Useful Fools

Fox News TV Nov 22, 2003 1730Z

This report adds to this earlier one. It is entirely based on a report by Mansoor Ijaz, a Fox News analyst with intelligence connections in the Middle East. Whether his information is correct or not is left as an exercise for the reader!

Bin Laden and his deputy, Zawahiri separately crossed the border into Iran in early July. They were brought to the border by members of Afghan warlord Hekmatyar [former communist, former Northern Alliance member, and current Iranian ally]. From the border, they were transported north in black Iranian Revolutionary Guard cars to the Mashhad area of Iran.

Since July, Bin Laden has not left Iran. He was last seen in early November by Mansoor’s source, between the north-western Iranian cities of Karaj and Qazvin, in an area completely controlled by the Republican Guard. They have been having meetings in safe houses in that area. Bin Laden has now spent a significant amount of time near the Iraqi border.

There are only 5 people in Iran who know of the presence of Bin Laden and Zawahiri. They are:

• Ayatollah Rafsanjani [the former president and now #2 Ayatollah who last december recommended using nuclear weapons against Israel].
• Ayatollah Khameni [the most powerful man in Iran’s theocratic state].
• The head of the Iranian Intelligence Ministry (MOIS).
• The two top members of Ayatolla Khomeni’s Intelligence Directorate.

There is additional information on the disguises. Bin Laden’s beard is died dark but not black. He looks like an Iranian professor. Zawahiri has darker shaded glasses and wears a turban in the color and style of an Iranian cleric.

The US has already confronted Iran diplomatically about this issue, but needs verification in order to take stronger diplomatic measures.