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Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

New Bosnia President Was Paid $500,000 By Iran

Los Angeles Times

The Central Intelligence Agency has evidence that Iranian agents secretly delivered at least $500,000 in cash to Bosnian President Alija Izetbegovic for his campaign before last fall’s Bosnian elections, according to classified documents obtained by the Los Angeles Times.

The CIA discovered that the Iranians gave Izetbegovic at least two pieces of luggage stuffed with money, each containing $250,000, to help fund his campaign in the weeks leading up to the elections, according to the documents.

The allegations have buttressed the CIA’s belief that Iranian influence in Bosnia remains strong and deep more than a year after the Dayton peace accords - contradicting the Clinton administration’s public assertions that U.S. pressure has forced Bosnia’s Muslim government to loosen its ties with Iran.

In fact, CIA analysts believe that Izetbegovic has been “co-opted by the Iranians” and is now “literally on their payroll,” according to a classified report based on the CIA’s analysis of the issue.

Despite this, administration officials acknowledged Monday that President Clinton agreed to release $100 million worth of U.S. military aid to Bosnia even after the CIA uncovered the Iranian payments to Izetbegovic and reported the information to administration policy makers.

The U.S. aid had been withheld from the Bosnians for months because of U.S. concerns about continuing Iranian influence in the country. But the aid was finally released in November after Izetbegovic’s government gave in to U.S. pressure and agreed to fire a senior official with ties to Iran.

An administration official said the United States secretly told Izetbegovic the Iranian cash payments were “unacceptable,” but released the $100 million in military hardware to the Bosnians anyway.

“The Iranian contributions gave us pause,” said the official. “It was raised with the Bosnians.” But President Clinton allowed U.S. military support to flow because the Iranian cash payments to Izetbegovic did not technically violate the narrowly drawn certification requirements Congress had imposed on the U.S. aid.

Izetbegovic - trained as both an Islamic scholar and a lawyer - and his Muslim faction won the Bosnian elections in September.