we were talking about that here if you recall. it makes sense from an intel point of view, now they can see if the electronic intercepts reflect the new flight number. why it took them so long, who knows.
It could be coincidence but Don Rumsfeld made a surprise trip to Centcom...............
(Reuters) - Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, arriving on an unannounced visit to the Gulf, said on Sunday al Qaeda guerrillas were among insurgents launching deadly attacks in Iraq to spark civil war there.
But he vowed democracy would take root in the unsettled country despite current "untidiness."
Rumsfeld flew to Kuwait on Iraq's southern border -- his fourth visit to the region since the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in March -- and said attempts by "terrorists" to thwart elections in Iraq would fail.
"They clearly are involved and active," the secretary responded when pressed on whether al Qaeda, blamed for devastating 2001 attacks on America, were involved in Iraq. Pentagon (news - web sites) officials said Friday they had no proof any of the several hundred foreigners held in Iraq were al Qaeda members.
"We have seen information that terrorists are trying to foment strife between the religious and ethnic groups" in Iraq, he said.
The secretary refused in an interview with reporters flying with him from Washington to predict when elections might be held following a scheduled U.S. turnover of authority to Iraqis on June 30. Paul Bremer, the U.S. administrator in Iraq, has said elections could be delayed for 15 months.
"You have the normal untidiness of democracy where people say this and people say that. They discuss and debate and argue, and that's a healthy thing," Rumsfeld said. "My guess is it will not be perfectly predictable, as most democracies are not."
"Paul Bremer is working that (an election plan) with the President (George W. Bush) and all of us," Rumsfeld said.
"It is going along about as one would expect. You've got a country that has no experience with democracy through the adult lifetime of many who are there."
SURPRISE GREETING FOR U.S. TROOPS
Rumsfeld spoke with reporters during an aircraft refueling stop in Shannon, Ireland. He also shook hands with dozens of surprised U.S. National Guard troops of the 120th Engineering Battalion from Oklahoma waiting in the Shannon air terminal while en route to Iraq.
The secretary declined to say whether he planned to visit Iraq during the Gulf trip. His previous visits have been cloaked in secrecy ahead of his arrival and he has moved about there under tight security protection.
Rumsfeld said the attacks in Iraq, which have killed hundreds of Iraqi civilians and civil workers in recent months, were not stopping the slow movement toward democracy.
"They are killing Iraqis and the Iraqi people don't like it. Instead of responding by acquiescing, volunteers are still in line to join the police. They are still in line to join the Army," Rumsfeld said.
The secretary said he had talked to experts Friday who confirmed the authenticity of a computer disc found earlier in Iraq containing a letter which the United States says was written by militant Islamist Abu Musab Zarqawi, who Washington believes is a close associate of Osama bin Laden (news - web sites).
"The experts in our government believe that the letter is authentic," he said of the message outlining a plan for a series of attacks aimed at sparking a civil war in Iraq.
The U.S. Army this month doubled its bounty for information leading to the arrest or conviction of Zarqawi to $10 million. The United States suspects him of links to Ansar al-Islam, a Muslim militant group operating in Iraq.
In Kuwait Sunday night, Rumsfeld held talks with the prime minister and defense minister. He was also having a private dinner with Army Gen. John Abizaid, head if the U.S. Central Command with responsibility for military operations in the Middle East, and with Army Maj. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez, commander of the U.S.-led military coalition in Iraq.
I got it. Thank you.
Good golly Miss Molly... that little prompt from TexKat really paid off big... Here's the results of a Google search I completed.
This completely supports the NEIN contention that US SOF snatch and grabbed Osama bin Laden inside the Islamic Republic of iran on or about 20 January 2004.
http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=36271 Source: Bin Laden in Iran
Islamic leader says terror kingpin staying in nation with 'consorts'
Posted: December 23, 2003
1:00 a.m. Eastern
By Sherrie Gossett
© 2003 WorldNetDaily.com
Terror leader Osama bin Laden and his al-Qaida "consorts" are in Iran, a respected Islamic leader told WorldNetDaily.
According to the source, who requested anonymity, a group of Arabs who recently spent time in the desert area shared by Afghanistan, Pakistan and Iran, are claiming the most wanted man in the world is "definitely in Iran."
WND has reason to believe the information is credible due to the caliber of the sources.
The report comes just as the U.S. government raised the national threat warning from yellow, the midpoint on its five-color scale, to orange due to indicators of potential terror attacks on the American homeland during the holiday season.
Focus on the whereabouts of bin Laden has increased in the wake of ex-Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein's capture on Dec. 13.
On Friday, excerpts of a 10-minute tape purportedly to be made by Ayman al-Zawahiri, Osama bin Laden's deputy, were broadcast by satellite television channel Al-Jazeera.
As WND and Joseph Farah's G2 Bulletin reported in August, intelligence sources agree Iran's claim that al-Qaida fugitives "escaped" from Tehran to an unknown destination is false, believing Zawahiri is still in Iran.
The sources claim he is in Iranian territory in the border area with Pakistan, where he reportedly is being assisted by the Pakistani Secret Service ISI, which previously had assisted many ex-Taliban and al-Qaida fugitives to find safe harbor.
The most recent report also dovetails with Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf's announcement last summer that he had sent his own army into the northern tribal areas near the border with Iran to ferret out bin Laden.
In November, Fox News Channel foreign affairs and terrorism analyst Mansoor Ijaz, citing an "unimpeachable source," also said bin Laden had moved from the Afghan-Pakistani border into Iran.
"That was an extraordinary admission at the time, one that I could not understand how he could make if bin Laden, in fact, was still in that area," Ijaz told Fox News host Brit Hume.
Both al-Qaida leaders are disguised, Ijaz said. Bin Laden, has shaved his head bald and is wearing a shorter beard that is dyed to make him look more like an Iranian cleric. He also has put on a considerable amount of weight. Al-Zawahiri has done something similar, Ijaz said, and is now wearing a black turban and dyed beard instead of the traditional white turban he wore as an Egyptian cleric.
Bin Laden is being kept out of the public, while al-Zawahiri is said to be moving around quite freely, Ijaz said.
The analyst said the Revolutionary Guard of Iran has arranged for at least three to four body doubles that are making their way around different parts of Afghanistan to fool bin Laden's pursuers.
"But I can tell you with unimpeachability tonight that he is on the western border of Iran, inside Iran, planning terrorist attacks against the United States' interests in that part of the world," Ijaz said.
Democratic presidential candidate Gen. Wesley Clark criticized President Bush on Sunday for being "afraid" to go after bin Laden after the September 11 attacks, instead pursuing Hussein.
"[Bush] did a bait-and-switch on us and substituted Saddam Hussein, and boom, $150 billion, 460 American lives and no telling how much more of our Treasury before this is all over," Clark told ABC's "This Week."
"This administration didn't have the heart to put the effort and the innovation and the ingenuity into fighting terror," Clark said, saying he "wouldn't have been afraid to try" to kill bin Laden, had he been president in the aftermath of Sept. 11, 2001.
/////
AND THIS WHICH IS FULL OF ADDITIONAL DETAILS!!!
http://www.tinyvital.com/BlogArchives/000353.html November 22, 2003
Ijaz: More about Bin Laden in Iran
Fox News TV Nov 22, 2003 1730Z
This report adds to this earlier one. It is entirely based on a report by Mansoor Ijaz, a Fox News analyst with intelligence connections in the Middle East. Whether his information is correct or not is left as an exercise for the reader!
Bin Laden and his deputy, Zawahiri separately crossed the border into Iran in early July. They were brought to the border by members of Afghan warlord Hekmatyar [former communist, former Northern Alliance member, and current Iranian ally]. From the border, they were transported north in black Iranian Revolutionary Guard cars to the Mashhad area of Iran.
Since July, Bin Laden has not left Iran. He was last seen in early November by Mansoor's source, between the north-western Iranian cities of Karaj and Qazvin, in an area completely controlled by the Republican Guard. They have been having meetings in safe houses in that area. Bin Laden has now spent a significant amount of time near the Iraqi border.
There are only 5 people in Iran who know of the presence of Bin Laden and Zawahiri. They are:
Ayatollah Rafsanjani [the former president and now #2 Ayatollah who last december recommended using nuclear weapons against Israel].
Ayatollah Khameni [the most powerful man in Iran's theocratic state].
The head of the Iranian Intelligence Ministry (MOIS).
The two top members of Ayatolla Khomeni's Intelligence Directorate.
There is additional information on the disguises. Bin Laden's beard is died dark but not black. He looks like an Iranian professor. Zawahiri has darker shaded glasses and wears a turban in the color and style of an Iranian cleric.
The US has already confronted Iran diplomatically about this issue, but needs verification in order to take stronger diplomatic measures.
Posted by John Moore at November 22, 2003 11:14 AM | TrackBack
Comments
That should be Ayatollah Khamenie. Khomeni passed away a while ago; his grandson is a foe of the theocratic state.
[NOTE FROM John: thanks for the catch. Fixed it.]
Posted by: triticale on November 22, 2003 06:48 PM
What a great opportunity, if true. The CIA needs to 'leak' that one of the 5 is an agent. Then watch the fur fly.
Al.
Posted by: ableiter on November 23, 2003 07:08 PM
/////
And Now For THE COUP DE GRAS
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,103948,00.html http://www.foxnews.com/printer_friendly_story/0,3566,103948,00.html Explosive New Bin Laden Evidence
Monday, November 24, 2003
This is a partial transcript of Special Report with Brit Hume, November 20, that has been edited for clarity.
Watch Special Report With Brit Hume weeknights at 6 p.m. ET
BRIT HUME, HOST: One of the continuing mysteries of the war on terror is the whereabouts of Usama bin Laden (search). One person with extensive contacts in his -- in that part of the world, including sources within intelligence agencies in various nations is FNC foreign affairs analyst Mansoor Ijaz, who joins us tonight from London with information that may provide some answers. Mansoor, welcome. What have you found?
MANSOOR IJAZ, FOX NEWS FOREIGN AFFAIRS ANALYST: Well, Brit, tonight I can report from my intelligence sources, I consider unimpeachable intelligence sources, that we have eyewitness accounts that both Usama bin Laden, in a modified, disguised form, as well as Ayman al-Zawahiri, the number two in al Qaeda, are, in fact, in Iran.
They were sighted there. Bin Laden was sighted there in July of this year. You will remember that when President Pervez Musharraf (search) came to Washington on his state visit, he said without any hesitation that he had sent his own army into the northern tribal areas to try and ferret out...
HUME: That's Musharraf of Pakistan.
IJAZ: That's correct. And that was an extraordinary admission at the time, one that I could not understand how he could make if bin Laden, in fact, was still in that area. Well, it turns out that it was around that time that bin Laden moved from the Afghan-Pakistani border into Iran.
Now, Ayman Zawahiri has also been seen, as recently, according to my source, as recently as within the last 10 days in Iran planning and plotting various terrorist attacks, not just against U.S. interests, but against other countries as well.
HUME: Now Iran, of course, acknowledges none of this.
IJAZ: Yeah.
HUME: What are these -- you mentioned earlier that -- that bin Laden was in disguise. Do you know anything about what he now looks like?
IJAZ: Yes. Let me give you a brief description of both, what I've been told about bin Laden is that he has shaved his head bald. He is wearing a beard that is much more close to his face than it was before. He has changed the color of that beard so that it looks much more like that of an Iranian cleric. He has put on quite a bit of weight, from what I understand.
And I've been told that Ayman al-Zawahiri has done something similar, where he's now wearing instead of the white traditional turban that he wore as an Egyptian cleric, he is now wearing a black turban. He is wearing, again, a beard that is now dyed a dark color so that he looks more like an Iranian cleric than he does the way he did before.
HUME: And are these men believed to be together or staying apart from each other? What do we know about that?
IJAZ: Well, my understanding is that Zawahiri is moving around quite freely. The idea of the Iranian clerics was to keep bin Laden more in sort of the nebulous never-neverland, not letting him be seen very often.
It is also my understanding that the Revolutionary Guard of Iran has now arranged for at least three to four body doubles that are making their way around in different parts of Afghanistan and maybe even Pakistan, and visibly showing him at various times to see whether or not they can fool people into thinking he is somewhere else.
But I can tell you with unimpeachability tonight that he is on the western border of Iran, inside Iran, planning terrorist attacks against the United States' interests in that part of the world.
HUME: Now, why would the Iranian authorities, and indeed which Iranian authorities, why would they permit this?
IJAZ: Yeah. Shortly after -- I've been told that shortly after the terrorist attacks on September 11, the Iranians came to the conclusion that the United States would go after the Taliban (search), that there was going to be a problem with Iraq as well, and, therefore, they wanted to make sure that these democratic bookends that we were going to put around them, both in Afghanistan and in Iraq, would be countered by their providing safe harbor and logistical support as well as finances for Al Qaeda to be able to operate freely from Iranian soil.
Now, that is precisely, exactly how it has unfolded. And I can also tell you tonight, excuse me, I can also tell you tonight that an Afghanistan warlord, who was one of the warlords in Afghanistan that controls the western seven provinces, he is now planning with Iran and with Al Qaeda to bring a large army of Revolutionary Guard people into Afghanistan during the winter months to attack U.S. interests there and try to take control of the entire country, because Iran does not want to see us succeed in building a democracy in Afghanistan under any circumstances.
HUME: Why would the winter months be chosen for such an undertaking? Wouldn't it be harder to travel into those -- into and through those mountainous regions?
IJAZ: It is if you are someone other than this Afghanistan warlord, who knows those areas very well and who would now have enormous logistical support from the Iranian army that has to patrol those areas on its own. In other words, Iranian technology is now being used to help the Afghan warlords to take over the country from Hamid Karzai (search).
HUME: This is obviously explosive, extraordinary information, Mansoor.
IJAZ: Yes. Yes.
HUME: What level of any of knowledge does the U.S. government have of any of this?
IJAZ: Well, Brit, I think the way I have to put that is that it is probably likely that certain segments of our government have this information, that they are analyzing and processing this information. But it was my judgment that it was vitally important for the broader part of our government's decision-making apparatus to know exactly what it is that's going on there, because it's very clear that the Iranians are trying desperately to not only hang on to power, but to fuel the terrorist enterprise in that part of the world.
HUME: Well, it is striking information, Mansoor. Just quickly, one last question. You are absolutely confident of your sources?
IJAZ: I can just tell you that the source is unimpeachable. It is from inside Iran. These are eyewitness accounts. They are from the intelligence framework. No question about it.
HUME: All right, Mansoor Ijaz, thanks very much.
IJAZ: Thank you.
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The simple Google search criteria I used to find this info was: "Mansoor Ijaz: Bin Laden in Iran"
The search generated 2,400 hits in 0.09 seconds.
Out-freaking-standing!!!
Thank you TexKat!!!
Sean Osborne, Network Analyst
Northeast Intelligence Network
www.HomelandSecurityUS.com
