiene ninguna influencia sobre el hostil narcoestado y mejor amigo de Irán y Hezbollah que se aferra al poder en Venezuela.

Esto es lo que los políticos estadounidenses y el Congreso deben saber sobre las elecciones presidenciales en Venezuela:

· El sucesor ungido de Chávez no asegurará un mandato indiscutible sobre su opositor democrático, Henrique Capriles Radonski, y esta elección ... Read More

A prediction by US intelligence chief James Clapper that chavista candidate Nicolas Maduro will likely win Sunday’s presidential election in Venezuela is so simplistic that it is misleading. “[W]ith a comfortable lead in the polls, Maduro is expected to win, and he will probably continue in [his late predecessor, Hugo] Chavez’s tradition,” Clapper said in the final paragraph of his written testimony before congressional intelligence committees on Thursday. With that sort of superficial analysis, it is no surprise that Washington has no influence over whether a hostile narcostate and best friend of Iran and Hezbollah holds on to power in Venezuela.

Here is what U.S. policymakers and Congress should know about the April 14 presidential election in Venezuela:

Chávez’s anointed successor will not secure an uncontested mandate over his democratic opponent, Henrique Capriles Radonski, and this contested election will trigger a period of instability and uncertainty for the ruling party. The chavista political machine will have to perform flawlessly to fabricate a numeric victory for ... Read More

BY MICHAEL OREN

A bomb explodes in Burgas, Bulgaria, leaving five Israeli tourists and a local driver dead. Mysteriously marked ammunition kills countless Africans in civil wars. Conspirators plot to blow up a crowded cafe and an embassy in Washington, D.C. A popular prime minister is assassinated, and a despised dictator stays in power by massacring his people by the tens of thousands.

Apart from their ruthlessness, these events might appear unrelated. And yet the dots are inextricably linked. The connection is Iran.

In 25 cities across five continents, community centers, consulates, army barracks and houses of worship have been targeted for destruction. Thousands have been killed. The perpetrators are agents of Hezbollah and the Quds Force, sometimes operating separately and occasionally in unison. All take their orders from Tehran.

Hezbollah’s relationship with Tehran is “a partnership arrangement with Iran as the senior partner,” says America’s director of national intelligence, James Clapper. The Lebanon-based ... Read More

LAWRENCE J. HAAS

The recent launch of talks between Iranian and Argentine officials over how to improve relations between their countries is troubling enough from a moral standpoint — but the strategic implications are even worse.

Buenos Aires long ago concluded that Tehran directed Hezbollah’s 1994 bombing of a Jewish community center in the Argentine capital that killed 85 people and injured more than 300 others, and Iran is also suspected in the 1992 bombing that destroyed Israel’s embassy in Argentina.

For the 1994 bombing, Buenos Aires has unsuccessfully sought the extradition of five topIranian officials, including then-President Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani and Ahmad Vahidi, the former commander of Iran’s elite Quds Force who’s now Iran’s defense minister.

Tehran has never fessed up to its role, and United States and Israeli officials fear that Argentine President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner plans to paper over the problem and join Iran’s growing ranks of allies in Latin ... Read More

BY REP. ALLEN WEST

As we enter into a campaign season wholeheartedly focused on our economic security, let us not forget our national security.

Right here, under our noses, a strategic alliance is being formed between Iran and Venezuela. More than 150 Iranian diplomats are accredited in Caracas — a disproportionate number by any count — demonstrating the Tehran regime’s unusual involvement in Latin America. Over the past few years, this honeymoon between Hugo Chavez and Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has given birth to increased military involvement between the two countries, a complex financial web to bypass international sanctions against the ayatollahs and an operational infrastructure for carrying out terrorism against the nations of the free world, especially the United States and Israel.

This growing alliance between their respective military establishments allows Iran to extend its strategic coordination deep into the Western Hemisphere, enabling conventional, nuclear and terrorist capabilities well beyond Tehran’s geographic vicinity. It ... Read More

BY JOEL HIRST

There’s no more serious geopolitical issue today than the global crisis over Iran’s nuclear ambitions.

To be clear, Iran is not a pariah state because it is seeking nuclear energy.  The regime is ostracized because it has not lived up to its responsibility to protect its own citizens and their fundamental human rights.  Iran is also a pariah because of its ongoing state sponsorship of terrorism.

Once again, this discussion has proved more than academic; it’s deadly serious.  Three weeks ago on the Bulgarian Black Sea a bus filled with Israeli tourists headed for a resort exploded, targeted by what the Israeli government believes was an Iranian-organized Hezbollah-operated plot.  Naturally, this makes the debate over Iran’s role in Latin America, with Venezuela at the center, more urgent.

The facts are now well known, but a quick summary is important.  In 2010 the Pentagon issued an unclassified report to Congress stating that Iran is placing Quds ... Read More

BY ILAN BERMAN

In October 2011, U.S. attorney general Eric Holder and FBI director Robert Mueller revealed the thwarting of an elaborate plot by elements in Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) to assassinate the Saudi ambassador to Washington at a posh D.C. eatery, utilizing members of the Los Zetas Mexican drug cartel.[1]

The foiled terrorist plot, with its Latin American connections, focused new attention on what had until then been a largely overlooked political phenomenon: the intrusion of the Islamic Republic of Iran into the Western Hemisphere. An examination of Tehran’s behavioral pattern in the region over the past several years reveals four distinct strategic objectives: loosening the U.S.-led international noose to prevent it from building nuclear weapons; obtaining vital resources for its nuclear project; creating informal networks for influence projection and sanctions evasion; and establishing a terror infrastructure that could target the U.S. homeland.

Building Western Hemisphere Alliances

Outreach to Latin America is ... Read More

BY ILAN BERMAN

A GROWING IRANIAN REGIONAL FOOTPRINT

Recent years have seen a steady expansion of Iran’s interest and involvement in the Western Hemisphere. While this phenomenon has begun to capture the attention of policymakers in the United States, it remains poorly understood. In assessing Iran’s regional outreach, however, it is possible to discern at least four distinct, and complimentary, strategic objectives.

Diplomacy and coalition building Since 2003, when its previously-clandestine nuclear program became public knowledge, the Islamic Republic has faced mounting global pressure over its nuclear ambitions. The Iranian regime has sought to mitigate the resulting political and economic restrictions levied against it by the United States and its allies through intensified diplomatic outreach abroad. Due to its favorable geopolitical climate—typified by vast ungoverned areas and widespread anti-Americanism—Latin America has become an important focal point of this effort.

Iran’s most prominent Latin American partner was and remains Venezuela. Since 2005, owing in large part ... Read More

U.S. senators are warning Latin American nations against deepening financial and military ties with Iran, pledging heightened U.S. vigilance of Iranian activities in the Western Hemisphere. The Senate’s Foreign Relations Subcommittee took a close look Thursday at Tehran’s dealings with Latin America.

Iran’s increasingly isolated regime retains friends in Latin America, most notably Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez.

U.S. Democratic Senator Robert Menendez had a stern message for the region.

“Unfortunately, there are some countries in this hemisphere that, for political or financial gain, have courted Iranian overtures.  They proceed at their own risk: the risk of sanctions from the United States, and the risk of abetting a terrorist state,” he said.

Republican Senator Marco Rubio echoed that message. “The leaders of these [Latin American] countries are playing with fire,” Rubio said.

Researcher Douglas Farah said Iran’s intentions in Latin America are twofold. “To develop the capacity and capability to wreak havoc in Latin America and ... Read More

BY MICHAEL BOWMAN

U.S. senators are warning Latin American nations against deepening financial and military ties with Iran, pledging heightened U.S. vigilance of Iranian activities in the Western Hemisphere. The Senate’s Foreign Relations Subcommittee took a close look on February 16 at Tehran’s dealings with Latin America. Iran’s increasingly isolated regime retains friends in Latin America, most notably Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez.

U.S. Democratic Senator Robert Menendez had a stern message for the region. “Unfortunately, there are some countries in this hemisphere that, for political or financial gain, have courted Iranian overtures.  They proceed at their own risk: the risk of sanctions from the United States, and the risk of abetting a terrorist state,” he said.

Republican Senator Marco Rubio echoed that message. “The leaders of these [Latin American] countries are playing with fire,” Rubio said.

Researcher Douglas Farah said Iran’s intentions in Latin America are twofold. “To develop the capacity and capability to wreak havoc in ... Read More

Aspectos destacados del testimonio del Embajador Roger Noriega ante el Comité de Relaciones Exteriores del Senado, Subcomité para el Hemisferio Occidental, Cuerpos de Paz, y Narcóticos

Febrero 16 del año 2012

El director de Inteligencia Nacional, James R. Clapper, declaró a principios de este mes que “las autoridades iraníes” de más alto nivel “están ahora más dispuestas a realizar un ataque en Estados Unidos ….” El general Clapper también informó que el líder supremo de Irán, Ali Jamenei, probablemente estaba enterado de las acciones descubiertas en octubre donde supuestos líderes de cárteles de la droga mexicanos conspiraron con Irán para perpetrar un supuesto atentado terrorista en el corazón de la capital de nuestra nación.

Basándonos en decenas de entrevistas con expertos de todo el mundo, con testigos en la región y en una gran cantidad de documentos oficiales venezolanos e iraníes se hacen las siguientes conclusiones:

Hugo Chávez y el ... Read More

TESTIMONY OF AMBASSADOR ROGER F. NORIEGA

BEFORE THE UNITED STATES SENATE COMMITTEE ON FOREIGN RELATIONS

SUBCOMMITTEE ON THE WESTERN HEMISPHERE,PEACE CORPS, AND GLOBAL NARCOTICS AFFAIRS

HEARING ON

“IRAN’S INFLUENCE AND ACTIVITY IN LATIN AMERICA”

Thursday, February 16, 2012

Room 419, Dirksen Senate Office Building, Washington, DC

Mr. Chairman, I applaud you and other members of the Subcommittee forinitiating a review of Iran’s activities in Latin America.

Since you announced your inquiry, the Director of National Intelligence, James R.Clapper, testified earlier this month that “Iranian officials” at the highest levels “are now more willing to conduct an attack in the United States….” General Clapper also reported that Iran’s so-called “supreme leader” Ali Khamenei was probably aware of the bizarre plot discovered last October to conspire with supposed Mexican drug cartel leaders to commit a terrorist bombing in the heart of our Nation’s capital.i Only because ... Read More

Bombshell testimony on Capitol Hill last week by U.S. Director of National Intelligence James Clapper has dramatically altered the stakes in Washington’s relations with the Hugo Chávez regime in Venezuela. Speaking before the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence for the annual Worldwide Threat Assessment, Clapper said that Iranian leaders had changed their calculus and are now prepared to respond to perceived threats with terrorist attacks inside the United States.

Clapper said: “The 2011 plot to assassinate the Saudi ambassador to the United States shows that some Iranian officials — probably including Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei — have changed their calculus and are now more willing to conduct an attack in the United States in response to real or perceived U.S. actions that threaten the regime. We are also concerned about Iranian plotting against U.S. or allied interests overseas. Iran’s willingness to sponsor future attacks in the United States or against our interests ... Read More

(WASHINGTON) – U.S. Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL), Chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, convened a Committee hearing on Iranian activity in the Western Hemisphere by warning of the potential for the Iranian regime to use its increased regional ties, including ties to extremist groups operating in the region, as a platform from which to attack the United States.  The hearing comes days after Director of National Intelligence James Clapper testified to Congress that Iranian officials are “now more willing to conduct an attack in the United States,” and that “They’re trying as well to penetrate and engage in this hemisphere.”  To watch the hearing live and to view witness testimony, please click here.  Ros-Lehtinen’s full opening statement follows:

“Through a series of hearings and classified briefings, this committee has exercised due diligence and oversight to examine the threat to U.S. national security posed by Iranian and Iranian-sponsored activities ... Read More

WASHINGTON — Venezuela is heading into a “highly competitive and polarized” election year amid continuing doubts about President Hugo Chavez’s health and a host of pressing issues, the U.S. intelligence chief said Tuesday.

Intelligence director James Clapper said Venezuela’s October elections will tell whether the key features of Chavez’s 12 years in power — a weakening democracy and virulent anti-U.S. policies — “persist and even deepen or begin to reverse.”

“Venezuelan politics will be highly competitive and polarized over the next year,” Clapper said in testimony to the Senate Intelligence Committee.

Chavez, 57, has said he is running for six more years in office, which would mean his third term as president of the oil-rich South American country, despite a bout with cancer which he says is now cured.

He underwent surgery in Cuba in June to remove a tumor and four rounds of chemotherapy, but neither he nor his government have been forthcoming ... Read More

BY RAY WALSER

Appearing before the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence on January 31, Director of National Intelligence [1] (DNI) James R. Clapper warned that [2] the “2011 plot to assassinate the Saudi Ambassador to the U.S. shows that some Iranian officials—probably including Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei—have changed their calculus and are now more willing to conduct an attack in the U.S. in response to real or perceived U.S. actions that threaten the regime.”

In October, U.S. officials accused Iran [3] of plotting to assassinate the Saudi ambassador in Washington with hired assassins from a Mexican drug cartel. The Obama Administration said the plot was devised by an Iranian-American with ties to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. It was foiled when the Iranian-American mistakenly hired a paid Drug Enforcement Administration informant to kill the Saudi Ambassador by bombing his favorite restaurant in Washington. Iranian officials have denied any role in the plot. Despite a ... Read More

BY DAVID MARTIN

Top United States intelligence officials had a dire warning for Congress on Tuesday; that Iran would likely launch terrorist attacks on U.S. soil as pressure mounts against the regime in Tehran.

The alarming assessment is making a tense situation even more serious.

The briefing by the nation’s top intelligence officers added another ominous development to the possible showdown with Iran.

In his written statement, Director of National Intelligence James Clapper said last year’s abortive plot to assassinate Saudi Arabia’s ambassador in Washington “shows that some Iranian officials — probably including Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei — have changed their calculus and are now more willing to conduct an attack in the United States.”

And the chairwoman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, Diane Feinstein (D, Calif.) said the showdown could come to a head this year. “I think,” she said, “2012 will be a critical year for convincing or preventing Iran from developing a ... Read More

El Jefe de Inteligencia de EE.UU., James Clapper, contradijo públicamente las afirmaciones del dictador venezolano Hugo Chávez de que se ha curado del cáncer, la primera declaración oficial de los EE.UU. sobre el deteriorado estado de salud de Chávez.

Las declaraciones del General Clapper, realizadas durante su testimonio ante el Senado de los Estados Unidos, rompen con meses de silencio por parte del gobierno de este país sobre el tema de la salud de Chávez y corrobora mi afirmación de que Chávez está engañando al pueblo venezolano sobre la naturaleza mortal de su enfermad.

Yo escribí en el diario El Nuevo Herald el 19 de julio de 2011, que los médicos que tratan a Chávez le dijeron entonces que existía una probabilidad de 50 porciento de que sobreviviera 18 meses más.  Eso fue hace siete meses. He establecido que:

“Con la enfermedad del dictador y su desaparición de la escena política ... Read More

U.S. intelligence chief James Clapper on Tuesday publicly contradicted claims by Venezuelan dictator Hugo Chávez that he is cured of cancer, the first official U.S. statement on Chávez’s failing health.

General Clapper’s declarations, made during testimony before the U.S. Senate, breaks months of silence from the U.S. government on the subject of Chávez’s health and corroborates my assertions that Chávez is deceiving the Venezuelan people about his fatal condition.

I wrote in the Miami Herald on July 19, 2011, that doctors treating Chávez told him then that he had a 50 percent chance of living 18 months. That was seven months ago. I noted that:

“With the ailing dictator off the political stage for at least two months, civic leaders can jump start a transition by laying out a constructive plan for addressing the country’s growing crises. This task is even more urgent, because regime insiders have begun to quietly mobilize their ... Read More

POR GREG MILLER

Las agencias de inteligencia de EE.UU. creen que Irán está preparado para lanzar ataques terroristas dentro de los Estados Unidos en respuesta a lo que ellos perciben como amenazas de parte de este país y sus aliados, de acuerdo a declaraciones recientes del Jefe de Espionaje de los EE.UU.

El Director Nacional de Inteligencia, James R. Clapper Jr., dijo que un supuesto complot para asesinar al embajador Saudí en Washington el año pasado refleja una nueva tendencia  dentro de los rangos superiores de la Republica Islámica de autorizar ataques contra los Estados Unidos y sus aliados.

La trama mencionada anteriormente “muestra que algunos funcionarios iraníes – probablemente incluyendo al Líder Supremo Ali Khamenei – han cambiado sus cálculos y ahora están dispuestos a realizar un ataque en los Estados Unidos debido a las acciones reales o supuestas de este país, las que son interpretadas como una amenaza al régimen”, dijo ... Read More