(Foreign Affairs) Seth G. Jones - Since late 2001, Iran has held some of al-Qaeda's most senior leaders. Several of these operatives, such as Yasin al-Suri, an al-Qaeda facilitator, have moved recruits and money from the Middle East to central al-Qaeda in Pakistan. Others, such as Saif al-Adel, an Egyptian that served as head of al-Qaeda's security committee, and Abu Muhammad al-Masri, one of the masterminds of the 1998 U.S. embassy bombings in East Africa, have provided strategic and operational assistance to central al-Qaeda. The organization's presence in Iran means that al-Qaeda's demise is not imminent. U.S. policymakers should draw greater public attention to Iran's limited, but still unacceptable, cooperation with al-Qaeda.
2012-01-31 00:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive