Iran Says It Arrested, Deported al-Qaida

[Roland99]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20050607/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iran_al_qaida

KUWAIT CITY - A top Iranian official denied allegations that leading terror suspects are hiding out in his country, saying Monday that Iran has arrested nearly 5,000 al-Qaida operatives over the past three years and handed them over to their home countries,

Hasan Rowhani, head of the Supreme National Security Council, Iran's primary security decision-making body, also said Iran had given the names of the detainees to the United Nations.

"I don't think any country could claim superiority over us (in combatting al-Qaida)," he told reporters on a visit to Kuwait.

U.S. and foreign intelligence agencies have recently said that mounting evidence gathered over several years has them increasingly convinced that leading terror suspects have been living in Iran.

A bit more posturing, a la Syria, to try and take away justifications for a U.S. invasion?

[Monkie]

1. 2 links from 2003 about iran trying to hand over al-qaida members

http://www.guardian.co.uk/iran/story/0,12858,1014346,00.html

Iran holding al-Qaida men 'as bargaining chip with US'

"Iranian officials privately acknowledge that Tehran is holding important members of the network - thought to include Saif al-Adel, an Egyptian who is believed to be the head of al-Qaida's military operations; Suleiman Abu Ghaith, its Kuwaiti-born spokesman; and Saad bin Laden, the son of the its leader, Osama bin Laden."
~snip~
Fleeing the attack on Afghanistan, hundreds of al-Qaida members crossed the border into Iran. Although some 500 have been extradited, some figures are reported to have received protection from Iran's revolutionary guard.

http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/66D9FDDF-4F9D-4A3E-9066-1DC6C7482E3B.htm

Iran to extradite al-Qaida suspects

"Iran has been conducting highly secretive negotiations with Egypt, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia on the possibility of extraditing al-Qaida suspects it is holding as prisoners, diplomatic sources said."

why would iran want anything to do with the cia trained and financed entity that is al-qaida?

[Roland99]

2. What are the sentiments between Sufis/Wahhabists and Iran?

[Igel]

3. I think the correct response is 'takfir'.

I.e., that most Wahhabists and Salafists of other stripes decry them as kafir, infidel. Which means, as apostate.

Could be wrong. Perhaps ayesh... could enlighten us at some point(that particulate username I have yet to pronounce, much less spell ... but he's Sufi. At least I think the poster's a 'he').

[Roland99]

4. It's a shame our education system coddles our kids

I knew nothing of Muslim culture (hell...nothing really of any other culture) throughout my entire schooling.