Jailed Spy: CIA Paid Developer to Make Anti-Middle East Games

[Shamus Young]

Jailed Spy: CIA Paid Developer to Make Anti-Middle East Games

A man detained in Iran on suspicion of spying for the U.S. claims he worked for Kuma Games.

If the story Amir Mirza-Hekmati told on Iranian national television on Sunday is true, then he has led a crazy life worthy of an action movie starring Kal Penn. Iranian officials announced Mirza-Hekmati's arrest on December 7th and yesterday published excerpts from his "confession" in the Tehran Times.

Amir Mirza-Hekmati was born in Arizona before moving to live near Detroit, Michigan, and, after finishing high school there, he joined the U.S. army. Because of his heritage and ability to speak Farsi, his commanding officers asked that he learn Arabic. Mirza-Hekmati then went to Iraq in an Army uniform but worked as an intelligence analyst before eventually he was recruited by DARPA - the main military research branch of the U.S. armed forces. After that, he was hired to work at Kuma Games in New York City, which Mirza-Hekmati alleges receives money from U.S. to sway public opinion against Islamic countries.

"I went to Kuma Games Company," Mirza-Hekmati said. "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."

Kuma Games [http://www.kumagames.com/] has made a few games which bleed into the politcal sphere, such as a recreation of the missions that ended in the death of Osama Bin Laden and Muammar Gaddafi in their free downloadable game Kuma/War, but the company also produces titles like Street Soccer and branded work for television networks like Mobsters (Bio.) and I.Predator (Animal Planet). In 2006, Kuma executives admitted to doing contract work for the U.S. government, but never once stated that they are, in fact, supported through CIA money.

Mirza-Hekmati's father denies that his son was ever a spy for the CIA, and that he was visiting family when he was detained in Iran. "He is not a spy. It's a whole bunch of lies on my good son," said Ali Hekmati, a professor from Flint, Michigan. "They have lied about any American ... captured in Iran for visiting or tourism, or for any other reason."

The CIA, the U.S. government and Kuma Games have all declined to comment on Mirza-Hekmati's statements, but clearly there is some high-level spy work going on here. I think we need to send in James Bond or Jack Bauer to rescue Mirza-Hekmati and clear Kuma Games good name.

Source: Daily Telegraph [http://www.tehrantimes.com/component/content/article/93702#.Tu-V1zp9xcc.twitter]

Permalink

 

[Sixcess]

I just checked the Kuma site. They have a game about shooting dinosaurs.

Oh shit... Iran has a secret Dinosaur army!

All kidding aside, I can actually believe this. The CIA has a long history of funding weird projects.

 

[Johnson McGee]

Even if everything they said is true about Kuma Games that still doesn't make him a spy, just a propagandist. Although it is a bit suspicious that someone with such heavy ties to the US military would be in Iran anyway, even if his family came from there.

 

[OneTwoThreeBlast]

Normally I wouldn't believe anything Iran says about a jailed American, but I'm inclined to believe most of the story in this case. I mean come on...the guy works for years in the army and then moves on to DARPA, only to suddenly make a totally strange career pivot to work at a videogame company?

The most damning piece of evidence is the fact that people who speak Arabic are highly coveted in the American armed forces. They are rarer and more important than almost any other people.

Does anybody remember the huge uproar that occurred when it was revealed back in 2007 that Arabic translators had been ousted from the armed forces because they were gay? If not, read this article by one of those translators: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/08/opinion/08benjamin.html

This article also corroborates my statement about the importance of such translators, reading, "But the military has a desperate shortage of linguists trained to translate such invaluable information and convey it to the war zone. The lack of qualified translators has been a pressing issue for some time ? the Army had filled only half its authorized positions for Arabic translators in 2001. Cables went untranslated on Sept. 10 that might have prevented the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11. Today, the American Embassy in Baghdad has nearly 1,000 personnel, but only a handful of fluent Arabic speakers."

Also from the article: "The result [of the military discovering he and several others were gay] was the termination of our careers, and the loss to the military of two more Arabic translators."

So, the army gives up one of its most coveted assets so he can become a videogame developer? Seriously? That's not even close to passing muster. This story appears to be true by any objective measure.

 

[CapitalistPig]

whether its true or false we are pretty unlikely to ever get a clear picture of the outcome of this situation. But yea government funded game developing with prejudice agendas.........color me shocked but not really cause thats pretty much how it goes down. I wonder if Kuma employs lobbyists. Mostly because im not surprised that the government would fund game developing but more on the lines of who would authorize the government funding of game developing? Thats essentially hemorrhaging money. Id like to see how that falls under 10th amendment rights.

 

[OneTwoThreeBlast]

whether its true or false we are pretty unlikely to ever get a clear picture of the outcome of this situation. But yea government funded game developing with prejudice agendas.........color me shocked but not really cause thats pretty much how it goes down. I wonder if Kuma employs lobbyists. Mostly because im not surprised that the government would fund game developing but more on the lines of who would authorize the government funding of game developing? Thats essentially hemorrhaging money. Id like to see how that falls under 10th amendment rights.

Why would this fall under the 10th Amendment? Maybe I'm missing something, but I don't see how this could be a 10th Amendment issue.

 

[CapitalistPig]

whether its true or false we are pretty unlikely to ever get a clear picture of the outcome of this situation. But yea government funded game developing with prejudice agendas.........color me shocked but not really cause thats pretty much how it goes down. I wonder if Kuma employs lobbyists. Mostly because im not surprised that the government would fund game developing but more on the lines of who would authorize the government funding of game developing? Thats essentially hemorrhaging money. Id like to see how that falls under 10th amendment rights.

Why would this fall under the 10th Amendment? Maybe I'm missing something, but I don't see how this could be a 10th Amendment issue.

Well unless some lobbyists changed the laws ( which is where my curiousity comes into play about Kuma lobbyist roles) there is no law that expressly allows the government to fund gaming which under tenth amendment rights would delegate this right to the states and individuals which would be state gov and entrepreneurs. so im asking A: does this company employ lobbyists to legally get funded by the government and B: if A is false wouldn't that be a constitutional violation?

 

[Saucycarpdog]

Assuming all his backround information is correct, it's hard to deny it. Kuma games did admit to working with the government.

Than again, it doesn't matter if this is true. It's been showed many times that the government sometimes tries to sway public opinion.

I mean, look at their military recruitment ads.

 

[HyenaThePirate]

Christmas just came early for Kuma Games.. because Dinodday looks to be an indie hit!

 

[ckam]

Wow, the more I read about this, the less I cared. Anyway, I want a better plot for a spy film.

 

[samsonguy920]

Creating propaganda games to show Iranians the West is right and their government is made up of a bunch of dilholes is an awesome idea. The idea that the CIA is actually motivated and imaginative enough to implement it? Plausible but doesn't feel likely. The idea that Iran just apprehended some poor guy who they are using for their own propaganda machine to show their people and others the West is bad and their own government is a bunch of awesome guys protecting them from the capitalist tyrants seems just about more likely.
Without honest disclosure from all parties involved, we aren't about to know all of the truth. Either case, it seems quite likely that Amir is a pawn in all of this and I hope his life isn't being destroyed in all of this brouhaha.

 

[minarri]

... Because working for the CIA automatically means that you're a spy. Ugh.

Never mind misconceptions about Muslims and people of the Middle East (not to say they aren't an issue), people around the world have ridiculous ideas about the intelligence community.

 

[RA92]

Well, that's probably the least worst thing CIA ever did.

 

[Kahunaburger]

Hey guise, I've got an idea. Let's totally treat something the Iranian government is releasing as if it were in any way related to reality.

 

[Kahunaburger]

Hey guise, I've got an idea. Let's totally treat something the Iranian government is releasing as if it were in any way related to reality.

Because everything that the American government says is always the gospel of truth.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Non_sequitur_(logic)#Non_sequitur_in_everyday_speech

I'm talking about whether we buy a "confession" from someone who was in Iranian custody.

 

[Kahunaburger]

Hey guise, I've got an idea. Let's totally treat something the Iranian government is releasing as if it were in any way related to reality.

Because everything that the American government says is always the gospel of truth.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Non_sequitur_(logic)#Non_sequitur_in_everyday_speech

I'm talking about whether we buy a "confession" from someone who was in Iranian custody.

Got any proof that the Iranians forced him to confess?

I know Iran isn't a shinning example of human rights and all, but I am sick of hearing people talk about the place like its some kind of a Middle Eastern North Korea. Almost half of everything that people keep saying about Iran is just some propaganda bullshit.

The CIA has a legacy of using propaganda and misinformation as a weapon against America's enemies, so there is nothing about this news story that strikes me as far fetched.

Here's a link to a relevant book on Iran's history with using torture (and other forms of coercion) to elicit false confessions and the like. The point is not that the story is or isn't far-fetched (this sounds like exactly the sort of project the CIA would be dumb enough to fund) but that this guy's testimony has nothing to do with reality and everything to do with what the Iranian government wants him to say.

http://books.google.com/books?id=-QJgbEeoLfEC&printsec=frontcover&dq=Abrahamian,+Ervand+tortured+confessions&hl=en&sa=X&ei=uw_yTt_0FqPz0gGZ-vCOAg&ved=0CDAQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=Abrahamian%2C%20Ervand%20tortured%20confessions&f=false