Expanding the Base - Jeffrey

Expanding the Base - Jeffrey Bell says Al Qaeda has a new base:

for the first time since the fall of the Taliban regime in late 2001, major elements of al Qaeda seem to have acquired a new home. The address is eastern Iran.

This fact, and the nature of the debate surrounding it, was revealed in a thoroughly reported front-page article by Douglas Farah and Dana Priest in the October 14 Washington Post. According to a consensus of American, European, and Arab intelligence officials, the article said, the "upper echelon" of al Qaeda--including a favored older son of Osama bin Laden and the group's de facto secretary of war and secretary of the treasury--"is managing the terrorist organization from Iran."

The intelligence agencies, said the Post, have known about the relocation at least since May, when it was learned that the May 12 Riyadh suicide bombing that killed 35 people, including eight Americans, was conceived, planned, and ordered by high al Qaeda officials in eastern Iran. Around the same time, Saad bin Laden, Osama's son and heir apparent, operating from Iran, was linked to the May 16 bombings that left 45 dead in faraway Casablanca, Morocco.

Chilling stuff - worth a read all the long way through.

Hewitt says about this piece:

By keeping a focus on Al Qaeda, and its ties to the Baathists of Iraq and the Mullahs of Iran, the Standard is filling in for larger media outlets that can't spare a reporter from the quagmire beat to report on the ongoing efforts to kill Americans in their beds or at the places of work.

Note: Hugh is referring to the same media, of whom some wags keep a count of the number of days Bin Laden has been "at large". So where is the coverage?

Posted by Mitch at October 28, 2003 09:48 PM