Regards, Ivan
Posted on 07/17/2004 4:53:20 PM PDT by MadIvan
Iran gave free passage to up to 10 of the September 11 hijackers just months before the 2001 attacks and offered to co-operate with al-Qa'eda against the US, an American report will say this week.
The all-party report by the 9/11 Commission, set up by Congress in 2002, will state that Iran, not Iraq, fostered relations with the al-Qa'eda network in the years leading up to the world's most devastating terrorist attack.
The bipartisan commission has established that between eight and 10 of the September 11 hijackers, who had been based in Afghanistan, travelled through Iran between October 2000 and February 2001. The terrorists in question are believed to have been the "muscle" - hired to storm the aircraft cockpits and overpower crew and passengers.
Iranian officials were instructed not to harrass al-Qa'eda personnel as they crossed the border and, in some cases, not to stamp their passports.
According to testimony received by the commission - based on information from prisoners at Guantanamo Bay and about 100 electronic intercepts by the National Security Agency - an alliance of convenience was established between the Shia Muslim Iranian leadership and the Sunni terrorist organisation, well before September 11, 2001.
The report is expected to confirm the claim by Thomas Kean, its chairman, last month that "there were a lot more active [al-Qa'eda] contacts, frankly, with Iran and Pakistan, than there were with Iraq".
It will further inflame tensions between Washington and Teheran, where hardliners are threatening to restart its uranium enrichment programme, a key step towards building nuclear weapons.
A commission official, quoted in the latest edition of Time magazine, alleges that Iranian officials approached Osama bin Laden after the bombing of the USS Cole in 1999, proposing a joint strategy of attacks on US interests.
A preliminary report from commission staff, released last month, stated: "Bin Laden's representatives and Iranian officials discussed putting aside Shia-Sunni divisions to co-operate against the common enemy."
The offer is said to have been turned down by bin Laden, who was reluctant to alienate Sunni supporters in Saudi Arabia. Nevertheless, in the wake of September 11, Iran sheltered al-Qaeda militants fleeing Afghanistan.
The full report by the commission is also expected to endorse initial conclusions that al-Qa'eda may have been involved in the 1996 bombing of the Khobar Towers complex in Saudi Arabia, when 19 American servicemen were killed. The attack has long been blamed solely on Hizbollah, a Lebanese terrorist group backed by Iran.
Iran was declared part of an "axis of evil", along with Iraq and North Korea, by President George W. Bush in 2002. The report will add to pressure for Iran's theocratic rulers to be the first target of a re-elected Bush administration. Hawks within the administration want a concerted effort to overturn the regime by peaceful means.
Some Bush officials are privately contemplating a possible military strike against Iran's nuclear facilities before Russian fuel rods are delivered next year.
Teheran said yesterday that it had arrested an unspecified number of Iranian al-Qa'eda supporters.
Regards, Ivan
Ping!
Ping!
"Al Qaeda" has been running through Iran for years. For example, to and fro it's Afghan base to the wars in the Caucasus.
At this point it's just a matter of 'when'.
As I recall, Carter virtually made certain that the Iranian revolution would occur by pulling the rug out from under the Shah...
That old fart Castro. He's been alive too long.
Either you are with us or your against us.
Some Bush officials are privately contemplating a possible military strike against Iran's nuclear facilities before Russian fuel rods are delivered next year.
If we have to through the Israelis dragging their feet.
Liberate IRAN, then Seattle !
Jimmy Carter's gift to the Shah. Loss of Persia to the Mullahs
The Mullahs ONLY came into power because the Peacock Shah
refused yet another campaign donation to the DNC or Carter.
For his refusal, Carter pulled the plug and in came Kerry's supporters, the Mullahs.
.
Follow the money channel.........?
The "fart" may be old, but the rancid smell is strong and lingering.
If Kerry is elected in Nov. we will most likely settle into a response pattern of turning the other cheek. Wonder where the first terrorist nuke will "pop?"
Except the Cole was bombed in October 2000.
In truth, the 9/11 attack on the World Trade Center was almost as much of a surprise for the Iranians as it was for the Americans. The Iranian theocracy was vastly more pleased at the outcome than any American, but they had nothing to do with the attack. Indirectly, some of their funding had gone into support and training of some of the operatives, but they would have been totally unaware of any of these objectives.
This one bears right back at al-Qaeda, as a separate entity. Al-Qaeda may have sought sanctuary in the early days, before they congregated in Afghanistan, and the Iranians provided them safe passage over their territory, but that was largely the extent of aid and comfort they offered. Iran shares borders on the east with Afghanistan, and on the west with Iraq, so they may have been in on the safe passage both ways on a number of occasions.
drip, drip, drip
We can nail iran with the rumours that it let zarqawi into iraq.
That together with iranian WMD efforts should be enough to build a case against iran.
However as far as the 911 hijackers are concerned, since the taliban were on very friendly terms with pakistan, and since pakistan had cobbled al qaeda together earlier on, it is very likely that they went from afghanistan to pakistan rather than iran.
The taliban had butchered 11 iranian diplomats and the two of them almost went to war over it. With such open hostility between the two at that time, it wouldnt seem possible.
It is more likely that al qaeda people went from afghanistan into pakistan.
Does "Seattle need help"?
Then fight it strategically and destroy the CA government structure and stifle the influx!
Thank you for that post.
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