Posted on 01/11/2009 11:08:51 AM PST by centristfederalist
I would like to devote my time to research and post such research that would put to rest any doubts or misinformation about the validity of a link between Iraq's leadership under Saddam Hussein and the Al Qaeda terrorist network. What I need most is links or references to official documents, relevant source non-biased source materials, and or confirmed quotable information. What isn't needed are posts from other conservative bloggers or "news" sites that are inherently biased towards defending their view.
Any help would be appreciated.
Any help would be appreciated.
Go to Christopher Hitchens website. He has a few articles which bring out the obvious links you are asking for. At least he used his scotch-soaked intellect to do something right regarding Saddam, Iraq, Al Qaeda, etc...
During the 1990s Saddam funded and trained the terror group "Islamic Jihad." Islamic Jihad was run by al-Zawahri, al-Qaeda number 2 man. At that time Osama ran the group the "Army of Mohammed." In the mid-late 1990s these groups joined to form al-Qaeda. They did not openly call themselves al-Qaeda at that time. This newly formed group blew up two U.S. embassies.
Saddam funded and trained "Islamic Jihad" which is al-Qaeda.
I run www.regimeofterror.com and I’d say that the postings on jihadist forums and Baath forums as well as admissions of both sides members in custody and to friendly media in which they repeatedly admit links is a pretty non biased answer.
anyone got their lists? I am not at my computer
Zarqawi was in northern Iraq, running a terrorist training camp, at the time of the invasion. His previous assignment was running a terrorist training camp, under the supervision of a guy named Osama bin Laden. He had sworn an oath of personal loyalty to bin Laden. Although the organization in Iraq was called “Ansar al-Islam,” after the invasion Zarqawi gave up the facade and renamed it as “Al-Qaida In Iraq.”
This was in one of the no-fly zones, but Hussein could have done something about it on the ground. he had an enormous army, and here was a terrorist training camp operating in the open.
By the way, Zarqawi’s previous terrorist training camp was in Afghanistan. All of this is such common knowledge that it’s in Zarqawi’s Wikipedia biography. And still the left-wing moonbats claim there’s no connection between Hussein and Al-Qaida.
Hussein was a megalomaniac. Nothing went on in Iraq that he didn’t want to control, particularly anybody with weapons and military style training. Imagine an independent armed militia group with a training camp in Nazi Germany, or Soviet Russia. Would Hitler or Stalin have allowed it to exist?
I have researched it, and it is a very murky situation. It is easy to find conclusions that there were and there weren’t. The bottom line is that nobody really knows. The intelligence available suggests nothing of a working reltionship, but at the same time it is not out of the realm to surmise that there was some back channel involvement. You are not going to find much in the way of objective definitive evidence. There is always going to be speculation as to the final conclusion. Good luck.
Anyone tries to argue that there was no connection between saddam and al-queda I tell them to read the book and then get back to me.
Evidence of Iraq/Terrorism Connection?
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1342826/posts
Time to kick the tires & light the fires, folks- terrorism gathers across the World...
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/838309/posts
Ping to post 11.
WSJ: Saddam-terrorist connections get no media coverage
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1990906/posts
Iraqi diplomats expelled by the Philippines for support of Abu Sayyaf:
http://www.weeklystandard.com/Content/Public/Articles/000/000/011/990ieqmb.asp?pg=1
ping
AQ would have been an interest to Saddam in order for him to be aware of all anti-American forces, nothing more.
All AQ interests in Iraq were safely away from Saddam's reach in Kurdistan. The Bazayanis in Kurdistan ran Ansar al-Islam and its successor Ansar al-Sunnah and were sworn enemies of Saddam. All the AQ connctions were through those two groups, Zarqawi, etc.
There were many old Afghan muj living in Fallujah but their contacts with AQ were very secretive and hidden from Saddam.
The Fedayeen Saddam, led by Uday, was constantly looking for AQ connections to prevent any loss of Saddam's highly centralized grip on Iraq.
There was no working tactical or intelligence link between AQ and Saddam.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2034822/posts
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2030109/posts
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2028886/posts
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2028886/posts
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2020943/posts
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2010824/posts
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2003039/posts
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1991827/posts
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1986551/posts
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1986178/posts
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1986099/posts
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1983767/posts
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1983672/posts
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1413167/posts
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1978173/posts
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1926630/posts
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1938591/posts
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1924871/posts
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1893241/posts
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1868301/posts
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1825605/posts
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1783080/posts
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1704335/posts
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1704217/posts
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1704234/posts
I found this book, but the irony is that anytime I use a pro Iraq Al Qaeda connection author, the source is dismissed as biased. This was the case with Stephen Hayes, who I believe haws taken to appropriate path to informative coverage.
Another though I’ve considered and would like to confirm is that complete background info on exactly what acts and links Intelligence found is secret and classified and cannot be leaked in entirety. Why not release it? Well, because terrorists could adopt the intelligence reports into their training manuals and launch counter intelligence and real or decoy traps and attacks.
Hayes has lots of documentation in the book. Not much you can do if actual facts aren't enough.
jveritas has translated many captured Iraqi documents and he has posted them here on FR. He also has a website dedicated to this endeavor.
I guess you know more than the members of al Qaeda and Saddam’s regime who said otherwise. How is that possible?
You would be hard pressed to find anyone less sympathetic to AQ and Saddam than I.
The Saddam Fedayeen was the most lethal force we faced in the post-Saddam Iraq. Our intelligence teams tried hard to establish a tactical link between them and AQ in order to unraval and degrade the Fedayeen, as we had significant insight into Ansar al Islam and Ansar al Sunnah (AQ/Zarqawi fronts), through the Kurds that came over to our side after the invasion.
Almost a complete dead end no linkage.
We could have shortened the insurgency by a year or more and saved a lot of our troops if we could have.
Instead we had to dig out Zarqawi the hard way, paid informants/captured prisoners.
Any AQ/Fedayeen connection would have been found and greatly helped us shape the battlefield.
Didn't happen because there was no tactical connection.
I’ve done the research and posted some of the findings at www.regimeofterror.com.
Sorry, but Saddam’s goons and al Qaeda know more about Saddam goons and al Qaeda than people in the DC/New York newsrooms.
Look, trying to justify our invasion of Iraq is pointless. We did the right thing, but the real reasons have never been announced, that's OK. We needed an end game to Kuwait, a weapons and surveillance platform not in the Arabian Peninsula, a counter to Iran, an end to a dictator, an Arab democracy to destabilize the emirates and kingdoms of the ME, an oil supply we could control, independence for the Kurds, etc.
All these hazy communications that try to connect Saddam to AQ pale in comparison to the actual operational tactics of Saddam and the surviving Baathists that sustained the Saddam Fedayeen.
There were about 112 insurgent groups in Iraq that all had the same goal of fighting our coalition. That does not mean that any of them were working together operationally. Nearly all were not, some joined forces after they were degraded. AQ and the Fedayeen never did or we would have degraded them sooner.
I could care less about newsroom stories. I am only interested in where the bullets are coming from, who's shooting and why.
AQ hated Saddam as an apostate, Saddam feared their power. Their common belief was:"My enemy's enemy is my friend". That is the only basis for any contact between them.
I never said they were perfect or constant allies, just that they had cooperation and both sides have already admitted it. That cooperation was a threat to the U.S. and it was growing.
Liberals using it to try to ridicule the noble effort we made, and conservatives using it to provide over-the-top justification when none, beyond the USA doing the right thing, was needed.
I think a discussion of what happened between Saddam and al Qaeda should be handled completely separately from what, if anything, should have been done about that. Most people don’t want to look at them separately.
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