Iranian Alert -- June 26, 2004 [EST]-- IRAN LIVE THREAD -- "Americans for Regime Change in Iran"

The US media almost entirely ignores news regarding the Islamic Republic of Iran. As Tony Snow of the Fox News Network has put it, “this is probably the most under-reported news story of the year.” Most American’s are unaware that the Islamic Republic of Iran is NOT supported by the masses of Iranians today. Modern Iranians are among the most pro-American in the Middle East.

There is a popular revolt against the Iranian regime brewing in Iran today. I began these daily threads June 10th 2003. On that date Iranians once again began taking to the streets to express their desire for a regime change. Today in Iran, most want to replace the regime with a secular democracy.

The regime is working hard to keep the news about the protest movement in Iran from being reported. Unfortunately, the regime has successfully prohibited western news reporters from covering the demonstrations. The voices of discontent within Iran are sometime murdered, more often imprisoned. Still the people continue to take to the streets to demonstrate against the regime.

In support of this revolt, Iranians in America have been broadcasting news stories by satellite into Iran. This 21st century news link has greatly encouraged these protests. The regime has been attempting to jam the signals, and locate the satellite dishes. Still the people violate the law and listen to these broadcasts. Iranians also use the Internet and the regime attempts to block their access to news against the regime. In spite of this, many Iranians inside of Iran read these posts daily to keep informed of the events in their own country.

This daily thread contains nearly all of the English news reports on Iran. It is thorough. If you follow this thread you will witness, I believe, the transformation of a nation. This daily thread provides a central place where those interested in the events in Iran can find the best news and commentary. The news stories and commentary will from time to time include material from the regime itself. But if you read the post you will discover for yourself, the real story of what is occurring in Iran and its effects on the war on terror.

I am not of Iranian heritage. I am an American committed to supporting the efforts of those in Iran seeking to replace their government with a secular democracy. I am in contact with leaders of the Iranian community here in the United States and in Iran itself.

If you read the daily posts you will gain a better understanding of the US war on terrorism, the Middle East and why we need to support a change of regime in Iran. Feel free to ask your questions and post news stories you discover in the weeks to come.

If all goes well Iran will be free soon and I am convinced become a major ally in the war on terrorism. The regime will fall. Iran will be free. It is just a matter of time.

Post-Modern Terrorism

June 26, 2004
MichNews.com
Dr. Earl H. Tilford

World War IV is total war on a global scale. While numerous nations are arrayed against a myriad of terrorist organizations, the United States is at war with al Qaeda, a terrorist network that traces its origins to the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan over a quarter century ago. In Iraq, US and coalition forces face not only al Qaeda terrorists but also Hezbollah fighters, a group supported by Iran. Israel, meanwhile, battles Hamas and Hezbollah along with the al-Aqsa Martyr’s Brigade and other groups associated with Yasir Arafat’s Palestinian Authority.

World War IV seems complex but keep in mind during World War III (the Cold War) while American forces fought North Vietnamese regulars and National Liberation Front (Viet Cong) guerrillas in South Vietnam, we also fought the Pathet Lao in Laos and Khmer Rouge in Cambodia. From Greece and Yugoslavia to Korea and Vietnam and the Caribbean and jungles of Central America, the Cold War involved a large number of nations and groups. Nevertheless, it all came together as part of a struggle between competing worldviews.

The “War on Terror” is no less complicated and similarly encompassing. Since it is an Information Age war in which knowledge is power, it is essential to understand who we fight and what they aim to achieve. Our enemies are more than savage barbarians with a penchant for decapitating the innocent. They are integral to a concerted effort to redefine the world order.

Al Qaeda presents the most expansive and acute threat to the United States. As a part of its global threat, al Qaeda fighters oppose US troops in Iraq and Afghanistan. Additionally, al Qaeda poses an immediate threat to the stability of pro-Western and traditional Moslem regimes like Saudi Arabia. Its ultimate strategic goal is to establish a radical Islamic world order.

Al Qaeda uses terror as its primary tactic in achieving its goals. All terrorists employ violence against the innocent but different organizations use it in specific ways. Among the many terrorist organizations world wide, al Qaeda and, to a lesser extent Hezbollah, are most expansive in their uses of terror if only because their strategic goal of affecting a world Islamic revolution is more encompassing. In this regard, al Qaeda and Hezbollah are post-modern terrorist groups.

What’s the difference? Hamas and the al Aqsa Martyr’s Brigade are focused on Israel. While Arafat has no reservations against sending suicide bombers to blow themselves apart among Israeli soldiers and civilians alike, he is less likely to use chemical and biological or radiological weapons (even if he could get them) since these weapons of mass destruction cannot distinguish between Jews and Palestinians. Ultimately, since Arafat wants to turn all of Israel into a Palestinian state, he probably would avoid making it uninhabitable. Al Qaeda, in its global jihad, is not so constrained. Just as post-modern philosophers seek to redefine moral reality, post-modern terrorists want to redefine political reality with a similar radical totality.

The ultimate goal of al Qaeda, Hezbollah and associated organizations like the Abu Sayyaf Group in the Philippines, is to redefine the global political landscape with a world-wide Islamic revolution. Theirs is a holy war against the Judeo-Christian West, not just Israel. They are confident Israel will fall like a ripe olive once the United States is run out of the Middle East. Then Arafat will create a Jew-free Palestine from Gaza in the South to a “liberated” Jerusalem in the west to Haifa in the north. Religious diversity will not be a feature of the Islamic world order.

Ultimately, superior strategy wins wars. Osama bin Laden has a three-stage strategy designed to achieve Islamic world domination.

Stage One: Take control of the Middle East. Most immediately prevent a US-backed democratic Moslem regime from succeeding in Iraq. Then take power in a destabilized Saudi Arabia. A dominant Iran will then bring the Gulf States and North African Moslem regimes into a radical Islamic fold. The end result may resemble Armageddon if Israel squares off in a nuclear war against an Iranian-led Arab coalition.

Stage Two: Take control of secondary Moslem countries starting with Turkey and Pakistan. Bosnia, the Islamic republics of the former Soviet Union, Indonesia, Singapore and the Philippines will fall along with parts of China.

Stage Three: Isolate, dominate and then destroy the Judeo-Christian countries of Western Europe, South and North America—including the Great Satan itself, the United States. By 2100, al Qaeda will have its Islamic world order.

This is World War IV. Forget the sleazy sickness of Abu Ghraib. Stop mouthing meaningless slogans like, “Bush lied, soldiers died.” Steel yourselves for a long, bloody fight. This is a war we must not lose.

Dr. Earl H. Tilford is Professor of History at Grove City College. He enjoyed an extensive military career and after retiring from the U.S. Air Force, served as an associate professor of history at Troy State University in Montgomery and professor of military history at the U.S. Air Force Air Command and Staff College. In 1993 he became director of research at the U.S. Army's Strategic Studies Institute in Carlisle, Pa., where he worked on a project that looked at possible future terrorist threats. He has authored three books on the Vietnam War and co-edited a book on Operation Desert Storm. He has lectured throughout the U.S. and abroad on the Vietnam War and, more recently, the future of armed conflict.

http://michnews.com/artman/publish/article_4144.shtml

Iran breaks nuclear deal

2004-06-26
Middle East Online

'EU three' confer on how to respond to Islamic republic’s violation of three-month-old nuclear deal.

LONDON - Britain, France and Germany said Friday they were preparing a joint response to Iran's announcement that it was breaking a three-month-old deal with them in order to resume production of centrifuges used for uranium enrichment.

All expressed disappointment at the letter sent by Tehran to their foreign ministers, in a move which the senior US official for arms control described as proof of the Islamic republic's intent to work on a secret nuclear weapons program.

"We are disappointed at the Iranian decision," a Foreign Office spokesman in London said, adding: "We don't understand why they've taken this decision."

"The foreign ministry in Berlin regrets the announcement made by the Iranian authorities," a German spokesman said.

In Paris, a diplomatic source said France had received the letter and was consulting the other two states on how to respond to the violation of their deal.

"We are working together with the British and the Germans toward a common and coordinated position on the matter," the French source said.

The so-called EU Three - Britain, France and Germany - struck an agreement in February with Iran to suspend all activities related to uranium enrichment, including "the assembly and testing of centrifuges".

That move was criticized by the United States, which has argued against any compromise with Tehran on the issue of its nuclear activities and pushed for the matter to be referred to the UN Security Council for possible sanctions.

John Bolton, the US undersecretary of state for arms control and international security, announced Thursday that the European powers had been told by Iran about the resumption of centrifuge production.

Bolton, a noted hawk in President George W. Bush's conservative administration, said Tehran's letter, also sent to the IAEA, was proof of Iran's intent to reprocess uranium as part of a covert nuclear weapons program.

"This is an act of defiance of the IAEA board of governors, it is a thumb in the eye of the international community," Bolton he told a congressional committee.

Iran insists its nuclear program is directed solely towards generating electricity.

In Tehran, a foreign ministry spokesman confirmed the dispatch of a letter responding to an International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) resolution about its cooperation on inspections, but did not confirm or deny any announcement of a restart to centrifuge production.

The message from top national security official Hassan Rowhani did, however, "outline Iran's point of view on nuclear technology and its use", spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi said.

The IAEA governing board adopted a resolution sponsored by the EU Three a week ago that criticized the clerical regime for failing to live up to its pledges of total cooperation with the UN nuclear watchdog.

http://www.middle-east-online.com/english/?id=10432

ElBaradei Says Europe Will Not Cut Off Dialogue With Iran

June 26, 2004
AFP
Yahoo News

MOSCOW -- The head of the United Nations nuclear agency said that Iran should reconsider its decision to resume work towards uranium enrichment but that in any case he did not expect European countries to cut off dialogue with the Islamic Republic over the issue.

"I hope Iran will go back to full suspension," International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) director general Mohamed ElBaradei told reporters on a flight to Moscow from Vienna on Saturday.

He was reacting to Iran's announcement that it was going back on a promise it made in February to Britain, France and Germany not to build and test centrifuges for producing enriched uranium, which can be used to make bombs.

This promise was part of confidence-building measures urged on Iran while the IAEA investigates US charges that the Islamic Republic is secretly developing nuclear weapons.

The United States and the European Union Saturday called on Iran to go back on its decision to resume the construction of centrifuges for enriching nuclear fuel.

In a statement issued at an EU-US summit in the west of Ireland, Washington and the EU said: "We are disturbed by Iran's recent announcement of its intention to resume manufacturing and assembly of centrifuges and urge Iran to rethink its decision."

"I hope this is temporary," ElBaradei said of the Iranian move.

"It does not involve the enrichment of material, nonetheless I think it would be good for Iran to go back. I hope it would be soon to full suspension as outlined by them to us in February," ElBaradei said.

On the reaction of Britain, France and Germany, which have expressed sharp disappointment with the Iranian decision and which have been leading the IAEA effort to get Iran to cooperate, ElBaradei said: "My feeling is that they will continue with their dialogue with Iran. I haven't heard that this is going to stop."

Iran agreed with the so-called Euro-3 last year to suspend enrichment.

But the 35-nation board of the IAEA passed a resolution on June 18 rebuking Tehran for failing to come clean about its nuclear program, deploring the level of Iranian cooperation and calling for the 15-month-old investigation into Iran's nuclear activities to be wrapped up within a few months.

Iran in turn complained that the Euro-3 had failed to keep their side of the bargain.

"The Europeans had pledged that the Iranian file would be closed and they have not met the commitments," said Hassan Rowhani, head of Iran's Supreme National Security Council and top nuclear negotiator.

But the US undersecretary of state for arms control and security, John Bolton, said that the Iranian move was "an act of defiance of the IAEA Board of Governors, it is a thumb in the eye of the international community".

The Iranian ambassador to the IAEA, Pirooz Hosseini, had said in a letter to ElBaradei Tuesday that since Iran was continuing to build international confidence -- by honoring an additional protocol to the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) allowing for wider inspections of its facilities -- Iran felt free "to resume, under IAEA supervision, manufacturing of centrifuge components and assembly and testing of centrifuges as of June 29, 2004".

ElBaradei said this move was "a way of expressing displeasure with the board resolution" criticizing Iran.

"I think it very important that we continue to work on verification but parallel to that (there should be an) energetic process of dialogue in order to continue to encourage Iran to build confidence," ElBaradei said.

He said the suspension of the production of centrifuges remained a separate issue from IAEA verification inspections of Iranian facilities.

The inspections were designed to make "sure that Iran's past program, particularly the enrichment program" had been declared in full to the IAEA.

By contrast, suspension of the production of centrifuges "has to do with the future, with confidence building", he explained.

The centrifuge issue would not impact on the IAEA's goal of finishing its inspections of Iran in a few months, ElBaradei said.

He said the IAEA would be "discussing with the Iranians the implications of their letter in the next few days".

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=1514&ncid=732&e=8&u=/afp/20040626/wl_mideast_afp/iran_nuclear_iaea_elbaradei

Iran Widely Condemned Over Centrifuges Plan

June 26, 2004
Reuters
Adam Entous and Louis Charbonneau

SHANNON, Ireland/MOSCOW -- The United States, the EU and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) condemned Iran on Saturday for planning to resume production of parts for centrifuges, which can be used to purify uranium.

They urged Tehran to rethink its decision and the IAEA's chief Mohamed ElBaradei said he hoped the move was temporary.

However, a joint U.S.-EU statement, issued after talks between President Bush and European leaders in Ireland, stopped short of threatening new actions to punish Iran for breaking a deal it struck with Britain, France and Germany.

"The United States and the European Union expressed united determination to see the proliferation implications of Iran's nuclear program resolved," the statement said.

"In this connection, the U.S. and EU were disturbed by Iran's recent announcement of its intention to resume manufacturing and assembly of centrifuges and called on Iran to rethink its decision," it added.

The U.S.-EU statement also called for the "complete, verifiable, and irreversible dismantlement" of North Korea's nuclear program, including uranium enrichment and plutonium reprocessing.

ElBaradei echoed EU and U.S. concerns over Iran while talking to reporters on a flight to Moscow for a four-day official visit.

"I hope Iran will go back to the full suspension they have committed themselves to," he said.

A letter from Iran to the IAEA, seen by Reuters, informed the agency that Tehran would resume centrifuge activities on Tuesday, June 29.

Iran promised France, Germany and Britain last October it would suspend all activities related to uranium enrichment, a process of purifying uranium for use as fuel for nuclear power plants or weapons, in exchange for peaceful nuclear technology.

Centrifuges are machines that purify uranium gas by spinning at supersonic speeds.

Bush administration officials say they never believed that Iran had ceased making the parts.

The United States accuses Iran of developing atomic weapons under cover of a civilian nuclear power program, an allegation Tehran fiercely denies.

Last week, the board of governors at the IAEA, the U.N. nuclear watchdog, unanimously adopted a resolution "deploring" Iran's failure to cooperate fully with the agency's investigation of Tehran's nuclear program.

Prior to its adoption, Iran had threatened to resume some or all of its enrichment activities if the toughly worded text was not softened. But the Europeans refused to compromise during the week-long negotiations on the text.

Germany, Britain and France have adopted a strategy of engagement with Iran that contrasts sharply with the U.S. policy of isolating Iran and threatening it with U.N. Security Council sanctions for violating its obligations under the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).

The IAEA began investigating Iran after an Iranian exile group reported in August 2002 that Tehran was hiding a massive uranium enrichment facility and other sites from the IAEA.

http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=worldNews&storyID=5520932

THE IRANIAN MILITARY GHOUL IS OUT OF BOTTLE

By Safa Haeri
Posted Friday, June 25, 2004

PARIS, 25 June (IPS) The release of the three British river patrol boats and their crew of eight servicemen on Thursday, 24 hours after the Army’s high command and the Government had announced their freedom is seen by Iranian observers and political analysts as another sign to the military’s mounting power in the one hand and the chaos that characterises the Iranian political scene in the aftermath of the conservatives victory in the last Legislative elections.

On Wednesday, the official Iranian news agency IRNA announced the release of the boats that had been seized by the Revolutionary Guards navy inside the Iranian waters of Arvand Roud (the Iranian name for Shat el Arab border river that runn between the two neighbours before throwing itself into the Persian Gulf), quoting Colonel Alireza Afshar, the Deputy Joint Chief of Staff for Cultural and Propaganda Department.

Less than an hour latter, the Iranian Foreign Affairs Ministry confirmed the decision, making headlines of newspapers and radio and televisions throughout the world.

But as hours passed and while a British diplomatic team had left for the undisclosed place where the two officers and six soldiers had been kept in custody to take charge of them, no confirmation came and adding to the confusion, IRNA deleted the news without any explanation.

The servicemen who, according to Iranian public media during interrogations had, acknowledged that they had crossed into the Iranian side of the river “by mistake” while on a mission of training Iraqi border guards on Monday where finally freed on Thursday, but without their boats.

The arrest of the British soldiers, weapons and communications gears of their boats, their custody while blindfold or with hands over their heads, their march to the interrogation centre under blazing sun, all customized to highlight the humiliation the British militaries that, alongside the Americans, have occupied Iraq, where shown primarily by al Alam television, the 24 hours Arabic service of the Voice and Visage of the Islamic Republic (VVIR, or the Iranian Radio and Television).

With a crew of more than 60 journalists, cameramen, soundmen, technicians and cadres working in Baghdad, al Alam has the largest audience of all television networks received by the Iraqis.

Like the mother organisation that is headed by a former Revolutionary Guards officer, namely Mr. Ezzatollah Zarqami, al Alam has close links with the ruling ayatollah’s Praetorian Guard.

Hence, al Alam’s announcement on Wednesday, and hours after IRNA’s news about the release of the British boats, that the captives would “not be released before Thursday”, confirming a military source that had explained that the Revolutionary Guards “simply did not want the British to re-cross the river back into Iraq with their boats, arms and equipments making them looking like victors”.

“With more than 40 deputies sitting in the Majles, (the Iranian Parliament), and controlling the highly strategic public media, mostly the Radio and Television, Tehran’s city council, the Supreme Council on National Security and some other of the regime’s key positions, the Revolutionary Guards have become the nation’s dominant political actor”, noted Mr. Alireza Nourizadeh, an independent Iranian journalist based in London.

“It was Ayatollah Ali Khameneh'i, the leader of the Islamic Republic and Ayatollah Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, his closest friend and mentor who pushed the Guards to the forefront of political scene in order to eliminate their rivals among the ruling hard liners”, explained Mr. Ali Keshtgar, the Editor of the Paris-based “Mihan” (Motherland) monthly and a commentator on Iranian affairs.

The saga was a reminder of another event that took place on 23 May, when in a spectacular move that looks like a coup, the Guards closed the Emam Khomeini International Airport (EKIA), Tehran's newly built international airport hours after it was officially inaugurated, pretexting “national pride and security concerns”.

Mr. Mohammad Kianoosh Rad, a reformist deputy from the oil rich province of Khoozestan in the last Majles said the shutting down of the EKIA by the military is another proof that the country is run on a “small kingdoms system in which any one that is stronger applies its own laws and rules”.

“The problem is that it seems that the ghoul is out of the bottle and both men looks like being incapable to put him back in the bottle, as seen from the latest incident involving the British military boats, with the Revolutionary Guards refusing to obey orders from both the Armd Forces High Command that is directly controlled by Mr. Khameneh'i and the Government of President Mohammad Khatami”, Mr. Keshtgar pointed out.

ENDS BRITISH BOATS AFTERMATH 25604

http://www.iran-press-service.com/ips/articles-2004/june/british_boats_aftermath_25604.shtml

Iran Rebuked Amid Nuclear Fears

By REUTERS
Published: June 26, 2004
Filed at 11:34 a.m. ET

SHANNON, Ireland/MOSCOW (Reuters) - The United States, the European Union and the U.N.'s nuclear watchdog condemned Iran on Saturday for deciding to resume a production process that could make purified uranium for an atomic bomb.

They urged Iran, which says its nuclear ambitions are peaceful, to rethink its decision to produce parts again for centrifuges that can purify uranium. The head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Mohamed ElBaradei, said he hoped the move was temporary.

But a joint U.S.-EU statement, issued after talks between President Bush and European leaders in Ireland, stopped short of threatening new action to punish Iran for breaking a deal it struck with Britain, France and Germany.

``The United States and the European Union expressed united determination to see the proliferation implications of Iran's nuclear program resolved,'' the statement said.

``In this connection, the U.S. and EU were disturbed by Iran's recent announcement of its intention to resume manufacturing and assembly of centrifuges and called on Iran to rethink its decision,'' it added.

Regarding North Korea, the U.S.-EU statement also called for the ``complete, verifiable, and irreversible dismantlement'' of Pyongyang's nuclear program, including uranium enrichment and plutonium reprocessing.

ElBaradei echoed EU and U.S. concerns over Iran while talking to reporters on a flight to Moscow for a four-day official visit.

``I hope Iran will go back to the full suspension they have committed themselves to,'' he said.

A letter from Iran to the IAEA, seen by Reuters, told the agency that Tehran ``intends to resume, under IAEA supervision, manufacturing of centrifuge components and the assembly and testing of centrifuges as of 29 June.''

IRANIAN RETALIATION

Iran's decision was a retaliation against an IAEA resolution last week saying the agency's board of governors ``deplores'' Iran's failure to cooperate fully with IAEA inspectors.

But Iran also pledged in the letter to continue to allow IAEA inspectors access to nuclear sites for short-notice, intrusive inspections under the IAEA's so-called Additional Protocol, which Tehran signed last year but has yet to ratify.

Asked when the IAEA would be inspecting a site in Tehran called Lavizan, where all the buildings have been razed and the topsoil removed, ElBaradei said ``soon'' but said there was no evidence that Iran was hiding anything there.

Washington says Iran razed the site in an attempt to cover up signs of activities at Lavizan related to what it says is Tehran's secret atom bomb program.

Tehran denies wanting nuclear weapons and insists its nuclear program is aimed solely at generating electricity.

Iran promised France, Germany and Britain in October it would suspend all activities related to uranium enrichment, a process of purifying uranium for use as fuel for nuclear power plants or weapons, in exchange for peaceful nuclear technology.

Centrifuges are machines that purify uranium gas by spinning at supersonic speeds.

Germany, Britain and France have adopted a strategy of engagement with Iran that contrasts sharply with the U.S. policy of isolating Iran and threatening it with U.N. Security Council sanctions for violating its obligations under the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).

The IAEA began investigating Iran after an Iranian exile group reported in August 2002 that Tehran was hiding a massive uranium enrichment facility and other sites from the IAEA.

http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/international/international-eu-usa-iran.html?ex=1088913600&en=425981bca0485e47&ei=5062

Iran’s Firm Decision On Nuclear Issue Will Force EU To Act Reasonably: Lawmaker

TEHRAN, June 26 (MNA) -- Iran’s firm decision to make use of nuclear energy transparently, which is its inalienable right, will force the European Union to adopt a reasonable approach toward Iran’s nuclear program, MP Ali Abbaspur Tehrani said on Saturday.

Abbaspur Tehrani told the Mehr News Agency that Iran suspended the uranium enrichment process and the construction of centrifuges in order to allay the international community’s concerns about its nuclear program, but this was not a proper decision because it gave the Europeans the impression that suspension could be a long-term process which would eventually lead to a halt of nuclear activities in Iran.

He said that during the recent meeting of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Board of Governors, London, Paris, and Berlin not only reneged on the Brussels meeting agreement but also illegally demanded that Iran expand the scope of the suspension of its nuclear activities.

In the Brussels meeting in February, Iran agreed to suspend construction of centrifuges and the EU promised to make efforts to close Iran’s nuclear dossier at the IAEA meeting in June.

Iran suspended construction of centrifuges just to allay concerns about its nuclear activities and resumption of the activities is not a violation of the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), he added.

He asserted that the Iranian government, parliament, and people would never allow the EU to dictate to Iran by telling it to stop production of nuclear fuel, and the Supreme National Security Council’s position is that Iran will resume the suspended nuclear activities.

Abasspur Tehrani, who is also a nuclear physicist, added that the EU will never be able to influence Iran’s decision to make use of nuclear energy for peaceful purposes and the Iranian government and nation will never give in to such illogical, bullying demands.

In conclusion, he said that IAEA Director General Mohamed ElBaradei should endorse Iran’s right to resume the suspended activities and any support of the EU demands to extend the suspension of nuclear activities would be beyond his authority and run counter to the principles of the NPT.

http://www.mehrnews.com/wfNewsDetails_en.aspx?NewsID=90076&t=Political

Ex-CIA analyst: Iran tied
to 9-11, al-Qaida
Tehran, bin Laden sought 'to cooperate against a common enemy'

Posted: June 26, 2004
1:00 a.m. Eastern
© 2004 WorldNetDaily.com

Former CIA analyst Douglas MacEachin, a member of the 9-11 commission staff, said in testimony last week Iran and its terrorist group ally Hezbollah were linked to the al-Qaida terrorist group.

Other U.S. intelligence officials said there is also evidence Iran is linked to the Sept. 11 attacks. According to the officials, two of the hijackers, Nawaf al-Hazmi and Khalid al-Mihdhar, who were aboard the aircraft that hit the Pentagon, had stayed at the Iranian ambassador's residence in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, before entering the United States in January 2001.

MacEachin disclosed that the Iran-al-Qaida ties were revealed in the 1996 bombing of the Khobar Towers residence complex that housed U.S. military personnel in Saudi Arabia. The bombing killed 19 Americans.

The attack was believed to be the work of a Saudi Shi'ite Hezbollah group with help from Iran.

"Intelligence obtained shortly after the bombing, however, also supported suspicions of bin Laden's involvement," MacEachin said. "There were reports in the months preceding the attack that he was seeking to facilitate another shipment of explosives to Saudi Arabia, and on the day of the attack he was congratulated by other members of the Islamic Army."

U.S. intelligence agencies mistakenly assumed that, since a Shi'ite group was involved, rival Sunnis were not, he said.

"Later intelligence, however, showed a far greater potential for collaboration between Hezbollah and al-Qaida than many had previously thought," MacEachin said.

Several years before the Khobar bombing, bin Laden and Iranian officials held talks on ending differences "to cooperate against a common enemy," he said.

"A small group of al-Qaida operatives subsequently traveled to Iran, and another group went to Hezbollah training camps in Lebanon for training in explosives and intelligence," he said. "And Bin Laden is reported to have showed particular interest at this time in the Hezbollah truck-bombing tactics used in Lebanon in 1983 that had killed 241 U.S. Marines. So in sum, we have seen now strong but indirect evidence that bin Laden's organization did in fact play some as yet unknown role in the Khobar attack."

http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=39144

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