Noose Tightens On IRAQ-Sept. 11 Connection

WHAT DO an Oklahoma City investigative reporter and a Philadelphia trial lawyer have in common?

It sounds like a riddle with a bad punch line, but the answer is far more somber.

In a post-9/11 version of "Six Degrees of Separation," both identified a terrorist link between Iraq and al Qaeda long before a discovery this week that supports the connection.

Jayna Davis is the reporter whose work I have twice featured on this page. She laboriously connected dots suggesting an Iraqi role in the bombing of the Murrah Federal Building. Many scoffed when Davis identified the infamous John Doe No. 2 as an Iraqi involved with Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols, the two ex-Army buddies who many of us believed had acted alone.

Recall that in the immediate aftermath of the explosion, the FBI launched an international pursuit of several Mideastern-looking males seen fleeing the Murrah building in a brown Chevy pickup immediately before the blast. Without explanation, that APB was canceled.

Davis identified a group of Iraqis living in Oklahoma City, one of whom was a perfect match for John Doe No. 2. He even sported a tattoo on his left arm that Davis said indicated he likely served in Saddam Hussein's Republican Guard (this was before the rest of us ever heard of the Republican Guard). And she had two witnesses who put the Iraqi man with McVeigh and Nichols.

Davis has not gotten the credit she deserves, but she's looking more and more prescient.

The trial lawyer is James Beasley Jr. of the Beasley Firm in Center City who was the first lawyer in this country to file a wrongful-death suit in the aftermath of 9/11.

Beasley, acting on behalf of two families of people who died at Ground Zero, initially named as defendants the usual suspects: bin Laden, al Qaeda, the Taliban, certain Afghans. But he amended his federal court case more than a year ago to include Iraq and Saddam Hussein.

What led the trial lawyer to the same conclusion as the investigative reporter? In part, what he learned about Salman Pak.

Salman Pak is the Saddam terrorist camp 15 miles southeast of Baghdad that was overrun by U.S. marines this week.

On site at Salman Pak, coalition forces discovered part of the fuselage of a commercial passenger plane. But Salman Pak is no airport. The only conceivable explanation for the presence of the airplane is to train terrorists.

Which is exactly what Beasley told a federal judge in New York City on March 3, a month before the invasion of Iraq began. And that supports Davis' view that terrorism on our shores has Iraqi origins.

Beasley told Judge Harold Baer Jr. that Salman Pak has been devoted to enabling Islamic extremists to practice the art of murdering people.

He showed in open court the satellite photo that accompanies this column as part of the presentation of evidence that Iraq played a role in 9/11. And he had a big gun from the intelligence community supporting this view, a former director of the CIA, James Woolsey.

With regard to Salman Pak, Woolsey testified that "there was training of terrorists, Islamist terrorists, from countries other than Iraq, religious fundamentalists, in how to hijack aircraft."

"When I look at that pattern, what it strongly suggests to me is that in some fashion there was a common purpose here of the Iraqi government training of terrorists and those who conducted the Sept. 11 attack...to my mind, this is too much of a coincidence."

Woolsey also testified that he believes, due in large part to a letter to Beasley from the Czech U.N. ambassador, Hynek Mmonicek, that Mohammad Atta, the ringleader of the 9/11 hijackers, had indeed visited Prague in April 2001. And during that time he met with a senior Iraqi intelligence officer named Al-Ani.

Jayna Davis has similarly linked McVeigh and Nichols to the 9/11 hijackers. She has pointed out that Terry Nichols was a man of modest means who nevertheless traveled frequently to the Philippines. Davis discovered that Nichols was in Cebu City in December 1994 at the same time as the convicted mastermind of the first World Trade Center attack - Ramzi Yousef.

The plot thickens with the testimony of Laurie Mylroie, who holds a doctorate from Harvard for work on the rivalries among Iran, Iraq and Saudi Arabia. She's also written two books on Iraq.

Mylroie told the court in Beasley's case that "Iraqi intelligence had been behind the World Trade Center bombing; that Ramzi Yousef, the mastermind of that attack, was in fact an Iraqi intelligence agent." She further said that "Iraq, I believe, did provide support and resources for the Sept. 11 attacks."

No decision has been rendered in the federal case. But you could say that the discovery by the U.S. marines who overran Salman Pak has clearly spoken.

I have sporadically read a few things about an Iraqi connection to Oklahoma City. But one thing said in this article doesnt make sense, or at least is confusing why it was said.

He even sported a tattoo on his left arm that Davis said indicated he likely served in Saddam Hussein's Republican Guard (this was before the rest of us ever heard of the Republican Guard).

Oklahoma City was in 1995, 4 years after Desert Storm when the Republican Guard was a household phrase. Small detail, but seemed out of place.

Just how did all these Iraqi's end up in Oklahoma City? One thing I read was that many of the Iraqi POW's from Desert Storm were brought here to live, for what purpose, I dont know. I think it was David Schippers (impeachment fame) who was doing a investigation into the Iraqi connection.

STATE OF OKLAHOMA
COUNTY OF OKLAHOMA

AFFIDAVTIT

I, HENRY C. GIBBONS, being duly sworn, do hereby state that I am an agent with the Federal Bureau of Investigation, having been so employed for 26 years and as such am vested with the authority to investigate violations of federal laws, including Title 18, United States Code.

Further, the Affiant states as follows:

1. The following information has been received by the Federal Bureau of Investigation on April 19-20, 1995.

2. On April 15, 1995, a powerful explosive device detonated in front of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, at approximately 9:00 a.m.

3. On April 19, 1995, a Special Agent of the FBI received information that a witness near the scene of the explosion saw to individuals running from the area of the Federal Building toward a brown Chevrolet truck prior to the explosion. The individuals were described as males, of possible Middle Eastern descent, approximately 6 feet tall, with athletic builds . One of the persons was further described as approximately 25-28 years old, having dark hair and a beard. The. second person was described as approximately 35-38 years old, with dark hair and a dark beard with gray in it. The second person was further described as wearing jogging pants, a black shirt and a black jogging jacket. A third person, not further identified, was believed to be in the brown Chevrolet truck.

4. At approximately 10;O a.m. on April 19, l995, an American Airlines flight left Oklahoma City en route to Chicago, Illinois. Aboard that flight was Abraham Abdallah Ahmed. Ahmed was scheduled to fly from Chicago to Rome, Italy and finally to Jordan.

5. American Airlines personnel-in Oklahoma City observed Ahmed prior to the flight and thought he was "acting nervous." They called the American Airlines national security office in Dallas, Texas, who in turned notified the Chicago office of the FBI.

6. Ahmed was interviewed by FBI Agent Chuck Miller upon his arrival in Chicago at about 12:30 p.m. Ahmed stated that he was travelling to Jordan to discuss his father's planned marriage. He also advised that he was born in Jordan but, was a naturalized United States citizen. He also said he was not scheduled to return to the United States until July 1595. Ahmed was observed to be approximately 5' 8" tall, weighing approximately 140 pounds, and wearing a moustache. His date of birth is July is, 1963.

7. The luggage of Ahmed continued on the connecting flight from Chicago to Home, Italy, while Ahmed remained in Chicago. The luggage was searched in Rome by Italian officials who discovered, inter alia: (a) multiple car radios (b) a substantial quantity of shielded and unshielded wire; (c) a small tool kit and other tools, consistent with use for both explosive devices and normal electronic repair or installation; (d) blue jogging pants and a blue jogging jacket with a floral pattern around the neck; (e) black sweatpants; (f) video cassette recorder; and (g) solder.

8. At the conclusion of the interview, Ahmed secured passage on a flight to London, England.

9. On April 20, 1335, British authorities informed the FBI Command Center in Washington, D.C., that they detained Ahmed in London and have determined that he is ineligible far entry into or transit through England and will be returned to the United States. Ahmed is expected to arrive at Washington-Dulles international Airport at 7:25 p.m. on April 20, 1995.

10. Based on the proximity in time of Ahmed's flight from Oklahoma City following the explosion to a destination outside the country, and his possession of multiple car radios, the wire, tool kit and tools, a blue jogging suit and black sweatpants, the testimony of Ahmed is required before a Federal Grand Jury investigating the April 19, 1995 explosion in Oklahoma City.

11. Ahmed's demonstrated intent to leave the country indicates that his testimony cannot be secured through the issuance of a subpoena.

Further your affiant sayeth not.

(signed)
HENRY C. GIBBONS
Special Agent
Federal Bureau of Investigation

http://www.prisonplanet.com/news_alert_082593_iraq.html

Resettling Iraqi POWs in U.S. Criticized; Lawmakers Urge Clinton to End 'Potentially Dangerous'

Washington Post 08/25/93: William Claiborne

More than 80 members of Congress have asked President Clinton to end what they called the "potentially dangerous and unfair policy" of resettling captured Iraqi soldiers in the United States along with deserving civilian Iraqi refugees.

Nearly 1,000 Iraqi soldiers captured by U.S. forces during the 1991 Persian Gulf War have been resettled at public expense in cities across the United States. They are among nearly 3,000 Iraqi refugees -- the majority of them civilians -- who have been resettled in the United States from internment camps in Saudi Arabia.

Another 3,000 Iraqi former POWs and their families are scheduled to be moved here on humanitarian grounds, the complaining House members said. According to the State Department, the former prisoners were conscripted into the Iraqi Army against their will and have now been classified by international agencies as refugees who face persecution by Iraqi President Saddam Hussein's regime if they return home. Many of the former POWs provided valuable services to U.S. forces in the aftermath of the war, administration officials said.

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