Mousavi said to have role in bloody 1980s attacks
In the hubbub surrounding the pro-democracy protests in Iran, it's easy to overlook the fact that Mir Hossein Mousavi, the semi-official voice of the anti-government protestors, has long been a part of Iran's theocratic government, and was linked to anti-American violence in the 1980s, a background article in Monday's CQ Politics points out.
As Iranian prime minister during the 1980s, Mousavi was linked by intelligence services to the 1983 bombing of a U.S. Marines barracks in Beirut, which killed 241 U.S. servicemen and prompted the Reagan administration to remove U.S. troops from Lebanon.
Retired Navy Admiral James Lyons, speaking to CQ, also links Mousavi to the 1988 truck bombing of the U.S. Navy Fleet Center in Naples, Italy.
Mousavi, prime minister for most of the 1980s, personally selected his point man for the Beirut terror campaign, Ali Akbar Mohtashemi-pur, and dispatched him to Damascus as Iran's ambassador, according to former CIA and military officials.
The ambassador in turn hosted several meetings of the cell that would carry out the Beirut attacks, which were overheard by the National Security Agency.
Bob Baer, a former CIA field officer for the Middle East and the inspiration for the George Clooney movie Syriana, said that Mousavi was prime minister at a time "when Iran thought it really could export its revolution across the Middle East, providing money and arms to anyone who claimed he could upend the old order."
-- Daniel Tencer
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