U.S. sought to prevent Iran from being a model in Mideast: CIA agent

TEHRAN, Dec. 20 (MNA) – The taped confessions of Amir Mirza-Hekmati, who has recently been arrested by Iranian intelligence agents on a charge of spying for the CIA, was broadcast on Iranian television on Sunday night. The Intelligence Ministry announced his arrest on December 7. Following are excerpts of Mirza-Hekmati’s confessions: I finished high school in 2001 and decided to join the U.S. Army. In August 2001, I officially wore U.S. Army uniform and received… military training. After receiving general and specialized military training, I was sent to a special university to learn Middle Eastern languages. When they found that I know a little Farsi and a little Arabic, they said that ‘We would like to send you to a university so that you can learn Arabic.’ Afterwards, I entered Iraqi soil as an intelligence analyst and in U.S. Army uniform, and my main mission was to identity a number of people among the country’s officials. I was assessing Iraqi officials’ opinions about the U.S. and the presence of U.S. military forces in Iraq. Our goal was to find people among leaders and officials who had an inclination toward the U.S. and to do something that, in the event an incident occurs, they support (U.S.) military forces and the United States. And after sending our reports to the (U.S.) Army’s intelligence (section), security officers held secret meetings with these officials and tried to develop a closer relationship with them. The U.S. intended to bankrupt Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) through gaining control over Iraq’s oil wells and to do something so that oil would be traded only in dollars and that the U.S. power would be greater than that of China and Russia. One of the reasons behind the U.S. military presence in Iraq was to have presence in the Middle East and to infiltrate Muslim people through infiltrating into Islamic groups and cause deviation (in them). Another objective of the U.S. was to keep a rein on the Middle East(ern) (countries), including Iran, Syria, Lebanon, Iraq, Bahrain, and even Tunisia to prevent the Islamic Republic from becoming a model for these countries. Immediately after the conclusion of the few-month-long mission in Iraq, I was employed by a number of intelligence companies. DARPA (the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency) is an advanced research and intelligence center of the U.S. Department of Defense, which recruited me between the years 2005 to 2007. After (working for DARPA), I went to Kuma (Games Company). This computer company was receiving money from the CIA to (produce) and design and distribute for free special movies and games with the aim of manipulating public opinion in the Middle East. The goal of the company in question was to convince the people of Iran and the people of the entire world that whatever the U.S. does in other countries is a good measure. In July 2009, a woman contacted me who said that she is a government employee… After this contact, I successfully passed polygraph, psychological, and medical tests, and (she), who was the CIA’s selection officer, called me and said that inquiry is done, and that I should wait for their call. Afterwards, I was contacted by BAE Systems (which told me) that I had to go to Iraq as an intelligence analyst. In that country, I learned how to work with secret systems and to gather (and extract) information from various places and people in two years. During this period, the CIA was trying to find a proper cover for my great mission. I was recalled from Iraq to the U.S., and after one-and-a-half-hour-long question-and-answer session by an officer at a hotel in Washington, I was told that I need to travel to Iran to carry out an intelligence project. This CIA officer convinced me to carry out the great mission and gave an assurance that no problem will surface during the mission due to the cover that they would provide me with. I was told that after being dispatched to Iran ‘you will become a source for (Iran’s) Intelligence Ministry, will deliver the coordinated information to them, will receive some amount of money, and will return.’ I was allowed to access the most secret intelligence systems and was dispatched to Bagram base in Afghanistan to collect the necessary intelligence (for carrying out) the infiltration project. It took 45 minutes from Bagram base to Kabul, and I was working at a spying center that was located in Bagram. I took a series of flights from Bagram, one of which was from Bagram to Dubai. After travelling to the United Arab Emirates, I stayed in Dubai for two days and got a ticket there and came to Tehran. The CIA’s plan was to give (the Intelligence Ministry) some valuable intelligence first so that (the ministry) could evaluate whether it is good or not and call me afterwards. However, Iran’s security apparatus, through studying the intelligence,… not only scuttled the infiltration project but also identified and busted the spy network.