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Iran Gave U.S. Help On Al Qaeda After 9/11
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.
Many of the expelled Arabs were deported to Saudi Arabia and other Arab and Muslim countries, even though Iran had poor relations with the Saudi monarchy and some other countries in the region, Leverett said. Iranians are Persian, not Arab, and most belong to the Shiite sect of Islam rather than the Sunni, the majority sect in most Arab countries.
James F. Dobbins, the Bush administration's chief negotiator on Afghanistan in late 2001, said Iran was "comprehensively helpful" in the aftermath of the 9-11 attack in 2001 in working to overthrow the Taliban militias' rule and collaborating with the United States to install the Karzai government in Kabul.
Iranian diplomats made clear at the time they were looking for broader cooperation with the United States, but the Bush administration was not interested, the author of "After the Taliban: Nation-Building in Afghanistan," said in a separate interview.
The Bush administration has acknowledged contacts with Iran over the years even while denouncing Iran as part of an "axis of evil" and declining to consider resumption of diplomatic relations.
"It isn't something that is talked about," Leverett said in describing Iran's role during a forum at the New America Foundation, a nonpartisan policy institute.
Leverett and her husband, Flynt Leverett, a former career CIA analyst and a former National Security Council official, jointly proposed that the U.S. president who replaces George W. Bush in January seek a "grand bargain" with Iran to settle all major outstanding differences.
"The next president needs to reorient U.S. policy toward Iran as fundamentally as President Nixon did with China in the 1970s," Flynt Leverett said. Richard Nixon, a political conservative, opened the U.S.-China relationship by among other things visiting the communist country.
Among provisions of the Leveretts' recommended new Iran policy: The United States would clarify that it is not seeking change in the nature of Iran's Islamic government but rather its policies, while Iran would agree to "certain limits" on its nuclear program.
Iran considers most of its neighbors as its enemies. Among incentives for improving U.S. relations, the Leveretts said, is they feel that Pakistan and Saudi Arabia would be less provocative with a friendlier U.S.-Iranian relationship.
In Other Developments:
Iran forced an aircraft carrying Hungarian military officials to land in a mix-up over whether it had permission to enter its airspace, Hungary's Defense Ministry said Tuesday. The plane was later allowed to continue to Afghanistan.
The ministry said the airplane, carrying a four-member Hungarian military delegation, had permission to fly over Iran, but that because of an "administrative error," characters in the craft's call signal were changed around and Iranian authorities did not recognize it.
© 2008 CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report. 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.
Many of the expelled Arabs were deported to Saudi Arabia and other Arab and Muslim countries, even though Iran had poor relations with the Saudi monarchy and some other countries in the region, Leverett said. Iranians are Persian, not Arab, and most belong to the Shiite sect of Islam rather than the Sunni, the majority sect in most Arab countries.
James F. Dobbins, the Bush administration's chief negotiator on Afghanistan in late 2001, said Iran was "comprehensively helpful" in the aftermath of the 9-11 attack in 2001 in working to overthrow the Taliban militias' rule and collaborating with the United States to install the Karzai government in Kabul.
Iranian diplomats made clear at the time they were looking for broader cooperation with the United States, but the Bush administration was not interested, the author of "After the Taliban: Nation-Building in Afghanistan," said in a separate interview.
The Bush administration has acknowledged contacts with Iran over the years even while denouncing Iran as part of an "axis of evil" and declining to consider resumption of diplomatic relations.
"It isn't something that is talked about," Leverett said in describing Iran's role during a forum at the New America Foundation, a nonpartisan policy institute.
Leverett and her husband, Flynt Leverett, a former career CIA analyst and a former National Security Council official, jointly proposed that the U.S. president who replaces George W. Bush in January seek a "grand bargain" with Iran to settle all major outstanding differences.
"The next president needs to reorient U.S. policy toward Iran as fundamentally as President Nixon did with China in the 1970s," Flynt Leverett said. Richard Nixon, a political conservative, opened the U.S.-China relationship by among other things visiting the communist country.
Among provisions of the Leveretts' recommended new Iran policy: The United States would clarify that it is not seeking change in the nature of Iran's Islamic government but rather its policies, while Iran would agree to "certain limits" on its nuclear program.
Iran considers most of its neighbors as its enemies. Among incentives for improving U.S. relations, the Leveretts said, is they feel that Pakistan and Saudi Arabia would be less provocative with a friendlier U.S.-Iranian relationship.
In Other Developments:
The ministry said the airplane, carrying a four-member Hungarian military delegation, had permission to fly over Iran, but that because of an "administrative error," characters in the craft's call signal were changed around and Iranian authorities did not recognize it.
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Posted by apple2pie at 03:06 PM : Oct 08, 2008
I have heard about this "Sharing", however its because we, The United States, ignorantly provide them with our technology for weapons and they build on it and use it in secret. Israel, does not allow the press to come in and see everything they do to the Palestinians. Again, Israel is not that Democratic country they want the world to think that they are. They are severe violators of human rights.
Unbelievable.
It was in the Bu$h administration''s best interests to lie to America about many things in promoting hatred of Muslums during the runup to the oil invasion.
Try this, from George Monbiot, which appeared in the Guardian UK
"A short while back I read a report that at a Knesset meeting Ariel Sharon had said to his deputy, Shimon Peres---Don''t worry about the Americans. We own America. And all along I thought WE owned it.
Not willing to accept that at face value, I contacted a reporter in Hebron to try to verify Sharon''s outburst. Sure enough, the reporter told me that news of Sharon''s offhand remark had, in fact, been broadcast from an Israeli radio station, and that both Israelis and Palestinians had heard it and were talking about it"...
Of course Koi Israel denies having broadcast the statement, (October 19, 2001) but there are reports that Sharon actually repeated it during a lecture a few days later at the University of Tel Aviv.
Where is the opinion? this is public information, supported with court documents, try reading it again.
"...The Guardian has seen evidence that shows Bush was the director of the New York-based Union Banking Corporation (UBC) that represented Thyssen''''s US interests and he continued to work for the bank after America entered the war..."
We are indeed talking about a Bush, named Prescott.
Actually he was as much of a louse as his son and grandson, he was given a job by George Herbert Walker, the father of his new bride, who felt that it wouldn''t help the family image to have an unemployed bum as a son in law.
I understand this is hard for you, but sometimes life is just that way.
Again, reading is fundamental, try it again, s l o w l y.
"Although I will say both parties have actually homogenized since then, but now the Republicans are the party of war."
Although a war can be started in one day, it was after years of thought and preparation that got America into war, that preparation started with FDR, and continued under Truman. You seem to have an inability to read.
Although I will say both parties have actually homogenized since then, but now the Republicans are the party of war.
Seems you are the one changing things. The water here is too deep for you.
Posted by brianbwb at 12:46 PM : Oct 08, 2008
Gee....maybe "BUSH" had something to do with it! The memo you posted was completely irrelevant. If the Republicans are the "party of war" when FDR was in office 8 years before the start of WWII then you are smoking crack.
You make these assertions on these boards to make yourself feel smart, then when someone challenges your posts, you start spinning like a record. Go ahead & keep posting your opinions & keep trying to portray them as "facts." It''s quite funny.
Although I will say both parties have actually homogenized since then, but now the Republicans are the party of war.
Seems you are the one changing things. The water here is too deep for you.
Posted by brianbwb at 12:46 PM : Oct 08, 2008
Gee....maybe "BUSH" had something to do with it! The memo you posted was completely irrelevant. If the Republicans are the "party of war" when FDR was in office 8 years before the start of WWII then you are smoking crack.
You make these assertions on these boards to make yourself feel smart, then when someone challenges your posts, you start spinning like a record. Go ahead & keep posting your opinions & keep trying to portray them as "facts." It''s quite funny.