In this issue:

New Evidence of Saudi Role in 9/11 Attacks

Iran's Political Battle Is Not Over Yet

New IAEA Head Demurs on Iran Nuclear Weapons

Britain's Anglo Persian Oil Is Back in Iraq

Turkey To Restart Work on Dam Project

New Evidence of Saudi Role in 9/11 Attacks

July 5 (EIRNS)—Newly surfaced documents from the files of the 9/11 Commission add evidence of the direct role of Saudi Arabia's intelligence services in the 9/11 attacks. One document confirms that a Saudi intelligence officer, Omar al-Bayoumi, was working closely with two West Coast-based 9/11 hijackers, Nawaf al-Hazmi and Khalid al-Mihdhar. The document, an April 23, 2004 Commission "Memorandum for the Record," summarizes an interview that Commission staffers Quinn John Tamm, Jr. and Dietrich Snell had with an unnamed FBI informant in the San Diego area, and who housed the two hijackers during much of 2000.

The Commission document reads, in part: "Dr. X noted that Omar al-Bayoumi also visited al-Hazmi at his house. Dr. X knew al-Bayoumi as a Saudi national who Dr. X met at the ICSD [Islamic Center of San Diego]. Al-Bayoumi stated to Dr. X when he visited, that 'I referred them [al-Hazmi and al-Mihdhar] to you.' Dr. X restated that this was not the case and that he met the two in the hallway of the ICSD after the Friday prayer service."

The memo continues: "Al-Hazmi did not like al-Bayoumi and told Dr. X that al-Bayoumi was an 'agent for the Saudis.' Al-Hazmi complained to Dr. X that al-Bayoumi videotaped people associated with the ICSD constantly. Dr. X noted that that was his experience when he attended events at the ICSD. Dr. X said that al-Bayoumi always had his videotape recorder and sought comment to the open mike on the videotape recorder. Dr. X stated that 'I have heard that al-Bayoumi is an agent [of the Saudis].'"

What the document does not report, is that Prince Bandar bin Sultan, then, the Saudi Ambassador to the United States, and his wife, Princess Haifa, paid $50-72,000 to al-Bayoumi, who passed some of the money to al-Hazmi and al-Mihdhar. Princess Haifa is the sister of Prince Turki bin Faisal, who was head of Saudi intelligence at the time of the 9/11 attacks. He resigned, suddenly, soon after Sept. 11, 2001.

The fact that the two hijackers were living in the home of an FBI informant, who told the FBI that the two men were living with him, is another volatile aspect of the 9/11 case that has been suppressed. The fact that then-FBI Director Louis Freeh is now the attorney representing Prince Bandar in the BAE bribery case, is of direct relevance to the ongoing probe into 9/11.

Iran's Political Battle Is Not Over Yet

July 5 (EIRNS)—The internal power struggle in Iran escalated over the July 4-5 weekend, further underscoring the wisdom of Lyndon LaRouche's call, at a recent Washington, D.C. event, for the United States to "butt out, and not engage in the kind of interference that the British are attempting."

On July 4, a prominent organization of Shi'ite clerics, the Association of Researchers and Teachers of Qom, issued a statement challenging the Guardian Council and Supreme Leader Khamenei, and demanding a further probe into allegations of massive vote fraud. The statement, a signal of a significant rift between the most prestigious group of Shi'ite clerics—founded in the 1980s by Ayatollah Khomeini—and the current Supreme Leader and President Ahmadinejad, underscores that the internal struggle is continuing, even as street demonstrations have been, for the moment, largely curtailed, through arrests and a massive deployment of security forces.

According to the July 5 New York Times, Mir Hussein Mousavi, the leading reform candidate for President, met with the clerics group ten days ago, but the July 4 posting by the Association came after a government newspaper Kayhan, editorially accused Mousavi, as well as the former Speaker of the Majlis and reform Presidential candidate Medhi Karroubi, and former President Khatami, of being "foreign agents," and called for a public trial.

The Association's statement also came out the same day that Mousavi posted a 24-page dossier on alleged acts of vote fraud by Ahmadinejad backers. The dossier cited the printing of 20 million additional ballots, and accused both the Interior Minister, Sadegh Mahsouli, and the head of the Guardian Council, Ayatollah Ahmad Jannati, of rigging the election. Mahsouli was an Ahmadinejad appointee and backer of his reelection; Jannati and five other members of the 12-member Guardian Council, which certified the election results, endorsed Ahmadinejad in advance of the elections—a violation of election laws.

This conflict is but a signal of intense behind-the-scenes maneuvering, according to a senior U.S. intelligence source closely monitoring the events. In addition to the Association statement and the Mousavi dossier, Ayatollah Rafsanjani met, in the past few days, with the families of opposition leaders who have been jailed for their role in the protest demonstrations, indicating that another powerful cleric has sided with the opposition.

The U.S. intelligence source agreed with LaRouche's warning that the United States should stay out of the conflict, and allow the internal dynamics to play out. The source agreed that there is little that the United States could or should do, to affect the internal Iranian situation, and noted that President Obama had sent a letter to the Supreme Leader one month before the elections, which clearly anticipated an Ahmadinejad victory, and presented proposals for high-level talks between the two nations.

In a discussion in Washington, D.C., on July 1, LaRouche called for the U.S. government to do "as little as possible. Don't meddle." He noted that Iran has been going through a process of change throughout the postwar period, citing the Mossadegh movement of the 1950s, and the Islamic Revolution of the late 1970s. "Now, again, Iran is going through a process of change." LaRouche called on the U.S. to "leave it alone," and added that the United States should "adopt a policy of cooperation, whatever the outcome. Do not, attempt to interfere and manage the internal process in Iran, like the British have been doing, ever since Sykes-Picot, and continue to do up to this moment."

New IAEA Head Demurs on Iran Nuclear Weapons

July 4 (EIRNS)—Yukiya Amano, who in December, had won the IAEA Board's vote to replace Mohamad ElBaradei as director of the International Atomic Energy Agency, may not live up to British imperial expectations. Asked during his first press conference about Iran's intention to develop nuclear weapons, Amano responded: "I don't see any evidence in IAEA official documents about that." Amano was the preferred candidate of the United States and Britain, and he is said to be oriented more to "non-proliferation" than to supporting the spread of peaceful nuclear energy, as was his South African opponent Adbul Samad Minty.

Britain's Anglo Persian Oil Is Back in Iraq

July 1 (EIRNS)—Her Majesty's oil company is back in Iraq after 40 years. BP (formerly British Petroleum) won rights to develop Iraq's largest oil field in a joint venture with China's CNPC and the Iraqi state-owned South Oil company. The contract is for the Rumaila field, with reserves of 18 billion barrels, which is about one-sixth of Iraq's 115 billion barrels in reserves.

BP, originally known as Anglo Persian Oil, was created on the initiative of Winston Churchill to exploit the oil of Persia for the benefit of the British Imperial Navy. It first entered Iraq when Iraq was the British Empire's prize in the Sykes-Picot Agreement that divided the Arab part of the Ottoman Empire between Great Britain and France. It became the leading company, over the Turkish Petroleum Company, which later become the Iraq Petroleum company. The latter was a consortium along with Royal Dutch Shell; the French CFP which later became Total; and Standard Oil which later became Esso and then Exxon; and Calouste Gulbenkian, a Turkish-Armenian fixer.

In an editorial, the Financial Times applauds the deal under the title, "Back to the Future." It writes, "BP is back in Iraq. The oil major that started life as the Anglo Persian Oil company a century ago is looking again to the Middle East, home to about two-thirds of the world's proven oil resources...."

The offer by BP was the only one accepted by Iraq in a tender auction that involved seven oil fields and one gas field. The terms for which BP signed were rejected by other companies. The same terms were rejected by BP for smaller fields. The Financial Times writes that BP hopes to get access to future oil reserves through this deal.

Turkey To Restart Work on Dam Project

July 2 (EIRNS)—Turkey has announced plans to resume construction on a $1.5 billion dam project that had been blocked by foreign financiers, because of alleged environmental flaws, along with 150 other World Bank conditions, with which it was claimed that the project failed to comply.

Turkish Environment Minister Veysel Eroglu said that, as far as Turkey is concerned, these conditions have been met and the project will go ahead soon. The project is key to the $29 billion South Eastern Anatolia Project, which seeks to develop the hard-pressed region of southeast Turkey, where the Kurdish insurgency is active. This dam will produce 1,200 MW of electricity and water for irrigation.

The Turkish economy has been hit hard by the collapse, and the government is committed to moving ahead on infrastructure projects crucial for the country.