Iranian intel: Tehran harboring bin Laden

2 officials say they've seen terrorist
under care of Revolutionary Guard


Posted: October 8, 2004
5:00 p.m. Eastern




--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
© 2004 WorldNetDaily.com
Iran's cleric leaders are harboring Osama bin Laden,
according to two Iranian intelligence officials cited
in a new book.

The sources say they have seen the al-Qaida terrorist
leader alive and well, although he no longer resembles
the picture on FBI wanted posters.

Author Richard Miniter writes in "Shadow War: The
Untold Story of How Bush Is Winning the War on Terror"
that bin Laden "has trimmed his beard to fit the more
traditional look of a Shi'ite cleric and he seemed to
have put on weight, according to intelligence
officials."


The sources say bin Laden is constantly on the move,
"shuttling from Iranian safe houses controlled by the
Iranian Revolutionary Guard to areas of Afghanistan
controlled by the Iranian-backed warlord Gulbuddin
Hekmatyar."

"Choopan," one of the sources, gives three reasons why
Tehran would give safe haven to bin Laden, risking the
wrath of the West.

"First, the Iranians believe they can keep bin Laden's
presence a secret and plausibly deny it if publicly
accused," Miniter writes. "Second, the mullahs are
feeling increasingly threatened by the War on Terror.

"The mullahs, Choopan says, fear a counter-revolution
and see bin Laden's fighters as tools they can use to
ensure the failure of these young democracies in Iraq
and Afghanistan and the survival of mullah-dominated
Iran. Finally, they share enemies, including many Arab
leaders, the United States and the rest of the Western
world."

The book, launched earlier this week by Regnery,
publisher of "Unfit for Command," already is No. 2 on
the Amazon.com list.