An AP story appeared in several papers and on-line news services this morning ... Al-Qaida No. 2 says 9/11 theory propagated by Iran April 22, 8:22 AM (ET) Maggie Michael CAIRO, Egypt (AP) - Osama bin Laden's chief deputy on Tuesday denied a theory that Israel carried out the Sept. 11 attacks and blamed Iran and [bleep] Hezbollah for spreading the idea to discredit the Sunni al-Qaida's strike against the U.S. The comments in a recording posted on an Islamic Web site reflected the increasing criticism by al-Qaida's No. 2 leader Ayman al-Zawahri against Iran. Al-Zawahri has accused Iran in recent messages of seeking to extend its power in the Middle East, particularly in Iraq and through its Hezbollah allies in Lebanon. Thus begins an article describing escalating tension between Shi'a Iran and Sunni al-Qaeda. The triangle is intriguing. Al-Zawahri claims that Iran is cooperating with the United States in its effort to invade the homes of Muslims in Iraq and Afghanistan, and that it assisted the U.S. in the overthrow of the Taliban. The United States, for its part, continues to ratchet up verbal attacks on Iran and Iranian ambitions in the Middle East. Almost daily we read some government or military official, from the lowest to the highest of rank, providing some "evidence" of Iranian transgressions. Meanwhile, the effort by the United States to control al-Qaeda increasingly focuses on the small dissident element of resistance in Iraq that Americans call "al-Qaeda in Iraq". "Quite frankly, I don't think about him very much," the president is often quoted as saying in reference to al-Qaeda's leader, Osama bin Laden. Our "war on terror" does not seem to be focused on world-wide terror or terrorist groups, but rather on individuals and small groups of Sunni and Shi'a operating within the borders of Iraq

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