Sunday, June 1, 2008

Where is the World is Jalil Azad?


Where is the World is Jalil Azad? A recent article* in the Telegraph caught my interest. John Bolton, our former Ambassador to the United Nations, said that we should bomb Quds Force and Hezbollah terrorist training camps located inside Iran.

"Colonel Donald Bacon, a spokesman for the coalition in Baghdad, said captured fighters had told interrogators that thousands of Iraqi fighters were undergoing training in the Islamic Republic."

"The main camp is located near the town of Jalil Azad, near Tehran, according to coalition officials."

I thought it might be interesting to look at Jalil Azad on Google Earth, so I first set about to find it on a map. Google searches only turned up references to the Telegraph article, other reports citing it, and others commenting on it.

The one thing I didn't find was Jalil Azad! I dug deeper, but still came up dry.

I've written to several well-known commentators, bloggers, radio talk show hosts, the coalition in Iraq, and to the Telegraph.

Most did not reply, but those who did either just speculated or apparently sought to assure me or blow me off without informing me:

"(It's) possible this is the name of a base and not a town... let me ask around. My understanding is the bigger camps are closer to the border."

"Intelligence sources from Iranian Opposition forces have validated this training center outside of Tehran."

I've seriously considered writing snail mail to the Iranian interests section and to the People's Mujahedin of Iran (aka MEK, PMOI, and MKO) but I'm sure you can understand I'd worry about coming under unwanted scrutiny for my letters!

I would think there would be a lot of interest in this town, and even bigger news if no one else could find it!

Am I the only person asking this question?!

If anybody out there knows anything, please let me know!

* The Telegraph article may be found at http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/1931520/John-Bolton-US-should-bomb-Iranian-camps.html

UPDATE

Thanks to some help via Google Groups, I found out there are two of them. One is close to Tehran and one 400 miles away, but closer to Iraq. The one outside Tehran is here:

Jalilabad, Iran
35°20'36.21"N
51°47'9.84"E

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