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NATO World Health Org. _ [dcopt=ist;dir=worldnode;dir=world;page=article;kw=;pos=ad1;sz=468x60; tile=1;ord=1029074273364] Iran Is Said To Give Up Al Qaeda Members Key Saudi Also Defends His Nation's Aid to U.S. [america_attacked_hp4.gif] Find Post Stories by Topic: [Homeland Security..] [BUTTON] --or-- Search Story Archive by Keyword: _______________ Find Advanced Search _____Top Stories_____ o Under Fire, Justice Shrinks TIPS Program (The Washington Post, Aug 10, 2002) o Attacks in Pakistan Linked (The Washington Post, Aug 10, 2002) o Airlines Alerted to Impostors (The Washington Post, Aug 10, 2002) o Full Coverage _____Q & A^_____ o The Question of the Day on terrorism is answered by the Council on Foreign Relations. _____Primers on the News_____ o Iraq and the War on Terrorism o Iran and the War on Terrorism o The Philippines and the War on Terrorism o The Conflict in Kashmir o Understanding Pakistan _____Post Series_____ Ambush at Takur Ghar: A Chronology o Ambush at Takur Ghar Seven U.S. servicemen died on an Afghan ridge in an battle that revealed flaws in the U.S. military operations. o Part 1: Bravery and Breakdowns o Part 2: Ordeal at 10,000 Feet _____News From Afghanistan_____ o In Afghan Region, Appeals for Justice (The Washington Post, Aug 11, 2002) o DEA to Bolster Presence Along Mexican Border, in Central Asia (The Washington Post, Aug 10, 2002) o Attacks in Pakistan Linked (The Washington Post, Aug 10, 2002) o More News from Afghanistan _____News From Saudi Arabia^_____ o Iran Said to Give Up Terror Suspects (Associated Press, Aug 11, 2002) o Iran Said to Give Up Terror Suspects (Associated Press, Aug 11, 2002) o Iran Said to Hand Suspects to Saudis (Associated Press, Aug 11, 2002) o More News from Saudi Arabia _____Background^_____ o A guide to understanding Iran and the War on Terrorism _____News from Iran_____ o Iraqi Leader Says Invaders Will Be 'Buried' (The Washington Post, Aug 9, 2002) o Judge Asks Hill To Overturn Law On Compensation (The Washington Post, Aug 9, 2002) o Bush's Support For Reformers Backfires in Iran (The Washington Post, Aug 3, 2002) o Russians Assure U.S. On Iran (The Washington Post, Aug 3, 2002) o Challenge to British Terror Law Upheld (The Washington Post, Jul 31, 2002) o More News from Iran [icon_mail.gif] E-Mail This Article [icon_print.gif] Printer-Friendly Version [newspaper.gif] Subscribe to The Post By Peter Finn Washington Post Foreign Service Sunday, August 11, 2002; Page A01 JIDDAH, Saudi Arabia, Aug. 10 -- Iran has quietly detained and expelled to Saudi Arabia 16 al Qaeda fighters who sought refuge in the country after fleeing neighboring Afghanistan, the Saudi foreign minister, Prince Saud Faisal, said today. Iranian authorities handed over the al Qaeda fugitives, all Saudis, knowing that whatever intelligence was obtained from them during interrogation in Saudi Arabia would be passed on to the United States for use in the war against terrorism, Saud said. The revelations of Iran's cooperation came in an interview with the foreign minister at his residence in Jiddah, where photos of President Bush adorn a wall in a study. The cooperation from Iran is significant because the Bush administration has listed the country as part of an "axis of evil," along with Iraq and North Korea. In addition, the U.S. special envoy for Afghanistan, Zalmay Khalilzad, has suggested that the United States has intelligence information indicating that Iran's Shiite Muslim leadership is harboring al Qaeda fugitives who slipped across the border after the U.S. military offensive destroyed Afghanistan's Taliban government last fall. Instead, Saud described cooperation, from Iran as well as Saudi Arabia. He said that even though al Qaeda's leader, Osama bin Laden, and some of its followers are Saudi, the Saudi government shares the U.S. desire to prosecute bin Laden and his network, declaring, "All the information we have on al Qaeda has been exchanged with the U.S." Saud said a group of Saudi officials, led by a senior intelligence official, traveled to Tehran in May to question 16 al Qaeda fighters who were detained there, along with four women and six children, after crossing from Afghanistan. They left Iran in June on a Saudi government jet. The expulsion reversed long-standing Iranian claims that there were no al Qaeda operatives in its territory. The detainees are in Saudi Arabia, but officials declined to say if they are still incarcerated. Iran's decision to turn the Saudis over to the Saudi government will assist the United States as it weaves together a picture of al Qaeda's structure and plans from the interrogation of captured fighters worldwide, officials here said. "We asked [the Iranians] to hand them over and they did," the prince said. "Iran has not only cooperated with Saudi Arabia in this conflict in Afghanistan but cooperated extensively with the United States." In February, Iran confirmed reports that it was holding at least 100 people from Arab countries who had crossed into Iran from Afghanistan. Officials in Tehran insisted that no al Qaeda members were among that group and described the detainees as refugees. Since then, Iran has secretly turned over Arabs to governments that included Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Egypt, where the detainees have been interrogated, Arab officials said in recent interviews. The Arabs were detained after fleeing Afghanistan. The June transfer to Saudi Arabia is the latest sign of improving ties between Iran and Saudi Arabia, which had a history of strained relations after the 1979 Iranian revolution. But Saud suggested that Iran has also worked directly with the United States to combat al Qaeda. He declined to provide details. "The U.S. and Iran can speak for themselves as to how much cooperation happened between the two countries," he said. Saud said intelligence-sharing is just one example of U.S.-Saudi cooperation that is brokered through a five-year-old joint counter-terrorism committee. The prince said the United States is receiving extensive cooperation from Saudi Arabia, and the flow of information to Washington, he argued, belies the criticism of the kingdom that has emanated from some quarters in Washington. In particular, Saud dismissed as "ridiculous" a recent briefing to a Pentagon advisory board that described Saudi Arabia as an enemy of the United States. The briefer, a Rand Corp. analyst, charged that "the Saudis are active at every level of the terror chain from planners to financiers, from cadre to foot soldier, from ideologist to cheerleader." The Pentagon and White House quickly disowned the briefing, which was given to the Defense Policy Board, a group of intellectuals and former senior officials. Saud said the criticism of his country was unfair and inaccurate. He noted that the counter-terrorism committee was set up five years ago and that its work has intensified in the past 10 months. And the former head of Saudi intelligence, Prince Turki Faisal, said in a separate interview that combating al Qaeda had topped the committee's agenda for years. The committee brings together U.S. and Saudi military, intelligence and law enforcement officials. It has been meeting every month or two for five years. The committee was formed at the suggestion of Prince Sultan, the Saudi defense minister, Turki said. Despite the committee's work, however, Saudi Arabia has been accused by some in Washington of fomenting terrorism through its sponsorship of Islamic schools and mosques worldwide. And Sens. Joseph I. Lieberman (D-Conn.) and Arlen Specter (R-Pa.) have charged that ostensible Saudi humanitarian aid has been diverted to groups responsible for suicide bombings in Israel. Saud called the charges baseless and said the hundreds of millions of dollars the kingdom has extended to the Palestinians was given to the Palestinian Authority, which is also a major recipient of aid from the European Union. Moreover, he said, the Saudi government has cut off financing to all groups that it has identified as advocating terrorism. "Suddenly Saudi Arabia [has gone] from staunch ally of the United States to the center of all evil in the world," Saud said. "When it comes to proof about what Saudi Arabia has done . . . I see nothing. . . . The senators raise these accusations. . . . The least they can do, instead of accusing, is to verify. And I'm afraid that neither of them has verified." Saud also noted that al Qaeda is a sworn enemy of the Saudi government that wants to crush the ruling monarchy and sever the country's relations with the United States. "It would be the ultimate of contradictions that we finance those who are trying to do harm to our country, but these [facts] seems to be left aside or disregarded," he said. "That we are a Muslim country. Undeniable," said the prince. "That we are the center of Islam. Undeniable. That we have two holy mosques here. Undeniable. That we are interested in the well-being of the Muslim community in the world. Undeniable. But to calculate that and make it somehow an evil scheme against the United States, of all countries -- a country with whom we have shared many common struggles and faced many common adversaries in the past, and I am sure we will do [again] in the future -- it's something ridiculous." The prince argued that Saudi Arabia's standing in the Islamic world benefits the United States, opening up avenues of intelligence that might otherwise be closed to Washington, such as the pipeline from Tehran. Officials here said the Saudi government has also cracked down on suspected activists in the kingdom. Since late last year, the authorities have questioned 2,000 to 3,000 Saudis who had been to Afghanistan, Bosnia or Chechnya and were suspected of having participated in the wars there. Of those questioned, at least 200 remain in custody, officials said. They described the prisoners as "very cooperative." The Saudi officials said that the prisoners are providing information about divisions within al Qaeda over the future direction of the terrorist network and the legitimacy of orders to strike any and all targets worldwide, including installations where Muslims would likely be killed. "There is a breakdown in command," one Saudi official said. © 2002 The Washington Post Company ______________________________________________________________________ Related Links Live Online Youssef M. Ibrahim, a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, discussed the Saudi peace proposal for the Middle East. Marriage of Convenience In the first of a three-part series on U.S.-Saudi relations, Post reporters David Ottaway and Robert Kaiser report that, after Sept. 11, the Saudi Leader's Anger Revealed Shaky Ties Part 2: Oil for Security Fueled Close Ties Sidebar: Enormous Wealth Spilled Into American Coffers Part 3: After Sept. 11, Severe Tests Loom for Relationship Sidebar: Viewing Oil as a Bonding Agent Live Online discussion with Post reporters, Robert G. 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