JFK Airport Plotter Sought Iranian Backing

From Joseph Goldstein in The New York Sun comes a report that Kareem Ibrahim, a Shiite imam accused of plotting to attack JFK Airport in New York wanted to get Iranian backing in his effort.

The disclosure came yesterday in a court decision denying bail to the Trinidadian-based cleric, Kareem Ibrahim.

Mr. Ibrahim, 62, is one of four men arrested last month on charges connected to the plot. At the time, American law enforcement officials said Mr. Ibrahim encouraged his co-conspirators to seek funding for the attack from outside their home countries of Trinidad or Guyana. While American authorities have not provided more details, a judge in Trinidad wrote that evidence, including tape recordings, suggests Mr. Ibrahim intended to seek backing for the plot from individuals in Iran or Britain.

In those recordings, Judge Prakash Moosai wrote, Mr. Ibrahim "refers to an ‘Iranian brother' passing through Trinidad and Tobago, and of sending a ‘trusted brother' to Iran to speak to the top men of the revolutionary movement there about the plan." The judge's decision does not clarify whether "the revolutionary movement there" refers to the government of the Islamic Republic. Nor does Judge Moosai state whether the plotters actually disclosed the plan to contacts in Iran or simply considered doing so. Mr. Ibrahim also spoke of contacting "brothers in England," the decision said.

How much more evidence do we need to understand that Iran is supporting terrorist activities and failure to stop them now will only make matters worse later.

Given the dwindling lack of courage in American leadership to continue the war on terror in Iraq, I can't imagine such leadership supporting a war on terror outside of Iraq.