Is Iran Aiding al-Qaeda?

May 13, 2010 - San Francisco, CA - PipeLineNews.org - In what is rumored to be a significant change in policy, Iran has reportedly been releasing jailed members of al-Qaeda.

Al-Qaida operatives who have been detained for years in Iran have been making their way quietly in and out of the country, raising the prospect that Iran is loosening its grip on the terror group so it can replenish its ranks, former and current U.S. intelligence officials say. [source, AP, AP Exclusive: Iran eases grip on al-Qaida, http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jZ-5-3Ifvv72jUDj3i7adCd8XAYgD9FLVTUG0]

In the years following 9/11, the ranks of al-Qaeda have been decimated with many of the organization's leaders either killed or driven so far underground that their ability to influence day-to-day operations have been severely hampered.

Because of an international effort led by the U.S. Treasury Dept. the terrorist group has also been deprived of its traditional sources of revenue.

Speculation abounds regarding Iran's possible motives for its change in policy, with some believing that the outlaw Islamic theocracy is responding to efforts by the West to curtail its nuclear program which is now almost universally understood as being a mask for the development of nuclear weapons.

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