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"Iran is still making noises about releasing these folks to "friendly" (not the Great Satan!) countries."

Well, according to a Sydney Morning Herald story they want to turn the folks over to Saudi Arabia in return for the MEK leadership. Now I'm all for getting rid of the MEK, but they blew the whistle on the Iranian nuclear program and the ayatollahs don't deserve any prizes here.

"But the Iranian Foreign Minister, who the other day said there were no senior AQ officials in Iran, is now saying "Well, we have no way of knowing who these folks are and whether or not they're senior." I expect that within a few days Iran will suddenly have found a way to identify a few names, and I pray (not holding breath here) one of them is a big fish."

I think al-Adel or Zarqawi are probably the biggest fishes at this point. However, I would be extremely apprehensive about letting the ayatollahs turn even these folks over to Saudi Arabia because of the Kingdom's policy of giving al-Qaeda operatives the revolving door jail treatment. One of the reasons Iran was so willing to "deport" them in the past is due to their assurances by the Saudis that they would be released in the near future.

"As you say, once the names of those held eventually come out they may only be token sacrifices to appease the U.S. We'll see. But I think Iran is feeling the pressure. I don't think Iran has changed its actions, so much as the U.S. is now turning its attention east from Iraq to Iran."

We'll just have to wait and see. Like you said, it depends on who they cough up and who's still left.