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| Syria-Lebanon-Iran |
| Sept. 11 Plotters Crossed Territory Illegally: Tehran |
| 2004-07-19 |
| TEHRAN, 19 July 2004 — Iran acknowledged yesterday that suspected Al-Qaeda members involved in the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks may have passed through its territory, but insisted they would have done so "illegally". Illegally, my ass. The only reason they are admitting now to having them in their territory, is because they now realize that the State Department knows more about their goings than they thought. "We have very long borders and it is impossible to totally control them," Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi told reporters. "It is natural that five of six people could have crossed our borders illegally without us seeing them," he insisted. "The same thing happens on the border between the United States and Mexico." Asefi was responding to the Sept. 11 commission report, due out Thursday in the United States, which according to US media reports alleges that Iran may have helped in the attacks by providing eight to 10 Al-Qaeda hijackers with safe passage to and from training camps in Afghanistan. But John McLaughlin, the acting director of the Central Intelligence Agency, told Fox News yesterday Washington has no evidence that Tehran sanctioned the Sept. 11 strikes. "We have ample evidence of people being able to move back and forth across that terrain," McLaughlin said. "However, I would stop there and say we have no evidence that there is some sort of official sanction by the government of Iran for this activity. We have no evidence that there is some sort of official connection between Iran and 9/11," he said. |
| Posted by:Anonymous4617 |
| #4 He certainly made his name well known outside the Beltway. How the "commission" members were chosen has to be a trip. "Okay, all the Donks can be asshats - and 50%+ of the Pubs. That'll be fair and insure the report will do some good." Pfeh. |
| Posted by: .com 2004-07-19 5:59:01 PM |
| #3 .com, I'm surprised Richard ben Veniste doesn't have his own flag. The Black Banner of the Grand Inquisitor, or something like that. |
| Posted by: Matt 2004-07-19 5:42:43 PM |
| #2 9/11 Cool flag, though, doncha think? Their own fucking flag. Right. Believe that shit? Wonder how much that cost us. |
| Posted by: .com 2004-07-19 5:32:33 PM |
| #1 âHowever, I would stop there and say we have no evidence that there is some sort of official sanction by the government of Iran for this activity. We have no evidence that there is some sort of official connection between Iran and 9/11,â he said. For those of you looking for signs of blowback from our recent political drubbing of the CIA's ability to interpret intel, here it is. "Sure we know the Iranians let them in, sure we know the border guards were under orders to cooperate and not stamp their passports, sure they had all sorts of assistance in-country from the Iranian government, but that doesn't mean that the Iranian government actually supported them in their plan." I could get a jury conviction on accomplice liability based on the little bit that's made its way into the papers but though they have vastly superior knowledge it appears that the CIA is now effectively paralyzed and/or at least unable to make the call. This bodes ill for any significant US action in the WOT in the near future IMHO. |
| Posted by: AzCat 2004-07-19 4:34:31 AM |
