Iran Hosts Bin Laden, Plans to Invade Afghanistan (Fox News)
Thu November 20th, 2003 18:03 MSTFox News foreign affairs and terrorism analyst, Mansoor Ijaz, has just made shocking claims regarding Iranian cooperation with Al Qaeda.
According to his own “unimpeachable sources,” people in the intelligence field inside Iran, Ijaz claims:
- There are solid eyewitness accounts that both Bin Laden and second in command, Zawahiri, are in Iran.
- Both are in disguise.
- Bin Laden is actively planning attacks on US interests.
- Iran plans to send troops to Afghanistan to assist Afghan Warlord Hekmatyar in attacking US interests and destroying the democratic government.
Details….
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.
the last paragraph has made it apparent that i need to go clean out my pants.
This is NOT as simple as it looks- there are many other factors to consider. Even if the reports of Mansoor Ijaz are true, considering it is NOT ISI that is using him to get the focus off Pakistan and on to Iran, other factors include-
1. It could be Pro-US person in Iran, who want to take this opportunity to BRING DEMOCRACY TO IRAN, and use US to do it, by turning on heat on Iran.
2. It could be ISI feeding information to get the heat away from Pakistan on to Iran, as Pak is continuously being squeezed to work harder on Al Qaeda as well as to stop the cross border terrorism and aiding terrorists in so called Kashmir cause.
[One wonders why in 55 years there has been no elections in Pakistan Occupied Kashmir, so called Free Kashmir? and how come a part of that Kashmir has been given as a gift to China? May be Musharraf can answer that. And may be also tell us what happened to 31% of Sikhs and Hindus of Pakistan, in 1941, how come they have become only 3%; while both muslim and christian population in India has gone up in numbers and percentages in last 60 years?
Dr. Singh,
This is raw information. It may be disinformation, it may be partly true, or it may be completely true. There is no way we can know without further information.
I doubt possibility #1. I would say it is more likely for Iran to shelter Bin Laden or pretend to, in order to anger America. Iran is facing very serious internal dissent at this time, and being attacked by the US would be a quick cure to that problem (as long as we didn’t overthrow the government).
Number 2 is certainly possible. Pakistan is in a very dangerous position, and Musharraf in particular has to walk a narrow line. On the one hand, he wants US help, but the Muslim radicals in his country might overthrow him if he goes too far.
As to the anti-Pakistan rant at the end… it is irrelevant to this issue, regardless of its validity. Anyone who pays attention knows that India has a functioning democracy and, although there are occasional major problems between religious groups, in general it is far more free and less radical than Pakistan. What most people don’t know is that the Muslim population of India is larger than that of Pakistan! But, as I said, that is off the subject.