Eli Lake reports on the al Qaeda leadership council that,
according to the National Intelligence Estimate, meets regularly in
Iran. The question is how closely Tehran and al Qaeda
cooperate:
"We know that there were two Al Qaeda centers of
gravity. After the Taliban fell, one went to Pakistan, the other
fled to Iran," Roger Cressey, a former deputy to a counterterrorism
tsar, Richard Clarke, said in an interview yesterday. "The question
for several years has been: What type of operational capability did
each of these centers have?"
[...]
Mr. Cressey said the Iranian regime's relationship with Al Qaeda
is one of tolerance as opposed to command and control.
"I think the Iranians are giving these guys enough latitude to
operate to give them another chit in the game of U.S.-Iranian
relations," he said.
An intelligence official sympathetic to the view that it is a
matter of Iranian policy to cooperate with Al Qaeda disputed the
CIA and State Department view that the Quds Force is operating as a
rogue force. "It is just impossible to believe that what the Quds
Force does with Al Qaeda does not represent a decision of the
government," the official, who asked not to be identified, said.
"It's a bit like saying the directorate of operations for the CIA
is not really carrying out U.S. policy."
Actually, that might not be an entirely crazy
thing to say...
topics:
Iran, Pakistan
