The Iran al Qaeda connection

Using the 9-11 commission report and reports in the media Christopher Holton responds with overwhelming evidence to the assertion by Obama's military adviser suggesting there is no connection.

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• In late 1991 or early 1992, in meetings held in Sudan, Iran agreed to train al Qaeda operatives. Not long afterwards, al Qaeda terrorists traveled to Iran and received training in explosives. Subsequent to this, al Qaeda terrorists also traveled to Lebanon’s Bekaa Valley, where they received training from Iranian Revolutionary Guards.

• Once Osama bin Laden moved from Sudan to Afghanistan and established terrorist training camps there, Iran facilitated the transit of Jihadists to al Qaeda training camps through Iran. This facilitation included making an exception for al Qaeda terrorists in stamping passports when they passed through Iran to Afghanistan. This made it impossible for countries to know when someone had attended a training camp in Afghanistan because there was no record of transit into Afghanistan on the passport. This policy particularly benefited Saudi members of al Qaeda and the Commission reported that 8 to 10 of the Saudi 9/11 hijackers transited Iran.

• The Commission reported that intelligence reports indicated continued contacts between al Qaeda and Iranian officials after bin Laden had moved back to Afghanistan and made the recommendation that the U.S. government investigate further the ties between al Qaeda and Iran.

Other reports have reinforced the findings of the 9-11 Commission, including evidence of al Qaeda-Iran cooperation in Iraq.

• In November 2006, England’s Telegraph newspaper reported Western intelligence agencies as saying that Iran was training al Qaeda operatives in Tehran and also that Iran had “always maintained close relations with al Qaeda” despite differences between their Shiite and Sunni philosophies.

• In January 2007, as reported by Eli Lake of the New York Sun, U.S. forces in Iraq captured documents detailing Iranian activities in Iraq, including that Iran’s infamous Revolutionary Guards Quds Force was working with al Qaeda in Iraq.

• In May 2007, as reported by Bill Roggio, Coalition Forces captured a messenger carrying messages from al Qaeda in Iraq leaders to senior al Qaeda leaders who have long been in safe haven in Iran, including Osama Bin Laden’s son, Said Bin Laden.

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There is much more. The attempt to play "gotcha" with Sen. McCain over his perceived gaffe appears to be backfiring.