IRAN
Q. You say
that Hezbollah
had a
hand
in
arranging transportation
for
several
of the 9/11
hijackers
through Iran.
Is it
possible that either Hezbollah
or
Iran
was
actually responsible
for
the
9/11
attacks?
A. We did not say
that Hezbollah
had a
hand
in
arranging transportation
for
several
of the
hijackers through Iran.
We did say
that some
of the
hijackers
transited
Iran
on
their
way in
and out of
Afghanistan,
and
that Hezbollah's precise role
in
that travel,
if
any, warrants
further
investigation
by the
U.S.
government. Regardless,
two
facts stand
out.
First, Iran
and
Hezbollah
did
provide
assistance
of
various types
to Al
Qaeda
in the
years before
9/11.
Second,
we
have
seen
nothing
to
indicate that Iran
or Hezbollah had any
knowledge
of the
9/11
planning,
or
that anyone other than
al
Qaeda planned
and executed
these terrible attacks.
Q. Are you
saying that while
the
Commission
found
no
compelling evidence
of
Iraqi
support
for
Al
Qaeda,
it did find
evidence
of
Hezbollah
and
Iranian
support?
A.
Yes,
we
found
that Iran
and
Hezbollah provided explosives training
to al
Qaeda operatives
inthe
early
1990's.
We
also
found
that,
after
Bin
Ladin's return
to
Afghanistan, Iran allowed
al
Qaeda operatives
to
freely
transit
its
territory
on
their
way to and
from
terrorist trainingcamps
in
Afghanistan. This transit
was
very
helpful
to al
Qaeda.
Q.
Doesn't this mean that Iran,
not
Iraq,
was Al
Qaeda's
main
foreign
patron?
A.
Al
Qaeda's
main foreign patrons were Sudan
and
then
the
Taliban.
Iran's
role
was
considerably
more limited
but it was
still
significant.
Q.
What
ishappening
today?
Are
Iran
and alQaeda still
cooperating?
Is
Iran harboring
al
Qaeda
officials?
A.
These
are
very important questions,
but
they take
us
beyond
the
Commission's mandate,
which
was to
investigate
the
facts
and
circumstances leading
up to
9/11.
OTHER COUNTRIES
Q.
What other countries
had
relationships with
al
Qaeda?
A.
Certainly
the
then governments
of
Sudan
and
Afghanistan both
had
strong relationships with
al
Qaeda. Both clearly provided
bin
Ladin with
a
place
to
live, train,
and run his
operations.
Al
Qaeda also
had a
strong relationship with individual Pakistani
officials
and
organizations,
although it is
unclear
how
much
of
this relationship
was the
product
of
formal
governmentdecisions.
In any
case,
al
Qaeda benefited enormously
from
Pakistani support
of the
Taliban.
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