Surprise witness in German court may link Iran to Sept. 11

Chicago Tribune/Seattle Times ^ | By John Crewdson and Cam Simpson

[witnesstothefall]

WASHINGTON — On what had been the eve of his widely expected acquittal, the trial of the second person charged by German authorities as an accomplice of the Sept. 11 hijackers was thrown into turmoil yesterday after prosecutors disclosed the existence of a surprise witness purporting to link Iran to the hijackings. The mysterious witness, who goes by the name Hamid Reza Zakeri and claims to have been a longtime member of the Iranian intelligence service, is said to have told German investigators that the Sept. 11 plot represented what one termed a "joint venture" between the terrorist group al-Qaida and the Iranian government.

Excerpt

[witnesstothefall]

Tick tock says the clock.

[witnesstothefall]

More....

http://middleeastinfo.org/article2119.html

[witnesstothefall]

and this....

http://www.insightmag.com/news/2003/06/24/World/Defector.Alleges.Iranian.Involvement.In.Sept.11.Attacks-438491.shtml

[woofie]

Tick Tock Indeed

[CyberAnt]

Does this mean what I think it means ..??

[witnesstothefall]

I tried but failed to read your mind. What do you think it means?

For me, I don't know what to make of this 11th hour 'witness', or the notion of Iran as co-conspirator with al Queda. This witness has been bouncing around in the shadows since '01.

[CyberAnt]

You couldn't read my mind .. darn .. I hate when that happens!

I think it means that Usama is probably in Iran (like Monsoor Ijaz said the other day).

And I think it could mean that by next year we will be heading into Iran (where we will probably find some of the WMD).

[witnesstothefall]

Definitely food for thought. I note that Germany plans to deport the defendant, a Moroccan currently free on bail, if he is acquitted. I'm surprised he is still breathing. This is getting quite interesting.

[FranklinsTower]

The thing that scares me about Iran is this if I remember correctly: They have some Russian subs acquired in the mid to late 90s. I am not sure what class or how quiet, but I do remember something about Al Gore making some deal to look the other way when the deal went down. It just might be the kind of transport OBL and co need....

[endthematrix]

There are fingers pointing all over the place on this guy. Lets point out the possibilities:
He falsified claims for his benefit as a defector.
Falsified claims for Iran as a an agent.
He has credible info implicating US failures to prevent (or know) about 9-11-01.
He's a US plant against Iran.

This doesn't seem far fetched though: "He tells Insight he traveled to Baku, Azerbaijan, where he met with officials at the U. S. Embassy on July 26, 2001, including the CIA station chief. I warned them that something big was going to happen on Sept. 10. I didn't know what it was, we argued and I left. The CIA said they didn't want to work with me," Zakeri says. "

[lentulusgracchus]

I say get the "surprise witness" and the defendant in a couple of locked rooms, give them drugs that make them think the prosecutor is their mommies, hypnotize them, sock the sodium pentothal and cocaine to them, and let's see what comes out.

I'm tired of being jacked around by every practiced liar in the Middle East. Remember, they've had about 4,000 years' more experience at the black arts than anyone else except maybe the Chinese.

[witnesstothefall]

I'm having similar thoughts. The complete absence of any sign of Feds rushing to Berlin in the last 48 to debrief or consult is a glaring sign that there's a story behind this story, but who can guess what it is.

The German prosecutor offering the last-minute witness is no doubt in league with German intel which is no doubt in touch with FBI/CIA. One has to wonder whether we are the ones serving him up.....

[lentulusgracchus]

The thing that scares me about Iran is this if I remember correctly: They have some Russian subs acquired in the mid to late 90s. I am not sure what class or how quiet,

Soviet "Kilo" class. Very quiet, radical diesel design. Armed with very effective anti-shipping missiles. The Iranians acquired them with a view to denying the Persian Gulf to American battle groups.

The Chinese acquired some with the same sort of thing in mind, closing the Formosa Strait to any sort of naval assistance to the Gearwheel Chinese.

[droberts]

Wow, how convenient. What's next a North Korean link.

[FranklinsTower]

Your reply is very appreciated. Not that I have any evidence, but my gut tells me the fate and movement of these subs fall under the category of battles we may not hear about for a very long time.

[DeepDish]

Track them into deeeeeep water andsink them. With any luck the "i'm dead buoy" won't deploy. Even if it does, it is their boat and their problem.

[endthematrix]

I'm new to Insightmag.com but what Timmermann comes up with is very good info, indeed. Backgrounder...Iran Cosponsors Al-Qaeda Terrorism and Iranian Seeks Protection

[tm22721]

We are in Iraq because we really want to be in Iran and Syria.

BUMP

[livius]

They have some Russian subs acquired in the mid to late 90s.

I didn't realize that. My son was in the Navy in an aviation anti-submarine warfare specialty, and was stationed on Diego Garcia during the lat 80s to mid 90s. They did surveillance of that entire area (Persian Gulf, Med, etc.). It was, of course, stuffed with Russian subs.

But after the final collapse of the Soviet Union, the Navy reduced this area of operation, since the Russians still had the subs but didn't even have the money to send them out at that point. The perception was that the threat was over, and the Navy no longer had to devote its attention to the surveillance of submarines. My son left the service at that point, because they basically phased out his specialty . (Of course, this was when Clinton was president, and as far as he was concerned, there was no threat anywhere.)

Does anybody remember Osama issuing some video about being "in the belly of the beast"? I have always thought that this may have indicated a submarine, but it was not compatible with what seems to be the generally held suspicion that he is in Iran. However, if Iran has submarines, it would certainly be a possible interpretation.

[getgoing]

Let's hope for FULL DISCLOSURE:
"THE CLINTON ADMINISTRATION'S CONNECTION WITH THE VARIOUS PLAYERS THAT MADE UP THE ARMS NETWORK SEEMS TO HAVE BEEN DIRECT AND INTIMATE.” http://www.senate.gov/~rpc/releases/1997/iran.htm


Thousands of articles are buried quickly, best explanation I've seen is: "US Amb Hays in October 2003 escorted his former boss (Clinton Administration State Dept. official) Richard Holbrooke, around Bosnia, introducing him as “the next US Secretary of State”, presumably when the Democratic Party took over from the present Republican Bush Administration. Holbrooke, with Clinton, had gone to great lengths to support Izetbegovic. Now, it appears, Amb. Hays’ motive for attempting to suppress the links between the SDA and al-Qaida and the Iranian clerical leaders was to avoid the embarrassment of having the Clinton Administration’s links with the 9/11 attackers brought to light in a US Presidential election year.
http://www.kosovo.com/erpkiminfo_jan04/erpkiminfo16jan04.html