Iran Blew Up Jewish Center in Argentina, Defector Says

BUENOS AIRES, July 21 — The Iranian government organized and carried out the bombing of a Jewish community center here eight years ago that killed 85 people and then paid Argentina's president at the time, Carlos Saúl Menem, $10 million to cover it up, a witness in the case has said in sealed testimony.

A 100-page transcript of a secret deposition, provided to The New York Times by Argentine officials frustrated that the case remains unsolved, supports long-held suspicions of Iranian involvement and adds to the questions surrounding the conduct of an inquiry that has been rife with irregularities from the start.

Evidence has disappeared, leads have been ignored and witnesses have been threatened and apparently bribed.

According to the witness, a high-level defector from Iran's intelligence agency who gave his name as Abdolghassem Mesbahi, Mr. Menem, who was president from 1989 to 1999, benefited for years from his ties to Iranian intelligence officials.

They courted him as a valuable contact, Mr. Mesbahi said, for his combination of rising political power, Muslim ancestry and connections to Argentina's small but influential Syrian-Lebanese community.

Mr. Menem, who is once again a leading candidate for president, has already been tainted by political corruption scandals and spent six months under house arrest last year on charges that he had overseen an illegal arms smuggling operation while in office.

But the bombing of the Argentine Jewish Mutual Aid Association on July 18, 1994, the worst terror attack ever carried out here, continues to haunt him and all levels of the Argentine government as a symbol of the absence of accountability that in recent months has brought this country to the brink of collapse.

Through intermediaries, Mr. Menem declined a request for an interview to discuss the case. But Alberto Kohan, his former chief of staff and now an important campaign adviser, suggested that the accusations were politically motivated and denied any official cover-up.

"Every intelligence agency in the world had free passage in Argentina to investigate this case," Mr. Kohan said. "We were completely open. We did everything that the courts asked for. There are people in custody, there is a trial and there is an inquiry under way. We would all like to know who did it. President Menem was totally clear about that at the time."

Iranian officials in Tehran have denied involvement in the bombing. Officials at the Iranian Embassy here declined to discuss the case by telephone and did not respond to a request for comment by fax.

Mr. Mesbahi, the Iranian defector who provided the testimony, met with Argentine investigators in Germany in 1998 and again in Mexico in 2000, speaking at various times in Persian, English, German and French with a Spanish-language translator present.

Argentine officials say that they are not sure of his current whereabouts, except that he remains under Germany's protection, and that they do not know if the name he gave is his real name.

Argentine and German officials describe him as a senior operative who has provided valuable information about Iranian terrorist operations in Europe and Asia through the mid-1990's. He defected to Germany in 1996, reportedly because he was upset at his agency's involvement in the killing of dissident intellectuals in Iran and abroad.

Mr. Mesbahi said the planning for the attack in Buenos Aires began in 1992, led by Mohsen Rabbani, cultural attaché at the Iranian Embassy at the time, and supervised by Hamid Naghashan, a senior official of the Iranian intelligence agency.

One cell focused on "cooperating with members of the Argentine police, corrupting them or threatening them to collaborate with the attack," Mr. Mesbahi said, according to the transcript. "Another devoted itself to obtaining the explosives" in Brazil, he said.

Nilda Garré, who led the Argentine government's antiterrorism unit in 2000 and 2001, and other Argentine officials said Mr. Mesbahi's account had been confirmed by another Iranian who had visited the Argentine Embassy in Tehran twice.

Immigration and Foreign Ministry records here confirm, the officials said, that several Iranians who were said to have been involved in the plot visited Argentina in the months preceding the bomb attack.

Mr. Mesbahi said that after the attack, negotiations took place in Tehran with an emissary, a bearded man of about 50, sent by Mr. Menem. The result was that "$10 million was deposited into a numbered account that Menem had indicated," Mr. Mesbahi said, paid from a $200 million Swiss account controlled by Hashemi Rafsanjani, who was Iran's president at the time, and by a son of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini.

In return, Mr. Mesbahi said, Mr. Menem agreed to "make declarations that there was no evidence against Iran that it was responsible."

The Menem government initially blamed Iran, but the cumulative effect of later statements, arguing that there was insufficient proof, has been to sow uncertainty about responsibility for the bombing.

Early this year the Swiss government acknowledged that it had been asked to look into information supplied by the Iranian informant. Eamon Mullen, the Argentine government's chief prosecutor in the case, said in an interview that investigators had confirmed that a deposit had been made into an account controlled by Mr. Menem at the bank named by Mr. Mesbahi and in the amount he had specified.

"But it is not known who made the deposit or on what date," Mr. Mullen said, leaving open the possibility that the payment could have been a payoff for other acts of corruption of which Mr. Menem has been accused or from some other source.

After the bombing, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who succeeded Ayatollah Khomeini as Iran's supreme leader and still holds that post, publicly expressed his approval.

"By gathering together groups of Jews with records of murder, theft, wickedness and hooliganism from throughout the world," Ayatollah Khamenei said, "the Zionist regime has created an entity under the name of the Israeli nation that only understands the logic of terror and crimes."

In his testimony, Mr. Mesbahi said Iran's contacts with Mr. Menem began in the mid-1980's when he was the governor of La Rioja Province. Because Mr. Menem was of Arab descent and they believed him to share their anti-Jewish sentiments, the Iranians covertly funneled money to Mr. Menem in hopes that he would be elected president and pursue policies favorable to Iran, Mr. Mesbahi said.

"The companies that worked for Menem sold their products at a high price to Iran, which accepted those prices because it knew what those high prices were paying for," Mr. Mesbahi said, according to the transcript. "A lot of money went to the companies that supported the Menem campaign."

After Mr. Menem became president in 1989, he consolidated his power by packing the Supreme Court with close political associates including a former law partner and by placing loyalists in key posts in the national security and intelligence apparatus.

But he enraged the Muslim countries that hoped to take advantage of his rise, which included Libya as well as Syria, where he and his wife at the time both had relatives.

Mr. Menem instead pursued what he called "a carnal relationship" with the United States, apparently yielding to pressure from Washington not to sell weapons or advanced technology to Iran, Libya or Syria, and became the first Argentine head of state to visit Israel.

Argentine officials say the bombing at the Jewish community center was strikingly similar to an attack on the Israeli Embassy here in 1992, in which 28 people died. In both cases a car bomb was used, the targeted building was undergoing repairs and police officers on a security detail inexplicably vanished just before the explosion.

In what he said was a demonstration of his intention to get to the bottom of the Israeli Embassy attack, Mr. Menem put the Argentine Supreme Court in charge of the investigation.

But that inquiry was botched so badly that it now figures in the list of offenses in impeachment proceedings against the justices and, critics say, encouraged the attack two years later on the community center.

"The inaction of the Argentine state, the absolute absence of investigation, showed terrorists that they could act in Argentina without the slightest fear of consequences," Sergio Widder, South American representative of the Simon Wiesenthal Center, said in an interview here. He said the inaction had "inspired a level of confidence" that made the attack on the commnity center possible.

After the second attack, Mr. Menem had the cases handed over to an investigative magistrate, Judge Juan José Galeano, rather than the Supreme Court.

But Judge Galeano's conduct of the inquiry, which is continuing, at least on paper, has been so bizarre and brought so much criticism that he is now himself being investigated on charges of improper behavior that could lead to his removal from the bench.

"From the start the Argentine government, especially in the person of Judge Galeano, has never shown a will to investigate and clear up this matter," said Alberto Zuppi, a lawyer and former Justice Minister who now represents Memoria Activa, an association of the families of bombing victims.

"Everything has been done so as not to get to the bottom of this matter," Mr. Zuppi said, "and the result is that much time and evidence have been lost."

Questions have been raised in particular about an unusual videotape of a meeting between Judge Galeano and Carlos Alberto Telleldín, a car thief who was jailed shortly after the community center attack because he had briefly owned the van used in the bombing.

The videotape, stolen from Judge Galeano's office and later broadcast on television, shows the two men discussing a $400,000 payment that Mr. Telleldín says he received.

At various times officials have said Judge Galeano and Mr. Telleldín were negotiating a book contract or discussing a reward for information. But in testimony in open court in May, Mr. Telleldín said that "Judge Galeano had promised to free me by October 1997" and to give him the money if he would agree to accuse a group of Buenos Aires Province police officers in the case.

Judge Galeano declined numerous requests for an interview. But Claudio Lifschitz, formerly Judge Galeano's chief investigator, said the judge Galeano had been acting to protect his patrons in the intelligence service, who reported to Mr. Menem, particularly from the testimony of the Iranian defector, Mr. Mesbahi, who was known as Witness C.

"That's why Mr. Galeano has made the testimony of Witness C secret and refuses to allow any follow-up interviews with the Iranian, because that testimony became dangerous the minute it implicated Menem," said Mr. Lifschitz, a lawyer who is the author of a book called "Why the Investigation Was Made to Fail."

"There are another 300 files that he is keeping apart from the main proceeding and that no one but he has access to," Mr. Lifschitz added.

According to Ms. Garré, a former deputy interior minister who is now a member of Congress, 66 cassettes of intercepted telephone conversations disappeared simultaneously from the offices of the Federal Police and intelligence services.

She also said police logbooks had been altered and electronic address books and planners of various suspects erased as part of an official cover-up.

"Not only has there been no support for getting to the bottom of this case, you can also say that some government organs have actively sabotaged the investigation," Ms. Garré said.

"State intelligence and the federal police are clearly involved," she added, "but there is also evidence pointing to the involvement of agencies ranging from Immigration to the Foreign Ministry."

In addition, Judge Galeano appears to have steered away from some areas of inquiry that other investigators think might have yielded useful information.

"If the Iranian track has hardly been looked at," said Ariel Said, the lead investigator of a congressional committee looking into irregularities in the case, "the local Islamic community, which is predominantly Syrian-Lebanese and directly linked to Menem, has been looked at even less."

After more than seven years of delays, a trial finally began here last September and is expected to continue until the end of this year. But of the approximately 20 people who could face long prison terms if convicted, not one is accused of having organized or of having been directly involved in the attack.

Instead all, like Mr. Telleldín, who maintains that he is innocent, are charged in connection with the theft of the van or the alteration of its engine and identifying documents.

Several others are low-level members of the Buenos Aires provincial police, a force that has often been at odds with both the national intelligence service and the Federal Police.

In his testimony in early May, Mr. Telleldín said he had been subjected to "pressures coming directly from the Casa Rosada," the seat of government. Mr. Menem, he contended, sent an emissary in 1995 who offered him a $2 million payment if he would blame a group of Lebanese immigrants then being detained in neighboring Paraguay in conection with the attack.

"Menem was running for re-election, and he wanted to close the circle," Mr. Telleldín said of the visit from a former military officer with close ties to the presidential palace.

Mr. Telleldín said he had also been visited by representatives of the national intelligence agency who urged him to shift some blame to the Buenos Aires provincial police so as to damage Mr. Menem's main rival, Eduardo Duhalde, who was then governor of the province but is now Argentina's president.

Even as the trial and the investigation have dragged on, survivors of the attack and relatives of the victims assemble every Monday morning just before 10 o'clock in front of the main courthouse here.

After a minute of silent prayer, a shofar is blown, speeches honoring the dead are offered and protesters waving placards and photographs of the victims chant, "We demand justice!"

"Argentina has lost an opportunity to contribute to the international body of knowledge about terrorism that could have helped other countries avoid or better confront terrorist actions," Mr. Widder said recently after one such gathering. "What happened here is the model of what not to do in confronting international terrorism, and it leaves the door open to a third attack."

1992 : (HIZBALLAH, IRAN, BIN LADEN, AL QEADA) Osama bin Laden made a proposal to his rivals in the pro-Iran Shiite terrorist organization Hizballah that they set aside their differences, so that they can cooperate in a common objective of killing United States troops stationed in Asia and Africa. Bin Laden also established legal businesses in Sudan, farms, a tannery, and a construction firm, to increase his available funds, and as fronts for al Qaeda camps he was organizing there.
1992 : (MUGNIYAH, ARGENTINA) Imad Mugniyah allegedly bombed a Christian center in Argentina.
1992 : (HIZBALLAH, ISRAEL, ARGENTINA) Hizballah agents bombed the Israeli embassy in Argentina.
FEBRUARY, 1992: Israeli attack kills Hizballah leader Sheikh Musawi
MARCH 17, 1992 : a car bomb virtually destroyed the Israeli Embassy in Buenos Aires, Argentina, killing 29 people and injuring 242. The Islamic Jihad organization, an arm of the Lebanese Hizballah, took responsibility for the attack, claiming it was in retaliation for the Israeli attack that killed Hizballah leader Sheikh Musawi in February. When the authenticity of this claim was questioned, the group responded by releasing a videotape of the Israeli Embassy taken during surveillance before the bombing. The bombing focused attention on Hizballah activity in Latin America, where communities of recent Shiite Muslim emigres in the remote border areas of Argentina, Brazil, and Paraguay could provide cover for international terrorists.
1994 : (HIZBALLAH, ISRAEL, ARGENTINA) Hizballah agents bombed an Israeli cultural center Buenos Aires, Argentina.

(An extra tidbit of interest, note the date:
Sept. 1994 FBI Dir. Freeh sends Dep. Att. Gen Gorelick a package of antiterrorism recommendations from the Executive Advisory Board of DoJ's Office of Investigative Policies. Recommendations are: 1. Develop a uniform database of State Dept. visa refusals; 2.Rethink the visa waiver pilot program; 3.Expand INS preinspection; 4.Allow classified information to be used by the court in deportation proceedings; 5.Tighten the asylum screening provisions and detain and expeditiously deport anyone suspected of terrorist intent; 6.Tighten controls against NIV overstayers and persons involved in sham marriages; 7. Share INS alien files with FBI terrorism investigators. )

1997 : (LUXOR, EGYPT MASSACRE, AL-GAMAA AL-ISLAMIYA, OMAR ABDEL RAHMAN, WTC BOMBING #1) massacre of 80 Western tourists near Cairo. Egypt's most powerful Islamic militant group -- al-Gamaa al-Islamiyya -- claimed responsibility Tuesday for the 70 deaths, which also included the attackers, police officers and several Egyptians. (There were some attacks on tourists prior to this as well.) In a statement faxed to AP press, the group said the tourists were killed Monday while its gunmen were trying to take them hostage in an attempt to secure the release of the group's spiritual leader, Omar Abdel Rahman. The cleric is in a U.S. prison for conspiring to blow up New York landmarks, including the World Trade Center in 1993. ONe of the perps is later picked up in South America.

OCTOBER 1998 : (COLUMBIA, VENEZUELA, FARC, TERROR INTERNATIONAL, EGYPTIAN TERRORIST) Interpol arrested Egyptian extremist Mohamed Enid Abdel Aal, in Bogota, Colombia. Abdel Aal, a leader of one of the most dangerous of the Islamist terrorist organizations, told authorities under questioning that "he planned to stay in Colombia for a few days and then head to Venezuela over land.” (El Nuevo Herald, Sept. 16, 2001)(COLUMBIA, AL-GAMAL AL-ISLAMIYA, FARC, LUXOR, EGYPTIAN TERRORIST) An Egyptian terrorist belonging to al-Gamal al-Islamiya entered Colombia illegally in 1998 to hold talks with FARC and was arrested and turned over to U.S. authorities. — He was wanted in connection with the 1997 massacre of 80 Western tourists near Cairo.

There is additional information that indicates that the Colombian territory under FARC control has become a haven for Terror International. Argentine journalist Julio Cirino, an expert on international terrorism, has written about the existence of a logistical support base "in a small city near the Colombian border with Venezuela,” where "Middle Eastern types” receive fake Colombian passports and move on to other unspecified destinations.

1998 : (BIN LADEN INTERVIEW) Reporter John Miller of ABC News interviewed bin Laden, who said, in part, "Our battle against the Americans is far greater than our battle was against the Russians. We anticipate a black future for America. Instead of remaining United States, it shall end up separated states and shall have to carry the bodies of its sons back to America."

May 10, 2001- Kahmenei, Castro meet, Reject U.S. hegemony***During a meeting with visiting Cuban President Fidel Castro Wednesday afternoon, Kahmenei said, "our resistence against the U.S. hegemony is based on Islamic beliefs that Iran regards any resistance against arrogance in the world as a righteous move." Kahmenei assured Castro that Iran and Cuba can defeat the U.S. hand in hand.***

"..bring America to it's knees"***Carter even plans a tour of Cuba's Center for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology, a high-tech facility that produces vaccines for other countries. The Bush administration created a stir last week by accusing Cuba of sharing its dual-use biotech capability with "rouge" states that are looking to create plagues for biological warfare. That charge should put into perspective Castro's own warning to the United States during his swing through the Middle East last May. "Iran and Cuba, in cooperation with each other, can bring America to its knees," Castro said at the University of Tehran. "The U.S. regime is very weak and we are witnessing this weakness from close-up."

TERROR'S SERVANT ***Whether Cuba currently is making bio-chemical weapons is a subject of speculation, but unknown. As Sen. Bob Graham, D-Fl., recently told this Editorial Board, Cuba allows no access to international inspection agencies. Troubling, too, are the regime's 40-year ties with the Middle East that include relations with fellow members of the terror blacklist: Libya, Iraq, Iran, Syria and Sudan. The friendships are no accident. As recently as this year, Fidel Castro saw fit to renew those relationships personally in a Mideast tour. The importance of those relations was reflected in the rushed arrest of Ana Belén Montes, the Defense Intelligence Agency analyst accused of passing classified information to the communist country. The concern was that secrets passed to Cuba would be shared with unfriendly Mideast states, compromising U.S. anti-terror efforts.***

Iran and Cuba bolster ties, strengthen anti-US solidarity *** Castro for his part said Havana is not "afraid of America, and the Cuban nation, 40 years after its revolution, is now stronger then ever. "Iran and Cuba, in cooperation with each other, can bring America to its knees. The US regime is very weak, and we are witnessing this weakness from close up," Castro affirmed.

During his trip, the Cuban leader also held meetings with Iran's Foreign Minister Kamal Kharazi, parliament speaker Mehdi Karubi, as well as former president Akbar Hashemi-Rafsanjani. He also received an honorary doctorate from a Tehran university for his "contributions to justice, humanist ideals and the fight against discrimination." Castro told journalists before leaving Tehran that he was "totally reassured about Iran. There is great hope for the future of relations between Cuba and Iran. I am leaving with many unforgettable memories."***

Post-Attack Cuban Intelligence Said Deliberately Useless *** WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Cuba scrambled to offer condolences, blood and airports for diverted airliners after the Sept. 11 attacks on the United States, and provided intelligence to help the United States track the culprits. But the information proved worthless and the Caribbean island will remain on a U.S. list of states that sponsor terrorism, along with Libya, Iraq, Iran, Syria, Sudan and North Korea, a U.S. official said on Wednesday. "We were convinced that it was deliberately of no assistance. Given Cuba's history there could have been more information at their disposal to provide us," a State Department official told Reuters. "There is no inclination in this building or anywhere in the executive branch to consider that Cuba is anywhere near qualified to come off the terrorism list," he said. ….. the information provided by President Fidel Castro's government was of no help at all, leading Washington to suspend its contacts with Havana on intelligence sharing, he said. "Cuba was quick to condemn terrorism, but has done nothing to assist in the global effort against terrorism," the State Department official said. ***

May 10, 2001- Castro Ends Visit to Iran***In Iran, Castro is admired for his 40-year struggle against the United States. Both countries are under U.S. sanctions and, year after year, both appear on Washington's list of countries that sponsor terrorism. In a joint statement Thursday, the two countries condemned terrorism as well as the sanctions. They also called for establishment of an independent Palestinian state and the return of all Palestinian refugees to their homeland. The statement called for cooperation at the United Nations as well as in the Group of 77 countries and the Non-Aligned Movement. Iran currently heads the G-77, an association of developing countries. They agreed also to continue cooperation in pharmaceuticals and medical training.

Before departing Iran, Castro stopped off at the north Tehran home of the late Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, father of the Iranian revolution. He was shown a short film on Khomeini's life and visited his library before heading on to the airport. Earlier in his visit, Castro had laid a wreath at Khomeini's grave. U.S. sanctions have been in place against Iran since the revolution. Washington severed ties and imposed sanctions after Muslim militants stormed the U.S. embassy in Tehran and held 52 Americans hostage for 444 days.***

IRA is linked to 'axis of evil'*** THE IRA was linked to President Bush's "axis of evil" in Washington last night when congressional investigators revealed that the Bogota authorities believed Iranian terrorists had trained in the same part of Colombia as the Provisionals. Placing the IRA within a global network of terrorism, a report by the House International Relations Committee concluded that Irish, Iranian, Cuban and possibly Spanish groups had probably "been sharing techniques, honing their terrorism skills, using illicit drug proceeds in payment".

In an attempt to limit the political damage, Gerry Adams, president of Sinn Fein, had earlier declined an invitation to appear before a hearing of the committee today on the IRA's relationship with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia [Farc] narco-terrorists. "Colombian authorities assert that not only has the IRA operated in the former safe haven on behalf of the Farc, but also the Iranians, Cubans, and possibly Eta [Basque terrorists], among others," a summary of the committee's report said. The inquiry was launched last summer after James Monaghan and Martin McAuley, both convicted of IRA offences, and Niall Connolly, Sinn Fein's representative in Cuba, were arrested in Bogota and charged with aiding the Farc. "Colombia is a potential breeding ground for international terror equalled perhaps only by Afghanistan, and the IRA findings are the strongest among these global links because of the arrests of the three Irish nationals and the accompanying evidence," said the summary.***

Havana pursues biological warfare *** In a speech titled "Beyond the Axis of Evil," John Bolton, undersecretary of state for international security and arms control, named Cuba, Libya and Syria as "states intent on acquiring weapons of mass destruction" against which the United States would take action to prevent such arms from reaching terrorists. President Bush included Iran, Iraq and North Korea in an "axis of evil" in his State of the Union address to Congress in January. "The United States believes that Cuba has at least a limited offensive biological warfare research and development effort," Mr. Bolton said at the Heritage Foundation. "Cuba has provided dual-use biotechnology to other rogue states. We are concerned that such technology could support [bioweapons] programs in those states." In a later interview, a senior administration official said Washington has gathered "broad and deep" evidence of Cuba's pursuit of such weapons but is "constrained" in what it can disclose publicly.**

Terrorists active in U.S. 'backyard': Latin America hotbed for both al-Qaida, Hezbollah***Both al-Qaida and Hezbollah are active in the common border area of Colombia, Peru and Ecuador, according to an earlier statement of Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage in hearings before the Foreign Appropriations Subcommittee of the House Appropriations Committee, cited in a report from Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty. The activities of the Irish Republican Army, Iran, Cuba and various international terrorist networks operating in Colombia may turn that Latin American nation into a "breeding ground for international terror equaled perhaps only by Afghanistan," according to the committee report.

Further to the south in Latin America, Hezbollah and the terrorist Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) are operating in the tri-border region of Paraguay, Argentina and Brazil. The suspected activities of these groups include counterfeiting U.S. currency and drug smuggling, with the area in which they function described as a "haven for Islamic extremists" by the administrator of the Drug Enforcement Administration, Asa Hutchinson, in testimony before the House International Relations Committee. "The situation in the tri-border area [of Paraguay, Argentina and Brazil] highlights the ease with which terrorist organizations can infiltrate and assimilate in other countries and go relatively undetected for an extended period of time," Hutchinson stated.

The linkage among various terrorist groups and nations associated with support of terrorism in Latin America combines considerable financial resources and technological expertise. In addition to the vast oil wealth of Iran, the South American terrorist network can rely upon South American drug money to finance its activities. Colombia alone produces 90 percent of the cocaine and "at least" 70 percent of the heroin sold in the U.S., according to estimates of the House International Relations Committee.***

Dangerous anti-Americanism next door***The rabid anti-Americanism that drove fanatical terrorists to attack the United States can be found a lot closer to home than the Middle East. In Venezuela, President Hugo Chávez has made anti-Americanism a cornerstone of his foreign policy since taking office in 1999, and he has of- fered a ``smile and wink'' to terrorists. …..Chávez, a left-leaning nationalist, has allied himself with Cuba's Fidel Castro, Iraq's Saddam Hussein and Libya's Moammar Gadhafi. These countries may end up having played a role in the Sept. 11 attacks.***

_________________________________________________

*** Pentagon, State Department and congressional sources also point to continuing Cuban support for international terrorism and drug trafficking. They tell Insight that, according to the CIA, Russian specialists still operate the electronic listening station at Lourdes on the northeast tip of the island which taps into U.S. communications. During the Persian Gulf War, this station forwarded strategic information to Iraq. Reports smuggled out this year by dissident Cuban military officers and scientists are believed to be among the factors prompting Defense Secretary William Cohen to revise a Pentagon report sent to Congress last April which decertified Cuba as a threat to U.S. national security.*** (April 29, 2000)--Fidel Castro's Deadly Secret - Five BioChem Warfare Labs

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