Posted on 02/17/2002 9:08:45 PM PST by ex-Texan
Bin Laden's No 2 'captured in Iran'
Rory McCarthy in Islamabad and Luke Harding in Kabul
Osama bin Laden's most senior lieutenant, the Egyptian militant Ayman al-Zawahiri, has been captured and jailed in Tehran, a leading Iranian newspaper reported yesterday. Zawahiri, the founder of the Egyptian Islamic Jihad, was arrested several days ago and has been imprisoned in the city's Evin jail, where political prisoners are usually held, the Hayat-e-Nou newspaper said.
If the report is correct, the arrest is the most serious strike at the heart of Bin Laden's al-Qaida network since the World Trade Centre attacks, and a diplomatic coup for Tehran.
The FBI has Zawahiri on its most-wanted list in connection with the August 1998 bombings of two US embassies in east Africa in which 224 people were killed. It has offered a $25m reward for information leading to his capture.
The Farsi-language paper gave few details yesterday about the arrest and no indication of the source of its information. The paper is regarded as reliable and is run by Hadi Khamenei, a leading legislator and the brother of Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
But Iran's foreign ministry said last night. "The news that has been published in the Hayat-e-Nou newspaper is not true. We deny it," Hamid Reza Asefi, a foreign ministry spokesman, said.
In Kabul the interim government said many al-Qaida and Taliban fighters had crossed into Iran but it had no information on Zawahiri. "We are not aware that a person of al-Zawahiri's stature has been arrested," foreign ministry spokesman Omar Samad said.
Zawahiri, 50, who wears thick spectacles and a long, dark beard, is regarded as Bin Laden's closest ally. He has been living with him in Afghanistan for several years and often served as his personal doctor. In an interview in June last year, Bin Laden said he had merged Zawahiri's Islamic Jihad with al-Qaida.
In December, Afghan commanders involved in the attacks on Tora Bora in eastern Afghanistan said they believed Zawahiri had recently been at the camp. His wife and three daughters were later reported to have died in a US bombing raid, although it was thought Zawahiri was not with them at the time.
Washington has criticised Tehran for allowing al-Qaida and Taliban fighters to slip across its border and Iran was named by George Bush as one of three "axis of evil" countries.
Email luke.harding@mantraonline.com
May I add credibility to your argument sir? I heard this interesting tidbit on the local Talk Radio station (WLS in Chicago) this morning:
60% of Iran's population is 25 years old or younger. That means the majority of Iranians have no memory of the hostage crisis, or the Ayatollah Khomeni.
The 25 and younger population of Iran is very westernized, with internet and satellite dish TV. They see what's waiting for them "out there" in the rest of the world, and want it.
There is a huge struggle between Iran's non-elected "religious leadership" and the more moderate elected Government of Iran. Time will tell which one wins.
Regards,
A few democrats and a few republicans did not approve of Bushes "evil" speech. But most Americans, regardless of party, understand the issues and support Bush's handling of the war. It's time to drop some of the conservative PC slogans and get behind the idea that Bush is leading an American war effort, not a republican war effort.
There is a huge struggle between Iran's non-elected "religious leadership" and the more moderate elected Government of Iran. Time will tell which one wins.
More news on that front today, from the Sydney Morning Herald:
Iranian courts branded a tool to silence reformers
It will be a long (and possibly bloody) battle for control of Iran, but the reformers have the numbers. They also have the expatriats (in the US and UK) with all the money.
Here's one possibility: They did get him, but they want $$$$something$$$$ in return for admitting that they have him. Perhaps they want to sell him to the highest bidder.
If they got him, we will give them $25 million dollars. That’s the price we put on his head.
I don’t believe we’ll get into a bidding war over him. A shooting war is a distinct possiblity, but not a bidding war.
$25 million is a lot for an individual or a small group, but Iran probably spends that much on one small anti-US rally. I think they want more.
But I do agree with you, there's no point in getting into a bidding war when all we really need to do is find out where they are hiding him and put him out of his misery. If we knew where he was being held, we could probably put together a successful operation to eliminate him for even LESS than $25 million.
Obviously, Bush’s inclusion of the country in his “axis of evil” was his attempt to bolster the “good guys” in Iran’s internal power struggle.
First, your assessment of Iran is simplistic, and smacks of a CNN sound-bite report. As to the above, even if what you said was true, American intervention in the internal power struggles in Iran -- particularly when these so-called "moderates" seem to be on the upswing -- is ill-advised at best, as it provides a convenient bludgeon for the non-moderates to attack the moderates with: they are tools of the Americans. Either way you slice it, it was a collossally stupid move to spew out the Weakly Standard jingoisms and call it a foreign policy statement.
I think Iran is more unstable than we think...
Done out of fear not sympathy.
First Yemin starts cracking down on terrorists, then the Philipeans welcome our troops with open arms to start cracking some terrorist heads, and even Somalia is eager to cooperate in getting rid of the terrorists plaguing their embattled country.
With all of the saber rattling of Iran, Iraq and N. Korea, deep down they know that we are serious this time, and they can either get their house in order or we will do it for them (and not be very careful in how we do it.)
Note for future reference: When the left bleats on about something, you know they are scared; that you are on the right track and should press ahead harder.
At least someone in DC is acting like they have a pair. :)
the reformist Hayat-e-Nou reported
I bet you this story is true...
Are you posting somewhere within Lebanon, Syria, or even the Elite of Saudi Arabia getting its rocks off seeing all this go down?
First, your assessment of Iran is simplistic
Yet it was monumentally more nuanced than yours.
Either way you slice it, it was a collossally stupid move to spew out the Weakly Standard jingoisms and call it a foreign policy statement.
Yet it appears to be producing results, your angry and wrongheaded wailings not withstanding.
Contrary to your pacifist dogma, sometimes a little saber rattling is called for.
Ditto that. I'll believe it when I see him dancing at the end of a rope or having a date with Monsieur de Paris.
What meaning of a preemptive move don't you understand.
So you think a successful foreign policy is one where the United States bombs any country it thinks might be some kind of threat at some point in the future? You think this is what foreign policy is about? The I.Q. level demonstrated in your posts is truly frightening. I am certain you have never even been out of the US, and that all those foreigners are just terrifying and dangerous. So the US should just kill them all. Not even NAZI Germany pursued such a policy.
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