AQ Emissaries

Reading ABC's feature on the faces of bin Laden (would you recognize the guy in the picture to your left?) ended with a visit to the Rewards for Justice site to check their lineup of most-wanted terrorists.

They've added a few lately, such as four of the five who hijacked Pan Am flight 73 in Karachi in 1986, which was one of the deadliest hijackings of an American aircraft up until 9/11. They were recently released by Pakistan after serving about 22 years.

The cast of significant unknowns: Abdul Yasin, Abderraouf Jdey and Adnan Shukrijumah, are still there but they've added master bomb-maker Abu Ibrahim. And no surprise--the men listed by the 9/11 Commission as WMD procurement persons are still not wanted by anyone.

But what's up with this guy:

Atiyah is the al-Qa'ida emissary in Iran as appointed by Usama bin Ladin. He recruits and facilitates talks with other Islamic groups to operate under al-Qa'ida.

"In Iran"? Such as inside Iran, with the blessing of the government? Such as when Bin Laden once asked Saddam for an office in Baghdad? Or something more clandestine not actually ocuring inside Iran, assuming that's even possible?

Hmm, well somehow bin Laden's family ended up in Tehran after 9/11, claiming they just walked up to the Iranian border and were taken hostage. Years later UBL's son Saad either "escaped" or simply "left" house arrest and traveled to Afghanistan where he was promptly roasted by a US drone. Western reports of his death either called him an 'up and comer' or not much threat other than a marquee name. AQ has not reported it yet. One thing's for sure, there's fat little chance he 'escaped' from house arrest in Tehran, so for some reason the Iranians let him go. Was it to placate America or AQ?

Make of it what you will. Just more weird stuff involving Iran and terrorism.

MORE 1/15/10

This seems significant. Why wouldn't the terror threat level be raised?