Turkish Prime Minister Erdogan. Photo: Wilson Dias.

Since February 27, 2012, WikiLeaks has continued releasing what it says will eventually be 5 million e-mails sent between July 2004 and late December 2011 from the private intelligence company Stratfor. The emails were obtained from a series of hacking attacks against Stratfor in December 2011, carried out by the online activist collective Anonymous.

An internal Stratfor email dated May 14, 2010, claims that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told a US Congressman in a private conversation that he will “not allow Iran to go nuclear ‘on his watch in Israel’s back-yard’.” Netanyahu is alleged to have said that he is willing “to use every means at his disposal” including the potential use of the “Mossad, bunker busting bombs, whatever it takes”. This email also states that Netanyahu used the term “rose colored glasses” when expressing his frustration at Obama’s lack of understanding of the [Iranian nuclear] threat.

In his recent speech at AIPAC, Netanyahu said, “Israel has waited patiently for the international community to resolve this issue….  None of us can afford to wait much longer.”  He also stated, “In this generation, we are blessed to live in an age when there is a Jewish state capable of defending the Jewish people”, effectively echoing his alleged comments to the US Congressman.

Another internal Stratfor email dated November 5, 2008, states that Arizona Senator John McCain decided not to pursue alleged voter fraud in Pennsylvania and Ohio, “despite his staff’s desire to make it an issue.” The email claimed that McCain felt that such an action would not be in the best interests of the country.

The email also contained the following statement: “The Jewish crowd was split and money never flowed.”

An email dated December 10, 2011 claims that Turkish Prime Minister Erdogan has colon cancer and despite having a major operation, “the prognosis is not looking good …The surgeon said they were estimating 2 years for him.” The source who is described as a “former NSC official in Turkey, adviser to Erdogan, energy expert negotiator” has a reliability rating of B and a credibility rating of B, the second highest in Stratfor rankings. The email also states that, “Officially, it’s Turkey providing the main training, arms and support to FSA [Free Syrian Army]. Unofficially, US and Turkey are doing this together in deploying SOF for this mission.”

A separate email dated November 22, 2011, claims that Turkish forces are being mobilized for a potential invasion of Syria. The source who is described as an “Iranian military attache in Lebanon” has a reliability rating of C [average Stratfor ranking] and an unknown credibility rating. According to the source, Turkey has 500 tanks on stand by “for a limited invasion of northern Syria” and 2000 special forces based in northern Cyprus “for occupying a 20kms stretch of the Syrian coast.” George Friedman [Stratfor CEO] concluded that 500 tanks would be supported by about 20,000 troops and could lead a “multidivisional invasion” of northern Syria.

An internal Stratfor email dated January 27, 2010, expresses doubt about Israeli involvement in the assassination of Iranian Scientist Masoud Ali-Mohammadi. A Stratfor employee, Sean Noonan, wrote: “Mossad uses big explosions when trying to get major terrorists… other scientists have all been abducted or poison. If there was US/Israeli involvement, that’s what I think would have happened. Especially if this guy was such a strong opposition supporter they could have turned and exfiltrated him.” Noonan concluded that Mohammadi was not involved in the Iranian government’s nuclear program and that “he was most likely hit by Iran intel or Hezbollah or some combination.”

A separate email dated January 25, 2010, also refers to the death of Masoud Ali Mohammadi. Based on a conversation with a former colleague of Masoud Ali Mohammadi, a Stratfor employee wrote, “He thinks A-dogg‘s [Mahmoud Ahmadinajad] camp had him whacked and thinks HZ [Hizbollah] operatives did it.”

This email also contained the following statement: “Ali Mohammadi was a true believer of the system, but when A-dogg came to power he began to lose faith in the system and started to become more politically active. Ali Mohammadi started to become really active about three years ago and would gather students for rallies.”

Another email dated January 27, 2010, describes Dr. Ali-Mohammadi as “a prominent university professor who supported the Green Movement, was assassinated on January 12, 2010 by a remote-controlled bomb that went off at the front of his house in northern Tehran.” According to a report from the Green Path Movement; a day prior to his assassination, his house was raided by Ministry of Information agents who confiscated his documents.

An internal Stratfor email dated November 15, 2011, refers to a cryptic note from an Israeli diplomat on blasts in Iran. George Friedman [Stratfor CEO] wrote: “…Israel wants to telegraph this. They want it to be known that they did it in order to intimidate the Iranians. That’s why they authorize diplomats to talk.” Sean Noonan [a Stratfor employee] stated that a diplomat “… would not know what really happened operationally. To me that seems to show a degree of political coordination to create a certain perception.”

An email dated January 5, 2010, expressed doubt that Israel will strike Iran in the near future based on a CIA source. The email states that Obama hasn’t given Israel the green light to attack Iran and he “… doesn’t feel it’s the right time for anything but sanctions.”

The source also stated that “… attacking Iran is a big leap up for the Israeli Air Force …”, “They can’t do shock and awe for sustained periods like we can do” and that “The Iranians may be a little better at defense too than the Syrians because they may know the Israelis are coming.”

A separate email dated June 28, 2011, claims “…counterterrorist officials worldwide underestimated how key he [Bin Laden] remained to running the organization.” US intelligence officials who wished to remain anonymous said Bin Laden, “…helped plan every recent major al Qaeda threat the United States is aware of, including plots in Europe last year…”

According to records uncovered, bin Laden was communicating from his walled compound in Pakistan using flash drives [plug-in computer storage devices] which were ferried by couriers. The email mentions that Bin Laden “… was well aware of US counterterrorist defenses and schooled his followers how to work around them” and his writings urged his followers to attack Los Angeles or smaller cities in addition to New York City.

According to bin Laden’s writings, he concluded that “the smaller, scattered attacks since the 9/11 attacks had not been enough” and “…only a body count of thousands, something on the scale of 9/11, would shift US policy.” He is also alleged to have “…schemed about ways to sow political dissent in Washington and play political figures against one another…”

An email dated February 11, 2011, refers to movements.org founder Cohen as “…a loose canon” and that “Google is trying to stop his entry into Gaza now because the dude is like scorched earth.” A Stratfor employee wrote, “I would hope the Shabak [Shin Bet, also known as Israel Security Agency] pick him up for ‘an interview’.”