PrintJuly 17, 2007
Pay No Attention To Those Mullahs Behind The Curtain...
Ah, Conventional Wisdom. If there's one thing Washington loves it's CW. That's because if you subscribe to CW, you don't have to think very hard which for both politicians and pundits, is a state of being much to be desired. There's only one problem with conventional wisdom; it is often wrong. Take the CW that states Iran will never, ever, ever, never work with al-Qaeda because as all the smart people know, Iran is a Shia Muslim country while al-Qaeda is a Sunni Muslim terrorist group. Not so fast, says the latest National Intelligence Estimate out of Washington:
One of two known Al Qaeda leadership councils meets regularly in eastern Iran, where the American intelligence community believes dozens of senior Al Qaeda leaders have reconstituted a good part of the terror conglomerate's senior leadership structure. That is a consensus judgment from a final working draft of a new National Intelligence Estimate, titled "The Terrorist Threat to the U.S. Homeland," on the organization that attacked the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001. The estimate, which represents the opinion of America's intelligence agencies, is now finished, and unclassified conclusions will be shared today with the public.The only question is are they meeting with the knowledge and tacit approval of the Iranian regime or are these meetings being facilitated by some rogue elements in the Quds force, the elite Revolutionary Guards corps responsible for operations in foreign countries. One intelligence official who subscribes to the view that al-Qaeda is in Iran with the knowledge and approval of the government says ""It is just impossible to believe that what the Quds Force does with Al Qaeda does not represent a decision of the government," He used as an example to illustrate the idea of Iranian complicity the notion that "the directorate of operations for the CIA is not really carrying out U.S. policy." It should also be noted but is rarely mentioned in press accounts about Iran that President Ahmadinejad is a former senior Commander of the Quds force, helping to direct assassinations in the Middle East and Europe. The idea that he wouldn't be aware of what his old mates were up to is beyond belief. Read the entire article by Eli Lake for some fascinating information about the current state of al-Qaeda.
