Full Release - IRmep

Document Results
o
Page 4 of4
declaring: "This is a new campaign of anti-Cuban lies ••• adding to a long list of hostile and aggressive
actions that the imperial administration of George W. Bush has taken against our country."
So, as July 2003 came to a close, Iran's aggressive stance came, unintentionally, with intense political
pressure on the.U5 Bush Administration,' The Democrats, the US opposition party, continued to pursue
Pres. Bush on the question of the Iraq War's legitimacy, the continuing (although low) US death toll In
US-occupied Iraq, and the US economy. Damascus, Pyongyang, Havana, and Tripoli, thus, seemed to
have one eye on the emboldened Iranians and another on Pres. Bush's slipping poll numbers. Tehran
and its allies appeared ever more confident that in spite of the US-declared "war on terror" their
respective governments might yet outlive the US Bush Administration. .
Footnote:
1. The US Central Intelligence Agency "confirmed" to US media company ABC that al-Qaida senior
military figure Saif al-Adel was being held by Iranian authorities. However, GIS sources in Tehran
indicated that the "detention" was, if it could be described as that, was almost certainly symbolic.
Egyptian authorities have for some months been demanding the extradition of Salf al-Adel, an Egyptian
national, for trial. However, reports surfaced on July 24, 2003, that because· he was "of Libyan origin",
Libya had requested his extradition to Tripoli for trial. Given the close Iranian-Libyan relationship -­
particularly given the fact that Libya essentially has taken responsibility for the Iranian-managed
bombing of Pan Am PA103 flight over Lockerbie, Scotland, in 1988 -- it seems almost certain that this
move was a canard designed to demonstrate "Iranian compliance" in the "war on terror", while still
ensuring that Saif al-Adel was able to be safeguarded.
2. International pressure on Iran's clerics is, however, far from over. The Canadian Ambassador to
Tehran was recalled on July 23, 2003, over Canadian protests that Iranian-born Canadian
photojournalist Zahra Kazemi was tortured, possibly raped, and th~n killed by Iranian officials.
See also:
Defense & Foreign Affair~ Daily, ~uly 10, 2003: Iranian Protests Take Place Despite Massive
Suppression; Worldwide Expatriate Protests Against Clerics •
LOAD-DATE: July 24, 2003
View: L1s.t I Full < p..t.ex, Document 10 of 28 ne_~t >
Edl,t...S.ea(ch. I ~e.w...S.ea(cb.
frJpt 1.Q.o~lQad. -
About lexisNexis I ])mns and Qmditions I Privacy POlicy
~..Y.{1ght 2004 LexisNexis, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
~ttps:/lw3.lexis.comllawenfsolutions_ secured/searchformsldoBrowse.asp?SearchInfoID=... 11/18/2004'