From an editorial in Beirut Daily Star...
Cooperation between international intelligence agencies has proven one of the most effective tools in thwarting terrorist attacks. That is why Iranâs refusal to grant access to over a dozen senior Saudi-born Al-Qaeda suspects is disturbing. On Monday, press reports, citing Iranâs ambassador in Riyadh, suggested that Iran had handed over to Saudi Arabia a number of Al-Qaeda members. However, the individuals, like the 16 Saudis Iran turned over last year, are merely foot soldiers.
| Nope. Surprise meter didn't even twitch... |
What the Saudis want are the ringleaders of one of the last functioning Al-Qaeda cells with regional command and control powers. Intelligence officials also believe that members of this group know the identities of dozens of Al-Qaeda operatives dispersed in Saudi Arabia, Europe and the United States. That is why Saudi officials are keen to interrogate the suspects. In the last few months, however, Iran has hindered this effort. To be more precise, radical Iranian clerics have hindered these efforts.
| The old "dual government" phenomenon rears its ugly head... |
Iranâs ineffectual moderate president, Mohammad Khatami, has promised to hand over the Saudi Al-Qaeda suspects. However, Saudi security officials were twice rebuffed when arriving to pick them up. In the most recent attempt, Prince Mohammad bin Nayef, the assistant minister of interior for security affairs (the highest civilian administrator of the Saudi Arabian General Security Service), was told he would not be allowed to see the prisoners. A senior general in the Saudi General Intelligence Presidency who oversees coordination with Iranâs Intelligence Ministry was furious. According to him: â(supreme leader Ayatollah Ali) Khameneiâs people are holding up the extradition because they fear theyâll be implicated.â
| Thereby implicating themselves, whether they've got something to hide or not. Which they do... |
This episode highlights the strength of Khamenei and the radical clerics who follow him. Khamenei controls several powerful state security organs, including Iranâs Revolutionary Guards and the newly created Foreign Intelligence Service. Both report directly to Khameneiâs Office of the Supreme Leader, entirely bypassing Khatamiâs government.
| Because that's where the real power lies. It took a few hundred years for Eurpean parliaments to finally control this sort of thing by taking control of the purse strings... |
In the past few years, American, Saudi and other regional intelligence services have compiled a detailed dossier on the extremists within these institutions and their connections to international terrorism. The 1996 Khobar bombing in Saudi Arabia serves as an example. Ali Fallahian, the former Iranian intelligence minister who is believed to have orchestrated the attack, now serves as a top adviser to Khamenei. General Ahmad Sharifi, the âcase officerâ who oversaw the group that carried out the bombing, is an adviser to the Revolutionary Guards military operations chief. And Ibrahim al-Mughassil, the Saudi Shiite who organized the operation from Saudi Arabiaâs Eastern Province, has found refuge in Iran with his two main accomplices.
| They've demonstrated how devout they are. Now they're reaping their rewards... |
Since the demise of the Taleban, Iran has become a sanctuary for Al-Qaeda, making it the only place in the world where both Shiite and Sunni terrorists have found haven.
| At the risk of repeating myself, it's not the religion, it's the mindset. ELF or ETA would be given shelter just as willingly. And the IRA periodically pops up giving bomb lessons to people who have trouble remembering whether it's red to black or red to white... |
US, Saudi and Pakistani intelligence officials have concluded that the radical wing of Iranâs Revolutionary Guards has harbored numerous top Al-Qaeda operatives, of which the three most dangerous are Saif al-Adel (Osama bin Ladenâs chief of global operations), Saad bin Laden (Osamaâs son and a regional Al-Qaeda leader) and a third man who is yet to be identified.
| Not to mention Suleiman Abu Gheith and our old pal Zarqawi... |
With help from Revolutionary Guards radicals, the so-called âTehran trioâ masterminded the recent suicide bombings in Riyadh that killed 34 and injured over 200. Since the bombing, Saudi intelligence officers have uncovered much information about Al-Qaedaâs operations within the kingdom and the groupâs connections to Iran. One of the leaders of the cell that carried out the attacks, Ali Fagasi al-Ghamdi, has been talking to Saudi agents since he turned himself in last June. Ghamdi identified the Tehran trio as the masterminds of the bombing and Turki al-Dandani as the main leader of his cell (a cousin of Dandani is the unidentified third of the trio). Dandani was killed in the northern Saudi province of Jouf while attempting to flee to Iraq. Saudi intelligence officials believe he was heading to Iran, to reunite with his comrades. |