Al Qaeda Plans Reported
Reading British newspapers can be refreshing, in part because of the intelligence-related leaks that they report. Here in the U.S., there is only one kind of leak from the CIA and other intelligence organizations: those intended to damage the Bush administration. It seems that British spies have a different agenda, as their leaks are more often designed to alert the British public to the severity of the threat posed by Islamic terrorists. A case in point from yesterday's London Times:
AL-QAEDA leaders in Iraq are planning the first “large-scale” terrorist attacks on Britain and other western targets with the help of supporters in Iran, according to a leaked intelligence report.Spy chiefs warn that one operative had said he was planning an attack on “a par with Hiroshima and Nagasaki” in an attempt to “shake the Roman throne”, a reference to the West.
The report's observations on the relationship between al Qaeda and Iran are interesting:
The report, produced earlier this month and seen by The Sunday Times, appears to provide evidence that Al-Qaeda is active in Iran and has ambitions far beyond the improvised attacks it has been waging against British and American soldiers in Iraq.There is no evidence of a formal relationship between Al-Qaeda, a Sunni group, and the Shi’ite regime of President Mah-moud Ahmadinejad, but experts suggest that Iran’s leaders may be turning a blind eye to the terrorist organisation’s activities.
That sounds a lot like the relationship that Saddam's Iraq had with al Qaeda terrorists (e.g., Zarqawi) prior to the war. If this report is right, Iran, like Saddam's Iraq, harbors al Qaeda terrorists, but without a formal alliance, without conducting joint operations, and with an effort to maintain deniability.
The report also places al Qaeda in Iraq within the context of the broader organization, noting that leaders of AQI felt that they needed authorization from the organization's "core" group to plan a major attack against the West. All of this would seem highly relevant to the current debate in the U.S. over Iraq policy.
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