In its combat against terrorism, the US has asked and already acquired help from four Middle Eastern countries, labeled as "terrorism sponsors," according to an online report published on Arizona Daily Star.
Describing the development as "a dramatic foreign policy turnabout," the report said that the Bush administration has sought and in some cases received help from Libya, Sudan, Syrian and Iran.
Citing US officials as confirming Wednesday, the paper said that the administration already has received intelligence on Osama bin Laden's Al Qaeda organization from the three Arab countries, meanwhile Iran is expected to provide Washington with intelligence on Afghan drug networks "because of the possible links between the drug trade and bin Laden's organization."
The four countries have declared their supportive position after the attacks.
United Press International (UPI) has quoted US officials as saying that Sudan's intelligence ministry has handed over the names and locations of individuals in bin Laden's Al Qaeda network to US intelligence services.
"There are anti-American groups that were still around, and they have shut them down. We pointed them in a direction in a few cases to people we knew were still in the Al Qaeda network," UPI quoted a senior US administration official as saying.
An anti-government Libyan Islamist group is on the list of alleged terrorist groups the US plants to hunt down. A day after the attacks, Libyan leader Muammar Kadhafi said that the US has the right to retaliate, offering aid to its former enemy, which bombarded his country in 1986.
As for Syria, a State Department official was quoted as saying the contacts remain very sensitive but have already generated interest.
Iran was swift to condemn the September 11 attacks on the United States, with which it has no diplomatic ties since the 1979 Islamic Revolution, raising hopes of a warming of relations between the two. However, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Wednesday said Tehran would not "provide any help to America or its allies in their attack" against Afghanistan, state radio reported.
"America does not have the competence to guide a global movement against terrorism, and the Islamic Republic of Iran will not participate in any move which is headed by the United States," Khamenei said, cited by AFP.
"The Islamic Republic of Iran will not provide any help to America or its allies in their attack", he told family members of those killed or injured in Iran's 1980-1988 war with neighboring Iraq.
"You, who have always caused blows to Iran's interests, how dare you request help (from us) in order to attack the innocent Muslim nation of Afghanistan which has suffered and which is our neighbor," Khamenei said.
Khamenei's address was continually interrupted by the crowd with cries of "Death to America, Death to Israel."
It was the first time at a public event that Iranians cried "Death to America" since the September 11 attacks.
But Iran has always sought international help in combating drug trafficking, having itself lost thousands of lives in its anti-dug war.
Afghani leader Mullah Mohammad Omar has issued a fatwa or edict banning the widespread opium cultivation, but there have been doubts that the illicit trade has stopped.
In addition, a senior administration official was quoted in the paper's report as saying a fifth country on the US list of states sponsoring terrorism, North Korea, also may be soon asked to provide intelligence on terror groups.
"Who would have thought it?" said the senior US official, speaking on condition of anonymity, about the responses from the states called "rogues" only a year ago.
"This is a fertile opportunity for nations to do business differently. It took an . . . an historical event like this to capture the attention of countries that they didn't have to do things in a certain way anymore."
A sixth state on the list, Cuba, which expressed condolences and offered assistance, will not be asked for assistance, partially because of the political firestorm such an arrangement would cause among Cuban-Americans, one US official said.
Iraq, the seventh and last state on the State Department's list, is on a Pentagon list of potential targets for attack, said the paper, although there has been no solid evidence linking Baghdad to the attacks, according to top US officials quoted in other reports.
The senior US official declined to give specifics on the intelligence assistance provided by Libya, Syria or Sudan, whose representatives held high-level talks with a US delegation last week in London.
While the official noted that there are risks for the United States in opening relationships with the listed countries, he said the possible benefits were worth exploring.
A second U.S. official, also speaking on condition of anonymity, said the United States is seeking all possible intelligence on the al-Qaida group.
"Not to explore it, not to explore these possibilities, not to probe what they mean would be irresponsible," the official said.
But such arrangements will surely draw the ire of some in Congress who are extremely distrustful of several of the listed states. Many analysts say the administration will have to be extraordinarily careful about what it asks for, and what it offers in return, said the Star report.
© 2001 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
