[FREE IRAN Project] In The Spirit Of Cyrus The Great Forum Index [FREE IRAN Project] In The Spirit Of Cyrus The Great
Views expressed here are not necessarily the views & opinions of ActivistChat.com. Comments are unmoderated. Abusive remarks may be deleted. ActivistChat.com retains the rights to all content/IP info in in this forum and may re-post content elsewhere.
 
 FAQFAQ   SearchSearch   RegisterRegister 
 ProfileProfile   Log in to check your private messagesLog in to check your private messages   Log inLog in 

New Evidence of Mullah Regime/Al Qaeda Connection.

 
Post new topic   Reply to topic    [FREE IRAN Project] In The Spirit Of Cyrus The Great Forum Index -> News Briefs & Discussion
View previous topic :: View next topic  
Author Message
cyrus
Site Admin


Joined: 24 Jun 2003
Posts: 4993

PostPosted: Thu Oct 13, 2005 11:42 pm    Post subject: New Evidence of Mullah Regime/Al Qaeda Connection. Reply with quote

DoctorZin reports, 10.12.2005:

Important New Evidence of the Iran/Al Qaeda Connection.


The al-Zawahiri Letter


Dan Darling, The Weekly Standard:
http://www.weeklystandard.com/Content/Public/Articles/000/000/006/205kmpux.asp


THE FULL TEXT of the just-released letter from al Qaeda second-in-command Ayman al-Zawahiri to Iraqi insurgent leader Abu Musab Zarqawi, dated July 9, 2005, makes it clear that not only are al-Zawahiri and bin Laden symbolic leaders to the global jihad, but they are still active in running their terror network, too. ...

Far more interesting than what al-Zawahiri reveals about his status, however, is what he reveals about al Qaeda with regard to its organization, ideology, and grand strategy. ...

Another point certain to pique interest is al-Zawahiri's opinion of the Iraqi Baathists ("Arab nationalists") which is rather praiseworthy and certainly reconciliatory... This mindset of pragmatism appears again and again in the letter...

Moreover, Western and Arab officials and analysts have long characterized al-Zawahiri as one of the key links between al Qaeda and hard-line elements of the Iranian security services.

Al-Zawahiri specifically references this link as part of his argument against Zarqawi's strategy of provoking a sectarian civil war in Iraq along Shiite-Sunni lines. After making more general criticisms of this strategy on the grounds that it alienates public opinion, multiplies the number of enemies the insurgency must defeat, and creates a strategic impossibility of wiping out the entire Iraqi Shiite population, al-Zawahiri then drops a bombshell:

And do the brothers forget that we have more than one hundred prisoners--many of whom are from the leadership who are wanted in their countries--in the custody of the Iranians? And even if we attack the Shia out of necessity, then why do you announce this matter and make it public, which compels the Iranians to take counter measures? And do the brothers forget that both we and the Iranians need to refrain from harming each other at this time in which the Americans are targeting us?

This last statement is worth examining.

For starters, it appears to confirm the view that al Qaeda leaders known to be inside Iran are likely under extremely lax house arrest. Al-Zawahiri does not fear for these individuals' safety or bemoan their loss (in contrast, for example, to the case of Abu Faraj) as long as they remain in Iran. Rather, he appears worried that Zarqawi's sectarian campaign in Iraq will result in the Iranians taking action against al Qaeda members within their own borders. Al-Zawahiri appears to want at least a policy of non-aggression towards Iran as long as the United States is their common enemy. Given the 9/11 Commission's documentation of Iranian ties to al Qaeda, this would seem to be an issue of great concern. READ MORE


Last edited by cyrus on Tue Oct 25, 2005 1:54 am; edited 1 time in total
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
blank



Joined: 26 Feb 2004
Posts: 1672

PostPosted: Fri Oct 14, 2005 6:22 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Iranian Regime Emerges as Central Player In Probe of Money Laundering by UBS


By Meghan Clyne
Staff Reporter of the Sun
Washington
The New York Sun
New York
USA

http://www.lanuevacuba.com/nuevacuba/notic-05-10-1320.htm


WASHINGTON - The Islamic Republic of Iran has emerged as a central player in ongoing investigations into possible money laundering by the world's largest "wealth management" firm, UBS, as congressional staff disclosed yesterday that $762 million in American currency controlled by Saddam Hussein may have made its way from the Swiss bank to Iraq via the Central Bank of Iran.

The congressional investigation will also focus on whether UBS and Swiss officials abetted an anti-American axis between Iran and Cuba.



In 2003, after American troops liberating Iraq found $762 million in American cash in Saddam's palaces, the serial numbers on the banknotes were traced to UBS, which distributed the currency as part of the Extended Custodial Inventory Program run by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.

The Federal Reserve program, in cooperation with international banks, allowed clients to exchange old American banknotes for new ones. One condition of the program was that the international banks were not allowed to accept cash from countries against which America maintains sanctions. They also were not allowed to transfer cash to such countries. When American investigators probed the $762 million that emerged in Iraq, they found that UBS had also conducted transactions with Cuba, Iran, Libya, and Yugoslavia.

The prohibited business relationships with countries that appeared on the State Department's official list of state sponsors of terrorism led to UBS's being disciplined by the Swiss Federal Banking Commission and by the Federal Reserve, which imposed a $100 million fine.

The matter is far from settled in Washington, however, as Congress investigates the possibility that UBS laundered $5 billion for state sponsors of terrorism, business dealings about which relatively little is known, owing to the confidentiality afforded by Swiss banking laws. Over the weekend, Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, a Republican of Florida, announced that she and Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, a Republican of California, will press for more answers from UBS, which, the congresswoman has said, is "not forthcoming" with details about how the illegal transactions took place.

Over the course of months of unfruitful discussions, more questions about the business dealings have surfaced than have been answered, the congresswoman said. "This is like the hydra," Ms. Ros-Lehtinen said in an e-mail. "You answer one question, and 5 or 10 more develop."

One question being explored is the Iranian involvement in the hundreds of millions of dollars in American cash unearthed in Iraq. A congressional staffer familiar with the matter said that the Swiss bank and the Federal Reserve reported that, based on the time frame of the transactions and the serial numbers on the banknotes found in Iraq, the American currency controlled by Saddam Hussein was part of a shipment of banknotes delivered to the Central Bank of Iran, for which UBS exchanged $1 billion in American banknotes under the Federal Reserve program.



How hundreds of millions of dollars in American currency sent by the Swiss bank to the Central Bank of Iran made its way into Saddam Hussein's Iraq, the staffer said, was not explained by representatives of UBS, and is one line of inquiry that will be explored during the House committee's investigations in December.

Iran's connection to Cuba, too, will be probed, the staffer said.

As part of the Federal Reserve program, UBS also provided $3.9 billion in American currency for the Castro regime. Some of the money came from the exchange of old banknotes under the Federal Reserve program, some from the purchase of new banknotes by the Castro dictatorship, and some as dollar credits put in the Havana strongman's accounts, according to background materials prepared in 2004 by Senate staff investigating the UBS dealings. The Swiss bank also issued letters of credit for the Castro regime as it purchased petroleum, the congressional staffer said.

Because of the Swiss bank's assistance with the Cuban petroleum purchases; because UBS is accused of laundering $3.9 billion for Cuba between 1996 and 2003 as it was possibly laundering $1 billion for Iran; because Tehran and Havana have a documented alliance, and because the two regimes have an increasingly close cooperation when it comes to energy and technology, the congressional investigation will also focus on whether UBS and Swiss officials abetted the Tehran-Havana anti-American axis.



According to press accounts, for example, in the 1990s, during the time UBS was purportedly laundering Cuban and Iranian money, Cuba and Iran undertook a joint venture for a large-scale biological research facility outside Tehran. When the complex was opened in the summer of 2001, Mr. Castro and the Iranian ayatollah, Ali Khameini, proclaimed: "Together we will bring America to its knees."



In addition to the biotech facility and other joint Cuban-Iranian energy and technology ventures that may have been financed by funds laundered by UBS, Ms. Ros-Lehtinen is probing possible connections between the Iran-Cuba axis and Swiss officials. In 2004, the congresswoman discovered that the Swiss ambassador to Cuba during the period of the improper UBS transactions is under investigation by Swiss authorities for money laundering, according to Ms. Ros-Lehtinen's staff. The congresswoman also discovered that the former Swiss ambassador to Cuba was introduced to Cuban Central Bank officials by the former Iranian ambassador to Cuba.

A former American ambassador to Venezuela, Otto Reich, said yesterday that cooperation between Iran and Cuba over energy in the 1990s, during the period of the alleged UBS money laundering, would have coincided with Castro's desperate need for oil after the collapse of the Soviet regime in 1991 and before the provision of massive quantities of petroleum by Mr. Castro's new "sugar daddy," Venezuelan dictator Hugo Chavez. Now, Mr. Reich, who is Cuban-American, said, Venezuelan exiles attest that "Mr. Chavez is trying to get into the Iranian nuclear industry," a relationship that is "very possibly" being brokered by Mr. Castro.



Yesterday, a spokeswoman for UBS, Christine Walton, declined to comment on the possible connections between Iran, Iraq, and Cuba through the Swiss bank, citing the firm's desire not to address questions in the press that might come up in the International Relations Committee's hearings. Ms. Walton added that the bank had not yet received official notification of the impending congressional investigation.






http://freethoughts.splinder.com


from Stefy' site
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
Display posts from previous:   
Post new topic   Reply to topic    [FREE IRAN Project] In The Spirit Of Cyrus The Great Forum Index -> News Briefs & Discussion All times are GMT - 4 Hours
Page 1 of 1

 
Jump to:  
You cannot post new topics in this forum
You cannot reply to topics in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum
You cannot delete your posts in this forum
You cannot vote in polls in this forum


Powered by phpBB © 2001, 2005 phpBB Group