Iran Deports Al Qaeda But Will Not Extradite Any to U.S.

Wash Post ^ | Unknown (AP)

[Coop]

PUTRAJAYA, Malaysia -- Iran has deported many al Qaeda suspects but will not extradite any to the United States despite requests to do so, President Mohammad Khatami said Friday at a summit of Islamic nations.

The Bush administration has urged Iran to hand over several alleged senior members of Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda terror network. American officials believe Tehran has the suspects in custody after they fled to Iran from neighboring Afghanistan when a U.S.-led coalition ousted the hard-line Taliban regime in late 2001.

[Coop]

Not a lot of information, but at least there's some movement here. Now let's keep our fingers crossed that the recipient countries send them to Gitmo or at least give our folks significant access to these evil thugs.

[Coop]

Hmmm, as I read this again, it's not even clear to me that there has been any movement in this mess. It could be that Khatami is just regurgitating old numbers about AQ deportations. But the AP did see fit to come out with an article, so we'll see.

[Dog]

Doesn't look like anything new....but keep your eyes out and see if they were deported to Saudi Arabia.

[Coop]

Yeah, all sorts of news outlets picked this up as breaking news, but I'm less convinced that it's anything but Iran doing its normal attempt to defend itself against charges of aiding terrorism.

[AMNZ]

Doesn't this fit the "harbor or aid" a terrorist definition?

[Shermy]

Not a lot of information, but at least there's some movement here.

Same record skipping since late 2001.

[Coop]

Doesn't this fit the "harbor or aid" a terrorist definition?

Yep.

[Angelus Errare]

I didn't see any numbers, but if they use the "500" figure it's old and refers largely to al-Qaeda operatives who deported from Iran to Lebanon's Bekaa Valley. That's hardly a crackdown, it's more of a change of venue.

Judging from two other Washington Post stories last week stating that there are over 24 top al-Qaeda leaders in Iran and ~400 middle management being protected by the IRGC and VEVAK on military bases, I very much doubt that Khatami is doing anything more than blowing out hot air to try to stall for time until his nation has nukes to play with.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A21484-2003Oct13?language=printer

[Excuse_My_Bellicosity]

The media has been floating a lot of stories lately about muslim countries cracking down on terrorists. It's all a pile of warm crap.

[Excuse_My_Bellicosity]

...see if they were deported to Saudi Arabia.

Which is equivalent to deporting a yuppie to Sunnyvale, California. Harsh punishment (not).

[Coop]

It's all a pile of warm crap.

Some may be, but certainly not all.

[Excuse_My_Bellicosity]

Until Iran and Saudi turn over al-Qaeda terrorists to us unconditionally, they're not cracking down on terrorists in my book.

[Coop]

There are a few more Muslim countries out there.

[ppaul]

Iran Deports Al Qaeda But Will Not Extradite Any to U.S.

Yeah.
They'll be catching the next flight in, eh?

[Dog Gone]

Iran: We don't have them anymore. No siree. All we did was fly them to any place that they wanted to go without notifying the destination country. So don't say that we are aiding terrorists.

[Mad_Tom_Rackham]

Actually, the Leftist media WANTS the islamofascist terrorists to win.

[Mad_Tom_Rackham]

Yeah. They'll be catching the next flight in, eh?

Fine. We'll settle for their forward address.