The mullahs at war
Yesterday Michael Ledeen posted another installment of his continuing comments on the Iranian war against the West in general and the United States in particular: "The mask comes off the mullahs. Again." This installment is based on Con Coughlin's Telegraph column: "War on two fronts in Afghanistan." I turned to Ledeen's Pajamas Media blog Faster, Please! looking for a comment on Judge Lamberth's decision yesterday finding Iran partially responsible for the Khobar Towers bombing that resulted in the death of 19 American servicemen. The 9/11 Commission staff statement no. 5 had intimated at Iranian involvement via Saudi Hezbollah. The 9/11 Commission report itself states that "the evidence of Iranian involvement is strong." Judge Lamberth's decision seems to me to go considerably beyond these findings, though I may be missing something.
I couldn't find a link to the decision in any of the news stories on it, but it is in fact available online via the DC District Court Web site. The 209-page memorandum opinion is accessible here in PDF. My Adobe Reader application keeps closing as I try to read it.
UPDATE: Michael Ledeen writes that "the best comment on Judge Lamberth's decision comes of course from Andy McCarthy on The Corner yesterday." In his post at NRO's Corner, McCarthy writes::
This is old news to those who followed the 9/11 Commission report and Iran's historic record as the world's number one state sponsor of terrorism — particularly, anti-U.S. terrorism. (I recently detailed it, here.) But now, a federal judge has ruled that Iran was responsible for the 1996 Khobar Towers bombing in which 19 American Air Force personnel were killed and 372 wounded. The AP reports:Andrew McCarthy's Corner post with many links is accessible here. Thanks to Michael Ledeen for sending us in the right direction.The Iranian government is partly to blame for a 1996 terrorist attack that killed 19 Americans in Saudi Arabia, a federal judge ruled Friday. The ruling by U.S. District Judge Royce C. Lamberth allows the families of the victims of the Khobar Towers bombing to seek $254 million in compensation from the conservative Islamic regime in Tehran.The AP's assertion that this marks the "first time a branch of the U.S. government has officially blamed Iran for the deaths of Americans" at Khobar is not accurate. The indictment filed by the Justice Department in 2001, though it does not name specific Iranian officials, alleges Iranian direction of, and logistical support for, the attack — and notes that conspirators stated that the purpose of the attack was to strike the United States on behalf of Iran.Though intelligence officials have suspected a link between the Tehran government and the Saudi wing of Hezbollah, which the FBI has accused of carrying out the bombing, Friday's ruling is the first time a branch of the U.S. government has officially blamed Iran for the deaths of Americans in the bombings. "This court takes note of plaintiffs' courage and steadfastness in pursuing this litigation and their efforts to take action to deter more tragic suffering of innocent Americans at the hands of terrorists," Lamberth wrote. "Their efforts are to be commended."
Lamberth relied heavily on testimony by former FBI Director Louis Freeh, who investigated the bombings. Two Iranian government security agencies and senior members of the Iranian government itself provided funding, training and logistical help to terrorists who carried out the attack on a dormitory that housed U.S. Air Force pilots and staff in Saudi Arabia, Freeh testified.
Lamberth had previously ruled that a survivor of the blast could seek compensation from Iran but Friday's ruling is the first time a court has said Iran was to blame for the deaths. The lawsuit was brought by the families of 17 of the 19 people killed in the attack.
Furthermore, just this May, in a speech at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, Under Secretary of State R. Nicholas Burns said (italics mine):
I would also like to say that we as a country cannot forget one of the other major grievances that we have with Iran, and that is the terrorism issue. We do not forget what happened in Beirut to our embassy and to our Marine barracks in 1983, or to Colonel Higgins, who was serving with the UN forces in southern Lebanon in 1985. And we certainly do not forget, and I believe [Ambassador] Dennis [Ross] and I were together that day, what happened at Khobar Towers outside of Dhahran, because we were there just several hours after the blast with Secretary [Warreb] Christopher and saw what happened to over 30 Americans who were killed and to 300 American military officers who ended up in the hospital.This echoed what State Department Counselor Philip Zelikow had said more forcefully only the week before:
During the 1990s, Iran aided terrorist groups that were targeting Americans, Israelis, and Saudis. Agents of the Iranian government were involved in the attack on the U.S. Air Force barracks at Khobar Towers, in Saudi Arabia, in 1996.Yet, in the civil litigation brought by bombing victims against Iran, the State Department has actually intervened on Iran's behalf, filing an amicus brief in support of the Islamic Republic's position.In point of fact, the Iranian role has been known to our government since the 1990s. The Clinton administration suppressed it because, right after the Khobar bombing, President Clinton threatened to retaliate with a military attack against any nation found to be complicit. Acknowledging proof of an Iranian role would have required doing something about it.
By autumn 1999, evidence had emerged that was reliable enough for State Department spokesman James Rubin to state publicly: "We do have specific information with respect to the involvement of Iranian government officials." Yet, Clinton contented himself with firing off ... a letter, pleading with the mullahs — who, mind you had already spurned a similar request — for help bringing those responsible to justice.
Reminiscent of the Bush administraton's approach to Iran's nuclear provocations, the Clinton administration, despite its prior rhetoric about dealing fiercely with state sponsorship of terrorism, offered all carrots (normalization of relations and an end to economic sanctions) and no sticks. Then, as now, the mullahs laughed.
JOHN adds: I commend Judge Lamberth's opinion to our readers. The liability portion of the opinion is actually rather brief; the bulk of it reviews the damage claims of each individual plaintiff. Here are some of the highlights:
Paragraph 11:
The attack was carried out by individuals recruited principally by a senior official of the IRGC [the Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corp], Brigadier General Ahmed Sharifi. Sharifi, who was the operational commander, planned the operation and recruited individuals for the operation at the Iranian embassy in Damascus, Syria. He provided the passports, the paperwork, and the funds for the individuals who carried out the attack. Id.
Paragraph 12:
The truck bomb was assembled at a terrorist base in the Bekaa Valley which was jointly operated by the IRGC and by the terrorist organization known as Hezbollah. The individuals recruited to carry out the bombing referred to themselves as “Saudi Hezbollah,” and they drove the truck bomb from its assembly point in the Bekaa Valley to Dhahran, Saudi Arabia. Id.
Paragraph 13:
The terrorist attack on the Khobar Towers was approved by Ayatollah Khameini, the Supreme leader of Iran at the time. It was also approved and supported by the Iranian Minister of Intelligence and Security (“MOIS”) at the time, Ali Fallahian, who was involved in providing intelligence security support for the operation. Fallahian’s representative in Damascus, a man named Nurani, also provided support for the operation. Id.
Paragraph 16:
[T]he FBI also obtained a great deal of information linking the defendants to the bombing from interviews with six admitted members of the Saudi Hezbollah organization, who were arrested by the Saudis shortly after the bombing. Id. at 11-30. These six individuals admitted to the FBI their complicity in the attack on the Khobar Towers, and admitted that senior officials in the Iranian government provided them with funding, planning, training, sponsorship, and travel necessary to carry out the attack on the Khobar Towers. (Exh. 7 at 11, 13-14, 27; see also Dec. 18, 2003 Tr. at 24-30.) The six individuals also indicated that the selection of the target and the authorization to proceed was done collectively by Iran, MOIS, and IRGC, though the actual preparation and carrying out of the attack was done by the IRGC. (Dec. 18, 2003 Tr. at 25.)
Paragraph 17:
According to Director Freeh. the FBI obtained specific information from the six about how each was recruited and trained by the Iranian government in Iran and Lebanon, and how weapons were smuggled into Saudi Arabia from Iran through Syria and Jordan. One individual described in detail a meeting about the attack at which senior Iranian officials, including members of the MOIS and IRGC, were present. (Dec. 18, 2003 Tr. at 23.) Several stated that IRGC directed, assisted, and oversaw the surveillance of the Khobar Towers site, and that these surveillance reports were sent to IRGC officials for their review. Another told the FBI that IRGC gave the six individuals a large amount of money for the specific purpose of planning and executing the Khobar Towers bombing.
I also like Judge Lamberth's terse Conclusion:
This Court takes note of plaintiffs’ courage and steadfastness in pursuing this litigation and their efforts to take action to deter more tragic suffering of innocent Americans at the hands of terrorists. Their efforts are to be commended.
The war continues. Whether we like it or not.
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