Reminiscent of the 9/11 "Jihadists", the shoe bomber, the underpants bomber ....
.... the would-be terrorist MASTERMIND is a 'hapless Jack'
CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas: The Obama administration is ramping up its diplomatic campaign against Iran, giving United Nations diplomats detailed intelligence to support charges Iran plotted to assassinate the Saudi Arabian ambassador to the United States, Adel al-Jubeir.
Meanwhile, details began to emerge about the alleged mastermind that have caused many to doubt the nature of the plot.
At the UN, in a possible prelude to a bid for tighter sanctions, the US ambassador to the UN, Susan Rice, flanked by officials from the FBI, the CIA and the Justice and State departments, briefed Security Council members on the evidence.
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Colombia's Nestor Osorio said Ms Rice and her Saudi counterpart provided ''much more information'' about how US law enforcement and intelligence foiled the plot than has been reported in the media.
The man accused of scheming to kill the Saudi diplomat is described by those who know him as a scatterbrained, hapless businessman who in college earned the nickname ''Jack'' for his affinity for whisky - hardly the type to mastermind a terrorist plot.
A long-time associate and former business partner of Manssor Arbabsiar - also known as Mansour Arbabsiar - said the accused terrorist had owned a string of used car and other businesses in the Corpus Christi area. But he seemed absent minded and shifty.
''He was pretty disorganised, always losing things like keys, titles, probably a thousand cell phones,'' David Tomscha, who ran a small used-car yard with him, said. ''He wasn't meticulous with taking care of things.''
News that Mr Arbabsiar was implicated in the terrorist plot surprised Mr Tomscha and others who knew him. Mr Tomscha said Mr Arbabsiar must have been driven by ''easy, squeezy'' money rather than religious or political zealotry.
''He never spoke ill of the United States,'' Mr Tomscha said. ''I always thought he liked it here, because he could make money. He loved to make money.''
Mr Tomscha said his acquaintance with Mr Arbabsiar, who liked to be called ''Jack'', went back more than a decade.
Tom Hosseini, an Iranian whose friendship with Mr Arbabsiar goes back 30 years, went as far as calling Mr Arbabsiar ''a joke''. The two were roommates at what is now Texas A&M University-Kingsville, but Mr Arbabsiar dropped out after two semesters and finished his degree in Louisiana.
It was Mr Hosseini who nicknamed him ''Jack'', for the quantities of Jack Daniels that Mr Arbabsiar would drink.
''Scarface'', another nickname, was for the lasting reminder of the time Mr Arbabsiar arranged for the then-college students to party with some girls, not knowing the girls' boyfriends would arrive wielding bats and knives. Mr Hosseini got away unscathed.
Was he religious? ''He couldn't even pray, doesn't know how to fast. He used to drink, smoke pot, go with the prostitutes,'' Mr Hosseini said, laughing at his market in Corpus Christi. ''His first wife left him because he would lose his keys every other day. This guy is not a mastermind.''
Mr Hosseini said the only motivation for Mr Arbabsiar's role in the alleged plot, which he doubted, would be money.
Mr Arbabsiar associated with a closeknit group of Iranian immigrants and made a trip to Iran about once a year, Mr Tomscha said.
Read more: smh.com.au |
