www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1173456/posts
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.
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.
View Replies To: nuconvert Lets take out the Mullahs - support opposition in country and not hit Iranian people - jesus we Iranians hate the mullahs more than anyone else!
View Replies Comment #6 Removed by Moderator To: faludeh_shirazi This is what I posted on anothe thread on why we Ivaded Iraq, not Iran:: Because by invading Iraq, we established a western front against Iran We are in their south in the gulf we are in their east in Afghanistan we are in their west in Iraq and we have Russian bases we can attack from if they let us We are now in a place to monitor and possible strike against any position in Iran on a moments notice or with little buildup. My tin foil hat theory of the Iraq war is deeper than terorism of Saddam, it is terrorism of Iran, the world's most prominent supporter of terrorism since 1979. If we can get a new Afghan Army or the Pakistanis with us, and the Saudis who HATE the Iranians, we will go in in a heartbeat. God help the Iranian men and women who actually like us. If we do invade, that wont last too long when they see our 'allies' in that war. There is NO WAY we can invade Iran without a draft, not a chance in the world.
Iran was included in the "Axis of Evil" speech for a reason. One of the strategic realities of the Iraq campaign is the fact that strong American armored and air formations lie on the Iranian frontier. However, the terrain, especially in the Zagros mountains, can be forbidding in some spots. The Dems will say we aimed at the wrong target (not that they ever intended to do anything against anybody, of course). How and ever, Bush can go back to his 2002 SOU speech in which he defined the Axis Powers and say to the American people that he told them it was going to be a long war, with several enemies. There is good and bad in this, but there is also clarity. We are very close to having the casus belli needed to take down Iran's nuclear program.
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.
View Replies To: faludeh_shirazi "Lets take out the Mullahs - support opposition in country and not hit Iranian people - jesus we Iranians hate the mullahs more than anyone else! They went from a prestigious monarchy to a militant, islamic nightmare.
View Replies To: faludeh_shirazi I worked as a Bush team member at at mall close by my hometown today, registering republican voters. An older man and his wife stopped by, as it was his wish to change parties from democrat to republican. They both had heavy accents, and looked of middle eastern ancestry. They said they were from Persia, and had immigrated to America in 1986. They were very dear people, and told me during their brief visit to the booth of the horrible things that befall average Iranian citizens in their homeland. Also, they said it wouldn't be surprising at all to observe a civil war there in the near future. Maybe we can help the decent folks of that land to overthrow an oppressive system without risking so many of our own fighters.
View Replies To: faludeh_shirazi We have no quarrel with the majority of Iranians. Iran is allegedly on the brink of overthrowing the mullahs - if we had the proper number of CIA agents on the ground in Iran, we could aid in getting rid of the islamofacists running the country w/o having to drop a bomb.
Iran is ripe for an overthrow and we should do what we can to encourage and bolster that revolt. Looks like we may have another ally in the region coming up - I like that.
View Replies To: harrowup Congress had authorized the use of a pre-emptive strike against Iran in the 2003 session. The findings are more justification if the President decides to take action.
View Replies To: Windsong Iranian people never chose an Islamic Dictatorship - read your history. The Mullahs killed off tens of thousands of Secularist Nationalists to take that position and install their dictatorship. Further, If we want to play games about what people did thirty forty years ago we can also say things about the Germans, Greeks, Japanese, Italians, and virtually every other country in the world.
View Replies To: ScudBud Our strategy in Iran is not to attack militarily, but to help the pro-US populace overthrow the Mullahs. html The American government has reportedly set it sights on toppling the regime in Iran if it wins a new term in office. The US wants to trigger a revolt within Iran by stoking up dissent among the population, a White House official told The Times. The claim came as an Iranian minister said intelligence services had dismantled all branches of the country's al Qaeda network. Iran is part of the "axis of evil" named by the US President along with Iraq and North Korea. But unlike the toppling of Saddam Hussein, The Times said a change in Iran's rulers would not come about through military action. However, the anonymous official, known to be a hawk, hinted at a possible strike against Iran's contentious nuclear programme. Iran has agreed to defuse i...
|
http://csua.com/feed/