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Amnesia - New York Times 1998: Bin Laden and Iraq Made a Deal; 2004: No Al Qaeda Iraq Connection
New York Times | November 5, 1998 | BENJAMIN WEISE

Posted on 06/18/2004 9:32:25 AM PDT by tallhappy

Yesterday the NY Slimes blared the headline: Panel Finds No Qaeda-Iraq Tie.

Yet in 1998 the New York Slimes was reporting a different finding. The Clinton administration had just indcted bin laden and as part of the inditment's background had referenced bin Laden and al Qaeda's relationship and agreement to work together on weapon's development. The indictment was from the Clinton Justice department, under Janet Reno's authority and also State Department officials took part in the news conference announcing the indictment.

Here is the Slimes article, Novemeber 8. 1998.


The New York Times

November 5, 1998, Thursday, Late Edition - Final

SECTION: Section A; Page 1; Column 2; Foreign Desk

LENGTH: 1093 words

HEADLINE: SAUDI IS INDICTED IN BOMB ATTACKS ON U.S. EMBASSIES

BYLINE: By BENJAMIN WEISER

BODY: A Federal grand jury in Manhattan returned a 238-count indictment yesterday charging the Saudi exile Osama bin Laden in the bombings of two United States Embassies in Africa in August and with conspiring to commit other acts of terrorism against Americans abroad.

Government officials immediately announced that they were offering two rewards of $5 million each for information leading to the arrest or conviction of Mr. bin Laden and another man charged yesterday, Muhammad Atef, who was described as Mr. bin Laden's chief military commander.

Mr. bin Laden is believed to be living in Afghanistan under the protection of the Taliban, the Islamic fundamentalist movement that rules that country.

Mr. Atef's whereabouts are unknown.

It is uncertain whether Mr. bin Laden will ever stand trial in the United States. But if he does, prosecutors said, he could face life in prison or the death penalty if he is convicted. Prosecutors also unsealed an earlier indictment, issued in June, that included similar but less detailed charges against Mr. bin Laden.

That indictment was returned before the embassy bombings and resulted from a two-year grand jury investigation of his activities in Somalia and Saudi Arabia, as well as reports that he had connections to a circle of Islamic militants in Brooklyn.

The new indictment, which supersedes the June action, accuses Mr. bin Laden of leading a vast terrorist conspiracy from 1989 to the present, in which he is said to have been working in concert with governments, including those of Sudan, Iraq and Iran, and terrorist groups to build weapons and attack American military installations. Excerpts, page A8.

But the indictment gives few details of Mr. bin Laden's alleged involvement in the embassy attacks. The indictment does not, for example, specify whether prosecutors have evidence that Mr. bin Laden gave direct orders to those who carried out the attacks.

Nothing in the document indicates why the original indictment was kept secret for months. But the secret charges were returned about the time that American officials were plotting a possible military attack into Afghanistan to arrest Mr. bin Laden.

Mary Jo White, the United States Attorney in Manhattan, said, "It's very common to have sealed indictments when you're trying to apprehend those who are indicted."

Both indictments offer new information about Mr. bin Laden's operations, including one deal he is said to have struck with Iraq to cooperate in the development of weapons in return for Mr. bin Laden's agreeing not to work against that country.

No details were given about whether the alleged deal with Iraq led to the development of actual weapons for Mr. bin Laden's group, which is called Al Qaeda.

The Government said yesterday that Mr. bin Laden's group had made use of private relief groups "as conduits for transmitting funds" for Al Qaeda.

The groups were not identified.

Prosecutors also said Mr. bin Laden's group had conducted internal investigations of its members and their associates, trying to detect who might be acting as informants, and had killed those who had been suspected of collaborating with enemies of the organization.

The Government indicated earlier that its knowledge of Mr. bin Laden's activities stemmed in part from the cooperation of one such informant, who it said yesterday had worked for Mr. bin Laden, transporting weapons to terrorists, helping to buy land for his training camps and assisting in running his finances.

The June indictment against Mr. bin Laden suggested that the Government had a considerable amount of knowledge of his dealings in the months before the attacks on the embassies, one in Tanzania and one in Kenya.

But the new charges are an indication of how quickly the Government has worked to solve the embassy attacks, which occurred just three months ago.

Ms. White said that Mr. bin Laden was charged with "plotting and carrying out the most heinous acts of international terrorism and murder."

Citing the more than 250 people killed in the embassy attacks and the more than 1,000 wounded, she added, "In a greater sense, all of the citizens of the world are also victims whenever and wherever the cruel and cowardly acts of international terrorism strike."

The investigation of Mr. bin Laden is continuing, said Ms. White and Lewis D. Schiliro, assistant director of the F.B.I. in New York, whose agents have fanned out around the world to investigate the embassy attacks.

"Our investigative strategy is clear," Mr. Schiliro said.

"We will identify, locate and prosecute all those responsible, right up the line, from those who constructed and delivered the bombs to those who paid for them and ordered it done."

In charging Mr. Atef, the Government reported new details about what it called his role as Mr. bin Laden's military commander, referring to his "principal responsibility for the training of Al Qaeda members."

Mr. Atef was a member of a committee under Mr. bin Laden that approved all terrorist actions by Al Qaeda, the indictment said, and he also played a major role in coordinating attacks on United States and United Nations troops in Somalia in October 1993.

In those attacks, 18 American soldiers and hundreds of Somalis were killed. Americans were shocked by the images of the body of one of the Americans being dragged through the streets, and the violence provoked a furor over the United States role in Somalia as part of the United Nations effort to pacify the country and supply food and medicine to the Somalis.

At the time, the battle was seen as one with Somali warlords. But yesterday's charges made clear that the Government now contends that Mr. bin Laden had a critical role in instigating the fighting.

In late 1992 and 1993, when Mr. bin Laden's group was based in Sudan, Mr. Atef went to Somalia to determine "how best to cause violence to the United States and United Nations military forces stationed there," and reported back to Mr. bin Laden at his headquarters in Khartoum, Sudan's capital, the indictment said.

Prosecutors said that in the spring of 1993, Mr. Atef and other members of Al Qaeda, including Haroun Fazil and Mohammed Saddiq Odeh, both of whom have been charged in the embassy attacks, traveled to Somalia and trained Somalis opposed to the United Nation's intervention. On Oct. 3 and 4, 1993, in Mogadishu, Somalia's capital, Somali soldiers trained by Al Qaeda took part in the attacks on the soldiers, according to the June 10 indictment that was unsealed yesterday.

GRAPHIC: Photos: Mary Jo White, a United States Attorney, at a news conference yesterday with a portrait of Osama bin Laden, a Saudi exile indicted on charges of conspiracy in the bombings of U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania. (Ruby Washington/The New York Times); Prosecutors say this photo shows Osama bin Laden, left, and Muhammad Atef, who were indicted yesterday on terrorism charges. (United States Attorney's Office)(pg. A8)


TOPICS: Breaking News; Culture/Society; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: 1998; alqaeda; alqaedaandiraq; amnesia; binladen; binladeniraq; ignorantmedia; incompetence; iraq; mediabias; medialies; newyorktimes; nyt
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To: tallhappy
That [characterization deleted] who gave us the Kosovo War, Richard Holbrooke, has been lying again, true to his partisan affiliation:
The Fog Of Invented Facts
by Edward Jay Epstein
The invented fact here is that Atta was on the CIA's watch list. Nor was he on any other government watch list prior to September 11th. Its repetition lays down a fog about the responsibility for the attack. For example, Ambassador Richard Holbrooke, when lecturing at the JFK Library on Oct 4th, 2001, described the "law enforcement failure" of September 11th as follows:
"To understand how bad it was, you need look no further than the specific movements of Mohammed Atta, who was probably the mastermind of these attacks, all of which has now been in the newspapers. The CIA put him on the watch list of most wanted terrorists in the world sometime in the early summer or late spring of this year... It is clear, therefore, that the FBI. and the FAA. don't talk to each other, that the FBI. never gave the watch list names to leading American airlines"
Soooo, how is it that Holbrooke opposes the GWB moves (which were passed by both houses of Congress by huge majorities)? Because he's a lying liar, unlike the victims of Al Franken's latest POS.

Epstein is described as a liberal by William Safire, who cites his website. Epstein's writing is more commonly found on Slate (hardly a conservative publication), the NY Times, and other bastions of the partisans. The following piece appeared in the local paper here sometime after it was first published.
Missing Links Found
by William Safire
November 24, 2003
Remember how anti-liberation politicians and journalists pooh-poohed Colin Powell's February 2003 speech to the U.N. about the presence in Iraq of a Qaeda associate, identified in this space as Abu Musab al-Zarqawi? Powell's assertion had this "sensitive reporting" basis: "As of Oct. 2002 al Zarqawi was setting up sleeper cells in Baghdad to be activated in case of a U.S. occupation of the city." ...Feith's intelligence summary available to senators: "The Czech counterintelligence service reported that the Sept. 11 hijacker [Mohamed] Atta met with the former Iraqi intelligence chief in Prague, al Ani, on several occasions. During one of those meetings, al Ani ordered the IIS [Iraq Intelligence Service] finance officer to issue Atta funds from IIS financial holdings in the Prague office." ...Though the C.I.A. can confirm two Atta trips to Prague, in 1994 and 2000, it cannot confirm the two other visits the Czechs reported, including one on April 9, 2001, with Saddam's top European agent, al-Ani, then vice consul in Prague. C.I.A. chief George Tenet testified that the meeting reported by the Czech service was "possible," but the F.B.I. floated hints that car rental records showed Atta to be traveling between Virginia and Florida that week. Enter the writer Edward Jay Epstein in the liberal online journal Slate: "All these reports attributed to the FBI were, as it turns out, erroneous. There were no car rental records in Virginia, Florida, or anywhere else in April 2001 for Mohamed Atta, since he had not yet obtained his Florida license." You cannot rent a car without a driver's license.

21 posted on 06/18/2004 9:55:28 AM PDT by SunkenCiv (Unlike some people, I have a profile. Okay, maybe it's a little large...)
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To: tallhappy
Discussion over here also:

Nets Pounce on No bin Laden-Saddam Link, But Bush Believed Media

22 posted on 06/18/2004 9:55:58 AM PDT by Ernest_at_the_Beach (The terrorists and their supporters declared war on the United States - and war is what they got!!!!)
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To: tallhappy
Good work!!!

Think they will pull this article (here) from their site?

23 posted on 06/18/2004 9:57:11 AM PDT by lysie (Accumulating FRequent FReeper miles.)
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To: tallhappy; Peach; Mo1; Ernest_at_the_Beach; Ragtime Cowgirl; SheLion; PhiKapMom; backhoe; ...

This is a great find and post by tallhappy!


24 posted on 06/18/2004 9:57:46 AM PDT by Grampa Dave ( J.F.K. STANDS FOR: (JIHAD FOR KERRY!))
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To: jimbo123
NY Times Editorial Fraud investigation department: retrace@nytimes.com

Yeah, maybe the New York Times will investigate itself and bust this case wide open!
Just like Janet Reno did on all of those Clinton scandals!

 
 
Click HERE for

The John Kerry Files
-at-
The CouNTeRPuNcH Collection

25 posted on 06/18/2004 9:58:15 AM PDT by counterpunch (The CouNTeRPuNcH Collection - www.freepgs.com/counterpunch)
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To: BlessedByLiberty
"Thanks for posting this. Am gathering all of these together to send some liberal relatives and friends. Combined with the Putin statement, the Old Media has some explaining to do."

Can you please email to me privately?

26 posted on 06/18/2004 9:59:22 AM PDT by paulsy
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To: tallhappy

We all know that the NY Times has an agenda. They aren't journalists, they are propagandists.


27 posted on 06/18/2004 10:01:22 AM PDT by MEGoody (Kerry - isn't that a girl's name? (Conan O'Brian))
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To: tallhappy

I heard a man being interviewed yesterday by Larry Elder who mentioned this same info about the Iraqi-Osama agreement.


28 posted on 06/18/2004 10:01:32 AM PDT by Feiny (I can resist anything but temptation.)
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To: Peach

Rock on!

I'll tell you, if every Freeper would do two hours of research a week browsing through that vast land of Liberal-Media-Past, we would have tons of ammunition. Almost too much to fathom, I reckon.

I think I need to get off my butt and do as such.


29 posted on 06/18/2004 10:03:25 AM PDT by torchthemummy (Florida 2000: There Would Have Been No 5-4 Without A 7-2)
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To: tallhappy; Mo1; Grampa Dave; Defender2; Alamo-Girl; NormsRevenge; Dog; Peach; Howlin; McGavin999; ..
Both indictments offer new information about Mr. bin Laden's operations, including one deal he is said to have struck with Iraq to cooperate in the development of weapons in return for Mr. bin Laden's agreeing not to work against that country.

That detail seems to be in an 8 page indictment rather than the 157 page indictment. (as near as I can tell!)

The 8 page indictment is here:

http://www.fas.org/irp/news/1998/11/indict1.pdf

Go to page 3 .. Number 4

Mo1 found this one.

_______________________________________________________________________________

The phrase in the document is a two-bagger.
It references both Iran and Iraq!!!!

30 posted on 06/18/2004 10:05:31 AM PDT by Ernest_at_the_Beach (The terrorists and their supporters declared war on the United States - and war is what they got!!!!)
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To: Grampa Dave

ROFL!!!


31 posted on 06/18/2004 10:07:00 AM PDT by Ernest_at_the_Beach (The terrorists and their supporters declared war on the United States - and war is what they got!!!!)
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To: tallhappy
Time to again post my all-time favorite Ann Coulter quote:

Liberals simply can't grasp the problem Lexis-Nexis poses to their incessant lying.

32 posted on 06/18/2004 10:07:42 AM PDT by jackbill
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To: torchthemummy

Just share what we find with your e-mail friends.

They will share with their friends.

This is the power we have over the media.


33 posted on 06/18/2004 10:08:08 AM PDT by Peach (The Clintons pardoned more terrorists than they ever captured or killed.)
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To: tallhappy

Outstanding, will have to check out the indictment.


34 posted on 06/18/2004 10:08:37 AM PDT by Made In The USA (REMEMBER NICK BERG.)
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To: MEGoody
We all know that the NY Times has an agenda. They aren't journalists, they are propagandists.

BINGO

35 posted on 06/18/2004 10:09:03 AM PDT by Mo1 (That's right Old Media .... PRESIDENT BUSH IS A LEADER!)
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To: Mo1

I swear I was about to email Rush - he is reading the article right now.

Wow!!!!!

Think he's a Freeper?


36 posted on 06/18/2004 10:10:10 AM PDT by torchthemummy (Florida 2000: There Would Have Been No 5-4 Without A 7-2)
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To: tallhappy

Great find. Rush is reading this article now!


37 posted on 06/18/2004 10:10:10 AM PDT by pgkdan
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To: torchthemummy
Think he's a Freeper?

If not .. I'll bet someone on his staff is

38 posted on 06/18/2004 10:12:15 AM PDT by Mo1 (That's right Old Media .... PRESIDENT BUSH IS A LEADER!)
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To: All

on Rush now!


39 posted on 06/18/2004 10:12:36 AM PDT by rwfromkansas ("Am I not destroying my enemies when I make friends of them?" -- Abraham Lincoln)
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To: torchthemummy

Someone on his staff regularly reads FR, that's for certain. He will often pick up the really devastating stories published here, very soon after they hit the forum.


40 posted on 06/18/2004 10:13:34 AM PDT by thoughtomator (The New York Times: All the Lies that Fit the Socialist Agenda)
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