Posted on 06/02/2004 10:40:29 AM PDT by Nasty McPhilthy
Exploring Probable Links Between 9/11 and Saddam Hussein
CBN.com – A new book called Losing Bin Laden reveals links between Saddam Hussein and Al Qaeda, as well as missed opportunities that were presented to former President Clinton to capture Osama bin Laden. Gordon Robertson spoke with the book’s author, investigative journalist Richard Miniter, about those topics, and about where bin Laden might be hiding today. GORDON ROBERTSON: Joining us now from Washington D.C. is investigative journalist and author Richard Miniter. He’s recently been to Iraq, and he’s written a new book called Losing Bin Laden: How Bill Clinton's Failures Unleashed Global Terror. Richard, welcome to The 700 Club.
RICHARD MINITER: Thank you.
ROBERTSON: You and many others have found multiple links between Saddam Hussein’s regime and Osama bin Laden. Why is this not being reported?
MINITER: Well, there’s a pack mentality that takes over the mainstream media, and they want to decide what we hear and what we see, and not tell us things that might somehow disturb us. That’s one thing. Another thing is, and this is something really worrisome, is the major newspapers, The New York Times, The Washington Post especially, have only one or two correspondents that handle intelligence issues. They have become the captive of their sources. If they have a very good source at the CIA, they’re not going to give that person up, and they end up taking on subtly the views of that one or two sources at the CIA or at the State Department. So really what the newspapers especially should do, is have multiple intelligence reporters with competing sources. Otherwise they end up serving as the mouthpiece of the CIA or State Department bureaucracy. And the bureaucracies of the two agencies are often at great variance with the President of the United States.
ROBERTSON: What are the links? Your book goes into the details. One thing that struck me is your point that it’s tough to run a global terror network without state sponsorship. You don't have the funds necessary to make it all happen unless you’ve got a state behind you. What are the links between Al Qaeda and Saddam Hussein?
MINITER: What’s interesting is that I’ve uncovered links that are not even listed in Doug Feith’s memo leaked to The Weekly Standard. One of the things it appears Iraq was doing, had been doing for more than a decade, was using its embassies around the world to coordinate terror attacks with Al Qaeda and other terror organizations. Sometimes those embassies were also used as safe houses.
But most startlingly of all, in 1996, the head of Iraqi intelligence left Iraq, which is very rare, and flew to Khartoum, the capital of Sudan, and there he met with Osama bin Laden. And this is confirmed by multiple sources. And when I was in Sudan last year, I met with the head of the Sudanese intelligence and asked him about this meeting, and he confirmed it and offered to provide photographs of the head of Iraqi intelligence meeting with Osama bin Laden. That was the climax of series of meetings between Iraqi intelligence, going back to 1993, climaxing in 1996 in what appears to be a full partnership.
So we see financial links. We see training links where Abu Zarqawi, who was the chemical weapons guy at Al Qaeda, had visited and stayed in Iraq a number of times. And after the United States liberated Afghanistan, and after the bloody battle of Tora Bora he fled to Baghdad where he received medical treatment for his wounds, he apparently received money and a place to live for a period of time in order to recover and to reconstitute part of his organization.
So state sponsorship of terrorism is a problem. Al Qaeda is backed not only by Iraq, but apparently by Iran, and also by extortion payments from other Arab sheiks. But Iraq was a primary source of funds and technical expertise to help commit global terrorism with Al Qaeda.
ROBERTSON: There also seems to be a training ground just outside of Baghdad where there was a Boeing jet, a commercial airliner, that was apparently used for training of hijackers?
MINITER: That’s absolutely right Gordon. It’s called Salmon Pak, it’s southeast of Baghdad about 40 miles. And they had an entire full-scale actual Boeing 747. That’s what they used as a school for teaching hijacking. One of the things they taught was not to hijack with guns, but to hijack with items that you ordinarily find on board, such as a knife in the first class cabin, or a mop handle. Anything that can be used that would normally be on a plane that can be turned into a weapon, they trained to turn it into a weapon to dominate the plane.
We saw similar techniques used on September 11th. No one has been able to prove conclusively that the hijackers of 9/11 trained at Salmon Pak, but it is possible because a number of Iraqi sources have stepped forward, including the former commander of the Salmon Pak training camp, who said Al Qaeda trained there. So if the hijackers of 9/11 themselves didn’t train there, their commanders or their trainers probably did.
ROBERTSON: Your book goes into detail about the Clinton administration and how they had actual intelligence of these various contacts, and then on top of it, the government of Sudan actually made an offer to hand over all their details while Osama bin Laden was still living in Sudan. Why didn't they act on this?
MINITER: That is one of the great questions. I’ve talked to a lot of the top Clinton people, both of his National Security Advisers, Tony Lake and Sandy Berger. I talked to his counter-terrorism czar Richard Clark; Jim Woolsey, his first CIA Director. And no one has been able to give me a straight answer to that question: "Why didn’t they accept the Sudanese offer?"
Let me back up a little bit and give you a little bit of the history quickly. Sudan was in the early to mid-90’s a very dangerous place. It was an open invitation to all of the terrorist organizations of the world that were Muslim. So Hamas was there, Hezbollah was there, and of course Osama bin Laden went there in April of 1991. But in early 1996, the Sudanese were getting tired of him. They had basically shaken him down for all the cash they could get — it was a very corrupt government, everything was run by bribes — and also because of the sanction imposed on Sudan, they wanted him out.
Finally, Osama bin Laden was backing a guy, Hassan al-Turabi, who was the head of the Sudanese legislature, but he was also a fiery Muslim cleric who thought that everyone in the world should be converted to Islam at the point of a sword. Turabi would say it’s going to happen at the end of time anyway, so wouldn't it be glorious to Allah to speed up the process? He preached a very old-fashioned, very angry form of Islam.
And the President of Sudan was a guy named Omar Bashir, and he was more moderate. Of course, he was a Muslim and serious about his faith, but ultimately he wanted to run a prosperous country because he wanted to make some money. And since bin Laden had allied with Turabi, he realized if he could turn bin Laden over to the United States, he would end a major diplomatic problem between the U.S. and Sudan, he might get sanctions lifted which would improve his economy, and it would also weaken his rival, Turabi. He had a lot of self-interested motives for turning bin Laden over.
Some people from the Clinton administration say that the Sudanese weren't serious. Well, maybe they were, maybe they weren’t. But they did turn over to the French a top terrorist named Carlos the Jackal. And that was a seamless operation and Carlos is now sitting in a French jail. Where is Osama bin Laden?
ROBERTSON: That’s a good question, where is Osama bin Laden? Do you have any ideas on this? Do you think he’s dead or alive? Where is he?
MINITER: My intelligence sources say he’s alive and has most likely left Afghanistan and is potentially inside of Iran. If that is true, that means the Iranians have really stepped up in helping Al Qaeda in their war against us, and that is a very worrisome development.
ROBERTSON: Are we winning this war on terror. We’re running out of time, I could talk to you for a long time, but this has to be the last question. Are we winning it and drying up their funds or are other states like Iran and Syria joining in now on this global terror network to be state sponsors of it?
MINITER: In terms of plots stopped, we are winning. In terms of people captured or Al Qaeda killed, we are winning. In terms of drying up the funds, I don't think there’s any way to really know. Sometimes you see media reports that say, you know, 50 percent of Al Qaeda’s funds have been seized. Well, if you don't know what the total is, you don't know whether you’ve seized half, or just one percent. So those kinds of reports I don’t seem to credit. Also, bin Laden has never really moved large sums of money through banks, with the one exception being 9/11 when most of the funding went through Standard Chartered Bank in Dubai. Since they moved the money outside of banks, it’s very hard to clamp down. And let’s be honest, a lot of these Arab governments are paying off bin Laden in the hope that he won’t bomb them, he’ll bomb us. These backdoor payments, these blackmail payments, are a continuing source of funds for the world's most dangerous terrorist.
ROBERTSON: Richard, thank you for being with us. If you’re interested in getting a copy of his book, Losing Bin Laden: How Bill Clinton's Failures Unleashed Global Terror, it’s available on CBN.com and available in bookstores across the country. Richard, once again, thank you for being with us.
MINITER: Gordon, thanks for having me on.
Bookmarked and saved under my link titled "Saddam knew 9/11 was coming and colluded with OBL for over a decade".
BTTT and hoping that I remember to read this later......
| The Definitive Link List - Iraq-Al Qaeda Connections | |
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1993 Saddam's Fingerprints on NY Bombing 1998 BIN LADEN, ATEF INDICTED IN U.S. FEDERAL COURT FOR AFRICAN BOMBINGS "In addition, al Qaeda reached an understanding with the Government of Iraq that al Qaeda would not work against that government and that on particular projects, specifically including weapons development, al Qaeda would work cooperatively with the Government of Iraq," the indictment said. " Bin Laden and Iraq Agreed to Cooperate on Weapons Development 1999 Western Nightmare Saddam's link to OBL 2001 Gunning for Saddam Saddam Controlled the Camp: The Iraqi Connection 2002 Iraq's Tie to Al-Qaeda Terrorists, Airline Hijackings Lawsuit: Iraq Involved In 9/11 Conspiracy 2003 The Unkwown - The C.I.A. and the Pentagon take another look at Al Qaeda and Iraq Al Qaeda, Iraq partners in terror -- Powell The proof that Saddam worked with bin Laden Oil for Food Sales Seen As Iraq Tie To Al Qaeda Document links Saddam, bin Laden The AQ connection Growing Evidence of a Saddam - al-Qaeda Link Saddam's al Qaeda Connection Memo shows Iraq, Iran tried to contact bin Laden No Question About It: Saddam and the terrorists Iraq: A Federal Judge's Point of View Iraq and al Qaeda - There's more evidence of a link than the critics admit The Iraq -- Al Qaeda Connections Saddam's Terror Ties - Iraq-war critics ignore ample evidence Osama's Best Friend Case Closed The Clinton View of Iraq-al Qaeda Ties 2004 Tape Shows General Clark Linking Iraq and Al Qaeda Saddam's Ambassador to al-Qaeda Interview with James Woolsey Al Qaeda's Poison Gas |
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Thanks!
There's a long list of sexual intellectuals that I intend to send this to.
If you want a pre-formatted, stand-alone HTML file with all of the links, FREEP mail me an email address. I have been on an email campaign for the last month with all of these links. I am also adding to the list as more and more links between AQ and Iraq are uncovered.
The Connection
Stephen Hayes
The Weekly Standard
June 7, 2004
http://www.weeklystandard.com/Content/Public/Articles/000/000/004/152lndzv.asp?ZoomFont=YES
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