- Aug 10, 2001
- 10,420
- 2
- 0
I'm starting to wonder if some of their stories are pure fiction.
For example, the following will be in tomorrow's Washington Post:
Iran harboring al Qaeda deputies
Sources say two are plotting attacks
JIDDAH, Saudi Arabia, Aug. 27 ? Two figures who have assumed critical roles in the al Qaeda hierarchy in recent months, including one reported dead by the Pentagon, are being sheltered in Iran along with dozens of other al Qaeda fighters in hotels and guesthouses in the border cities of Mashhad and Zabol, according to Arab intelligence sources.
THE TWO ? Saif al-Adel, an Egyptian on the FBI?s most-wanted list, and Mahfouz Ould Walid, also known as Abu Hafs the Mauritanian, whom U.S. officials reported had been killed near the eastern Afghan city of Khost in January ? are directly involved in planning al Qaeda terrorist operations, according to the intelligence sources, who are outside Saudi Arabia and did not want their names or countries disclosed.
With Osama bin Laden and his second-in-command, Ayman Zawahiri, in hiding, the sources said, and with the death of the former military chief, Muhammad Atef, the two have assumed operational control of al Qaeda?s military committee, which directs attacks, and its ideological or religious committee, which issues fatwas, or statements, to justify those attacks.
The idea of the transfer of power arose after the attacks in New York and at the Pentagon on Sept. 11, when it became apparent to al Qaeda that the United States might attack Afghanistan and capture or kill some of its senior leaders, the sources said. The need to put the transfer into practice became even more apparent in March with the capture in Pakistan of Abu Zubaida, a Palestinian and senior al Qaeda planner.
The sources also said that one of bin Laden?s sons, Saad, who is in his early twenties, is being groomed as his father?s successor because of the symbolism offered by the idea of a dynasty. And while the sources said that Saad has not assumed a formal position, he has increasingly been communicating with operatives worldwide in order to burnish his standing with them.
?[Saad] has authority, but Zawahiri is still number two,? said a senior Arab intelligence officer.
Dozens of other al Qaeda fighters, and possibly more, are also staying in a cluster of hotels in Mashhad, in northeastern Iran near the borders with Turkmenistan and Afghanistan, and in guesthouses in Zabol, about 400 miles farther south on the Iranian-Afghan border, the sources said.
The report from these sources supported the Bush administration?s long-standing assertion that Iran ? or at least hard-liners in the conservative clerical line of authority that controls the army and intelligence services ? is harboring al Qaeda fighters.
A spokesman for the Iranian mission to the United Nations denied that al-Adel and Walid are in Iran and added: ?Iran?s policy is not to permit such people to enter Iran.?
Nevertheless, the sources said al-Adel and Walid meet regularly with lieutenants in Mashhad and Zabol, and that Iran has also been used as a way station to other countries for al Qaeda fighters who have fled Afghanistan since the Taliban was defeated in November.
The sources said Iran?s transfer of 16 al Qaeda operatives to Saudi Arabia in June, along with small deportations to other countries, were a pretense used to rebutt the Bush administration?s charges and encourage the idea that it was cooperating in the U.S.-led war on terrorism. The Saudi foreign minister, Prince Saud Faisal, cited the June handover as an instance of such cooperation in an interview this month.
http://msnbc.com/news/800046.asp
For example, the following will be in tomorrow's Washington Post:
Iran harboring al Qaeda deputies
Sources say two are plotting attacks
JIDDAH, Saudi Arabia, Aug. 27 ? Two figures who have assumed critical roles in the al Qaeda hierarchy in recent months, including one reported dead by the Pentagon, are being sheltered in Iran along with dozens of other al Qaeda fighters in hotels and guesthouses in the border cities of Mashhad and Zabol, according to Arab intelligence sources.
THE TWO ? Saif al-Adel, an Egyptian on the FBI?s most-wanted list, and Mahfouz Ould Walid, also known as Abu Hafs the Mauritanian, whom U.S. officials reported had been killed near the eastern Afghan city of Khost in January ? are directly involved in planning al Qaeda terrorist operations, according to the intelligence sources, who are outside Saudi Arabia and did not want their names or countries disclosed.
With Osama bin Laden and his second-in-command, Ayman Zawahiri, in hiding, the sources said, and with the death of the former military chief, Muhammad Atef, the two have assumed operational control of al Qaeda?s military committee, which directs attacks, and its ideological or religious committee, which issues fatwas, or statements, to justify those attacks.
The idea of the transfer of power arose after the attacks in New York and at the Pentagon on Sept. 11, when it became apparent to al Qaeda that the United States might attack Afghanistan and capture or kill some of its senior leaders, the sources said. The need to put the transfer into practice became even more apparent in March with the capture in Pakistan of Abu Zubaida, a Palestinian and senior al Qaeda planner.
The sources also said that one of bin Laden?s sons, Saad, who is in his early twenties, is being groomed as his father?s successor because of the symbolism offered by the idea of a dynasty. And while the sources said that Saad has not assumed a formal position, he has increasingly been communicating with operatives worldwide in order to burnish his standing with them.
?[Saad] has authority, but Zawahiri is still number two,? said a senior Arab intelligence officer.
Dozens of other al Qaeda fighters, and possibly more, are also staying in a cluster of hotels in Mashhad, in northeastern Iran near the borders with Turkmenistan and Afghanistan, and in guesthouses in Zabol, about 400 miles farther south on the Iranian-Afghan border, the sources said.
The report from these sources supported the Bush administration?s long-standing assertion that Iran ? or at least hard-liners in the conservative clerical line of authority that controls the army and intelligence services ? is harboring al Qaeda fighters.
A spokesman for the Iranian mission to the United Nations denied that al-Adel and Walid are in Iran and added: ?Iran?s policy is not to permit such people to enter Iran.?
Nevertheless, the sources said al-Adel and Walid meet regularly with lieutenants in Mashhad and Zabol, and that Iran has also been used as a way station to other countries for al Qaeda fighters who have fled Afghanistan since the Taliban was defeated in November.
The sources said Iran?s transfer of 16 al Qaeda operatives to Saudi Arabia in June, along with small deportations to other countries, were a pretense used to rebutt the Bush administration?s charges and encourage the idea that it was cooperating in the U.S.-led war on terrorism. The Saudi foreign minister, Prince Saud Faisal, cited the June handover as an instance of such cooperation in an interview this month.
http://msnbc.com/news/800046.asp
Facebook
Twitter