Useful Fools

According to Ijaz, after the 9-11 attacks, the Iranians came to the conclusion that the US would "go after the Taliban and Iraq." Iran wanted to counter these "democratic bookends" by providing safe harbor, logistical support and financing for Al Qaeda to operate freely from Iranian soil. "That is precisely and exactly how it is unfolding," he said.

Bin Laden is being kept hidden by the Iranians, while Zawahiri is moving freely about Iran. Bin Laden has shaved his head bald, cut his beard much closer, put on "a lot of weight", and changed his beard color to look like an Iranian cleric. Bin Laden is currently near the western border of Iran planning terrorists attacks on US interests in the region [probably Iraq].

The Iranian Revolutionary Guard has arranged for at least three or four Bin Laden doubles, who are moving around in Afghanistan and maybe Pakistan. They are showing these doubles to determine if they can mislead people about Bin Laden's actual location.

Ijaz also reported that Afghan warload, Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, who controls 7 western provinces, is planning to conquer Afghanistan with the help of Iran and Al Qaeda. He plans to bring a large army of Iranian Revolutionary Guards into Afghanistan during the winter months to attack US interests , and to attempt conquest of the entire country. The Iranian Army is to provide logistical support, as Iran does not want the US to succeed in building a democracy in Afghanistan under any circumstances.

Ijaz suspects that certain segments of the US government have this information and are analyzing it. He claims to have made his information public so that it would be available to all US officials.

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Comments: One never quite knows what to make of reports by Mansoor Ijaz. He is a highly educated, very intelligent American businessman of Pakistani descent. He has remarkable connections both within the US and in the Middle East. He reportedly brokered a deal whereby Sudan would have given up Bin Laden to the Clinton administration, but the US declined. This has been confirmed by other sources.

On the other hand, these new claims (which were made within the last hour on Fox) are extremely serious (the word "bombshell" applies here, in more than one way!), but have yet to be corroborated, at least in an unclassified venue.

If he is correct, the US will be forced to take very strong measures against Iran.

A chilling possibility is that Iran will suddenly display deliverable nuclear weapons before major parts of these plots, or will credibly threaten a "doomsday" biological weapons capability. Iran's former president and now second in command, Rafsanjani, has already advocated the use of nuclear weapons against Israel.

With a potential immunity to attack as a result of possession of these weapons, Iran would then feel free to intervene in Afganistan and support Al Qaeda in major attacks. It would hold hostage Israel, US force concentrations in the theater, and probably major cities in Europe. The conspiracy between North Korea and Iran makes this quite possible, with Iran potentially being able to target even western Europe with nuclear warheads.

[UPDATE 11/22 - Updates from Mansoor Ijaz here.