At this risk of tooting my own horn, when I see an MSNBC Investigative Unit detailing the activities of al-Qaeda in Iran that details the activities of the network's leadership there, my first thought would be not to gloat.
But that would be too easy.
With the exception of the last sentence in the article, it's a pretty good primer on the activities of the 20-25 members of the al-Qaeda ruling council now based in Iran. The reason why the last sentence is bunk is simple: there has been enough noise out of Saif al-Adel, for instance, to draw the conclusion that whatever he's in he's free to use the Internet. That's bad, because if he can use the internet than he can communicate and coordinate with his associates, order attacks, plot grand strategy, et al. One of the products of the time al-Adel had to write, incidentally, was "Iraq al-Jihad," the document that prompted the 3/11 bombers to murder hundreds of innocent Spaniards.
So you'll forgive me for not taking much comfort that al-Adel is in Iranian "custody." By all rights, he should be extradicted back to Egypt, where he faces a death sentence for trying to plow an airplane into the Egyptian parliament in 1987. Especially given where the Iranians are "holding" al-Adel and his associates:
And that’s just what happened, say current U.S. officials. According to reports in the Arab media, they were rounded up and taken to two locations guarded by Iran’s Revolutionary Guards: one in villas in the Namak Abrud region, near the town of Chalous on the Caspian coast, 60 miles north of Tehran, and the other in Lavizan, a region northwest of the capital that also houses a large military complex.
The facility near Chalous (Chalus) is, for the 89th time, is an underground nuclear weapons development facility, while Lavizan is one of the largest IRGC bases in all of Central province and apparently hosts a number of unconventional facilities. So in addition to being in "villas," the al-Qaeda leadership is not being held at Evin or any of the other notorious Iranian prisons but rather in some of the most heavily-defended installations in the country.
And while we're on the subject of who's being held where, I notice that an Italian judge has ordered the arrest of 13 CIA-linked individuals they believe were involved in an operation that involved in the rendition of one Abu Omar to Egypt. Now I'll readily concede that I am not the biggest fan of rendition, but the Milan wiretaps make it quite clear that this guy is no angel:
[Abu Umar] Congratulations, you encouraged the youngsters.
[Man] And that is not the end of it. There are so many things to change in order to eliminate God's enemies, the policy of Israel and those who pursue it.
[Abu Umar] That is our hope...
[Man] On 16 of last month there was a confidential meeting with the shaykhs in Poland; the final decision was to completely change the Hizb al-Tahrir front and to build a new organization that concerns itself with the national territory and with the international territory but we need highly trained people at every level.
[Abu Umar] It takes time.
[Man] We have time; we are moving very gradually. There are people already on the inside.
[Abu Umar] What do you mean?
[Man] Now Shaykh Adel and Shaykh Abd al-Wahab have set up various groups in which there are various brothers who have come back from Chechnya.
[Abu Umar] How about Shaykh Adlen?
[Man] He moved before I came here. I met him in 1987. But let us now return to our topic. Our project needs intelligent and highly educated people. Where the Jihad part is concerned, there is Abu Serrah who is planning to set up a battalion of 25 to 26 units but the plan needs to be thoroughly prepared.
[Abu Umar] As long as the Devil does not work his way into it.
[Man] The first thing that I will tell you is that we are aware that we are under surveillance. We know that half the brothers are in jail, including those who have been accused of gathering funds. I repeat, the plan must be studied in detail because the thread begins in Saudi Arabia; the person taking care of this plan is Abu Salman (or Abu Suleyman) who is of the same blood as Emir Abdullah (1) so there is no need for any comment. [Man ends]
At that point both men laugh.
[Man] But the mosques have too high a profile; they must be left alone. We need new structures; we are seeking from seven to nine buildings. We recently bought a four-story building.
[Abu Umar] Are we not concerning ourselves with the mosques?
[Man] Yes, we are concerning ourselves with them. We are also concerning ourselves with financing them, but money has to generate money because the aim is also to form an Islamic army with the name of Force 9 (source translator's note: the term used is Kawa)
[Abu Umar] How are things going in Germany?
[Man] I cannot complain. There are 10 of us; we are taking an interest in Belgium, Spain, The Netherlands, Turkey and Egypt, Italy and France, but the nerve center is still London... Shaykh Adlen has given a great deal of money; as I told you this plan has no need of any further comments or words.
[Abu Umar] I hope that this will cause our youth to shine.
[Man] That is our objective; each of us has a task, for instance if one has 10 operatives available, he becomes their leader and then it is up to him to decide whether to organize them into smaller groups or to keep them like that. The important thing is to use one's intelligence.
[Abu Umar] Even if they are foreigners (source translator's note: not Arabs)?
[Man] That is not important. We need also foreigners; we have Albanians, Swiss, British... It is enough that they be of a high cultural level. In Germany we have interpreters and interpreters that translate books; we have also in telecommunications [as published], also in Austria; the important thing is that their faith in Islam be sincere.
[Abu Umar] We have never had any problems with them; on the contrary, we have noticed that they are very enthusiastic and they participate.
[Man] Besides, neither you nor I are the ones who decide whether to take them or not; those who make the decision are the people with Hizb al-Tawid.
[Abu Umar] I am very enthusiastic about this plan.
[Man] Never worry about money, because Saudi Arabia's money is your money; the important thing is not to rush ahead, because it is all new; there are old things too, but the training is completely new. The man who wanted to set up the plan is close to Emir Abdullah and we are grateful to Emir Abdullah. Get prepared.
The "man" being referenced there is Zarqawi, the "plan" refers to the poison plots disrupted by European authorities in late 2002 and early 2003, and Emir Abdullah is none other than Osama bin Laden. So whatever one believes about the practice of rendition, let's not have any illusions about who Abu Omar is or what he's involved in.