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from the We-have-always-been-at-war-with-Eurasia dept.
Journalist Gareth Porter reports:
For many years, major U.S. institutions ranging from the Pentagon to the 9/11 Commission have been pushing the line that Iran secretly cooperated with Al Qaeda both before and after the 9/11 terror attacks. But the evidence for those claims remained either secret or sketchy, and always highly questionable.
In early November, however, the mainstream media claimed to have its "smoking gun"—a CIA document written by an unidentified Al Qaeda official and released in conjunction with 47,000 never-before-seen documents seized from Osama bin Laden's house in Abbottabad, Pakistan.
[..] But none of those media reports were based on any careful reading of the document's contents. The 19-page Arabic-language document, which was translated in full for TAC, doesn't support the media narrative of new evidence of Iran-Al Qaeda cooperation, either before or after 9/11, at all. It provides no evidence whatsoever of tangible Iranian assistance to Al Qaeda. On the contrary, it confirms previous evidence that Iranian authorities quickly rounded up those Al Qaeda operatives living in the country when they were able to track them down, and held them in isolation to prevent any further contact with Al Qaeda units outside Iran.
What it shows is that the Al Qaeda operatives were led to believe Iran was friendly to their cause and were quite taken by surprise when their people were arrested in two waves in late 2002. It suggests that Iran had played them, gaining the fighters' trust while maximizing intelligence regarding Al Qaeda's presence in Iran.
Full article is well worth reading, a great deal of detail is provided.
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Friday November 24 2017, @08:37AM (1 child)
You must have missed the news recently. First Wikileaks got hold of documents showing that it was actually Pakistan, then Obama sent in Seal Team Six to kill Osama Bin Laden... And while we're at it, afterwards the Americans elected another move star has been as president, this time it was the guy from "Home Alone 2".
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Friday November 24 2017, @08:51AM
Maybe you're the one who hasn't been paying attention. Bin Laden was actually being protected by the Taliban. Afghanistan was deserving of a punitive expedition, as punishment. Yes, the Taliban also operates in northern Pakistan, but basically it's the same bunch of people. Southern Pakistan would like to see the Taliban die in a fiery crash. Those are the people we don't want to see fall out of power. Of course, that's going to happen anyway. And, yes, I know - there isn't a "South Pakistan" or a "North Pakistan" - not officially. But, facts are facts - the officials in Pakistan have very limited control over their northern lands. The Taliban rules there.