Evidence Supports That Hussein had Strong Links with Terrorists (A bullet-point list)

The Miami Herald ^ | June 1, 2004 | Paul Crespo

[quidnunc]

The brutal beheading of American Nick Berg in Iraq should refocus our attention on Saddam Hussein's links to terrorism. While some continue to claim that Hussein did not back terror, many believe that he did — and the evidence supports the latter.

• Uber-terrorist Abu Musab al Zarqawi, the man whom the CIA believes murdered Berg and is the mastermind behind much of today's savage terrorism in Iraq and surrounding countries, is a case in point. He previously ran an Islamist terrorist-training camp in Afghanistan. Zarqawi was wounded during America's Operation Enduring Freedom in 2001 and fled to Iraq when U.S.-led forces toppled the Taliban. He received medical care for a serious leg injury and convalesced for more than two months in Baathist Baghdad. At minimum, Hussein's regime provided Zarqawi with safe harbor and free passage in and out of Iraq.

Zarqawi then opened an Ansar al-Islam terrorist camp in northeastern Iraq (with chemical weapons labs) and later arranged the October 2002 assassination of U.S. diplomat Lawrence Foley in Amman, Jordan. While some analysts believe that Zarqawi is a rival rather than an associate of Osama bin Laden, he did have links to bin Laden and allowed his camp in Iraq to be used as a refuge for al Qaeda terrorists fleeing Afghanistan.

Zarqawi is not the only terrorist with ties to Hussein. In his report in the Hudson Institute's American Outlook magazine, Deroy Murdock explains how "Baathist Iraq was a general store for terrorists, complete with cash, training, lodging and medical attention."

• Among the killers hiding in Iraq was Palestinian terrorist Abu Nidal. His Abu Nidal Organization killed or maimed more than 1,200 people in 20 countries, including the airborne bombing of a TWA airliner in 1974 and the attack on a TWA ticket counter at Rome's Leonardo Da Vinci airport in 1986. Nidal had taken refuge in Iraq since 1999. He reportedly "killed himself" with four bullets to the head in Baghdad in August 2002.

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[milford421]

I wasn't aware of the info from 1998...very interesting...
Thank you for this. Please keep me posted on anything pertaining to this.

[wolicy_ponk]