"The
insurgent objectives and policies of identifiable nation-states
such as Iran, Iraq, Syria and Libya are being carried out by
assembled teams of 'deniable' political and religious fanatics. "Clark
Staten, Executive Director of the Chicago-based Emergency Response
and Research Institute (ERRI) 1998 |
Iran, Iraq, Syria, Libya, North Korea,
Cuba, and Sudan remain the seven governments that the US Secretary of
State has designated as state sponsors of international terrorism. Iran
continued to support numerous terrorist groups-- including the Lebanese
Hizballah, HAMAS, and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ)--in their
efforts to undermine the Middle East peace process through terrorism. US Department of State: Patterns
of Global Terrorism: 1999.
"I think you have an
'atomic bomb' brewing between Osama bin Laden, Hezbollah and the
Iranians. If these two huge forces are married, either could set off the
spark. Sooner or later you are going to see more from these
people." Kenneth Katzman, the Terrorist Analyst for the US
Congress, 1998.
Iran's Role as Sponsor of International Terrorism
The Iranians, who funded Shiite Mujahadeen factions in Afghanistan,
are deeply involved in Islamic Sudan which the governments of Algeria,
Egypt and Tunisia accuse of training and aiding fundamentalists. Soon
after the Tehran conference, Algeria and Egypt were hit by waves of
assassinations and kidnappings reminiscent of the operations conducted
by Tehran-backed Shiites in Lebanon between 1983 and the end of the
civil war there in 1990.
Cairo security authorities claim there is a link between the Gulf
financiers and Iran's intelligence services. Among those financiers
closely connected with Iran is Osama bin Laden and his brother Khaled,
whose family made a vast fortune in Saudi Arabia in the construction
industry over the last two decades. He is a key figure behind the
'Afghan International'. Bin Laden founded the Islamic Salvation
Foundation in Saudi Arabia through which he financed initially the
Afghan Mujahadeen, later extending that to radical Islamic groups around
the Arab world.
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