Interesting intelligence report points possible responsibility to terrorists other than bin Laden...

September 19, 2001 9:40 AM

Interesting intelligence report points possible responsibility to terrorists other than bin Laden... Israel’s military intelligence service, Aman, suspects that Iraq is the state that sponsored the suicide attacks on the New York Trade Center and the Pentagon in Washington. Directing the mission, Aman officers believe, were two of the world’s foremost terrorist masterminds: the Lebanese Imad Mughniyeh, head of the special overseas operations for Hizbullah, and the Egyptian Dr Ayman Al Zawahiri, senior member of Al-Qaeda and possible successor of the ailing Osama Bin Laden.

Includes information about connections and previous activities... check it out...
posted by adamholz (12 comments total)

The Israelis have earlier wsaid that Iraq was behind the funding and that Bin Laden was acting as the broker, putting roups together.
I have now seen at least one posting that claim Israelis knew of the imminent attack and had ordered all Israelis to stay away from the Towers. Silly, I know, but this sort of nonsense goes on all the time and the Web certainly helps spread the crap faster than a thousand farmers armed with rakes.
posted by Postroad at 9:56 AM on September 19, 2001

"To fight these bastards you don’t need a military attack," said an experienced Israeli commando officer. "You only need to adopt Israel’s assassination policy." Great.
posted by tranquileye at 9:59 AM on September 19, 2001

Hmm... It couldnt be that the Israelis have some vested interest in blaming Hezbollah (who have stated outright that they have no intention of targeting America)...
posted by fellorwaspushed at 10:12 AM on September 19, 2001

You only need to adopt Israel’s assassination policy.

The fact is, we don't need to adopt any new policies. The rules prohibiting the CIA from committing assassination apply only to heads of state. There's nothing at all to prevent us from taking these guys out one by one...(except, of course, the sand and rock of Afghanistan's terrain, and the fact that we don't know where Bin Laden is.)
posted by jpoulos at 10:18 AM on September 19, 2001

The rules prohibiting the CIA from committing assassination do NOT only apply to heads of state. Executive Order 12333 part 2.11 states:

2.11 Prohibition on Assassination. No person employed by or acting on behalf of the United States Government shall engage in, or conspire to engage in, assassination.

And part 2.12:

2.12 Indirect Participation. No agency of the Intelligence Community shall participate in or request any person to undertake activities forbidden by this Order.
posted by igor.boog at 10:38 AM on September 19, 2001

That article is scary as hell.
posted by tranquileye at 11:05 AM on September 19, 2001

Regardless of the truth of the matter, hooray for patience!
posted by fooljay at 11:34 AM on September 19, 2001

The article implicating Mugniyeh is especially scary because, when Mugniyeh and Iraq would really be behind the attacks last week, then also Iran, Syria and Lebanon would be or seem to be somehow involved. Mugniyeh is widely believed to be one of the extremely radical Hizballah members. The "moderate" political wing of Hizballah has a firm popular base in Lebanon. Syria (the main powerbroker in Lebanon) allows the military wing of Hizballah to possess weapons and to control the Lebanese side of the border with Israel. Hizballah is a real Lebanese movement, not an Iranian "entity", as some hardline Lebanese Christians prefer to believe. But: Iran has some influence. Some reports indicate Mugniyeh is usually hanging out in Tehran. The question is: when Mugniyeh is indeed still active, does he report back to Iran or to Hizballah? Or is he freelancing for Iraq or Bin Laden? I find it difficult to believe that Hizballah would be behind the attacks last week...
posted by igor.boog at 11:36 AM on September 19, 2001

Er, jpoulos, did you actually read the janes article? It argues that it may be that bin Laden is not the mastermind behind the attack, but someone else, who probably isn't even in Afghanistan. The article supports the idea that the problem should not be construced as something emanating solely from Afghanistan, and that solving it won't only entail an attack on bin Laden's HQ.
posted by Charmian at 11:37 AM on September 19, 2001

I read the article, yes. My point was simply about the "assaassination law", not about who is behind the attacks.

The rules prohibiting the CIA from committing assassination do NOT only apply to heads of state.

Thank you for the link. I had never actually read the law before, but I don't see the term "assassination" defined anywhere in it. It's not unlikely that the term might be interpreted to exclude anyone except heads of state. But, as Dr. Evil said, "I can't really back that up". My source for my original assertion was something President Clinton said last night on the nightly news.

No smart-ass Clinton jokes, now, aaron. :-)
posted by jpoulos at 4:31 PM on September 19, 2001

The head of Israeli intelligence says there is no direct link known between the bombing and Iraq.
posted by Steven Den Beste at 6:20 AM on September 23, 2001