What if I told you that the Shiite theocracy in Iran had been found by a federal court to be legally responsible for training Sunni al Qaeda to carry out attacks against the United States as far back as at least 1998, at least? What if I told you this had happened over a month ago. You’d probably say, “Hey man, that’s a big deal, we’ve been told for the past decade that Iran can’t be working with al Qaeda, they hate each other. Besides, the media would be all over that.” Right?<\/p>\n
Drum roll please…<\/p>\n
According to Thomas Joscelyn at The Long War Journal<\/a> this is exactly what happened. According to the decision handed down by D.C. District Court Judge John D. Bates<\/a> the Iranian regime has been using al Qaeda as a tool to attack US interests around the world and gave them the training they needed to attack our embassies in Kenya and Tanzania. To quote from the ruling:<\/p>\n Iran had been the preeminent state sponsor of terrorism against United States interests for decades. Throughout the 1990s – at least – Iran regarded al Qaeda as a useful tool to destabilize U.S. interests. As discussed in detail below, the government of Iran aided, abetted and conspired with Hezbollah, Osama bin Laden, and al Qaeda to launch large-scale bombing attacks against the United States by utilizing the sophisticated delivery mechanism of powerful suicide truck bombs. Hezbollah, a terrorist organization based principally in Lebanon, had utilized this type of bomb in the devastating 1983 attacks on the U.S. embassy and Marine barracks in Beirut, Lebanon. Prior to their meetings with Iranian officials and agents, Bin Laden and al Qaeda did not possess the technical expertise required to carry out the embassy bombings in Nairobi and Dar es Salaam. The Iranian defendants, through Hezbollah, provided explosives training to Bin Laden and al Qaeda and rendered direct assistance to al Qaeda operatives. Hence, for the reasons discussed below the Iranian defendants provided material aid and support to al Qaeda for the 1998 embassy bombings and are liable for damages suffered by the plaintiffs.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n The only notice this got the media is a brief editorial<\/a> by Hoover Fellow Marc Thiessen<\/a> in the Washington Post.<\/p>\n It’s no doubt worth noting that both Judge Bates and Mr. Thiessen are connected to former President George W. Bush. Bates was appointed by Bush and Thiessen worked in the WH as a speechwriter. Both have proved to be a real fly in the ointment of the left over the past ten years. I can’t help but think the media blackout of what is, quite frankly, a historical ruling is interconnected.<\/p>\n UPDATE:<\/p>\n For those interested the entire opinion can be found here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"