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Memo shows Iraq, Iran tried to contact bin Laden

September 12, 2003
The Washington Times
Eli J. Lake

The Taliban claimed in a 1997 meeting with U.S. officials that it had blocked attempts by both Iraq and Iran to contact Osama bin Laden, according to a previously confidential State Department memo made public yesterday.

The memo says that the assistant secretary of state, Karl Inderfurth, was told on Dec. 7, 1997, by the Taliban's acting minister of mines and industry, Armad Jan, that his government "had stopped allowing [bin Laden] to give public interviews and had frustrated Iranian and Iraqi efforts to contact him."

Contacted yesterday, Mr. Inderfurth said he did not believe the Taliban claim was credible at the time, and that he had no recollection of Taliban officials mentioning Iraqi or Iranian attempts to meet bin Laden in the following 19 meetings he would attend with the de facto Afghan regime for the next four years.

"I never saw any evidence in anything I was doing where there were any Iraqi connections," said Mr. Inderfurth, who was the Clinton administration's senior State Department official for South Asia.

"The Iraqis were not to my knowledge, players in the Afghan conflict. Almost every other country in the region was."

The memo, however, discloses a previously unreported link, or at least an Iraqi attempt to establish a link, with bin Laden, the mastermind of the September 11 attacks on the United States.

The document was published by the National Security Archives, an independent institute located at George Washington University. It specializes in using the Freedom of Information Act and other legal means to obtain previously classified material for public release.

The Taliban conveyed its 1997 message to the State Department in the context of a broader pitch to improve ties with Washington.

During the meeting, the Taliban representatives requested agricultural assistance, recommended the United States reopen its embassy in Kabul and said they had been instructed by Taliban leader Mullah Mohammed Omar to present a paper that opened with these words:

"The Islamic State of Afghanistan wants friendly relations with the U.S. and all countries of the world based on mutual respect and non-interference."

In February 2003, prior to the U.S. invasion of Iraq, Secretary of State Colin L. Powell laid out evidence of an Iraq link to bin Laden, claiming that Iraqi intelligence agents had provided training in document forgery to al Qaeda.

He also spoke of links between the terrorist group and Iraq that went back to the early 1990s when bin Laden took refuge in Sudan.

In that presentation, Mr. Powell said, "A senior defector, one of Saddam's former intelligence chiefs in Europe, says Saddam sent his agents to Afghanistan sometime in the mid-1990s to provide training to al Qaeda members on document forgery."

The Taliban's claim that they had been aware of and sought to stop Iraqi efforts to contact bin Laden now appears to back up Mr. Powell's Feb. 5 presentation.

Since before the Iraq war, administration assertions of a link between Iraq and bin Laden have been widely criticized as exaggerated.

"I'm sure some Iraqi official met with some al Qaeda somewhere, but that does not demonstrate that two are working closely together," said Daniel Byman, an assistant professor at Georgetown University's School of Foreign Service.

He pointed out that the United States has held captive several senior Iraqi officials who would have knowledge of any pre-Iraqi war connection with al Qaeda and yet no new evidence has been made public.

"We have a lot of senior al Qaeda folks captive and there are reasons we want to publicize these links," he said.

For example, Farouk Hijazi, a former senior Iraqi intelligence agent and ambassador to Tunisia who was reported to have met bin Laden in December 1998, has been in U.S. custody since late April.

But with the Bush administration's latest approach to the United Nations, much of the concern appears to have shifted to the presence of militant Islamists fighting in Iraq, in addition to secular Ba'ath Party operatives loyal to Saddam.

U.S. officials believe al Qaeda is active in Iraq, especially in some of the suicide attacks against Americans and other targets.

"We are now starting to see terrorists come into Iraq who could represent, and we are quite confident represent al Qaeda elements," Mr. Powell told Al Jazeera satellite television in an interview this week.

http://www.washtimes.com/world/20030912-012437-3992r.htm

Statoil HQ Raided Last Night Over Iran-consultant Case

September 12, 2003
Ample
AFX

OSLO -- Statoil's headquarters was raided by Norway's Economic Criminal Bureau last night as part of an investigation into the company's business contacts in Iran, according to a report on the website of Norwegian financial daily Dagens Naeringsliv.

Statoil declined to comment on the raid, but said it will make a statement at a news conference at 10.00 am today.

The raid was related to Dagens Naeringsliv's expose on an agreement between Statoil and Iranian businessman Abbas Yazdi and his company Horton investment.

This contract led to contact with and advice from Mehdi Hashemi Rafsanjani, son of former Iranian president Rafsanjani and director of a unit of Iranian state oil company Nioc - Statoil's Iranian partner.

Yazdi was to supply consultancy services for more than 100 mln nkr over ten years, and more than 40 mln nkr has already been transferred to a Swiss bank account.

The raid targeted the international exploration and production division.

elisabeth.dalseg@afxnews.com

http://www.iii.co.uk/shares/?type=news&articleid=4743653&action=article

India assures that Iran won’t get Israel’s technology

PTI - World News
Sep 12, 2003

NEW DELHI - India has assured Israel that it would not transfer any acquired military technology to third countries including Iran, Defence Ministry sources said on Thursday.

The assurance was given by Defence Minister George Fernandes as he called on Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon here last night.

Tel Aviv, which is very sensitive about leakage of military technology developed by it, had in fact wanted New Delhi to extend a commitment to that effect. It reportedly considered Iran and Syria as the countries supporting forces opposed to Israel with weapons and funding.

A three-member Israeli Defence Ministry delegation, headed by its Director General Maj Gen Yaron Meyer, had met Fernandes after holding intensive interactions with the armed forces and Defence Ministry top brass.

http://www.daneshjoo.org/generalnews/article/publish/article_2292.shtml

Atomic Board Favors Giving Iran Deadline

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
NY Times 9.12.2003
Filed at 2:55 a.m. ET

VIENNA, Austria (AP) -- After days of intense lobbying by the United States, diplomats appeared likely to set an October deadline for Iran to prove it is not trying to make nuclear weapons.

Ahead of that meeting of the International Atomic Energy Agency's board of governors, Iran warned that it will not accept any deadline that carries with it the possibility of future U.N. Security Council involvement.

But diplomats said that by late Thursday, more than 20 members of the 35-nation board had indicated they would vote in favor of the resolution, with an unknown number of likely abstentions.

Russia, whose vote carries substantial political weight, had initially opposed the concept of a deadline but now was leaning toward abstaining instead of opposing, said the diplomats. China, another important board nation, also was likely to abstain, they said.

Suspended since Wednesday, to allow the 35 board member nations to meet informally, the meeting Friday was expected to vote on a U.S.-backed resolution urging Iran to essentially disprove by October that it is running a covert nuclear weapons program. The United States and its allies have used the two-day suspension to lobby other countries for support.

While not outlining consequences, the resolution sets up the possibility of U.N. Security Council involvement. That would happen if the board rules at its next meeting in November that Iran ignored IAEA demands and was in noncompliance of part of the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty.

The United States had been pushing for a resolution finding Iran in noncompliance at this meeting. But lack of support from most other board members scuttled that plan.

The U.S.-backed push for a deadline got a boost after the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency came out in support of it earlier in the week, saying he favored ``an immediate disclosure of all nuclear activities'' on the part of Iran.

Reflecting the concerns driving America and its allies, IAEA Director General Mohammed ElBaradei, in separate comments, warned that he and his agency might soon be unable to verify whether Tehran was diverting nuclear material into a weapons program unless Iran quickly agreed to fully cooperate. Those fears, expressed at a closed session of the board meeting, were relayed by diplomats present.

http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/international/AP-Nuclear-Agency-Iran.html

Statoil Revokes Iran Consultancy Deal

September 12, 2003
HUGIN Online
Statoil ASA

Statoil's chief executive Olav Fjell has decided to cancel with immediate effect the consultancy contract relating to advice on business development in Iran. Agreement has been reached with Horton Investment that Statoil will pay no more than the USD 5.2 million which has already been paid out.

"This decision has been taken in order to remove any doubt whatsoever about Statoil's compliance with its ethical guidelines," says Mr Fjell. "The contract and its media coverage has created an impression that Statoil operates in an ethical borderland. Statoil cannot live with misgivings about the group's ethical standards."

Richard J Hubbard, who has been in charge of Statoil's international E&P operations, has resigned from his position. Mr Fjell has accepted Mr Hubbard's decision and has appointed Ottar Rekdal as acting executive vice president for the group's International Exploration & Production business area.

The decision to cancel the consultancy deal has been taken on the basis of an internal audit in Statoil and a subsequent handling by the group's top management. Statoil has specific guidelines and procedures laid down to ensure a best possible decision-making basis for consultancy agreements. These procedures include reputation analyses before agreements are entered into with agents or consultants. The internal assessments which were carried out prior to this contract being signed were not exhaustive enough.

This specific agreement was concluded on 12 June 2002 to strengthen Statoil's insight into financial, industrial, legal and social issues associated with business development in Iran. The agreement had a time span of 11 years and the financial framework was USD 15.2 million, with initial payments of USD 5.2 million. The parties agreed that the agreement was not to be made public.

The chief executive regrets that Statoil's initial information to the media did not provide a complete picture of this case.

Statoil has submitted material from its internal review to the Norwegian National Authority for Investigation and Prosecution of Economic and Environmental Crime (Økokrim). On Wednesday 10 September, Økokrim launched an investigation to find out if any criminal offence has occurred in this case. Statoil will assist the investigation in all possible ways.

The group has international E&P operations in 11 countries and in all of these countries Statoil has signed consultancy deals to secure deep insight into all issues which are important to the group's activities. The chief executive has initiated a full review of all the consultancy agreements in these countries to ensure that they comply with Statoil's ethical guidelines.

Public affairs - Wenche Skorge, tel +47 51 99 79 17(office) +47 918 70 741 (mobile)

http://www.huginonline.com/plsql/try/pressreleases.queryview?P_IDENTIFIER=917174&Z_CHK=33342&p_la=5

U.N. Watchdog Gives Iran Oct 31 Nuclear Deadline

September 12, 2003
Reuters
Reuters.com

VIENNA -- The governing board of the United Nations nuclear watchdog passed a resolution on Friday setting Iran an October 31 deadline to prove it has no secret nuclear weapons program, a diplomat told reporters.

Iran's delegation to the U.N. walked out of the closed-door meeting in protest, warning that Tehran would have a "deep review" of its cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).

"We will have no choice but to have a deep review of our existing level and extent of engagement with the agency vis a vis this resolution," Iranian ambassador to the U.N. in Vienna Ali Akbar Salehi said in the text of a statement to the board.

If Iran does not comply with the resolution it could open the door to Tehran being reported to the U.N. Security Council for possible sanctions.

The resolution gives Iran a last chance to prove it has been complying with the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).

Asked if the toughly worded draft text submitted to the board had been passed at the closed-door meeting, the diplomat said: "Yes."

In an August 26 report, the IAEA said it had found traces of weapons-grade highly enriched uranium at an enrichment facility at Natanz, Iran, sparking fears the country had been purifying uranium for use in an atomic bomb. Iran denied the charge.

http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=worldNews&storyID=3434914

Excerpts of U.N. Nuclear Agency Resolution on Iran

September 12, 2003
The Associated Press
CBS2

VIENNA, Austria -- Excerpts of an International Atomic Energy Agency resolution passed Friday that gives Iran until the end of October to dispel suspicions it may be running a covert nuclear weapons program:

The conference, ``calls on Iran to provide accelerated cooperation and full transparency to allow the agency to provide at an early date the assurances required by (IAEA) member states.''

``Calls on Iran to ensure there are no further failures to report material, facilities and activities that Iran is obliged to report,'' to the IAEA.

``Calls on Iran to suspend all further uranium enrichment-related activities.''

Decides it is ``essential and urgent ... that Iran remedy all failures identified by the agency and cooperate fully with the agency to ensure verification of compliance with Iran's safeguards agreement by taking all necessary actions by the end of October 2003, including:

providing a full declaration of all important material and components relevant to the (uranium) enrichment program ....

granting unrestricted access, including environmental sampling, for the agency ... for the purposes of verification of the correctness and completeness of Iran's declarations.''

The resolution also calls on Iran ``to promptly and unconditionally sign, ratify and fully implement'' an additional IAEA protocol opening all its nuclear activities to IAEA inspectors.

It calls on IAEA Director-General Mohamed ElBaradei to report back to the board on Iran's compliance by November, the date of the next scheduled board meeting.

http://cbsnewyork.com/international/NuclearAgency-Iran-Re-ai/resources_news_html

US Official: Noose Tightens on Iran Nuclear Program

September 12, 2003
Reuters
Reuters.com

WASHINGTON -- The "noose" is tightening on Iran to prove it has no secret nuclear weapons program or lose its legal right to obtain nuclear-related technology from Russia and other countries, a U.S. official said on Friday.

The official spoke with Reuters after the governing board of the United Nations nuclear watchdog passed a resolution setting Iran an Oct. 31 deadline to make its case.

After that deadline, the U.N. agency board is expected in November to draw "definitive conclusions" about Iran's program and whether the Islamic state should be declared in noncompliance of international nonproliferation obligations, he said.

"This time we hope there's not going to be a way to escape because this resolution is really tightening the noose on them" to cooperate, he said.

If Iran does not cooperate and Iran is officially declared in noncompliance, "Iran will forfeit it's right to share nuclear technology for peaceful purposes" and Russia will not be able to provide critical nuclear fuel for Iran's Bushehr nuclear plant, the official added.

http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=topNews&storyID=3435231

Fri, September 12, 2003

Groups push for Kazemi probe

MONTREAL (CP) - The son of a Canadian photojournalist slain in Iran joined 16 journalism and human rights groups on Friday in asking Ottawa to order an investigation into the circumstances surrounding her death.

The groups held a news conference to outline the contents of a letter sent Wednesday to Prime Minister Jean Chretien, Foreign Affairs Minister Bill Graham, Justice Minister Martin Cauchon and Immigration Minister Denis Coderre.

"We are . . requesting the Canadian government to recognize the necessity of an international investigation into the case and to start the procedures towards said investigation," the letter said.

Zahra Kazemi, who was born in Iran but held dual Canadian-Iranian citizenship, died July 10 after sustaining head injuries while in custody.

Her death came nearly three weeks after she was detained for taking photographs outside a Tehran prison during student-led protests.

After 77 hours of interrogation, she was rushed to a hospital's intensive care unit where she died 14 days later. The body was buried in Iran despite pleas from Ottawa and Kazemi's Montreal-based son, Stephan Hachemi, that it be returned to Canada.

Hachemi reiterated his call at the news conference for Ottawa to get tough with Iran.

"Now that the Canadian government has been truly humiliated, I understand that for the honour of two Canadian citizens - my mother and myself - it doesn't want to lose important diplomatic relations," Hachemi said.

"But for its honour, I think the government should show a lot more resolve."

The groups at the news conference included Reporters Without Borders and the International Judicial Resources Centre. They said they also want Ottawa to present the file to the United Nations, so the international body can launch its own investigation.

Catherine Duhamel of the International Judicial Resources Centre said the coalition does not have wild expectations.

"It's a start," Duhamel said. "Two laws in Canada concerning Mrs. Kazemi's case are applicable. Why not use them? Start using them and see what happens."

http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/Canada/2003/09/12/pf-184558.html

U.S. warns Israel off Arafat as Abbas quits

Haaretz ^ | 09-07-03
Posted on 09/06/2003 9:17 PM PDT by Brian S

U.S. warns Israel off Arafat as Abbas quits
By Aluf Benn and Arnon Regular, Haaretz Correspondents

The United States has told Israel it expects "no surprises" regarding Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat following the resignation of Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas on Saturday....

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/977496/posts?page=97#97

US Official: Noose Tightens on Iran Nuclear Program

September 12, 2003
Reuters
Reuters.com

WASHINGTON -- The "noose" is tightening on Iran to prove it has no secret nuclear weapons program or lose its legal right to obtain nuclear-related technology from Russia and other countries, a U.S. official said on Friday.

The official spoke with Reuters after the governing board of the United Nations nuclear watchdog passed a resolution setting Iran an Oct. 31 deadline to make its case.

After that deadline, the U.N. agency board is expected in November to draw "definitive conclusions" about Iran's program and whether the Islamic state should be declared in noncompliance of international nonproliferation obligations, he said.

"This time we hope there's not going to be a way to escape because this resolution is really tightening the noose on them" to cooperate, he said.

If Iran does not cooperate and Iran is officially declared in noncompliance, "Iran will forfeit it's right to share nuclear technology for peaceful purposes" and Russia will not be able to provide critical nuclear fuel for Iran's Bushehr nuclear plant, the official added.

http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=topNews&storyID=3435231

Memo shows Iraq, Iran tried to contact bin Laden

The Washington Times ^ | September 12, 2003 | Eli J. Lake
Posted on 09/12/2003 3:56 AM PDT by Miss Marple

The Taliban claimed in a 1997 meeting with U.S. officials that it had blocked attempts by both Iraq and Iran to contact Osama bin Laden, according to a previously confidential State Department memo made public yesterday....

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/981055/posts

Statoil HQ raided last nightover Iran-consultant case (Norway)

AFX ^ | September 12, 2003
Posted on 09/12/2003 5:24 AM PDT by Miss Marple

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/981094/posts

UN Sets Nuclear Deadline, Iran Walks Out in Protest

Yahoooooooooo via Reuters ^ | 9/12/03
Posted on 09/12/2003 1:02 PM PDT by areafiftyone

VIENNA (Reuters) - The U.N.'s nuclear watchdog on Friday set Iran an October 31 deadline to prove it had no secret atomic weapons program, prompting Tehran to threaten a "deep review" of its cooperation with the agency.

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/981444/posts

Iran Envoy In Bombing Inquiry Is Freed On Bail

The Telegraph (UK) ^ | 9-13-2003 | Anton La Guardia
Posted on 09/12/2003 5:24 PM PDT by blam

Iran envoy in bombing inquiry is freed on bail

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/981565/posts

Iran Given Deadline to Lay Bare Nuclear Program

Washington Post ^ | September 13, 2003 | Joby Warrick
Posted on 09/12/2003 8:57 PM PDT by Pan_Yans Wife

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/981638/posts

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