Iran and al Qaeda: Odd bedfellows

[Nancy Waterman]

Sorry - on edit - It should read, Iran and al Qaeda

Investigators from a special anti-terrorist cell in the European Union have expressed doubts over a Washington Post report this week in which sources claimed that Saad bin Laden, 24, Osama's eldest son, is now a top al-Qaeda member and that he runs operations out of Iran.

The paper reported its sources as saying that Saad and a close circle of about two dozen of bin Laden's trusted lieutenants are "protected by an elite, radical Iranian security force loyal to the nation's clerics and beyond the control of the central government".

Asia Times Online (see Iran lines up its al-Qaeda aces of July 2) has already reported that Iran has admitted to holding a number of al-Qaeda members in its custody.

But, Asia Times Online's European intelligence sources caution, "The leaks , when put together, convey the impression that Iran, a Shi'ite Islamic Republic, is now supporting al-Qaeda, an Islamist, Wahhabi, terrorist, transnational organization. That is simply not true."

The attempt to throw all big cats - "axis of evil" Iran, "foreign terrorists" in Iraq and al-Qaeda - into one big bag is seen by European intelligence agencies as a crude attempt on the part of the Bush administration to "refocus" the "war on terror" from former "axis of evil" member Iraq to current member Iran, and from Saddam Hussein to the ayatollahs in Tehran. This, they say, bears a strong resemblance to the non-stop campaign in early 2003 to link Saddam to al-Qaeda, even though the evidence did not support this.


http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/EJ17Ak02.html

[leftchick]

1. yes but...all of their crude attempts on the Murkins have worked magic!

Just watch faux! Saddam, 9/11, terror, Iraq,...so why mess with what works? The BFEE knows who they are dealing with and with a complicit media it all works quite effectively. Looks like we are on to Iran or Syria, whichever bogeyman the pnac wants next.

[Nancy Waterman]

2. I'm bumping this up

I think it is important to see the European view of this latest bit about Saddam's som protected in Iran. Is this the beginning of yet another faux war from the Deluded in Chief.