Iran Gave U.S. Help On Al Qaeda After 9/11

[sabra]

Source: CBS News/AP

Former U.S. Officials Say Iran Rounded Up Hundreds Of Possible Terrorists Following Sept. 11 Attacks

(CBS/AP) Iran rounded up hundreds of Arabs to help the United States counter al Qaeda after the Sept. 11 attack after they crossed the border from Afghanistan, a former Bush administration official said Tuesday. Many were expelled, Hillary Mann Leverett said, and the Iranians made copies of almost 300 of their passports.

The copies were sent to Kofi Annan, then the secretary-general of the United Nations, who passed them to the United States, and U.S. interrogators were given a chance by Iran to question some of the detainees, Leverett said in an Associated Press interview.

Leverett, a Middle East expert who was a career U.S. Foreign Service officer, said she negotiated with Iran for the Bush administration in the 2001-3 period, and Iran sought a broader relationship with the United States. "They thought they had been helpful on al Qaeda, and they were," she said.

For one thing, she said, Iran denied sanctuary to suspected al Qaeda operatives.

Some administration officials took the view, however, that Iran had not acknowledged all likely al Qaeda members nor provided access to them, Leverett said.

Read more: http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/10/07/world/main4508360.shtml?tag=topHome;topStories

[Billy Burnett]

1. That's why Iran is BushCo's enemy.

They want to destroy The Base (Bush's base... Al Queda).

[goforit]

11. Yes...Al Queda is Bush

[Nambe]

2. Oh HUSH. We are trying to start a war here.

The Carlyle Group and Halliburton want it all, right down to our last billion.

[htuttle]

3. I remember reading about this at the time

It got forgotten very quickly.

times 12.3.02 bb speech malreported refs crimethink rectify

Welcome to the United States of Amnesia...

[Soylent Brice]

5. Engspeak...

...very fitting for the occasion.

[Pierre Trudeau]

4. I actually remember, immediately after 9/11...

.... one of the FIRST countries to publicly express sympathy for the United States... was Iran.

Mind you, Ahmadenejad was not President there at the time, and there was a reformist government.

I remember Iran making these efforts at the time. And it makes sense, of course: they have no love for al Qaeda or similar Sunni groups.
In early 2002, I actually travelled to Tehran for a theatre festival, and really did not encounter any sort of anti-Western hostility... maybe due to the fact that I'm Canadian, not American, but still, my impression of people there at the time is that they actually wanted closer ties with the West. But after being demonized and threatened enough by Bush/Cheney, they became defensive, elected their current president, and obviously are not feeling so helpful today.

Another foreign policy success for the Bush administration!

[ronnie624]

9. According to polls conducted in Iran,

even after Ahmadinejad was elected, large majorities admire American pop culture and want normalized relations with the U.S.

And Ahmadinejad has little or no say in Iranian foreign policy.

I just overheard a man this morning, blathering about how Iran needs to "leave us alone". It's unlikely the poor sap would ever believe the exact opposite is actually the truth. I find the misinformation about Iran that is deliberately perpetuated by U.S. corporate propaganda very irritating. I've run across some nitwits that believe Iran was involved in the 911 terrorist attacks.

[Posteritatis]

6. TERROR TERROR TERRoh, wait, nevermind. (nt)

[iandhr]

7. The current goverment...

... would not help us. This was only due the fact that the reformists were in power. Is unlikely to happen again because Iran's unelected people are the most power such as the supreme leader and the guardian council which approves candidates for public office and they now bar most of the well know reformers from running

[happyslug]

13. Iran had the SAME "Supreme Leader" then as now.

The "Reformist" were concentrating on internal politics, foreign and Military decision were and are reserved to the Supreme Leader.

More on the position of "Leader":
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supreme_Leader_of_Iran

More on the Second "Leader" of Iran, only he and Khomeini has ever held the position:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ali_Khamenei

[Roland99]

8. Must Read: NYTimes - 2004 - "Those Friendly Iranians"

http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9F01EFDF1E3DF936A35756C0A9629C8B63

[ronnie624]

10. Thanks for the article - an interesting read.

This line is a problem, however:

"...and the result was an outpouring of venom that led to our diplomats' being held hostage."

It is far more likely that the "diplomats" were agents of covert war and attempts to overthrow the Iranian government. The Iranians, in my opinion, had every right to eliminate a base of operations for the CIA in their own country.

[Billy Burnett]

12. What?

"It is far more likely that the "diplomats" were agents of covert war and attempts to overthrow the Iranian government."

Are you aware that the Shah was put in place by the CIA? When they were there they were backing the Shah (the Iranian government). At that time the diplomats/CIA were working to keep the Iranian government (dictatorship) in place and to help the Shah undermine democratic opposition.

http://www.huppi.com/kangaroo/CIAtimeline.html

1953

Iran – CIA overthrows the democratically elected Mohammed Mossadegh in a military coup, after he threatened to nationalize British oil. The CIA replaces him with a dictator, the Shah of Iran, whose secret police, SAVAK, is as brutal as the Gestapo.

[ronnie624]

14. By the time the "diplomats" were taken hostage on 11/4/79,

the Shah had been gone for well over a year.

[OakCliffDem]

15. There are plenty of people in Iran who support Western culture

But the Bush Administration needs an enemy, and the Iranians fit the bill.

American and the whole world would benefit from a friendly Iran, and we could get there if we supported the educated, liberal people who live there. But Noooo! Bush has to have a group to hate. Bush and the NeoCons set up Iran as the focus of national hate by actually supporting the Islamic radicals in power. Only from the twisted logic of Fascist ruler can we get into a situation like this.