Iran Dismisses Talk of Sept. 11 Links as 'Fantasy'

[maddezmom]

TEHRAN (Reuters) - Iran dismissed as "fabrication and fantasy" on Tuesday U.S. suggestions that it may have been involved in the Sept. 11 attacks on the United States.


President Bush (news - web sites) said on Monday Washington was "digging into the facts" to determine whether Iran played a role in the al Qaeda attacks on New York and Washington.


A U.S. commission investigating the attacks will detail links between Iran and al Qaeda in its final report this week. The report is expected to say that several of the 19 hijackers passed through Iran on their way to the United States.


Tehran acknowledges that some of the Sept. 11 plotters may have been in Iran before the attacks but says they did so after entering the country undetected along its lengthy and porous borders with Afghanistan (news - web sites) and Pakistan.

~snip~
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=578&ncid=578&e=3&u=/nm/20040720/ts_nm/security_iran_usa_dc

[markses]

1. And once again, tin pot dictators have more credibility than the US gov't

Charming, isn't it?

[progressivebydesign]

8. but... but.. the hijackers passed through Iran once!!!!

Isn't that just proof POSITIVE that Iran was helping? /sarcasm off. Hell.. the hijackers lived in America right before they did the horrific deed, do we go to war with ourselves? Where does the PNAC propose we GET more soldiers to fight all these wars?

AND.. don't you all think it makes Bush look even more stupid whent hey push this Iran thing? Then it sounds like Afghanistan and Iraq are just a big wild goose chase (which they are).

[louis-t]

10. And we taught them how to fly planes.

[killbotfactory]

12. sigh...

never thought I'd see the day...

[Old and In the Way]

2. Hey George, dig into this fact and report back to us-

who were the people that made the put options on AA and UA stock prior to 9/11? I could be wrong, but something tells me they weren't Iranians.

[Demeter]

3. Welcome To Fantasy Island!

Where no idea is too perverse to force on the lower and middle class wage slaves, soldiers and disabled.

A quick glance at the map (quick, George, tell me, where is Iran, and where is Afghanistan) would reveal that the shortest distance between home (Saudi Arabia) and school (Afghanistan) for your workaday terrorist cuts right across Iran, which has the added advantage of infrastructure (like roads) and language.

So OF COURSE the terrorists were in Iran. But so were the oil companies. Want to make something of it?

[markses]

4. Um, language not so much

Iranians are not Arabs, after all.

[itcfish1]

6. If You Call

an Iranian an Arab, then you will see true Anger. They do not speak the same language. Afghanis and Iranians speak Farsi though

[lovedems]

5. WHO is digging into the facts? The pentagon's OSP? The embattled CIA?

I am more interested in WHO is doing the digging to determine the truthfullness behind the claims. Well, in reality, I probably won't believe the source, it doesn't matter who it is from this administration.

[louis-t]

11. Barney will dig into the ...

...oh, you said 'facts'.

[itcfish1]

7. Iranian Response

When you are able to control the Mexicans crossing your borders then comeback and talk to us. LOL

[geek tragedy]

9. The hijackers also passed through Canada, Germany, Spain, Pakistan,

Morocco, France, and Boston. That's a lot of countries to invade.

[Az_lefty]

13. Perhaps we should interrogate the Gov of Florida

and find out what he knows.

[Literate Tar Heel]

14. don't worry, they're all on the list too

I think Boston's scheduled for Nov. 2 actually

[iverglas]

16. while I agree with your premise

"The hijackers also passed through Canada ..."

the actual fact is that no Sept. 11 hijackers passed through Canada.

Now, I don't know what Iran may actually have done or not done in this instance, but I sure have had a lot of clients who managed to get out of (and even occasionally into) Iran, completely unaided by the government.

[geek tragedy]

17. Oops! I was thinking of the

Millenium bombers.

Can we bomb Canada for them?

[iverglas]

18. well ... no

Only one of the "millennium bombers" (I really don't know much about the "millennium bombers" story, other than this) was connected to Canada: Ahmad Rassam. He was stopped at the Canada-US border as a result of joint Canada-US intelligence operations.

http://www.dfait-maeci.gc.ca/can-am/menu-en.asp?act=v&did=1944&mid=9&cat=613&typ=1

(Govt of Canada, Dept of Foreign Affairs website)

On Jan. 7, the FBI announced that reports of the five terrorists supposedly entering the United States from Canada were fabricated. But unfortunately, the damage done by the news reports and Michael Ramirez's Jan. 18 editorial cartoon that continue to have a corrosive effect on how Americans perceive Canada. This is not the first time Canada has been falsely accused of letting terrorists into the United States. Media reports after Sept. 11 falsely suggested terrorists came through Canada.

That's the one that Hillary Rodham Clinton jumped all over, as I recall, eagerly castigating Canada for our lax controls and calling for tighter controls on the US side. Heck, she was just going on what the Bush administration had told her ...

http://www.dfait-maeci.gc.ca/can-am/menu-en.asp?act=v&mid=9&cat=600&did=2905

Our intelligence, immigration, customs and police forces work together in daily cooperation. That's how the so-called "Millennium Bomber" got caught -- teamwork at the border and, together, we worked to secure his conviction in the court of law in Los Angeles.

You may blame Canada for Céline Dion and Jim Carrey (and thank us for Capt. Kirk and Mike Myers and Dan Aykroyd and all the many rest of them), but not for jeopardizing the security of you folks down there.

And it would be pointless to bomb us for Céline, except for pure revenge ... since she'd still be safely in Las Vegas. ;)

[geek tragedy]

20. Dion wouldn't be safe

if she promoted F 9/11 ala Ronstadt.

[section321]

15. Actually, I would be more inclined to believe Iran was involved than Iraq.

Iran has a long history of supporting Hezbollah. They are ruled by religious fundamentalists (much to the chagrin of many Iranians). They share a border with Afghanistan and Pakistan. And they truly are working on developing nu-ku-ler weapons.

That doesn't mean I don't think Bush is saying this for totally unrelated reasons.

The war on terror and non-proliferration are totally botched. We are screwed.

[Disturbed]

19. Saudi Arabia

Why isn't that country on the list of Axis of Evil?

[homelandpunk]

21. I believe THEM

Take any Iranian Mullah and the Chimp and I will always believe the Mullah.

[struggle4progress]

22. kick

:kick: