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RADS AND TRADS -
Middle East Update (3#) -

# IRAN DEFECTION: Ali Resa Asgari, 63, a general in the elite Revolutionary Guards and former Deputy Defence Minister, vanished on February 7 after arriving in Istanbul on a flight from Syria. He is now believed to have defected.

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# Brett at Harry's Place points to the Secular Islam Summit which has just taken place in St Petersburg FL. Prof Walid Phares provides a summary.

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# "A few days ago, al-Iraqiya TV cited an Interior Minister spokesman as identifying Abu Omar al-Baghdadi, leader of the Islamic State of Iraq, as one Khalid al-Mashhadani."

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