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Morocco trail leads to Iran?

By Sridhar Krishnaswami

Washington May 18. At a time when the sharp and shrill rhetoric against Syria and Iran appeared to be easing, indications are that it could well be on the rise, given the terrorist attacks in Saudi Arabia and Morocco and the suicide bombings in Israel. Intelligence officials of the United States are looking at whether the attacks have the handwriting of the Iranians, especially as it pertains to harbouring Al-Qaeda operatives. "There are some senior members of the Al-Qaeda in Iran... who might have had a hand in this'', a senior unnamed administration official has told The Washington Post.

Intelligence officials suspect that one of Al-Qaeda's top leaders, who is hiding in Iran, had helped organise the bombings in Saudi Arabia. And with this comes the concern that these leaders may be getting ready to unleash fresh attacks against the U.S., its allies and interests worldwide. Intelligence officials are taking the position that some of the top Al-Qaeda operatives who had earlier used Iraq as a haven have now moved to Iran. This group is believed to include a self-styled military commander, Said Adel, an Egyptian and one of the sons of Osama bin Laden. The other group is believed to be hiding along the Afghanistan-Pakistan border. The leadership in Teheran has consistently denied that it is harbouring any terror outfits and has been saying that it will detain any of the Al-Qaeda figures if discovered in that country.

In the aftermath of the war in Iraq and the collapse of the Saddam Hussein regime, the Bush administration has been directing its attention at Syria and Iran.

But what has come by way of surprise is the Morocco bombings. And much of this had to do with the fact that authorities in this country have been coming down heavily on militant outfits. In fact, travel advisories put out by government agencies like the State Department did not have Morocco as one of the priorities. The tough anti-militant posturing of Morocoo had prompted Osama to look at this country as an ally of the U.S. and hence "ready for liberation''.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation is putting together a team that will be going to Morocco to help in the investigation. Cooperation on the anti-terrorism front between the monarchy and the U.S. is said to be very good, with the two countries holding very frequent meetings of law enforcement officials and exchange of information.

There are many in Washington who do not wish to give the same kind of credit to many of the other allies of the U.S. in the Arab world whose cooperation is seen as half-hearted at best and playing both sides of the street, at the worst.

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