Posted on 02/04/2005 9:00:14 AM PST by MikeA
Every day it seems another American soldier is killed in Iraq. These grim statistics have become a favorite of network news anchors and political chat show hosts. Nevermind that they mix deaths from accidents with actual battlefield casualties; or that the average is actually closer to one American death for every two days; or that enemy deaths far outnumber ours. What matters is the overall impression of mounting, pointless deaths.
That is why is important to remember why we fight in Iraq -- and who we fight. Indeed, many of those sniping at U.S. troops are al Qaeda terrorists operating inside Iraq. And many of bin Laden's men were in Iraq prior to the liberation. A wealth of evidence on the public record -- from government reports and congressional testimony to news accounts from major newspapers -- attests to longstanding ties between bin Laden and Saddam going back to 1994.
Those who try to whitewash Saddam's record don't dispute this evidence; they just ignore it. So let's review the evidence, all of it on the public record for months or years:
* Abdul Rahman Yasin was the only member of the al Qaeda cell that detonated the 1993 World Trade Center bomb to remain at large in the Clinton years. He fled to Iraq. U.S. forces recently discovered a cache of documents in Tikrit, Saddam's hometown, that show that Iraq gave Mr. Yasin both a house and monthly salary.
* Bin Laden met at least eight times with officers of Iraq's Special Security Organization, a secret police agency run by Saddam's son Qusay, and met with officials from Saddam's mukhabarat, its external intelligence service, according to intelligence made public by Secretary of State Colin Powell, who was speaking before the United Nations Security Council on February 6, 2003.
* Sudanese intelligence officials told me that their agents had observed meetings between Iraqi intelligence agents and bin Laden starting in 1994, when bin Laden lived in Khartoum.
* Bin Laden met the director of the Iraqi mukhabarat in 1996 in Khartoum, according to Mr. Powell.
* An al Qaeda operative now held by the U.S. confessed that in the mid-1990s, bin Laden had forged an agreement with Saddam's men to cease all terrorist activities against the Iraqi dictator, Mr. Powell told the United Nations.
* In 1999 the Guardian, a British newspaper, reported that Farouk Hijazi, a senior officer in Iraq's mukhabarat, had journeyed deep into the icy mountains near Kandahar, Afghanistan, in December 1998 to meet with al Qaeda men. Mr. Hijazi is "thought to have offered bin Laden asylum in Iraq," the Guardian reported.
* In October 2000, another Iraqi intelligence operative, Salah Suleiman, was arrested near the Afghan border by Pakistani authorities, according to Jane's Foreign Report, a respected international newsletter. Jane's reported that Suleiman was shuttling between Iraqi intelligence and Ayman al Zawahiri, now al Qaeda's No. 2 man.
(Why are all of those meetings significant? The London Observer reports that FBI investigators cite a captured al Qaeda field manual in Afghanistan, which "emphasizes the value of conducting discussions about pending terrorist attacks face to face, rather than by electronic means.")
* As recently as 2001, Iraq's embassy in Pakistan was used as a "liaison" between the Iraqi dictator and al Qaeda, Mr. Powell told the United Nations.
* Spanish investigators have uncovered documents seized from Yusuf Galan -- who is charged by a Spanish court with being "directly involved with the preparation and planning" of the Sept. 11 attacks -- that show the terrorist was invited to a party at the Iraqi embassy in Madrid. The invitation used his "al Qaeda nom de guerre," London's Independent reports.
* An Iraqi defector to Turkey, known by his cover name as "Abu Mohammed," told Gwynne Roberts of the Sunday Times of London that he saw bin Laden's fighters in camps in Iraq in 1997. At the time, Mohammed was a colonel in Saddam's Fedayeen. He described an encounter at Salman Pak, the training facility southeast of Baghdad. At that vast compound run by Iraqi intelligence, Muslim militants trained to hijack planes with knives -- on a full-size Boeing 707. Col. Mohammed recalls his first visit to Salman Pak this way: "We were met by Colonel Jamil Kamil, the camp manager, and Major Ali Hawas. I noticed that a lot of people were queuing for food. (The major) said to me: 'You'll have nothing to do with these people. They are Osama bin Laden's group and the PKK and Mojahedin-e Khalq.'"
* In 1998, Abbas al-Janabi, a longtime aide to Saddam's son Uday, defected to the West. At the time, he repeatedly told reporters that there was a direct connection between Iraq and al Qaeda.
*The Sunday Times found a Saddam loyalist in a Kurdish prison who claims to have been Dr. Zawahiri's bodyguard during his 1992 visit with Saddam in Baghdad. Dr. Zawahiri was a close associate of bin Laden at the time and was present at the founding of al Qaeda in 1989.
* Following the defeat of the Taliban, almost two dozen bin Laden associates "converged on Baghdad and established a base of operations there," Mr. Powell told the United Nations in February 2003. From their Baghdad base, the secretary said, they supervised the movement of men, materiel and money for al Qaeda's global network.
* In 2001, an al Qaeda member "bragged that the situation in Iraq was 'good,'" according to intelligence made public by Mr. Powell.
* That same year, Saudi Arabian border guards arrested two al Qaeda members entering the kingdom from Iraq.
* Abu Musaab al-Zarqawi oversaw an al Qaeda training camp in Afghanistan, Mr. Powell told the United Nations. His specialty was poisons. Wounded in fighting with U.S. forces, he sought medical treatment in Baghdad in May 2002. When Zarqawi recovered, he restarted a training camp in northern Iraq. Zarqawi's Iraq cell was later tied to the October 2002 murder of Lawrence Foley, an official of the U.S. Agency for International Development, in Amman, Jordan. The captured assassin confessed that he received orders and funds from Zarqawi's cell in Iraq, Mr. Powell said. His accomplice escaped to Iraq.
*Zarqawi met with military chief of al Qaeda, Mohammed Ibrahim Makwai (aka Saif al-Adel) in Iran in February 2003, according to intelligence sources cited by the Washington Post.
* Mohammad Atef, the head of al Qaeda's military wing until the U.S. killed him in Afghanistan in November 2001, told a senior al Qaeda member now in U.S. custody that the terror network needed labs outside of Afghanistan to manufacture chemical weapons, Mr. Powell said. "Where did they go, where did they look?" said the secretary. "They went to Iraq."
* Abu Abdullah al-Iraqi was sent to Iraq by bin Laden to purchase poison gases several times between 1997 and 2000. He called his relationship with Saddam's regime "successful," Mr. Powell told the United Nations.
* Mohamed Mansour Shahab, a smuggler hired by Iraq to transport weapons to bin Laden in Afghanistan, was arrested by anti-Hussein Kurdish forces in May, 2000. He later told his story to American intelligence and a reporter for the New Yorker magazine.
* Documents found among the debris of the Iraqi Intelligence Center show that Baghdad funded the Allied Democratic Forces, a Ugandan terror group led by an Islamist cleric linked to bin Laden. According to a London's Daily Telegraph, the organization offered to recruit "youth to train for the jihad" at a "headquarters for international holy warrior network" to be established in Baghdad.
* Mullah Melan Krekar, ran a terror group (the Ansar al-Islam) linked to both bin Laden and Saddam Hussein. Mr. Krekar admitted to a Kurdish newspaper that he met bin Laden in Afghanistan and other senior al Qaeda officials. His acknowledged meetings with bin Laden go back to 1988. When he organized Ansar al Islam in 2001 to conduct suicide attacks on Americans, "three bin Laden operatives showed up with a gift of $300,000 'to undertake jihad,'" Newsday reported. Mr. Krekar is now in custody in the Netherlands. His group operated in portion of northern Iraq loyal to Saddam Hussein -- and attacked independent Kurdish groups hostile to Saddam. A spokesman for the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan told a United Press International correspondent that Mr. Krekar's group was funded by "Saddam Hussein's regime in Baghdad."
* After October 2001, hundreds of al Qaeda fighters are believed to have holed up in the Ansar al-Islam's strongholds inside northern Iraq.
Some skeptics dismiss the emerging evidence of a longstanding link between Iraq and al Qaeda by contending that Saddam ran a secular dictatorship hated by Islamists like bin Laden.
In fact, there are plenty of "Stalin-Roosevelt" partnerships between international terrorists and Muslim dictators. Saddam and bin Laden had common enemies, common purposes and interlocking needs. They shared a powerful hate for America and the Saudi royal family. They both saw the Gulf War as a turning point. Saddam suffered a crushing defeat which he had repeatedly vowed to avenge. Bin Laden regards the U.S. as guilty of war crimes against Iraqis and believes that non-Muslims shouldn't have military bases on the holy sands of Arabia. Al Qaeda's avowed goal for the past ten years has been the removal of American forces from Saudi Arabia, where they stood in harm's way solely to contain Saddam.
The most compelling reason for bin Laden to work with Saddam is money. Al Qaeda operatives have testified in federal courts that the terror network was always desperate for cash. Senior employees fought bitterly about the $100 difference in pay between Egyptian and Saudis (the Egyptians made more). One al Qaeda member, who was connected to the 1998 embassy bombings, told a U.S. federal court how bitter he was that bin Laden could not pay for his pregnant wife to see a doctor.
Bin Laden's personal wealth alone simply is not enough to support a profligate global organization. Besides, bin Laden's fortune is probably not as large as some imagine. Informed estimates put bin Laden's pre-Sept. 11, 2001 wealth at perhaps $30 million. $30 million is the budget of a small school district, not a global terror conglomerate. Meanwhile, Forbes estimated Saddam's personal fortune at $2 billion.
So a common enemy, a shared goal and powerful need for cash seem to have forged an alliance between Saddam and bin Laden. CIA Director George Tenet recently told the Senate Intelligence Committee: "Iraq has in the past provided training in document forgery and bomb making to al Qaeda. It also provided training in poisons and gasses to two al Qaeda associates; one of these [al Qaeda] associates characterized the relationship as successful. Mr. Chairman, this information is based on a solid foundation of intelligence. It comes to us from credible and reliable sources. Much of it is corroborated by multiple sources."
The Iraqis, who had the Third World's largest poison-gas operations prior to the Gulf War I, have perfected the technique of making hydrogen-cyanide gas, which the Nazis called Zyklon-B. In the hands of al Qaeda, this would be a fearsome weapon in an enclosed space -- like a suburban mall or subway station.
Mr. Miniter is a senior fellow at the Center for the New Europe and author of "Losing bin Laden: How Bill Clinton's Failures Unleashed Global Terror" (Regnery) which is now on the New York Times' bestseller list.
I have to ask again the question I have been asking alot lately: why the need by the DemonRats to defend Saddam? It would be one thing if they didn't have to ignore substantial amounts of evidence indicating Saddam's guilt on things such as seeking for WMD, supporting Al Qaeda and harboring terrorists to make this defense, but they do ignore the mounds of evidence indicating Saddam's ill-intent against this country. We have to ask why they choose to ignore this in order to uphold Saddam's honor while questioning that of our president.
As for the Tech Central piece, I throw this one at libs. alot since it's compiled mostly from mainstream media sources, including liberal ones like the New Yorker and the Guardian.
Below is a link to another great compilation, this one more comprehensive, of the pre-Bush administration claims by the Clinton administration and two of the major news magazines in claiming evidence of Saddam's interaction with Al Qaeda, this compiled by a Freeper: http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1152923/posts
What changed that the lapdog media now ignores this evidence they once presented? Could it be what changed is the political party holding the White House?
Also, Stephen F. Hayes' great book "The Connection: How Saddam Hussein's Collaboration with Al Qaeda Endangered America" is a fantastic read and a credible and compelling compilation of the evidence Saddam worked with Al Qaeda. It's a must-read.
Larry, Moe and Curly Joe...the slobbering book-ends of the far-left Senate.
Perhaps they are protecting friends in low places (look under a rock find the Kofi Anan family)
imo
Has anyone ever produced one small piece of evidence for the theory that Saddam and Osama hated each other?
Gas Bag Kennedy, Bozo Boxer and Senile Coot Byrd
What do these wastes of space have in common with Sodom Insane?
Just about everything a good Stalinist should...
Better yet, has anyone ever produced any evidence that Boxer Shorts and friends have even one brain cell to share between them?
I'd like to see THAT report.
Good Stuff ping!
The threesome of Kennedy-Byrd-Boxer are the original
Weapons of verbal and moral destruction....there are
a lot of Dems who are on their way toward the list
of potential self destructors...including Harry Reid..who is looking more and more like a Daschle clone. You can
add to this list daily...jealousy and insanity are very
evident in the whole Dem. party... Jake
Al-Qaeda Big Confirms Terror Ties to Iraq
The Iraq Connection: Was Saddam involved in Oklahoma City and the first WTC bombing?
World Trade Center Attack Complaint (Iraq named as plaintiff)
Complaint (PDF) Lawsuit claiming a 9/11 link between Iraq and al Qaeda. Sept. 3, 2002
Who did it? Foreign Report presents an alternative view (Iraq believed to be behind 9/11)
Iraq and al Qaeda: Who's campaigning to deny the links?
Iraqi Terrorists Detail Ties To Bin Laden
Bin Laden disciples terrorise Kurds
The real bin Laden (Iraq has supported al-Qaida for more than a decade)
Iraq giving chemical weapons to al-Qaida: US thinks Iraq plotting with terrorists
Iraq and al-Qaida part of same picture, says Straw
'Iraq knew of al-Qaeda attacks'
Bin Laden uses Iraq to plot new attacks
Exposed: Saddam's Prohibited Missiles and Support of al-Qaeda Terrorism
Mohamed Atta Was Here...And met with Saddam Hussein's man in Prague.
Lawsuit Alleges Saddam Trained 9/11 Hijackers
Mike Boettcher: Arrests may link al Qaeda, Iraq
Son of Saddam Praises bin Laden in Official Iraqi Newspaper
Iraq's Ambassador To Turkey Recalled To Baghdad [second link between Bin Laden and Iraq discovered]
U.S.: Rumsfeld Says Al-Qaeda Takes Refuge In Iraq
CIA Director: Al Qaeda May Be Turning to Iraq
Rumsfeld Says Iraq Has Helped al-Qaeda
Iraq-Al-Qaeda Bombshell: Mag Documents New Links
German investigators link bin Laden and Iraq with anthrax outbreak
'Proof' of Iraq/Bin Laden links
Was bin Laden working with Iraq?
Iraq suspected of sponsoring terrorist attacks
Bush hopeful new report will link Iraq to al-Qaeda
U.S. captures Iraqis in Afghanistan raid
A Saddam-Afghanistan Connection Reported
Saddam trained al Qaeda terrorists, British claim
Iraq, al-Qaida linked by administration: Fleischer hints at more coming on connection
Gephardt: 'Lots Of' Intelligence Ties Iraq to Al-Qaeda
UHOLY TRINITY IN CHEMICAL WEAPONS PACT - IRAQ, SUDAN & OSAMA BIN LADEN
Links Between 9-11 Terrorist Leader Mohammed Atta, Anthrax, bin Laden and Iraq Appear Likely
The Saddam Hussein / Osama Bin Laden Connection
Iraq trains Bin Laden’s Men in Use of Weapons of Mass Destruction
'America Should Act in Self Defense Against Iraq For 9/11, OKC, 1993 WTC Attacks
Rumsfeld: Iraq Sheltered Top Bin Laden Aides
Exposed: Saddam's Prohibited Missiles and Support of al-Qaeda Terrorism
State Department: Key al Qaida Man in Baghdad
Bin Laden is back, now as defender of Iraq
Al-Qaida cohorts still active in Iraq
Debate over Iraq-bin Laden links reignited
Did Saddam, Bin Laden Work Together to Get Weapons of Mass Destruction?
U.S. Has 'Solid Evidence' of Al Qaeda Operating in Iraq
Arafat-Saddam-Bin Laden Links Surface
Bin Laden-Saddam nuclear pact?
‘PHARAOH' CLUE LINKS SADDAM AND OSAMA
New Evidence Of Iraq-Al Qaeda Ties?
U.S. tracked top al Qaeda planner's visit to Baghdad
Rice: Iraq Providing Shelter, Chemical Weapons Help to Al Qaeda
Blair claims Iraq is linked to al-Qaida
Al-Qaeda terrorists seen in Iraq, says US
An Al Qaeda- Iraq link materializing?
The Iraqi-Oklahoma City Bombing Connection
Iraqi Complicity in the World Trade Center Bombing and Beyond
Taliban, Clinton, Saudi Involvement - All laid out in a book published in 2000 (from USMC.MIL site)
The Democrats' Case Against Saddam Hussein (Dems nailed, yet again)
Headline Rundown and links on Iraq - Things the democrats have conviently forgot...
Saddam Abused His Last Chance, Clinton -clear and present danger to safety of people everywhere 1998
Gore repeats that Saddam MUST GO - June 2000
What the democrats want you to forget
Iraq is a Regional Threat, capable of as much as 200 tons of VX nerve agent (1999 Clinton report)
Czech military reports say iraq has smallpox virus in weapons stockpile (and camelpox)
Iraqi chemical weapons buildup reported (Sept 2001 Report)
Clinton, Gore rally domestic support for strike at Iraq, "unholy axis" (1998 Must read)
statement President Clinton from 1998 on the air strikes
Iraq Liberation Act of 1998 - Full Text, Sense of Congress - Remove Saddam
-Time to kick the tires & light the fires, folks- terrorism gathers across the World...--
-All Terror, All the Time-- FR's links to NBC Warfare, Terror, and More...--
-Jihad! Across the World....--
-The Fire Down South...( Latin America--)--
I found another extensive list of links awhile back when I was researching for my own list...you might check them against your list to make sure you have them...
If you are keeping the Clinton/Saddam list...here is one I found this morning that you might be interested in...
Iraq's Tie to Al-Qaeda Terrorists, Airline Hijackings
Photos Prove Connection Between Iraq and Al-Qaeda Terrorists
Taliban, Clinton, Saudi Involvement - All laid out in a book published in 2000 (from USMC.MIL site)
The Democrats' Case Against Saddam Hussein (Dems nailed, yet again)
Headline Rundown and links on Iraq - Things the democrats have conviently forgot...
Saddam Abused His Last Chance, Clinton -clear and present danger to safety of people everywhere 1998
Gore repeats that Saddam MUST GO - June 2000
What the democrats want you to forget
Iraq is a Regional Threat, capable of as much as 200 tons of VX nerve agent (1999 Clinton report)
Czech military reports say iraq has smallpox virus in weapons stockpile (and camelpox)
Iraqi chemical weapons buildup reported (Sept 2001 Report)
Clinton, Gore rally domestic support for strike at Iraq, "unholy axis" (1998 Must read)
statement President Clinton from 1998 on the air strikes
Iraq Liberation Act of 1998 - Full Text, Sense of Congress - Remove Saddam
We know Saddam worked with the PLO and other terrorists, he funded them. He at LEAST knew that 9/11 was coming.
Less than two months before 9/11/01, the state-controlled Iraqi newspaper “Al-Nasiriya” carried a column headlined, “American, an Obsession called Osama Bin Ladin.” (July 21, 2001)
In the piece, Baath Party writer Naeem Abd Muhalhal predicted that bin Laden would attack the US “with the seriousness of the Bedouin of the desert about the way he will try to bomb the Pentagon after he destroys the White House.”
The same state-approved column also insisted that bin Laden “will strike America on the arm that is already hurting,” and that the US “will curse the memory of Frank Sinatra every time he hears his songs” – an apparent reference to the Sinatra classic, “New York, New York”.
(Link below)
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/1106657/posts
List of newspaper article in the 90's which mention the world's concern regarding the growing relationship between OBL and Saddam: http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/946809/posts?page=1
Son of Saddam coordinates OBL activities:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/951911/posts
The AQ connection (excellent):
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/944617/posts?page=2
Western Nightmare:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/alqaida/story/0,12469,798270,00.html
Saddam's link to OBL:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/866105/posts
NYT: Iraq and AQ agree to cooperate:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/985906/posts
Wolfowitz Says Saddam behind 9/11 Attacks:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/921398/posts
Growing Evidence of Saddam and Al Qaeda Link, The Weekly Standard, July 2003:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/946997/posts
Cheney lectures Russert on Iraq/911 Link, September 2003:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/982713/posts
No Question About It, National Review, September 2003
http://www.nationalreview.com/robbins/robbins091903.asp
Iraq: A Federal Judges Point of View
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/986293/posts
Mohammed's Account links Iraq to 9/11 and OKC:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/987075/posts
Free Republic Thread that mentions so me books Freepers might be interested in on this topic:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/977221/posts
The Proof that Saddam Worked with AQ, The Telegraph, April 2003:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=%2Fnews%2F2003%2F04%2F27%2Fwalq27.xml
Saddam's AQ Connection, The Weekly Standard, September 2003
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/969032/posts
September 11 Victims Sue Iraq:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/2237332.stm
Terrorist Behind 9/11 Attacks Trained by Saddam, The Telegraph, December 2003
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1007969/posts
James Woolsey Links Iraq and AQ, CNN Interview, March 2004, Also see Posts #34 and #35
http://freerepublic.com/focus/news/1104121/posts
A Geocities Interesting Web Site with maps and connections:
http://www.geocities.com/republican_strategist/Iraq-Bin-Laden.html
Bin Laden indicted in federal court, read down to find information that Bin Laden agreed to not attack Iraq and to work cooperatively with Iraq:
http://usinfo.state.gov/topical/pol/terror/98110402.htm
Case Closed, The Weekly Standard, November 03
http://www.weeklystandard.com/Content/Public/Articles/000/000/003/378fmxyz.asp
CBS - Lawsuit: Iraq involved in 9/11:
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2002/09/05/september11/main520874.shtml
Exploring Iraq's Involvement in pre-9/11 Acts, The Indianapolis Star:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/746225/posts
The Iraq/AQ Connection: Richard Minister again
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/989201/posts
Militia defector claims Baghdad trained Al-Qaeda fighters in chemical warfare
Gwynne Roberts in Ankara
Sunday Times (London); Overseas news; News; 23
July 14, 2002, Sunday
Mohammed said he was recruited into Saddam's Fedayeen in 1997 and trained at two secret facilities - at Salman Pak, southeast of Baghdad, and at the Unit 999 camp, northwest of the Iraqi capital. His first encounter with Bin Laden's fighters occurred at Salman Pak when he was on an induction course to become a Fedayeen officer, he said.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/743892/posts
The Clinton View of Iraq/AQ Ties, The Weekly Standard, December 2003
http://www.weeklystandard.com/Content/Public/Articles/000/000/003/527uwabl.asp
Saddam Controlled the Camps (Iraq/AQ Ties): The London Observer, November 01
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/741676/posts
Saddam's Terror Ties that Critics Ignore, National Review, October 2003:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1005579/posts
Tape Shows General Wesley Clark linking Iraq and AQ:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1056113/posts
Wall Street Journal on Iraq and AQ:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/987129/posts
Iraq and Iran contact OBL:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/981055/posts
Saddam's Ambassador to Al Qaeda: (February 2004, Weekly Standard)
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1083778/posts
Yes - it's NewsMax but loaded with interesting bullet points.
http://freerepublic.com/focus/news/1097521/posts?page=1
Saddam's Fingerprints on NY Bombing (Wall Street Journal, June 1993)
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1115387/posts
Colin Powell: Iraq and AQ Partners for Years (CNN, February 2003)
http://www.cnn.com/2003/US/02/05/sprj.irq.alqaeda.links/
TCS
The Iraq -- Al Qaeda Connections
by Richard Miniter Publish 09/25/2003
. . . Those who try to whitewash Saddam's record don't dispute this evidence; they just ignore it. So let's review the evidence, all of it on the public record for months or years:
* Abdul Rahman Yasin was the only member of the al Qaeda cell that detonated the 1993 World Trade Center bomb to remain at large in the Clinton years. He fled to Iraq. U.S. forces recently discovered a cache of documents in Tikrit, Saddam's hometown, that show that Iraq gave Mr. Yasin both a house and monthly salary.
* Sudanese intelligence officials told me that their agents had observed meetings between Iraqi intelligence agents and bin Laden starting in 1994, when bin Laden lived in Khartoum.
* In 1999 the Guardian, a British newspaper, reported that Farouk Hijazi, a senior officer in Iraq's mukhabarat, had journeyed deep into the icy mountains near Kandahar, Afghanistan, in December 1998 to meet with al Qaeda men. Mr. Hijazi is "thought to have offered bin Laden asylum in Iraq," the Guardian reported.
* In October 2000, another Iraqi intelligence operative, Salah Suleiman, was arrested near the Afghan border by Pakistani authorities, according to Jane's Foreign Report, a respected international newsletter. Jane's reported that Suleiman was shuttling between Iraqi intelligence and Ayman al Zawahiri, now al Qaeda's No. 2 man.
* In 1998, Abbas al-Janabi, a longtime aide to Saddam's son Uday, defected to the West. At the time, he repeatedly told reporters that there was a direct connection between Iraq and al Qaeda.
*The Sunday Times found a Saddam loyalist in a Kurdish prison who claims to have been Dr. Zawahiri's bodyguard during his 1992 visit with Saddam in Baghdad. Dr. Zawahiri was a close associate of bin Laden at the time and was present at the founding of al Qaeda in 1989.
* In 2001. . . That same year, Saudi Arabian border guards arrested two al Qaeda members entering the kingdom from Iraq.
* Abu Musaab al-Zarqawi oversaw an al Qaeda training camp in Afghanistan, Mr. Powell told the United Nations. His specialty was poisons. Wounded in fighting with U.S. forces, he sought medical treatment in Baghdad in May 2002. When Zarqawi recovered, he restarted a training camp in northern Iraq. Zarqawi's Iraq cell was later tied to the October 2002 murder of Lawrence Foley, an official of the U.S. Agency for International Development, in Amman, Jordan. The captured assassin confessed that he received orders and funds from Zarqawi's cell in Iraq, Mr. Powell said. His accomplice escaped to Iraq.
*Zarqawi met with military chief of al Qaeda, Mohammed Ibrahim Makwai (aka Saif al-Adel) in Iran in February 2003, according to intelligence sources cited by the Washington Post.
* Mohamed Mansour Shahab, a smuggler hired by Iraq to transport weapons to bin Laden in Afghanistan, was arrested by anti-Hussein Kurdish forces in May, 2000. He later told his story to American intelligence and a reporter for the New Yorker magazine.
* Documents found among the debris of the Iraqi Intelligence Center show that Baghdad funded the Allied Democratic Forces, a Ugandan terror group led by an Islamist cleric linked to bin Laden. According to a London's Daily Telegraph, the organization offered to recruit "youth to train for the jihad" at a "headquarters for international holy warrior network" to be established in Baghdad.
* Mullah Melan Krekar, ran a terror group (the Ansar al-Islam) linked to both bin Laden and Saddam Hussein. Mr. Krekar admitted to a Kurdish newspaper that he met bin Laden in Afghanistan and other senior al Qaeda officials. His acknowledged meetings with bin Laden go back to 1988. When he organized Ansar al Islam in 2001 to conduct suicide attacks on Americans, "three bin Laden operatives showed up with a gift of $300,000 'to undertake jihad,'" Newsday reported. Mr. Krekar is now in custody in the Netherlands. His group operated in a portion of northern Iraq loyal to Saddam Hussein -- and attacked independent Kurdish groups hostile to Saddam. A spokesman for the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan told a United Press International correspondent that Mr. Krekar's group was funded by "Saddam Hussein's regime in Baghdad."
* After October 2001, hundreds of al Qaeda fighters are believed to have holed up in the Ansar al-Islam's strongholds inside northern Iraq. . . .
Mr. Miniter is a senior fellow at the Center for the New Europe and author of "Losing bin Laden: How Bill Clinton's Failures Unleashed Global Terror" (Regnery) which is now on the New York Times' bestseller list.
http://www.techcentralstation.com/092503F.html
Oil for Food Scandal Ties Iraq and Al Qaeda (June 2003)
http://freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1125899/posts
Saddam and OBL Make a Pact (The New Yorker, February 2003):
http://www.newyorker.com/fact/content/?030210fa_fact
Al Qaeda's Poison Gas (Wall Street Journal, April 2004):
http://www.opinionjournal.com/editorial/feature.html?id=110005016
Richard Clarke used to believe in an Iraq/AQ connection:
http://slate.msn.com/id/2097901/
Freeper list of links between AQ and Iraq:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/850346/posts
Salman Pak (Aviation Weekly)
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/865435/posts
Saddam/911 Link (FrontPage Magazine, Laurie Mylroie, May 2004):
http://freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1133317/posts
Bush says Zarqawi killed Berg, cites Saddam ties (Reuters, May 2004)
http://freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1136076/posts
Iraq's WMD have been found:
http://www.insightmag.com/news/2004/05/11/World/Investigative.Reportsaddams.Wmd.Have.Been.Found-670120.shtml
Another freeper resource - list of links between OBL and Saddam:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/838309/posts
The Connections (May 2004, The Weekly Standard)
New Information:http://freerepublic.com/focus/news/1144123/posts?page=11
Saddam's role in 9/11. (Freeper book, May 2004)
http://freerepublic.com/focus/news/1144699/posts
NewsMax reports on WSJ article last week regarding the Iraq/OBL connections. Post #33 is spot on why the administration has chosen not to capitalize on this matter, and to their detriment.
http://freerepublic.com/focus/news/1144012/posts?page=53
Entire link and Post #5 - Clinton mentioned how AQ was developing a relationship with Iraq.
http://freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1145787/posts
The House of Representatives read into the congressional record the ties that Saddam had to Osama bin Laden (read down and open links in the record): June 2004
http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/B?r108:@FIELD(FLD003+h)+@FIELD(DDATE+20040601)
The Terrorist behind 9/11 was trained by Saddam (The Telegraph, 12/03)
http://freerepublic.com/focus/news/1146356/posts
Saddam's connections to bin Laden/al-Qaeda/911
Excerpts from 60 articles with links provided to each of the original articles
“. . . prosecuting the informational battle in the War on Terrorism is not like prosecuting a Mafia don, which typically requires rock-solid exhibits such as wiretap intercepts, hidden-camera footage, DNA samples, and the testimony of deep-cover “Mob rats.” On the contrary, it is important to emphasize, as strongly as possible, that the United States need not—and in fact should not—hold itself to courtroom standards of evidence except when appearing before domestic or international judges. The administration merely has to demonstrate its claims and refute those of its opponents, not convict Saddam Hussein before a jury of his peers. . . . The appropriate standard of evidence . . . is not that of a trial, but rather that of a hearing on whether a criminal suspect should be indicted. In this respect, the “prosecution” definitely has a prima facie case that Hussein’s Iraq indeed was a haven for terrorists until the moment U.S. troops invaded.” – Deroy Murdock
Frontpagemag.com
The Saddam-9/11 Link Confirmed
By Laurie Mylroie
FrontPageMagazine.com | May 11, 2004
As Epstein now reports, Czech authorities have discovered that al-Ani’s appointment calendar shows a scheduled meeting on April 8, 2001 with a "Hamburg student."
That is exactly what the Czechs had been saying since shortly after 9/11: Atta, a long-time student at Germany’s Hamburg-Harburg Technical University, met with al-Ani on April 8, 2001. Indeed, when Atta earlier applied for a visa to visit the Czech Republic, he identified himself as a “Hamburg student.” The discovery of the notation in al-Ani’s appointment calendar about a meeting with a “Hamburg student” provides critical corroboration of the Czech claim. America’s leading lights, including those in government responsible for dealing with terrorism and with Iraq, made a mammoth blunder. They failed to recognize that starting with the first assault on New York’s World Trade Center, Iraq was working with Islamic militants to attack the United States. This failure left the country vulnerable on September 11, 2001.
http://www.frontpagemag.com/Articles/ReadArticle.asp?ID=13323
Newsmax.com
Tuesday, March 23, 2004 10:10 p.m. EST
[Richard] Clarke: Iraq Teamed Up With bin Laden to Produce WMDs
. . . reporters aren't talking about the chapter of "Against All Enemies" that describes how Osama bin Laden cooperated with Iraqi scientists to make weapons of mass destruction - a development that, if true, would more than justify President Bush's decision to go to war in Iraq.
In his book, [Richard] Clarke describes how the Clinton CIA determined in 1996 that Sudan's Shifa chemical plant, which was allegedly bankrolled by bin Laden, was producing the chemical EMPTA.
"EMPTA is a compound that had been used as a prime ingredient in Iraqi nerve gas," writes Clarke. "It has no other known use, nor had any other nation employed EMPTA to our knowledge for any purpose."
http://www.newsmax.com/archives/ic/2004/3/23/221155.shtml
Global Security.org
December 14, 2002 - 14:05
Salman Pak / Al Salman
Former Iraqi military officers have described a highly secret terrorist training facility at Salman Pak, where both Iraqis and non-Iraqi Arabs receive training on hijacking planes and trains, planting explosives in cities, sabotage, and assassinations.
http://www.globalsecurity.org/wmd/world/iraq/salman_pak.htm
Photos Prove Connection Between Iraq and Al-Qaeda Terrorists
March 14, 2003
About 20 minutes before show time, we posted satellite imagery of Salman Pak - home of the terrorist training center in Iraq we've been telling you about. I want to thank Gary Napier and his whole staff from Space Imaging, Inc. for these images from their IKONOS satellite.
http://www.rushlimbaugh.com/home/cold/photos_prove_connection_between_iraq_and_al_qaedaterrorists.guest.html
Newsmax.com
Monday, Jan. 26, 2004 11:16 a.m. EST
Case for Iraq War Stronger Than Ever
U.S. satellite photos confirming the existence of a Boeing 707 fuselage that Khodada and his partner say was used as a hijacking classroom. U.N. weapons inspector Charles Duelfer, who was tapped on Friday to succeed David Kay, corroborated their account.
A May 7, 2003, decision by Manhattan U.S. District Judge Harold Baer, . . . The account of former CIA Director Woolsey, whose testimony was summarized by Judge Baer thusly:
"Director Woolsey described the existence of a highly secure military facility in Iraq where non-Iraqi fundamentalists [e.g., Egyptians and Saudis] are trained in airplane hijacking and other forms of terrorism. Through satellite imagery and the testimony of three Iraqi defectors, plaintiffs demonstrated the existence of this facility, called Salman Pak, which has an airplane but no runway."
http://newsmax.com/archives/ic/2004/1/26/120224.shtml
FreeRepublic
Proof of Iraq/Bin Laden links
Weekend Austrailian ^ |
November 04, 2001 | From AFP
. . . A former Iraqi special forces officer has given new proof of links between Islamic extremist Osama bin Laden and Iraq, Italy's La Repubblica newspaper reported on Saturday . . . The newspaper said that the former officer told of a training camp called Salman Pak in Iraq where members of bin Laden's terror network had trained as pilots and on how to seize control of aircraft. Musawi said that the former officer told him: "There were also women pilots who were trained and I believe that the next time, if there is a next time, it could be a woman who takes over an airplane."
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/563841/posts
PBS
Nov. 6, 2001
PBS interview with Iraqi Lt. General:
This general served Saddam Hussein for decades. Along with another Iraqi defector, Sabah Khodada (see below), the general tells of terrorists training in a Boeing 707 resting next to railroad tracks on the edge of Salman Pak, an area south of Baghdad. The existence of the plane has been confirmed by U.N. inspectors.
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/gunning/interviews/general.html
PBS
Oct. 14, 2001
PBS interview with Sabah Khodada:
A captain in the Iraqi army from 1982 to 1992, he worked at what he describes as a highly secret terrorist training camp at Salman Pak
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/gunning/interviews/khodada.html
PBS
October 18, 2001
PBS interview with Laurie Mylorie:
Well, Jim Fox, then head of the New York FBI himself believed that Iraq was behind the Trade Center bombing. Why? Because he recognized that the Muslim extremists were not capable of carrying out this plot on their own. There was something major behind it. Two, there were Iraqis all around the fringe of the plot. One of those Iraqis, Abdul Rachman Yasin, came from Baghdad before the bombing, returned to Baghdad afterwards.
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/gunning/interviews/mylroie.html
Al Qaeda was trained in Iraqi terror camps
Febuary 13, 2003
GWYNNE ROBERTS
Sunday Times of London
EVIDENCE is now emerging of a shadowy military alliance between Saddam Hussein and Osama bin Laden which involves training al Qaeda fighters to use chemical and biological weapons in sabotage operations in Europe and the United States.
US claims of a direct link between bin Laden and Saddam have fallen on deaf ears in Europe. But an investigation I conducted for PBS, the American state broadcaster, reveals such a connection really exists. . . . The first hint that something unusual was happening was picked up in 1997 by Jane's Intelligence Review. It reported that Saudi and Palestinian dissidents were being trained in Iraq at secret camps run by a Iraqi military intelligence group known as Unit 999. . . . In 1994, Unit 999 also started training Saddam's Fedayeen, a brutal militia. Abu Mohammed, who fled to Turkey three years ago, told me that in 1997 and 1998 Islamic extremists were being instructed to use poison gas and biological weapons in behind-the-lines operations in the Middle East and the West. Unit 999 ran a course for a number of extremist Middle Eastern groups, including al Qaeda. . . . Mohammed said a year later he attended another training course at Salman Pak and Unit 999 where he encountered al Qaeda fighters.
"There was also training in the use of biological and chemical weapons there but they were not Iraqis doing it - only foreigners. In the training areas there is a field especially for weapons of mass destruction. Here, experts hold lectures and conduct biological experiments, theoretical experiments, of course, on how to place explosives, or how to pollute specific areas."
Mohammed added: "They had maps of the USA, Britain, Turkey, Iran and Saudi Arabia."
Gwynne Roberts is an Iraq specialist and documentary film maker
http://www.intelmessages.org/Messages/National_Security/wwwboard/messages_02/3819.html
FreeRepublic
MEMRI
October 17, 2003 No.592
Iraqi Daily: Saddam Ordered Training of Al-Qa'ida Members
The independent Iraqi weekly Al-Yawm Al-Aakher reveals details on the training of Al-Qa'ida members operating under the orders of Saddam's Presidential Palace two months before the September 11 attacks. The following are excerpts from the article:
http://memri.org/bin/articles.cgi?Page=archives&Area=sd&ID=SP59203
Weekly Standard:
Intel Report Links Saddam, Usama
Saturday, November 15, 2003
by Stephen F. Hayes
Usama bin Laden (search) and Saddam Hussein (search) had an operational relationship from the early 1990s to 2003 that involved training in explosives and weapons of mass destruction, logistical support for terrorist attacks, Al Qaeda training camps and safe haven in Iraq, and Iraqi financial support for Al Qaeda - perhaps even for Mohamed Atta - according to a top secret U.S. government memorandum obtained by The Weekly Standard.
The memo, dated October 27, 2003, was sent from Undersecretary of Defense for Policy Douglas J. Feith (search) to Senators Pat Roberts and Jay Rockefeller, the chairman and vice chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee.
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,103176,00.html
NYPOST.COM
Intelligence Report Links Saddam, Usama
Sunday, November 16, 2003
Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein (search) gave terror lord Usama bin Laden's thugs financial and logistical support, offering Al Qaeda (search) money, training and haven for more than a decade, it was reported yesterday.
Their deadly collaboration — which may have included the bombing of the USS Cole (search) and the 9/11 attacks — is revealed in a 16-page memo to the Senate Intelligence Committee (search) that cites reports from a variety of domestic and foreign spy agencies compiled by multiple sources,
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,103163,00.html
Terror-tied by memo
By Frank J. Gaffney Jr.
THE WASHINGTON TIMES
Published November 18, 2003
The unavoidable conclusion: Saddam Hussein's regime had been guilty as charged -- tied for more than a decade to Osama bin Laden and his al Qaeda network (among other terrorist groups) for the purpose of waging attacks on their mutual foe, the United States.
http://www.washingtontimes.com/commentary/20031117-085555-9545r.htm
March 18, 2002
Protecting Saddam
By WILLIAM SAFIRE
The New York Times
WASHINGTON — Soviet propagandists used to touch up photographs to remove the face of a Kremlin official who had fallen from favor, making him a "nonperson." The same disinformation technique is now being used to wipe out the fact of a meeting in Prague in April, 2001 — five months before the Sept. 11 attacks on the U.S. — between Mohamed Atta, the leading Qaeda hijacker, and Ahmed al-Ani, the Iraqi consul in Prague, who was Saddam Hussein's intelligence case officer there.
On solid evidence: The Czech intelligence agency, B.I.S., had the Iraqi embassy spy in Prague under constant visual and wiretap surveillance . . . Three months ago, after the absolve-Saddam campaign began to cast doubt on the report of the Atta-al Ani meeting at the Prague airport, Interior Minister Stanislav Gross issued a statement that "B.I.S. guarantees the information, so we stick by that information." No backing away; on the contrary, strong reaffirmation.
On corroboration of the evidence that Atta flew 7,000 miles, from Virginia Beach to Prague and back to Florida (his third trip to Prague in a year): The F.B.I. has car-rental and other records that Atta left for Prague on April 8, 2001, and returned on April 11. The B.I.S. report of the meeting that Saddam's case officer had with the suicide hijacker fell precisely within those dates. Czech intelligence, in identifying al-Ani's contact as Atta, had no knowledge of the F.B.I.'s evidence that independently corroborates Atta's brief presence in Prague.
On C.I.A. assessment of the evidence: James Risen reported in The New York Times last month that while not enough evidence ties Saddam specifically to Sept. 11, "senior American intelligence officials have concluded that the meeting between Mr. Atta and the Iraqi officer, Ahmed Khalil Ibrahim Samir al-Ani, did take place."
http://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F30713F73C5C0C7B8DDDAA0894DA404482
UN envoy confirms terrorist meeting
Kmonicek says Al-Ani, Atta spoke in Prague
By Frank Griffiths
FOR THE POST
June 5, 2002
The Czech envoy to the UN has confirmed that an Iraqi agent met with suspected Sept. 11 hijacker Mohamed Atta, in the latest rebuke to widespread U.S. media reports dismissing the Prague encounter as a fabrication.
"The meeting took place," Hynek Kmonicek, a former deputy foreign minister, told The Prague Post flatly in a New York City interview . . . The rendezvous between the al-Qaida operative and the Iraqi intelligence agent was confirmed by Prime Minister Milos Zeman . . . But Kmonicek, a government official with top security clearance, was adamant that al-Ani and Atta met in April 2001, as Czech officials have stated repeatedly.
. . . Kmonicek said the Czech government collected detailed evidence of the al-Ani/Atta meeting, but declined to elaborate on the nature of the evidence. . . .
http://www.praguepost.com/P02/2002/20605/news1a.php
'Saddam controlled the camp’
The Iraqi connection
Sunday November 11, 2001
The Observer
As evidence linking Iraqi intelligence to the 11 September hijackers begins to emerge, David Rose gathers testimony from former Baghdad agents and the CIA to reveal the secrets of Saddam's terror training camp.
Zeinab and Khodad said the Salman Pak students practised their techniques in a Boeing 707 fuselage parked in the foreigners' part of the camp. Yesterday their story received important corroboration from Charles Duelfer, former vice chairman of Unscom, the UN weapons inspection team. Duelfer said he visited Salman Pak several times, landing by helicopter. He saw the 707, in exactly the place described by the defectors.
. . . Abu Amin . . . he is one of Iraq's most highly decorated intelligence officers . . . who then went on to a senior post in the unit known as 'M8' - the department for 'special operations', such as sabotage, terrorism and murder. This is the man, Colonel Muhammed Khalil Ibrahim al-Ani, whom Mohamed Atta flew halfway across the world to meet in Prague last April, five months before piloting his hijacked aircraft into the World Trade Centre.
Evidence is mounting that this meeting was not an isolated event. The Observer has learnt that Atta's talks with al-Ani were only one of several apparent links between Iraq, the 11 September hijackers and Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda network. Senior US intelligence sources say the CIA has 'credible information' that in the spring of this year, at least two other members of the hijacking team also met known Iraqi intelligence agents outside the United States. They are believed to be Atta's closest associates and co-leaders, Marwan al-Shehri and Ziad Jarrah, the other two members of the 'German cell ' who lived with Atta in Hamburg in the late 1990s.
In the strongest official statement to date alleging Iraqi involvement in the new wave of anti-Western terrorism, on Friday night Milos Zeman, the Czech Prime Minister, told reporters and Colin Powell, the US Secretary of State, that the Czech authorities believed Atta and al-Ani met expressly to discuss a bombing.
http://observer.guardian.co.uk/focus/story/0,6903,591439,00.html
MSN
Prague Revisted
The evidence of an Iraq/al-Qaida connetion hasn’t gone away.
By Edward Jay Epstein
Updated Wednesday, Nov. 19, 2003
Atta's business appeared to be extremely time sensitive and specific to May 30. When Atta learned in Hamburg that his Czech visa would not be ready until May 31, he nevertheless flew on May 30 to the Prague International Airport, where he would not be allowed to go beyond the transit lounge. Although a large part of this area is surveiled by cameras, he managed to spend all but a few minutes out of their range. After some six hours, he then caught a flight back to Hamburg. >From this visaless round trip, Czech intelligence inferred that Atta had a meeting on May 30 that could not wait, even a day and that whoever arranged it was probably familiar with the transit lounge's surveillance. Finally, the BIS determined that the Prague connection was not limited to a single appointment since Atta returned to Prague by bus on June 2 (now with visa BONN200005260024), and, after a brief wait in the bus station, disappeared for nearly 20 hours before catching a flight to the United States.
http://slate.msn.com/id/2091354/
NRO
March 17, 2003 1:45 p.m.
Disarmament Not Good Enough
Getting rid of Saddam.
Deroy Murdock
A 9/11 CONNECTION?
According to Michael Ledeen's book, The War Against the Terror Masters, September 11 ring leader Mohamed Atta flew from Virginia Beach to Prague on April 7, 2001. The next day, he met with an Iraqi diplomat and suspected spy named Ahmed Khalil Ibrahim Samir Al-Ani in Prague. On April 9, Ledeen writes, Atta flew home to Florida. "Less than two weeks later he opened an account at the Sun Bank in Florida, and $100,000 was transferred into that account from an unknown money-changer in the Persian Gulf." That April 22, Czech officials expelled Al-Ani for "engaging in activities beyond his diplomatic duties," namely surveilling Radio Free Europe's Prague headquarters.
http://www.nationalreview.com/murdock/murdock031703.asp
Edward Jay Epstein
Ask Ed
Question:
What is the status of the meeting in Prague between September 11th hijacker Mohamed Atta and Iraqi embassy intelligence officer, Ahmad Khalil Ibrahim Samir Al-Ani?
Answer:
The basic information has not changed: Czech counter intelligence determined that an Iraqi official under its surveillance met Atta in April 2001. The interpretation of it, however, has undergone a number of vacillations. Here is the chronology:
http://edwardjayepstein.com/2002question/prague.htm
Newsmax.com
Intelligence Bombshell: Saddam Financed Lead 9/11 Hijacker
Saturday, Nov. 15, 2003 10:44 a.m. EST
In a startling about-face for U.S. intelligence officials, a bombshell memo released by the Senate Intelligence Committee late Friday draws a direct link between Saddam Hussein and the 9/11 attacks, citing evidence that Iraqi intelligence bankrolled lead 9/11 hijacker Mohamed Atta in the months leading up to the worst terrorist attack ever on U.S. soil.
The previously secret 16-page memo, prepared by the CIA and other U.S. intelligence agencies, says Atta met as many as four times in Prague with Iraqi intelligence agent Ahmed al Ani prior to the 9/11 attacks.
In a staggering revelation, which offers an overwhelming and compelling justification for the U.S. attack on Iraq, the CIA memo says that, during one of these meetings, al Ani "ordered the [Iraqi Intelligence Service] finance officer to issue Atta funds from IIS financial holdings in the Prague office."
http://www.newsmax.com/archives/ic/2003/11/15/111243.shtml
Newsmax.com
Sunday, Oct. 6, 2002; 10:31 a.m. EDT
Gephardt: 'Lots Of' Intelligence Ties Iraq to Al-Qaeda
House Minority Leader Dick Gephardt, D-Mo., said Sunday that he'd seen "lots of intelligence" that ties Saddam Hussein's regime in Baghdad to Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda terrorist network.
http://www.newsmax.com/showinside.shtml?a=2002/10/6/102835
Does this link Saddam to 9/11?
(Filed: 14/12/2003)
London Telegraph
However, the tantalising detail provided in the intelligence document uncovered by Iraq's interim government suggests that Atta's involvement with Iraqi intelligence may well have been far deeper than has hitherto been acknowledged.
Written in the neat, precise hand of Tahir Jalil Habbush al-Tikriti, the former head of the Iraqi Intelligence Service (IIS) and one of the few named in the US government's pack of cards of most-wanted Iraqis not to have been apprehended, the personal memo to Saddam is signed by Habbush in distinctive green ink.
Headed simply "Intelligence Items", and dated July 1, 2001, it is addressed: "To the President of the Ba'ath Revolution Party and President of the Republic, may God protect you."
The first paragraph states that "Mohammed Atta, an Egyptian national, came with Abu Ammer (an Arabic nom-de-guerre - his real identity is unknown) and we hosted him in Abu Nidal's house at al-Dora under our direct supervision.
"We arranged a work programme for him for three days with a team dedicated to working with him . . . He displayed extraordinary effort and showed a firm commitment to lead the team which will be responsible for attacking the targets that we have agreed to destroy."
There is nothing in the document that provides any clue to the identity of the "targets", although Iraqi officials say it is a coded reference to the September 11 attacks.
http://www.sundaytelegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=%2Fnews%2F2003%2F12%2F14%2Fwterr114.xml&secureRefresh=true&_requestid=25102
Document links Saddam, bin Laden
Wednesday, 06/25/03
By GILBERT S. MERRITT
For The Tennessean
Through an unusual set of circumstances, I have been given documentary evidence of the names and positions of the 600 closest people in Iraq to Saddam Hussein, as well as his ongoing relationship with Osama bin Laden. . . .
So today he brought me the proof, and there is no doubt in my mind that he is right.
The document shows that an Iraqi intelligence officer, Abid Al-Karim Muhamed Aswod, assigned to the Iraq embassy in Pakistan, is ''responsible for the coordination of activities with the Osama bin Laden group.''
The document shows that it was written over the signature of Uday Saddam Hussein, the son of Saddam Hussein. The story of how the document came about is as follows. . . .
http://www.tennessean.com/nation-world/archives/03/06/34908297.shtml
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,86153,00.html
NewsMax.com
Monday, March 15, 2004 7:24 AM EST
Report: Saddam Harbored Terrorists Who Killed Americans
Saddam Hussein supplied financial support, training and shelter for an array of deadly terrorist organizations right up until the onset of the Iraq war a year ago, including such notorious groups as Hamas, Ansar al-Islam, the Palestinian Liberation Front, the Abu Nidal Organization and the Arab Liberation Front, according to a comprehensive report released by the Hudson Institute.
Titled "Saddam's Philanthropy of Terror," the report details the role played by terrorists supported by Saddam's regime in an array of infamous attacks that have killed hundreds of American citizens both inside and outside the U.S. before and after the Sept. 11 attacks - including the 1985 hijacking of the Achille Lauro, the 1988 bombing of Pan Am Flight 103, the 1993 World Trade Center bombing and the Palestinian Intifada . . .
http://www.newsmax.com/archives/ic/2004/3/14/141831.shtml
"Saddam's Philanthropy of Terror”
by Deroy Murdock
American Outlook – Fall 2003
http://www.hudson.org/files/publications/murdocksaddamarticle.pdf
FAS
The National Interest, Winter, 1995/96
THE WORLD TRADE CENTER BOMB:
Who is Ramzi Yousef? And Why It Matters
by Laurie Mylroie
Few Americans are aware of the true scale of the destructive ambition behind that bomb, this despite the fact that two years later, the key figure responsible for building it--a man who had entered the United Stares on an Iraqi passport under the name of Ramzi Yousef--was involved in another stupendous bombing conspiracy. In January 1995, Yousef and his associates plotted to blow up eleven U.S. commercial aircraft in one spectacular day of terrorist rage. The bombs were to be made of a liquid explosive designed to pass through airport metal detectors. But while mixing his chemical brew in a Manila apartment, Yousef started a fire. He was forced to flee, leaving behind a computer that contained the information that led to his arrest a month later in Pakistan. Among the items found in his possession was a letter threatening Filipino interests if a comrade held in custody were not released. It claimed the "ability to make and use chemicals and poisonous gas... for use against vital institutions and residential populations and the sources of drinking water." [1] Quickly extradited, he is now in U.S. custody awaiting trial this spring. . . .
It is important to know who Ramzi Yousef is and who his "friends" are, because if he is not just a bomber-for-hire, or an Islamic militant loosely connected to other Muslim fundamentalists, Yousef's "friends" could still prove very dangerous to the United States. It is of considerable interest, therefore, that a very persuasive case can be made that Ramzi Yousef is an Iraqi intelligence agent, and that his bombing conspiracies were meant as Saddam Hussein's revenge for the Gulf War. . . .
http://www.fas.org/irp/world/iraq/956-tni.htm
Insight on the news
"Deathbed" Confession Transcript -- World Exclusive
Posted April 19, 2002
The following interview with ELMINA ABDUL, widow of EDWIN ANGELES, one of the cofounders of the ABU SAYYAF GROUP (ASG), and deep cover agent for the Defense Intelligence Group (DIG) of the Department of National Defense (DND), of the Republic of the Philippines, was taken on March 10, 2002, in the presence of CHRISTOPHER M. PUNO, Information Officer of the Province of Basilan, at BASCOM Hospital, in the general ward. . . .
DZS: Did he ever talk to you about meetings with Arabs or Americans?
EA: Yes, once he had met with some Arabs and Americans in 1994, in Davao (City), or General Santos (City).
DZS: Did he tell you who they were?
EA: Does the name Ramsey Yousef mean something to you Mr. Sicat?
DZS: Ahmad Hassim. Does that mean something to you?
EA: He had met with them. And an American who he called Terry or the Farmer, and another American whom he did not name.
DZS: Was the American he named as Terry, Terry Nichols?
EA: He did not mention the surname. Only Terry.
DZS: Did he tell you why and how many times they had met?
EA: They met almost every day for one week. They met in an empty bodega (warehouse). They talked about bombings. They mentioned bombing government buildings in San Francisco, Saint Louis and in Oklahoma. The Americans wanted instructions how to make and to explode bombs. He (Edwin) told me that Janjalani was very interested in paying them much money to explode the buildings. The money was coming from Yousef and the other Arab. . . .
DZS: Did he tell you when the bombs would explode; when they exploded?
EA: He told me that the Americans exploded one bomb in Oklahoma in 1995, after he was arrested and after we first met.
DZS: Did he ever tell you who was supplying the money for the bombing of the building, I mean who Yousef was working with or for?
EA: Mr. Sicat, you are the mediaman. Do you not know that Yousef was representing Iraq and Saddam Hussein? Do you not know that? . . .
http://www.insightmag.com/main.cfm?include=detail&storyid=241231
Insight on the news
Insight Online World Exclusive
Posted April 19, 2002
By Kenneth R. Timmerman
Insight has learned that the widow of Philippine-government intelligence agent Edwin Angeles has provided audiotaped testimony to an investigator working for the American victims' families that directly ties Iraqi intelligence agents to Terry Nichols, the man sentenced in 1998 to life in prison for his role in bombing the Alfred P. Murrah Building seven years ago.
http://www.insightmag.com/main.cfm/include/detail/storyid/241237.html
The Terrorist Motel
The I-40 connection between Zacarias Moussaoui and Mohamed Atta
by Jim Crogan
LAWeekly
JULY 26 - AUGUST 1, 2002
The motel owner said that Moussaoui and a man who appeared to be Marwan al-Shehhi -- who helped crash a jetliner into the south tower of the World Trade Center -- were friendly and said a few things, but Atta was clearly the leader. "He did most of the talking and seemed very serious," said the owner . . .
One reason for the FBI's apparent lack of interest might be this motel's alleged connection to Timothy McVeigh and a group of Iraqis who worked in Oklahoma City. According to the motel owner and other witnesses and investigators interviewed by the Weekly, McVeigh and several of these Iraqis were motel guests in the months preceding the 1995 bombing. Witnesses also claimed they saw several of the Iraqis moving barrels of material around on the bed of a truck. The motel owner said the material smelled of diesel fuel and he had to clean up a spill. Diesel fuel was a key component of the truck bomb that blew up the Federal Building. . . .
http://www.laweekly.com/ink/02/36/news-crogan.php
WorldNetDaily
Oklahoma City blast linked to bin Laden
Reporter says FBI refused to accept evidence of foreign terror connection
WEDNESDAY, MARCH 21, 2001
A former investigative reporter for the NBC affiliate in Oklahoma City last night told Fox News Channel's Bill O'Reilly she has gathered massive evidence of a foreign conspiracy involving Saudi terrorist leader Osama bin Laden in the 1995 bombing of the federal building that killed 168 people.
Jayna Davis, former reporter for KFOR-TV in Oklahoma City, says she took her evidence -- including hundreds of court records, 24 sworn witness statements and reports from law enforcement, intelligence and terror experts -- to the FBI, which refused even to accept the material.
She said a Middle East terrorist cell was in operation only blocks from the federal building, and that an Iraqi national who formerly served in Saddam Hussein's Republican Guard was in contact with McVeigh the day of the bombing. She said this suspect arrived at the crime scene in a Ryder truck moments before the blast and sped away in a brown Chevrolet pickup truck immediately after.
http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=22122
Investigative Report
InsightMag.com
Iraqi Connection to Oklahoma Bombing
Posted March 25, 2002
By Kenneth R. Timmerman
. . . That was before an Oklahoma City lawyer named Mike Johnston, aided by Larry Klayman of Judicial Watch, filed a federal lawsuit against Iraq on behalf of victims of the Oklahoma City bombing. The lawsuit alleges that "the entire plot to blow up the Murrah Building on April 19, 1995, in whole or in part, was orchestrated, assisted technically and/ or financially and directly aided by agents of the Republic of Iraq." . . .
The lawsuit, filed in U.S. district court in Washington on March 14, alleges that convicted Oklahoma City conspirator Nichols met repeatedly in the Philippines with World Trade Center bomber Ramzi Youssef, and that Youssef was an Iraqi intelligence agent. If these allegations are confirmed in court, they constitute a stunning indictment of Iraqi state complicity in murderous attacks on the United States well before Sept. 11.
As if anticipating new developments on the terrorism front, CIA Director Tenet told the Senate Armed Services Committee in unusually frank testimony on March 19 that the United States now is actively examining potential Iraqi and Iranian involvement in the Sept. 11 attacks. . . . Last October, U.S. News & World Report revealed in its "Washington Whispers" column that McVeigh was carrying Iraqi telephone numbers when he was arrested on the day of the bombing. Sources tell INSIGHT that the phone numbers apparently were contained in a sealed manila envelope that was turned over to the FBI unopened by the Oklahoma state troopers who arrested McVeigh. The FBI logged in the evidence as "manila envelope with content," but never disclosed what was inside.
Yet another potential Iraqi connection to the Oklahoma City bombing is being promoted by a former Oklahoma City TV reporter named Jayna Davis, who claims to have discovered an Iraqi terrorist network embedded within the Arab immigrant community in the city. . . .
But new evidence uncovered by Johnston and his investigators suggests that Youssef may have had direct ties to Iraqi intelligence all along. "We have sworn witness statements and affidavits from court cases that predate the Oklahoma City bombing that directly tie Ramzi Youssef to Dr. Ihsan Barbouti," Johnston tells INSIGHT. "The witnesses say Barbouti introduced Ramzi Youssef as an 'explosives expert for the Iraqi National Oil Company,' and that Youssef was working in Kuwait for Barbouti prior to the Iraqi invasion." Johnston says that he believes Barbouti was married to a member of Saddam Hussein's al-Tikriti clan. In tribal Iraq, such ties create bonds of absolute loyalty.
http://www.insightmag.com/main.cfm?include=detail&storyid=221859
OpinionJournal
The Iraq Connection
BY MICAH MORRISON
Thursday, September 5, 2002 12:01 a.m. EDT
. . . the long investigative work by Ms. Davis and Ms. Mylroie, coming to parallel conclusions though working largely independently of each other, has gained some prominent supporters. Former CIA Director James Woolsey, for example, recently told the Journal that "when the full stories of these two incidents are finally told, those who permitted the investigations to stop short will owe big explanations to these two brave women. And the nation will owe them a debt of gratitude."
http://www.opinionjournal.com/extra/?id=110002217
Highlights of complaint against Iraq for OK City bombing filed in US District Court, Washington DC (filed in March 2002) Jury selection March 2004:
7. The parties hereto, based on their collective knowledge and on the knowledge of other victims of the bombing of April 19, 1995, believe that the attack was not as simple as has been portrayed by the United States government during the criminal trials of Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols. Specifically, upon information and belief, Plaintiffs assert that other individuals were involved in preparation for and execution of the attack. Plaintiffs assert that the entire plot was, in whole or in part, orchestrated, assisted technically and/or financially, and directly aided by agents of The Republic of Iraq. Plaintiffs further assert that this attack was an illegal continuation of the Persian Gulf War. Plaintiffs herein assert that they or their loved ones are, in effect, civilian casualties of said Gulf War in a manner contrary to the Geneva Convention and other applicable international treaties. Plaintiffs assert that the involvement and complicity of Iraq can be proven by both direct and circumstantial evidence in classic application, i.e., means, opportunity and motive, to wit:
10. On April 20, 1990, a Criminal Investigation Agent for the U.S. Customs Service authored a “Report of Investigation” including information from a confidential informant from Europe who revealed that Barbouti was a “conduit for. . .funds to terrorist organizations.” The Customs informant also noted that there was an individual working with Barbouti. . . . Said individual was identified in a 1991 Florida federal court case, i.e., testimony given two years before the first attack on the World Trade Center, as being “Ramzi Youssef.” Youssef was an Iraqi government agent.
20. Three months later, when the Murrah Building was bombed, Abdul Hakim Murad, in a prison cell in New York City awaiting trial for his part in the plot to bomb five American 747 aircraft, admitted verbally on April 19, 1995 and in writing that Ramzi Youssef’s “liberation army” was responsible for the Murrah Building bombing! Murad’s conspiratorial admission of foreign involvement in the Oklahoma City bombing was revealed by an FBI 302 Report that was referenced in Timothy McVeigh’s March 1997 “Petition for Writ of Mandamus,” Case No. 97-1109 (10th Cir.). The 302 Report was sealed. Said conspiratorial admission, however, was never reported by the government to the bombing victims.
23. Freedom of Information Act records obtained from Interpol’s National Central Bureau on February 24, 2000 revealed that, long after Nichols and McVeigh were in custody for the Murrah Building bombing, Interpol was still trying to apprehend at least two other individuals, one a foreign national, somewhere overseas, who were “implicated in the bomb attack against the Oklahoma City federal building on April 19, 1995.” Also, the last (released) document contained in Interpol’s file regarding the Oklahoma City bombing was a New York Times article about the 1997 trial of Ramzi Youssef for the terrorist plots prepared in the Philippines during 1994 and early 1995. See Exhibit 4, attached hereto, which is incorporated herein by reference. Obviously, Interpol connected Ramzi Youssef to the Oklahoma City bombing. Neither of these things was ever revealed by the United States government to Plaintiffs, i.e., bombing victims, herein.
24. Plaintiffs further assert that Timothy McVeigh had additional Iraqi assistance in preparing the Murrah Building attack during the days leading up to April 19, 1995. This included, specifically, the assistance of Hussain Hashem Alhussaini, a former soldier in the Iraqi army during the Gulf War who had been allowed entry into the United States in 1994 through Boston from an interment camp in Saudi Arabia. Also, see Exhibit 5, attached hereto, which is a copy of an April 19, 1995 government memorandum documenting a report to the Washington Metropolitan Field Office of the FBI, made by a former high-ranking CIA official, and is incorporated herein by reference. Said CIA official (who had previously worked on the Pan Am 103 case) was passing on urgent information from a Saudi Arabian counterterrorism official in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. The intelligence information was that “there was a ‘squad’ of people currently in the United States, very possibly Iraqis, who have been tasked with carrying out terrorist attacks against the United States.” One of the three targets specifically mentioned in the report was Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. The existence of this memo was never communicated by the U.S. government to Plaintiffs herein, i.e., victims.
http://www.judicialwatch.org/cases/86/complaint.html
Insight on the news
The Link Between Iraq and Al-Qaeda
Posted Sept. 29, 2003
By Scott L. Wheeler
Senior investigators and analysts in the U.S. government have concluded that Iraq acted as a state sponsor of terrorism against Americans and logistically supported the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the United States - confirming news reports that until now have emerged only in bits and pieces. . . . That assistance, confirmed independently, came in a variety of ways, including financial support spun out through a complex web of financial institutions in Switzerland, Liechtenstein, Italy and elsewhere. Long suspected of having terrorist ties to al-Qaeda, they now have been linked to Iraq as well. . . . Bush officially cited al-Taqwa as part of al-Qaeda's money-laundering activities. . . . It is in al-Taqwa and Nada Management that the government investigator says he found the links to Saddam and Iraq.
Leitner says. The O'Neill lawsuit . . . against Iraq points to numerous organizations and financial institutions the plaintiffs say were "fronts" for Islamic terrorism activities and claims financial linkages to Iraq, Iraqi intelligence and Saddam. . . . Also listed as a defendant in the lawsuit is the Arab TV network al-Jazeera. "Defendant Mohammed Jaseem al-Ali and two other employees of al-Jazeera are identified in documents captured in the April 2003 U.S. military action in Iraq as having received substantial funding from the Iraqi regime in exchange for acting as liaisons between Iraq and al-Qaeda. One document reveals that al-Jazeera passed letters from Osama bin Laden to Saddam Hussein," the complaint alleges. . . .
Scott L. Wheeler is a contributing writer for Insight magazine.
email the author
http://www.insightmag.com/main.cfm/include/detail/storyid/477622
the weekly Standard
Saddam's Ambassador to al Qaeda
From the March 1, 2004 issue: An Iraqi prisoner details Saddam's links to Osama bin Laden's terror network.
by Jonathan Schanzer
03/01/2004, Volume 009, Issue 24
A RECENTLY INTERCEPTED MESSAGE from Iraq-based terrorist Abu Musab al Zarqawi asking the al Qaeda leadership for reinforcements reignited the debate over al Qaeda ties with Saddam Hussein's fallen Baath regime. . . . In addition to weapons, al-Shamari said, the Mukhabarat also helped finance Ansar al Islam. "On one occasion we gave them ten million Swiss dinars [$700,000]," al-Shamari said, referring to the pre-1990 Iraqi currency. On other occasions, the Mukhabarat provided more than that. The assistance, he added, was furnished "every month or two months." . . . “Abu Wael was "the actual decision-maker" for Ansar al Islam and "an employee of the Mukhabarat." . . . The prisoner told me that he had worked for Abu Wael, who was the leader of a special intelligence directorate in the Mukhabarat. That directorate provided assistance to Ansar al Islam at the behest of Saddam Hussein. . . . Al-Shamari also told me that the links between Saddam's regime and the al Qaeda network went beyond Ansar al Islam. He explained in considerable detail that Saddam actually ordered Abu Wael to organize foreign fighters from outside Iraq to join Ansar. Al-Shamari estimated that some 150 foreign fighters were imported from al Qaeda clusters in Jordan, Turkey, Syria, Yemen, Egypt, and Lebanon to fight with Ansar al Islam's Kurdish fighters. . . . a man known simply as Qods. In June 2003, just before he was arrested and put in the jail where I met him, Qods said that . . . It was only then, . . . that he learned of the link between the Baathists and al Qaeda. . . .
Jonathan Schanzer is a terrorism analyst for the Washington Institute for Near East Policy and author of the forthcoming book "Al-Qaeda's Armies: Middle East Affiliates and the Next Generation of Terror."
http://www.weeklystandard.com/Content/Public/Articles/000/000/003/768rwsbj.asp?pg=1
An Essay:
Iraq’s State Sponsorship of Osama bin-Laden and the
al-Qaeda Terror Network
The Washington Dispatch
Essay by Chris Farrell
Jun 30, 2002
http://www.washingtondispatch.com/cgi-bin/artman/exec/view.cgi/16/32/printer
Arafat-Saddam-Bin Laden Links Surface
DEBKAfile Expose
September 24, 2002, 4:37 PM (GMT+02:00)
http://www.debka.com/article.php?aid=155
For Immediate Release
Aug 13, 2002
SEPTEMBER 11 LAWSUIT AGAINST IRAQ MOVES FORWARD
State Department Confirms Saddam Hussein’s Government Served With Lawsuit Alleging September 11 Involvement
(Washington, DC) Judicial Watch, the public interest group that investigates and prosecutes government corruption, today announced that the governments of Iraq and Afghanistan have been served with a civil lawsuit. . . . The lawsuit alleges a conspiracy among Iraq, bin Laden, the Taliban/Afghani government in the September 11 terrorist attacks on America. The lawsuit alleges that Iraq provided “material support and assistance” to bin Laden’s network to carry out the September 11 attacks and that Iraqi intelligence met several times with September 11 terrorists, in addition to providing training for bin Laden’s terrorist network in Iraq itself. - Judicial Watch, Inc.
http://www.judicialwatch.org/2323.shtml
9/11 SUIT TIES SADDAM TO 10 YRS. OF AID FOR OSAMA
New York Post; New York; Sep 9, 2002; JOHN LEHMANN;
Words in Document: 265
Abstract:
The civil suit against Iraq, filed last week on behalf of 1,400 victims of the Sept. 11 attacks and their families, relies on confidential briefings by ex-CIA officers, interviews with Iraqi defectors, al Qaeda members' testimonies at the African embassy bombing trial and Iraqi and American press reports, according to Manhattan law firm Kreindler and Kreindler. http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/nypost/164848461.html?did=164848461&FMT=ABS&FMTS=FT&date=Sep+9,+2002&desc=9%2f11+SUIT+TIES+SADDAM+TO+10+YRS.+OF+AID+FOR+OSAMA
(2002/09/05):
"Lawsuit: Iraq Knew of 9/11 Attacks"
By Larry Neumeister
Associated Press Writer
Wednesday, September 4, 2002; 7:16 PM
NEW YORK -- A lawsuit filed Wednesday claims Iraq knew Osama bin Laden was targeting the Pentagon and New York City prior to Sept. 11 and that it sponsored terrorists for a decade to avenge its defeat in the Gulf War. . . . The lawsuit alleges that Yousef was an Iraqi intelligence agent who traveled to the United States using travel documents forged in Kuwait during the Iraqi occupation of that country in 1991. Yousef was eventually convicted in the trade center bombing and a plot to blow up a dozen airliners over the Far East in 1995. He is serving a life prison term.
http://www.apfn.net/messageboard/9-06-02/discussion.cgi.39.shtml
Friday, March 7, 2003 1:57 p.m. EST
NewsMax,com
CIA's Woolsey Tells Court: Iraq Involved in 9/11
Former CIA Director James Woolsey offered bombshell testimony this week in a lawsuit brought by the families of World Trade Center victims that implicates Saddam Hussein in the 9/11 attacks. . . . The one-time Clinton administration intelligence chief described what he said was a conspiracy between al-Qaeda and Baghdad.
http://www.newsmax.com/showinside.shtml?a=2003/3/7/140812
Sept. 11 Families Win $104-Million
NEW YORK-May 7, 2003 — A federal judge Wednesday awarded nearly $104 million in damages to the families of at least two victims of the Sept. 11 terror attacks, saying they had shown that Iraq provided material support to Osama bin Laden and al-Qaeda.
Judge Harold Baer outlined the damages against bin Laden, the Taliban and Saddam Hussein and his Iraqi government in a written decision in U.S. District Court in Manhattan. Baer said he had concluded that lawyers for the two victims "have shown, albeit barely ... that Iraq provided material support to bin Laden and al-Qaeda." - ABC Action News
http://www.apfn.net/messageboard/5-09-03/discussion.cgi.53.html
NewsMax,com
Friday, May 9, 2003 7:22 a.m. EDT
9/11 Bombshell: Judge Rules Saddam Trained Hijackers
In a bombshell finding virtually ignored by the American media, a U.S. district court judge in Manhattan ruled Wednesday that Salman Pak, Saddam Hussein's airplane hijacking school located on the outskirts of Baghdad, played a material role in the devastating Sept. 11 attacks on America. . . . according to courtroom testimony by three of the camp's instructors, the facility was a virtual hijacking classroom where al-Qaeda recruits practiced overcoming U.S. flight crews using only small knives - a terrorist technique never employed before 9/11.
At least one veteran of Salman Pak, Sabah Khodad, has maintained that the 9/11 hijackers were actually trained by Saddam's henchman. He told PBS in October 2001 that the World Trade Center attack "was done by graduates of Salman Pak."
http://www.newsmax.com/showinside.shtml?a=2003/5/9/72820
The above lawsuit was filed in Manhattan, the following lawsuit is unrelated and was filed in Washington D.C.
NewsMax,com
Wednesday Feb. 5, 2003; 1:47 p.m. EST
Lawsuit Alleges Saddam Trained 9/11 Hijackers
A lawsuit set to be filed in Washington, D.C. will allege that . . . "Saddam Hussein helped to plan and pay for the September 11 terror attacks on New York and Washington, according to U.S. court documents obtained by the Sunday Express," the paper claimed. . . . Five key witnesses - three Iraqi defectors and two former U.N. weapons inspectors - have "provided chilling details," the Express said . . .
http://www.newsmax.com/showinside.shtml?a=2003/2/5/135346
Spain links suspect in 9/11 plot to Baghdad
David Rose
Sunday March 16, 2003
The Observer
An alleged terrorist accused of helping the 11 September conspirators was invited to a party by the Iraqi ambassador to Spain under his al-Qaeda nom de guerre, according to documents seized by Spanish investigators.
Yusuf Galan, who was photographed being trained at a camp run by Osama bin Laden, is now in jail, awaiting trial in Madrid. The indictment against him, drawn up by investigating judge Baltasar Garzon, claims he was 'directly involved with the preparation and carrying out of the attacks ... by the suicide pilots on 11 September'.
Evidence of Galan's links with Iraqi government officials came to light only recently, as investigators pored through more than 40,000 pages of documents seized in raids at the homes of Galan and seven alleged co-conspirators. The Spanish authorities have supplied copies to lawyers in America, and this week the documents will form part of a dossier to be filed in a federal court in Washington, claiming damages of approximately $100 billion on behalf of more than 2,500 11 September victims. - The Observer
http://observer.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,6903,915142,00.html
WorldNetDaily
Posted: December 11, 2002
Iraq-al-Qaida links go back decade
By David Rose
CIA reports of Iraqi-al-Qaida cooperation number nearly 100 and extend back to 1992, according to a reporter for Vanity Fair whose sources include senior Pentagon officials.
http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=29949
Contacts among Ansar al-Islam, Al Qaeda, and aides to the Iraqi President
By Scott Peterson
Staff Writer of the Christian Science Monitor
2 April 2002
While Ansar is gaining strength in numbers, new information is emerging that ties the organization to both Osama bin Laden's Al Qaeda network and to Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein. The Al Qaeda contacts allegedly stretch back to 1989, and include regular recruiting visits by bin Laden cadres to Kurdish refugee camps in Iran and to northern Iraq, as well as a journey by senior Ansar leaders to meet Al Qaeda chiefs in Kandahar, Afghanistan, in the summer of 2000.
A 20-year veteran of Iraqi intelligence alleges the Iraqi government secretly provided cash and training to Ansar . . .
http://usinfo.state.gov/regional/nea/iraq/press/0418irqtr.htm
Asia Times
Bin Laden uses Iraq to plot new attacks
By Syed Saleem Shahzad
February 23, 2003
Similarly, bin Laden and the al-Qaeda have maintained close relations with Iraqi intelligence since the early 1990s. In 1994, Iraqi intelligence chief Farooq al-Hijazi visited the Sudanese capital of Khartoum, where bin Laden had established a headquarters for al-Qaeda in 1991 to run businesses to provide it with income and support. Farooq and bin Laden met. Also present was Dr Hasan Turabi, the head of the Muslim Brotherhood organization of Sudan. (Bin Laden married one of Turabi's nieces while he was in Sudan.)
This meeting was to prove helpful to both bin Laden and Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein.
http://atimes.com/c-asia/DB23Ag02.html
Philippines' expulsion of Iraqi diplomat bolsters U.S. case that Iraq engaged in terrorism
Thu Feb 13, 2003, 8:14 AM ET
By HRVOJE HRANJSKI, Associated Press Writer
MANILA, Philippines - The expulsion from the Philippines of an Iraqi diplomat allegedly linked to the Muslim extremist Abu Sayyaf group has bolstered the U.S. case that Iraq is sponsoring international terrorism, Philippine officials said Thursday.
The Abu Sayyaf has been loosely linked to Osama bin Laden (news - web sites)'s al-Qaeda network. The Philippines has given Iraqi Consul Husham Husain until Friday to leave the country. . . . Shortly after the outbreak of the Gulf War in January 1991, Manila expelled then-Iraqi Charge d'Affaires Muwafak al-Ani after an Iraqi man was killed and another wounded in the premature detonation of a bomb believed intended for the U.S. cultural center in suburban Makati. The planned bombing appeared to be an initial attempt by Iraq to carry out a threat of global terrorism in response to the U.S.-led assault to force its military out of Kuwait.
http://www.highbeam.com/library/doc0.asp?docid=1P1:71751371&dtype=0~0&dinst=&author=&title=Expelled%20Iraqi%20Envoy%20Leaves%20Philippines&date=02/14/2003&refid=ency_botnm
Saddam link to terror group
By Philip Smucker in Baghdad and Adrian Blomfield in Nairobi
(Filed: 17/04/2003)
London Telegraph
Saddam Hussein's regime was linked to an African Islamist terrorist group, according to intelligence papers seen by The Telegraph. The documents provide the first hard evidence of ties between Iraq and religious terrorism. . . The papers show how Iraq's charge d'affaires in Nairobi, Fallah Hassan Al Rubdie, was in discussion with the Allied Democratic Forces, a Ugandan guerrilla group with ties to other anti-western Islamist organisations. . . In a letter to the head of the Iraqi spy agency, a senior ADF operative outlined his group's efforts to set up an "international mujahideen team". . . Nassir offered to "vet, recruit and send youth to train for the jihad" at a centre in Baghdad, which he described as a "headquarters for international holy warrior network". . .
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2003/04/17/wsad17.xml
'We'll pay all expenses to gain the knowledge from bin Laden and convey a message back'
(Filed: 27/04/2003)
London Telegraph
Document 1, dated February 19, 1998
Marked "Top Secret and Urgent" in the margin and signed by "MDA", thought to be the codename for the director of one of the intelligence sections within the Mukhabarat.
"The envoy is a trusted confidant and known by them. According to the above mediation we request official permission to call Khartoum station to facilitate the travel arrangements for the above-mentioned person to Iraq. And that our body carry all the travel and hotel expenses inside Iraq to gain the knowledge of the message from bin Laden and to convey to his envoy an oral message from us to bin Laden, the Saudi opposition leader, about the future of our relationship with him, and to achieve a direct meeting with him." . . .
Document 2, dated February 23, 1998
Addressed to codename "M4/7", marked "Information M4 D1/3/4" and given the number 375 by the Mukhabarat bureaucracy.
"The permission of Mr Deputy Director of Intelligence has been gained on 21 February for this operation, to secure a reservation for one of the intelligence services guest's for one week in one of the first class hotels [the Al Mansour Melia hotel in Baghdad]".
Signed by "M.D. 1/3", next to which is written February 22.
In the margin it is written that this has been done in co-ordination with the chief of the Saudi section and that they write to extend the period of host for one more week.
A note at the bottom of the page says "The envoy H arrived 5th March". Another note mentions "room 414" next to the name, Mohammed F. Mohammed Ahmed.
Document 3, dated March 24, 1998
Written by hand and labelled number 736 and marked "Secret" in the margin. This paper has been given the code number M 4/7/2 and is addressed to codename "2/D1/3".
"Your information numbered D1/3/4/375 dated 23rd February 1998, we enclose herewith the bill to host a guest in Mansour Melia Hotel. Please let it be known and get the official permission to spend the amount and return the permission back with our regards. Include the name of bills of the hotel." Signed by another official with the codename M.M. 4/7
At the foot of this document there is another note, dated April 13, that says that after 21 days:
"We have been informed by Saudi section chief [of the Iraqi Intelligence Service, the Mukhabarat] that we get permission to send the amount and the permission is sent to directorate accountant."
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2003/04/27/walq127.xml
Toronto Star
Apr. 27, 2003. 09:58 AM
Clumsy efforts hid bin Laden's name
MITCH POTTER
MIDDLE EAST BUREAU
As the mystery slowly unravelled, Amir's eyes grew wider. Finally, he leapt from the bed in stunned disbelief. "What? What have you got," I asked.
"It says bin Laden. It says bin Laden," he bellowed, jumping in the air.
http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/Article_Type1&c=Article&cid=1051125568653&call_pageid=968332188492&col=968793972154
Toronto Star
Star finds bin Laden-Iraq links
Three pages of documents point to the arrival of a messenger
MITCH POTTER
TORONTO STAR
Apr. 28, 2003. 01:34 PM
Osama bin Laden's Al Qaeda organization and Saddam Hussein's regime shared direct contact as early as 1998, according to top-secret Iraqi intelligence documents obtained by the Star. . . .
The handwritten file, three pages in all, relates to the arrival of a secret envoy sent by bin Laden to Iraq in March, 1998, apparently to establish a clandestine relationship with the Iraqi regime.
http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/Article_Type1&c=Article&cid=1051125568646&call_pageid=1045739058633
FreeRepublic
Target: Safe Harbor – Bush’s case against Iraq is iron-clad post – 9/11
National Review Online ^ | September 6, 2002 | Larry Kudlow
The New Yorker's Jeffrey Goldberg reported brilliantly on Ansar al-Islam last winter. This is a group of several hundred terrorists who were initially trained and organized by bin Laden troops and co-financed by al Qaeda and Saddam Hussein's secret police. . . .
And Ledeen points out that these groups are being aided and abetted by the "terror masters" — namely Iran, Iraq, and Syria who foster, arm, and train these terrorists, and Saudi Arabia, the financier. These are the safe-harboring states who shield enemies of the United States.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/745761/posts
Jane’s Information Group
Who did it?
19 September 2001
. . . The Iraqis, who for several years paid smaller groups to do their dirty work, were quick to discover the advantages of Al-Qaeda. . . .
http://www.janes.com/security/international_security/news/fr/fr010919_1_n.shtml
Was bin Laden working with Iraq?
Boston Globe ^ | 9/25/01 | Laurie Mylroie
. . . Above all, a critical question has not been addressed: Was bin Laden alone responsible for the carnage that occurred on Sept. 11, or was he working with an enemy state, namely Iraq?As Rafael Eitan, former head of Israel's Mossad, stated, ''I have no doubt whatsoever that the
mastermind of this atrocity is none other than the Iraqi dictator.'' Former CIA director Jim Woolsey has also fingered Iraq, and senior officials in the Pentagon agree. . . .
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/531970/posts
FreeRepublic
Iraq Tempts Bin Laden To Attack West
The Herald (UK)
By Ian Bruce
December 28, 1999
The world's most wanted man, Osama bin Laden, has been offered sanctuary in Iraq if his worldwide terrorist network succeeds in carrying out a campaign of high-profile attacks on the West . . .
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/527008/posts
FreeRepublic
Seven Years Later: Was TWA Flight 800 a First Strike By Jihad Terrorists?
Capitalism Magazine ^ | July 17, 2003 | Scott Holleran
Skeptics questioned the investigation, including former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Thomas Moorer, a retired admiral, who added his name to those who believe a missile destroyed the plane.
Moorer -- joined by Vernon Grose, a former member of the National Transportation Safety Board -- expressed grave doubts about the investigation. "All the evidence," Moorer said, "would point to a missile."
At the time of the crash, 270 eyewitnesses reported seeing a streak of light. Nearly 100 eyewitnesses said that the streak of light *originated* from the earth's surface, contrary to the CIA's animated simulation.
http://209.157.64.200/focus/f-news/947966/posts
If you quote or reference this site please provide a link to this page.
The url is:
http://www.pixelpages.net/intel/saddam-laden.htm.
We would also appreciate an e-mail letting us know where you linked it at.
You may submit articles or comments to saddam-laden@pixelpages.net
Last updated: 05/27/2004 02:49 PM -0400
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.
Ted Kennedy is leading this parade.
He keeps posturing, screamed liar, and has upgraded his rhetoric into culminations of quagmire.
His intentions are:
Deflect his brothers Vietnam defeat with relentless attacks, repeats, then a climax with an Iraq walkout.
The purpose: Smearing, transferring, and tagging this Vietnam quagmire outcome onto President Bush.
We know Saddam worked with the PLO and other terrorists, he funded them. He at LEAST knew that 9/11 was coming.
Less than two months before 9/11/01, the state-controlled Iraqi newspaper “Al-Nasiriya” carried a column headlined, “American, an Obsession called Osama Bin Ladin.” (July 21, 2001)
In the piece, Baath Party writer Naeem Abd Muhalhal predicted that bin Laden would attack the US “with the seriousness of the Bedouin of the desert about the way he will try to bomb the Pentagon after he destroys the White House.”
The same state-approved column also insisted that bin Laden “will strike America on the arm that is already hurting,” and that the US “will curse the memory of Frank Sinatra every time he hears his songs” – an apparent reference to the Sinatra classic, “New York, New York”.
(Link below)
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/1106657/posts
List of newspaper article in the 90's which mention the world's concern regarding the growing relationship between OBL and Saddam: http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/946809/posts?page=1
Son of Saddam coordinates OBL activities:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/951911/posts
The AQ connection (excellent):
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/944617/posts?page=2
Western Nightmare:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/alqaida/story/0,12469,798270,00.html
Saddam's link to OBL:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/866105/posts
NYT: Iraq and AQ agree to cooperate:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/985906/posts
Wolfowitz Says Saddam behind 9/11 Attacks:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/921398/posts
Growing Evidence of Saddam and Al Qaeda Link, The Weekly Standard, July 2003:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/946997/posts
Cheney lectures Russert on Iraq/911 Link, September 2003:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/982713/posts
No Question About It, National Review, September 2003
http://www.nationalreview.com/robbins/robbins091903.asp
Iraq: A Federal Judges Point of View
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/986293/posts
Mohammed's Account links Iraq to 9/11 and OKC:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/987075/posts
Free Republic Thread that mentions so me books Freepers might be interested in on this topic:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/977221/posts
The Proof that Saddam Worked with AQ, The Telegraph, April 2003:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=%2Fnews%2F2003%2F04%2F27%2Fwalq27.xml
Saddam's AQ Connection, The Weekly Standard, September 2003
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/969032/posts
September 11 Victims Sue Iraq:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/2237332.stm
Terrorist Behind 9/11 Attacks Trained by Saddam, The Telegraph, December 2003
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1007969/posts
James Woolsey Links Iraq and AQ, CNN Interview, March 2004, Also see Posts #34 and #35
http://freerepublic.com/focus/news/1104121/posts
A Geocities Interesting Web Site with maps and connections:
http://www.geocities.com/republican_strategist/Iraq-Bin-Laden.html
Bin Laden indicted in federal court, read down to find information that Bin Laden agreed to not attack Iraq and to work cooperatively with Iraq:
http://usinfo.state.gov/topical/pol/terror/98110402.htm
Case Closed, The Weekly Standard, November 03
http://www.weeklystandard.com/Content/Public/Articles/000/000/003/378fmxyz.asp
CBS - Lawsuit: Iraq involved in 9/11:
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2002/09/05/september11/main520874.shtml
Exploring Iraq's Involvement in pre-9/11 Acts, The Indianapolis Star:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/746225/posts
The Iraq/AQ Connection: Richard Minister again
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/989201/posts
Militia defector claims Baghdad trained Al-Qaeda fighters in chemical warfare
Gwynne Roberts in Ankara
Sunday Times (London); Overseas news; News; 23
July 14, 2002, Sunday
Mohammed said he was recruited into Saddam's Fedayeen in 1997 and trained at two secret facilities - at Salman Pak, southeast of Baghdad, and at the Unit 999 camp, northwest of the Iraqi capital. His first encounter with Bin Laden's fighters occurred at Salman Pak when he was on an induction course to become a Fedayeen officer, he said.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/743892/posts
The Clinton View of Iraq/AQ Ties, The Weekly Standard, December 2003
http://www.weeklystandard.com/Content/Public/Articles/000/000/003/527uwabl.asp
Saddam Controlled the Camps (Iraq/AQ Ties): The London Observer, November 01
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/741676/posts
Saddam's Terror Ties that Critics Ignore, National Review, October 2003:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1005579/posts
Tape Shows General Wesley Clark linking Iraq and AQ:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1056113/posts
Wall Street Journal on Iraq and AQ:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/987129/posts
Iraq and Iran contact OBL:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/981055/posts
Saddam's Ambassador to Al Qaeda: (February 2004, Weekly Standard)
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1083778/posts
Yes - it's NewsMax but loaded with interesting bullet points.
http://freerepublic.com/focus/news/1097521/posts?page=1
Saddam's Fingerprints on NY Bombing (Wall Street Journal, June 1993)
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1115387/posts
Colin Powell: Iraq and AQ Partners for Years (CNN, February 2003)
http://www.cnn.com/2003/US/02/05/sprj.irq.alqaeda.links/
TCS
The Iraq -- Al Qaeda Connections
by Richard Miniter Publish 09/25/2003
. . . Those who try to whitewash Saddam's record don't dispute this evidence; they just ignore it. So let's review the evidence, all of it on the public record for months or years:
* Abdul Rahman Yasin was the only member of the al Qaeda cell that detonated the 1993 World Trade Center bomb to remain at large in the Clinton years. He fled to Iraq. U.S. forces recently discovered a cache of documents in Tikrit, Saddam's hometown, that show that Iraq gave Mr. Yasin both a house and monthly salary.
* Sudanese intelligence officials told me that their agents had observed meetings between Iraqi intelligence agents and bin Laden starting in 1994, when bin Laden lived in Khartoum.
* In 1999 the Guardian, a British newspaper, reported that Farouk Hijazi, a senior officer in Iraq's mukhabarat, had journeyed deep into the icy mountains near Kandahar, Afghanistan, in December 1998 to meet with al Qaeda men. Mr. Hijazi is "thought to have offered bin Laden asylum in Iraq," the Guardian reported.
* In October 2000, another Iraqi intelligence operative, Salah Suleiman, was arrested near the Afghan border by Pakistani authorities, according to Jane's Foreign Report, a respected international newsletter. Jane's reported that Suleiman was shuttling between Iraqi intelligence and Ayman al Zawahiri, now al Qaeda's No. 2 man.
* In 1998, Abbas al-Janabi, a longtime aide to Saddam's son Uday, defected to the West. At the time, he repeatedly told reporters that there was a direct connection between Iraq and al Qaeda.
*The Sunday Times found a Saddam loyalist in a Kurdish prison who claims to have been Dr. Zawahiri's bodyguard during his 1992 visit with Saddam in Baghdad. Dr. Zawahiri was a close associate of bin Laden at the time and was present at the founding of al Qaeda in 1989.
* In 2001. . . That same year, Saudi Arabian border guards arrested two al Qaeda members entering the kingdom from Iraq.
* Abu Musaab al-Zarqawi oversaw an al Qaeda training camp in Afghanistan, Mr. Powell told the United Nations. His specialty was poisons. Wounded in fighting with U.S. forces, he sought medical treatment in Baghdad in May 2002. When Zarqawi recovered, he restarted a training camp in northern Iraq. Zarqawi's Iraq cell was later tied to the October 2002 murder of Lawrence Foley, an official of the U.S. Agency for International Development, in Amman, Jordan. The captured assassin confessed that he received orders and funds from Zarqawi's cell in Iraq, Mr. Powell said. His accomplice escaped to Iraq.
*Zarqawi met with military chief of al Qaeda, Mohammed Ibrahim Makwai (aka Saif al-Adel) in Iran in February 2003, according to intelligence sources cited by the Washington Post.
* Mohamed Mansour Shahab, a smuggler hired by Iraq to transport weapons to bin Laden in Afghanistan, was arrested by anti-Hussein Kurdish forces in May, 2000. He later told his story to American intelligence and a reporter for the New Yorker magazine.
* Documents found among the debris of the Iraqi Intelligence Center show that Baghdad funded the Allied Democratic Forces, a Ugandan terror group led by an Islamist cleric linked to bin Laden. According to a London's Daily Telegraph, the organization offered to recruit "youth to train for the jihad" at a "headquarters for international holy warrior network" to be established in Baghdad.
* Mullah Melan Krekar, ran a terror group (the Ansar al-Islam) linked to both bin Laden and Saddam Hussein. Mr. Krekar admitted to a Kurdish newspaper that he met bin Laden in Afghanistan and other senior al Qaeda officials. His acknowledged meetings with bin Laden go back to 1988. When he organized Ansar al Islam in 2001 to conduct suicide attacks on Americans, "three bin Laden operatives showed up with a gift of $300,000 'to undertake jihad,'" Newsday reported. Mr. Krekar is now in custody in the Netherlands. His group operated in a portion of northern Iraq loyal to Saddam Hussein -- and attacked independent Kurdish groups hostile to Saddam. A spokesman for the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan told a United Press International correspondent that Mr. Krekar's group was funded by "Saddam Hussein's regime in Baghdad."
* After October 2001, hundreds of al Qaeda fighters are believed to have holed up in the Ansar al-Islam's strongholds inside northern Iraq. . . .
Mr. Miniter is a senior fellow at the Center for the New Europe and author of "Losing bin Laden: How Bill Clinton's Failures Unleashed Global Terror" (Regnery) which is now on the New York Times' bestseller list.
http://www.techcentralstation.com/092503F.html
Oil for Food Scandal Ties Iraq and Al Qaeda (June 2003)
http://freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1125899/posts
Saddam and OBL Make a Pact (The New Yorker, February 2003):
http://www.newyorker.com/fact/content/?030210fa_fact
Al Qaeda's Poison Gas (Wall Street Journal, April 2004):
http://www.opinionjournal.com/editorial/feature.html?id=110005016
Richard Clarke used to believe in an Iraq/AQ connection:
http://slate.msn.com/id/2097901/
Freeper list of links between AQ and Iraq:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/850346/posts
Salman Pak (Aviation Weekly)
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/865435/posts
Saddam/911 Link (FrontPage Magazine, Laurie Mylroie, May 2004):
http://freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1133317/posts
Bush says Zarqawi killed Berg, cites Saddam ties (Reuters, May 2004)
http://freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1136076/posts
Iraq's WMD have been found:
http://www.insightmag.com/news/2004/05/11/World/Investigative.Reportsaddams.Wmd.Have.Been.Found-670120.shtml
Another freeper resource - list of links between OBL and Saddam:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/838309/posts
The Connections (May 2004, The Weekly Standard)
New Information:http://freerepublic.com/focus/news/1144123/posts?page=11
Saddam's role in 9/11. (Freeper book, May 2004)
http://freerepublic.com/focus/news/1144699/posts
NewsMax reports on WSJ article last week regarding the Iraq/OBL connections. Post #33 is spot on why the administration has chosen not to capitalize on this matter, and to their detriment.
http://freerepublic.com/focus/news/1144012/posts?page=53
Entire link and Post #5 - Clinton mentioned how AQ was developing a relationship with Iraq.
http://freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1145787/posts
The House of Representatives read into the congressional record the ties that Saddam had to Osama bin Laden (read down and open links in the record): June 2004
http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/B?r108:@FIELD(FLD003+h)+@FIELD(DDATE+20040601)
The Terrorist behind 9/11 was trained by Saddam (The Telegraph, 12/03)
http://freerepublic.com/focus/news/1146356/posts
Saddam's connections to bin Laden/al-Qaeda/911
Excerpts from 60 articles with links provided to each of the original articles
“. . . prosecuting the informational battle in the War on Terrorism is not like prosecuting a Mafia don, which typically requires rock-solid exhibits such as wiretap intercepts, hidden-camera footage, DNA samples, and the testimony of deep-cover “Mob rats.” On the contrary, it is important to emphasize, as strongly as possible, that the United States need not—and in fact should not—hold itself to courtroom standards of evidence except when appearing before domestic or international judges. The administration merely has to demonstrate its claims and refute those of its opponents, not convict Saddam Hussein before a jury of his peers. . . . The appropriate standard of evidence . . . is not that of a trial, but rather that of a hearing on whether a criminal suspect should be indicted. In this respect, the “prosecution” definitely has a prima facie case that Hussein’s Iraq indeed was a haven for terrorists until the moment U.S. troops invaded.” – Deroy Murdock
Frontpagemag.com
The Saddam-9/11 Link Confirmed
By Laurie Mylroie
FrontPageMagazine.com | May 11, 2004
As Epstein now reports, Czech authorities have discovered that al-Ani’s appointment calendar shows a scheduled meeting on April 8, 2001 with a "Hamburg student."
That is exactly what the Czechs had been saying since shortly after 9/11: Atta, a long-time student at Germany’s Hamburg-Harburg Technical University, met with al-Ani on April 8, 2001. Indeed, when Atta earlier applied for a visa to visit the Czech Republic, he identified himself as a “Hamburg student.” The discovery of the notation in al-Ani’s appointment calendar about a meeting with a “Hamburg student” provides critical corroboration of the Czech claim. America’s leading lights, including those in government responsible for dealing with terrorism and with Iraq, made a mammoth blunder. They failed to recognize that starting with the first assault on New York’s World Trade Center, Iraq was working with Islamic militants to attack the United States. This failure left the country vulnerable on September 11, 2001.
http://www.frontpagemag.com/Articles/ReadArticle.asp?ID=13323
Newsmax.com
Tuesday, March 23, 2004 10:10 p.m. EST
[Richard] Clarke: Iraq Teamed Up With bin Laden to Produce WMDs
. . . reporters aren't talking about the chapter of "Against All Enemies" that describes how Osama bin Laden cooperated with Iraqi scientists to make weapons of mass destruction - a development that, if true, would more than justify President Bush's decision to go to war in Iraq.
In his book, [Richard] Clarke describes how the Clinton CIA determined in 1996 that Sudan's Shifa chemical plant, which was allegedly bankrolled by bin Laden, was producing the chemical EMPTA.
"EMPTA is a compound that had been used as a prime ingredient in Iraqi nerve gas," writes Clarke. "It has no other known use, nor had any other nation employed EMPTA to our knowledge for any purpose."
http://www.newsmax.com/archives/ic/2004/3/23/221155.shtml
Global Security.org
December 14, 2002 - 14:05
Salman Pak / Al Salman
Former Iraqi military officers have described a highly secret terrorist training facility at Salman Pak, where both Iraqis and non-Iraqi Arabs receive training on hijacking planes and trains, planting explosives in cities, sabotage, and assassinations.
http://www.globalsecurity.org/wmd/world/iraq/salman_pak.htm
Photos Prove Connection Between Iraq and Al-Qaeda Terrorists
March 14, 2003
About 20 minutes before show time, we posted satellite imagery of Salman Pak - home of the terrorist training center in Iraq we've been telling you about. I want to thank Gary Napier and his whole staff from Space Imaging, Inc. for these images from their IKONOS satellite.
http://www.rushlimbaugh.com/home/cold/photos_prove_connection_between_iraq_and_al_qaedaterrorists.guest.html
Newsmax.com
Monday, Jan. 26, 2004 11:16 a.m. EST
Case for Iraq War Stronger Than Ever
U.S. satellite photos confirming the existence of a Boeing 707 fuselage that Khodada and his partner say was used as a hijacking classroom. U.N. weapons inspector Charles Duelfer, who was tapped on Friday to succeed David Kay, corroborated their account.
A May 7, 2003, decision by Manhattan U.S. District Judge Harold Baer, . . . The account of former CIA Director Woolsey, whose testimony was summarized by Judge Baer thusly:
"Director Woolsey described the existence of a highly secure military facility in Iraq where non-Iraqi fundamentalists [e.g., Egyptians and Saudis] are trained in airplane hijacking and other forms of terrorism. Through satellite imagery and the testimony of three Iraqi defectors, plaintiffs demonstrated the existence of this facility, called Salman Pak, which has an airplane but no runway."
http://newsmax.com/archives/ic/2004/1/26/120224.shtml
FreeRepublic
Proof of Iraq/Bin Laden links
Weekend Austrailian ^ |
November 04, 2001 | From AFP
. . . A former Iraqi special forces officer has given new proof of links between Islamic extremist Osama bin Laden and Iraq, Italy's La Repubblica newspaper reported on Saturday . . . The newspaper said that the former officer told of a training camp called Salman Pak in Iraq where members of bin Laden's terror network had trained as pilots and on how to seize control of aircraft. Musawi said that the former officer told him: "There were also women pilots who were trained and I believe that the next time, if there is a next time, it could be a woman who takes over an airplane."
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/563841/posts
PBS
Nov. 6, 2001
PBS interview with Iraqi Lt. General:
This general served Saddam Hussein for decades. Along with another Iraqi defector, Sabah Khodada (see below), the general tells of terrorists training in a Boeing 707 resting next to railroad tracks on the edge of Salman Pak, an area south of Baghdad. The existence of the plane has been confirmed by U.N. inspectors.
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/gunning/interviews/general.html
PBS
Oct. 14, 2001
PBS interview with Sabah Khodada:
A captain in the Iraqi army from 1982 to 1992, he worked at what he describes as a highly secret terrorist training camp at Salman Pak
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/gunning/interviews/khodada.html
PBS
October 18, 2001
PBS interview with Laurie Mylorie:
Well, Jim Fox, then head of the New York FBI himself believed that Iraq was behind the Trade Center bombing. Why? Because he recognized that the Muslim extremists were not capable of carrying out this plot on their own. There was something major behind it. Two, there were Iraqis all around the fringe of the plot. One of those Iraqis, Abdul Rachman Yasin, came from Baghdad before the bombing, returned to Baghdad afterwards.
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/gunning/interviews/mylroie.html
Al Qaeda was trained in Iraqi terror camps
Febuary 13, 2003
GWYNNE ROBERTS
Sunday Times of London
EVIDENCE is now emerging of a shadowy military alliance between Saddam Hussein and Osama bin Laden which involves training al Qaeda fighters to use chemical and biological weapons in sabotage operations in Europe and the United States.
US claims of a direct link between bin Laden and Saddam have fallen on deaf ears in Europe. But an investigation I conducted for PBS, the American state broadcaster, reveals such a connection really exists. . . . The first hint that something unusual was happening was picked up in 1997 by Jane's Intelligence Review. It reported that Saudi and Palestinian dissidents were being trained in Iraq at secret camps run by a Iraqi military intelligence group known as Unit 999. . . . In 1994, Unit 999 also started training Saddam's Fedayeen, a brutal militia. Abu Mohammed, who fled to Turkey three years ago, told me that in 1997 and 1998 Islamic extremists were being instructed to use poison gas and biological weapons in behind-the-lines operations in the Middle East and the West. Unit 999 ran a course for a number of extremist Middle Eastern groups, including al Qaeda. . . . Mohammed said a year later he attended another training course at Salman Pak and Unit 999 where he encountered al Qaeda fighters.
"There was also training in the use of biological and chemical weapons there but they were not Iraqis doing it - only foreigners. In the training areas there is a field especially for weapons of mass destruction. Here, experts hold lectures and conduct biological experiments, theoretical experiments, of course, on how to place explosives, or how to pollute specific areas."
Mohammed added: "They had maps of the USA, Britain, Turkey, Iran and Saudi Arabia."
Gwynne Roberts is an Iraq specialist and documentary film maker
http://www.intelmessages.org/Messages/National_Security/wwwboard/messages_02/3819.html
FreeRepublic
MEMRI
October 17, 2003 No.592
Iraqi Daily: Saddam Ordered Training of Al-Qa'ida Members
The independent Iraqi weekly Al-Yawm Al-Aakher reveals details on the training of Al-Qa'ida members operating under the orders of Saddam's Presidential Palace two months before the September 11 attacks. The following are excerpts from the article:
http://memri.org/bin/articles.cgi?Page=archives&Area=sd&ID=SP59203
Weekly Standard:
Intel Report Links Saddam, Usama
Saturday, November 15, 2003
by Stephen F. Hayes
Usama bin Laden (search) and Saddam Hussein (search) had an operational relationship from the early 1990s to 2003 that involved training in explosives and weapons of mass destruction, logistical support for terrorist attacks, Al Qaeda training camps and safe haven in Iraq, and Iraqi financial support for Al Qaeda - perhaps even for Mohamed Atta - according to a top secret U.S. government memorandum obtained by The Weekly Standard.
The memo, dated October 27, 2003, was sent from Undersecretary of Defense for Policy Douglas J. Feith (search) to Senators Pat Roberts and Jay Rockefeller, the chairman and vice chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee.
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,103176,00.html
NYPOST.COM
Intelligence Report Links Saddam, Usama
Sunday, November 16, 2003
Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein (search) gave terror lord Usama bin Laden's thugs financial and logistical support, offering Al Qaeda (search) money, training and haven for more than a decade, it was reported yesterday.
Their deadly collaboration — which may have included the bombing of the USS Cole (search) and the 9/11 attacks — is revealed in a 16-page memo to the Senate Intelligence Committee (search) that cites reports from a variety of domestic and foreign spy agencies compiled by multiple sources,
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,103163,00.html
Terror-tied by memo
By Frank J. Gaffney Jr.
THE WASHINGTON TIMES
Published November 18, 2003
The unavoidable conclusion: Saddam Hussein's regime had been guilty as charged -- tied for more than a decade to Osama bin Laden and his al Qaeda network (among other terrorist groups) for the purpose of waging attacks on their mutual foe, the United States.
http://www.washingtontimes.com/commentary/20031117-085555-9545r.htm
March 18, 2002
Protecting Saddam
By WILLIAM SAFIRE
The New York Times
WASHINGTON — Soviet propagandists used to touch up photographs to remove the face of a Kremlin official who had fallen from favor, making him a "nonperson." The same disinformation technique is now being used to wipe out the fact of a meeting in Prague in April, 2001 — five months before the Sept. 11 attacks on the U.S. — between Mohamed Atta, the leading Qaeda hijacker, and Ahmed al-Ani, the Iraqi consul in Prague, who was Saddam Hussein's intelligence case officer there.
On solid evidence: The Czech intelligence agency, B.I.S., had the Iraqi embassy spy in Prague under constant visual and wiretap surveillance . . . Three months ago, after the absolve-Saddam campaign began to cast doubt on the report of the Atta-al Ani meeting at the Prague airport, Interior Minister Stanislav Gross issued a statement that "B.I.S. guarantees the information, so we stick by that information." No backing away; on the contrary, strong reaffirmation.
On corroboration of the evidence that Atta flew 7,000 miles, from Virginia Beach to Prague and back to Florida (his third trip to Prague in a year): The F.B.I. has car-rental and other records that Atta left for Prague on April 8, 2001, and returned on April 11. The B.I.S. report of the meeting that Saddam's case officer had with the suicide hijacker fell precisely within those dates. Czech intelligence, in identifying al-Ani's contact as Atta, had no knowledge of the F.B.I.'s evidence that independently corroborates Atta's brief presence in Prague.
On C.I.A. assessment of the evidence: James Risen reported in The New York Times last month that while not enough evidence ties Saddam specifically to Sept. 11, "senior American intelligence officials have concluded that the meeting between Mr. Atta and the Iraqi officer, Ahmed Khalil Ibrahim Samir al-Ani, did take place."
http://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F30713F73C5C0C7B8DDDAA0894DA404482
UN envoy confirms terrorist meeting
Kmonicek says Al-Ani, Atta spoke in Prague
By Frank Griffiths
FOR THE POST
June 5, 2002
The Czech envoy to the UN has confirmed that an Iraqi agent met with suspected Sept. 11 hijacker Mohamed Atta, in the latest rebuke to widespread U.S. media reports dismissing the Prague encounter as a fabrication.
"The meeting took place," Hynek Kmonicek, a former deputy foreign minister, told The Prague Post flatly in a New York City interview . . . The rendezvous between the al-Qaida operative and the Iraqi intelligence agent was confirmed by Prime Minister Milos Zeman . . . But Kmonicek, a government official with top security clearance, was adamant that al-Ani and Atta met in April 2001, as Czech officials have stated repeatedly.
. . . Kmonicek said the Czech government collected detailed evidence of the al-Ani/Atta meeting, but declined to elaborate on the nature of the evidence. . . .
http://www.praguepost.com/P02/2002/20605/news1a.php
'Saddam controlled the camp’
The Iraqi connection
Sunday November 11, 2001
The Observer
As evidence linking Iraqi intelligence to the 11 September hijackers begins to emerge, David Rose gathers testimony from former Baghdad agents and the CIA to reveal the secrets of Saddam's terror training camp.
Zeinab and Khodad said the Salman Pak students practised their techniques in a Boeing 707 fuselage parked in the foreigners' part of the camp. Yesterday their story received important corroboration from Charles Duelfer, former vice chairman of Unscom, the UN weapons inspection team. Duelfer said he visited Salman Pak several times, landing by helicopter. He saw the 707, in exactly the place described by the defectors.
. . . Abu Amin . . . he is one of Iraq's most highly decorated intelligence officers . . . who then went on to a senior post in the unit known as 'M8' - the department for 'special operations', such as sabotage, terrorism and murder. This is the man, Colonel Muhammed Khalil Ibrahim al-Ani, whom Mohamed Atta flew halfway across the world to meet in Prague last April, five months before piloting his hijacked aircraft into the World Trade Centre.
Evidence is mounting that this meeting was not an isolated event. The Observer has learnt that Atta's talks with al-Ani were only one of several apparent links between Iraq, the 11 September hijackers and Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda network. Senior US intelligence sources say the CIA has 'credible information' that in the spring of this year, at least two other members of the hijacking team also met known Iraqi intelligence agents outside the United States. They are believed to be Atta's closest associates and co-leaders, Marwan al-Shehri and Ziad Jarrah, the other two members of the 'German cell ' who lived with Atta in Hamburg in the late 1990s.
In the strongest official statement to date alleging Iraqi involvement in the new wave of anti-Western terrorism, on Friday night Milos Zeman, the Czech Prime Minister, told reporters and Colin Powell, the US Secretary of State, that the Czech authorities believed Atta and al-Ani met expressly to discuss a bombing.
http://observer.guardian.co.uk/focus/story/0,6903,591439,00.html
MSN
Prague Revisted
The evidence of an Iraq/al-Qaida connetion hasn’t gone away.
By Edward Jay Epstein
Updated Wednesday, Nov. 19, 2003
Atta's business appeared to be extremely time sensitive and specific to May 30. When Atta learned in Hamburg that his Czech visa would not be ready until May 31, he nevertheless flew on May 30 to the Prague International Airport, where he would not be allowed to go beyond the transit lounge. Although a large part of this area is surveiled by cameras, he managed to spend all but a few minutes out of their range. After some six hours, he then caught a flight back to Hamburg. >From this visaless round trip, Czech intelligence inferred that Atta had a meeting on May 30 that could not wait, even a day and that whoever arranged it was probably familiar with the transit lounge's surveillance. Finally, the BIS determined that the Prague connection was not limited to a single appointment since Atta returned to Prague by bus on June 2 (now with visa BONN200005260024), and, after a brief wait in the bus station, disappeared for nearly 20 hours before catching a flight to the United States.
http://slate.msn.com/id/2091354/
NRO
March 17, 2003 1:45 p.m.
Disarmament Not Good Enough
Getting rid of Saddam.
Deroy Murdock
A 9/11 CONNECTION?
According to Michael Ledeen's book, The War Against the Terror Masters, September 11 ring leader Mohamed Atta flew from Virginia Beach to Prague on April 7, 2001. The next day, he met with an Iraqi diplomat and suspected spy named Ahmed Khalil Ibrahim Samir Al-Ani in Prague. On April 9, Ledeen writes, Atta flew home to Florida. "Less than two weeks later he opened an account at the Sun Bank in Florida, and $100,000 was transferred into that account from an unknown money-changer in the Persian Gulf." That April 22, Czech officials expelled Al-Ani for "engaging in activities beyond his diplomatic duties," namely surveilling Radio Free Europe's Prague headquarters.
http://www.nationalreview.com/murdock/murdock031703.asp
Edward Jay Epstein
Ask Ed
Question:
What is the status of the meeting in Prague between September 11th hijacker Mohamed Atta and Iraqi embassy intelligence officer, Ahmad Khalil Ibrahim Samir Al-Ani?
Answer:
The basic information has not changed: Czech counter intelligence determined that an Iraqi official under its surveillance met Atta in April 2001. The interpretation of it, however, has undergone a number of vacillations. Here is the chronology:
http://edwardjayepstein.com/2002question/prague.htm
Newsmax.com
Intelligence Bombshell: Saddam Financed Lead 9/11 Hijacker
Saturday, Nov. 15, 2003 10:44 a.m. EST
In a startling about-face for U.S. intelligence officials, a bombshell memo released by the Senate Intelligence Committee late Friday draws a direct link between Saddam Hussein and the 9/11 attacks, citing evidence that Iraqi intelligence bankrolled lead 9/11 hijacker Mohamed Atta in the months leading up to the worst terrorist attack ever on U.S. soil.
The previously secret 16-page memo, prepared by the CIA and other U.S. intelligence agencies, says Atta met as many as four times in Prague with Iraqi intelligence agent Ahmed al Ani prior to the 9/11 attacks.
In a staggering revelation, which offers an overwhelming and compelling justification for the U.S. attack on Iraq, the CIA memo says that, during one of these meetings, al Ani "ordered the [Iraqi Intelligence Service] finance officer to issue Atta funds from IIS financial holdings in the Prague office."
http://www.newsmax.com/archives/ic/2003/11/15/111243.shtml
Newsmax.com
Sunday, Oct. 6, 2002; 10:31 a.m. EDT
Gephardt: 'Lots Of' Intelligence Ties Iraq to Al-Qaeda
House Minority Leader Dick Gephardt, D-Mo., said Sunday that he'd seen "lots of intelligence" that ties Saddam Hussein's regime in Baghdad to Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda terrorist network.
http://www.newsmax.com/showinside.shtml?a=2002/10/6/102835
Does this link Saddam to 9/11?
(Filed: 14/12/2003)
London Telegraph
However, the tantalising detail provided in the intelligence document uncovered by Iraq's interim government suggests that Atta's involvement with Iraqi intelligence may well have been far deeper than has hitherto been acknowledged.
Written in the neat, precise hand of Tahir Jalil Habbush al-Tikriti, the former head of the Iraqi Intelligence Service (IIS) and one of the few named in the US government's pack of cards of most-wanted Iraqis not to have been apprehended, the personal memo to Saddam is signed by Habbush in distinctive green ink.
Headed simply "Intelligence Items", and dated July 1, 2001, it is addressed: "To the President of the Ba'ath Revolution Party and President of the Republic, may God protect you."
The first paragraph states that "Mohammed Atta, an Egyptian national, came with Abu Ammer (an Arabic nom-de-guerre - his real identity is unknown) and we hosted him in Abu Nidal's house at al-Dora under our direct supervision.
"We arranged a work programme for him for three days with a team dedicated to working with him . . . He displayed extraordinary effort and showed a firm commitment to lead the team which will be responsible for attacking the targets that we have agreed to destroy."
There is nothing in the document that provides any clue to the identity of the "targets", although Iraqi officials say it is a coded reference to the September 11 attacks.
http://www.sundaytelegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=%2Fnews%2F2003%2F12%2F14%2Fwterr114.xml&secureRefresh=true&_requestid=25102
Document links Saddam, bin Laden
Wednesday, 06/25/03
By GILBERT S. MERRITT
For The Tennessean
Through an unusual set of circumstances, I have been given documentary evidence of the names and positions of the 600 closest people in Iraq to Saddam Hussein, as well as his ongoing relationship with Osama bin Laden. . . .
So today he brought me the proof, and there is no doubt in my mind that he is right.
The document shows that an Iraqi intelligence officer, Abid Al-Karim Muhamed Aswod, assigned to the Iraq embassy in Pakistan, is ''responsible for the coordination of activities with the Osama bin Laden group.''
The document shows that it was written over the signature of Uday Saddam Hussein, the son of Saddam Hussein. The story of how the document came about is as follows. . . .
http://www.tennessean.com/nation-world/archives/03/06/34908297.shtml
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,86153,00.html
NewsMax.com
Monday, March 15, 2004 7:24 AM EST
Report: Saddam Harbored Terrorists Who Killed Americans
Saddam Hussein supplied financial support, training and shelter for an array of deadly terrorist organizations right up until the onset of the Iraq war a year ago, including such notorious groups as Hamas, Ansar al-Islam, the Palestinian Liberation Front, the Abu Nidal Organization and the Arab Liberation Front, according to a comprehensive report released by the Hudson Institute.
Titled "Saddam's Philanthropy of Terror," the report details the role played by terrorists supported by Saddam's regime in an array of infamous attacks that have killed hundreds of American citizens both inside and outside the U.S. before and after the Sept. 11 attacks - including the 1985 hijacking of the Achille Lauro, the 1988 bombing of Pan Am Flight 103, the 1993 World Trade Center bombing and the Palestinian Intifada . . .
http://www.newsmax.com/archives/ic/2004/3/14/141831.shtml
"Saddam's Philanthropy of Terror”
by Deroy Murdock
American Outlook – Fall 2003
http://www.hudson.org/files/publications/murdocksaddamarticle.pdf
FAS
The National Interest, Winter, 1995/96
THE WORLD TRADE CENTER BOMB:
Who is Ramzi Yousef? And Why It Matters
by Laurie Mylroie
Few Americans are aware of the true scale of the destructive ambition behind that bomb, this despite the fact that two years later, the key figure responsible for building it--a man who had entered the United Stares on an Iraqi passport under the name of Ramzi Yousef--was involved in another stupendous bombing conspiracy. In January 1995, Yousef and his associates plotted to blow up eleven U.S. commercial aircraft in one spectacular day of terrorist rage. The bombs were to be made of a liquid explosive designed to pass through airport metal detectors. But while mixing his chemical brew in a Manila apartment, Yousef started a fire. He was forced to flee, leaving behind a computer that contained the information that led to his arrest a month later in Pakistan. Among the items found in his possession was a letter threatening Filipino interests if a comrade held in custody were not released. It claimed the "ability to make and use chemicals and poisonous gas... for use against vital institutions and residential populations and the sources of drinking water." [1] Quickly extradited, he is now in U.S. custody awaiting trial this spring. . . .
It is important to know who Ramzi Yousef is and who his "friends" are, because if he is not just a bomber-for-hire, or an Islamic militant loosely connected to other Muslim fundamentalists, Yousef's "friends" could still prove very dangerous to the United States. It is of considerable interest, therefore, that a very persuasive case can be made that Ramzi Yousef is an Iraqi intelligence agent, and that his bombing conspiracies were meant as Saddam Hussein's revenge for the Gulf War. . . .
http://www.fas.org/irp/world/iraq/956-tni.htm
Insight on the news
"Deathbed" Confession Transcript -- World Exclusive
Posted April 19, 2002
The following interview with ELMINA ABDUL, widow of EDWIN ANGELES, one of the cofounders of the ABU SAYYAF GROUP (ASG), and deep cover agent for the Defense Intelligence Group (DIG) of the Department of National Defense (DND), of the Republic of the Philippines, was taken on March 10, 2002, in the presence of CHRISTOPHER M. PUNO, Information Officer of the Province of Basilan, at BASCOM Hospital, in the general ward. . . .
DZS: Did he ever talk to you about meetings with Arabs or Americans?
EA: Yes, once he had met with some Arabs and Americans in 1994, in Davao (City), or General Santos (City).
DZS: Did he tell you who they were?
EA: Does the name Ramsey Yousef mean something to you Mr. Sicat?
DZS: Ahmad Hassim. Does that mean something to you?
EA: He had met with them. And an American who he called Terry or the Farmer, and another American whom he did not name.
DZS: Was the American he named as Terry, Terry Nichols?
EA: He did not mention the surname. Only Terry.
DZS: Did he tell you why and how many times they had met?
EA: They met almost every day for one week. They met in an empty bodega (warehouse). They talked about bombings. They mentioned bombing government buildings in San Francisco, Saint Louis and in Oklahoma. The Americans wanted instructions how to make and to explode bombs. He (Edwin) told me that Janjalani was very interested in paying them much money to explode the buildings. The money was coming from Yousef and the other Arab. . . .
DZS: Did he tell you when the bombs would explode; when they exploded?
EA: He told me that the Americans exploded one bomb in Oklahoma in 1995, after he was arrested and after we first met.
DZS: Did he ever tell you who was supplying the money for the bombing of the building, I mean who Yousef was working with or for?
EA: Mr. Sicat, you are the mediaman. Do you not know that Yousef was representing Iraq and Saddam Hussein? Do you not know that? . . .
http://www.insightmag.com/main.cfm?include=detail&storyid=241231
Insight on the news
Insight Online World Exclusive
Posted April 19, 2002
By Kenneth R. Timmerman
Insight has learned that the widow of Philippine-government intelligence agent Edwin Angeles has provided audiotaped testimony to an investigator working for the American victims' families that directly ties Iraqi intelligence agents to Terry Nichols, the man sentenced in 1998 to life in prison for his role in bombing the Alfred P. Murrah Building seven years ago.
http://www.insightmag.com/main.cfm/include/detail/storyid/241237.html
The Terrorist Motel
The I-40 connection between Zacarias Moussaoui and Mohamed Atta
by Jim Crogan
LAWeekly
JULY 26 - AUGUST 1, 2002
The motel owner said that Moussaoui and a man who appeared to be Marwan al-Shehhi -- who helped crash a jetliner into the south tower of the World Trade Center -- were friendly and said a few things, but Atta was clearly the leader. "He did most of the talking and seemed very serious," said the owner . . .
One reason for the FBI's apparent lack of interest might be this motel's alleged connection to Timothy McVeigh and a group of Iraqis who worked in Oklahoma City. According to the motel owner and other witnesses and investigators interviewed by the Weekly, McVeigh and several of these Iraqis were motel guests in the months preceding the 1995 bombing. Witnesses also claimed they saw several of the Iraqis moving barrels of material around on the bed of a truck. The motel owner said the material smelled of diesel fuel and he had to clean up a spill. Diesel fuel was a key component of the truck bomb that blew up the Federal Building. . . .
http://www.laweekly.com/ink/02/36/news-crogan.php
WorldNetDaily
Oklahoma City blast linked to bin Laden
Reporter says FBI refused to accept evidence of foreign terror connection
WEDNESDAY, MARCH 21, 2001
A former investigative reporter for the NBC affiliate in Oklahoma City last night told Fox News Channel's Bill O'Reilly she has gathered massive evidence of a foreign conspiracy involving Saudi terrorist leader Osama bin Laden in the 1995 bombing of the federal building that killed 168 people.
Jayna Davis, former reporter for KFOR-TV in Oklahoma City, says she took her evidence -- including hundreds of court records, 24 sworn witness statements and reports from law enforcement, intelligence and terror experts -- to the FBI, which refused even to accept the material.
She said a Middle East terrorist cell was in operation only blocks from the federal building, and that an Iraqi national who formerly served in Saddam Hussein's Republican Guard was in contact with McVeigh the day of the bombing. She said this suspect arrived at the crime scene in a Ryder truck moments before the blast and sped away in a brown Chevrolet pickup truck immediately after.
http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=22122
Investigative Report
InsightMag.com
Iraqi Connection to Oklahoma Bombing
Posted March 25, 2002
By Kenneth R. Timmerman
. . . That was before an Oklahoma City lawyer named Mike Johnston, aided by Larry Klayman of Judicial Watch, filed a federal lawsuit against Iraq on behalf of victims of the Oklahoma City bombing. The lawsuit alleges that "the entire plot to blow up the Murrah Building on April 19, 1995, in whole or in part, was orchestrated, assisted technically and/ or financially and directly aided by agents of the Republic of Iraq." . . .
The lawsuit, filed in U.S. district court in Washington on March 14, alleges that convicted Oklahoma City conspirator Nichols met repeatedly in the Philippines with World Trade Center bomber Ramzi Youssef, and that Youssef was an Iraqi intelligence agent. If these allegations are confirmed in court, they constitute a stunning indictment of Iraqi state complicity in murderous attacks on the United States well before Sept. 11.
As if anticipating new developments on the terrorism front, CIA Director Tenet told the Senate Armed Services Committee in unusually frank testimony on March 19 that the United States now is actively examining potential Iraqi and Iranian involvement in the Sept. 11 attacks. . . . Last October, U.S. News & World Report revealed in its "Washington Whispers" column that McVeigh was carrying Iraqi telephone numbers when he was arrested on the day of the bombing. Sources tell INSIGHT that the phone numbers apparently were contained in a sealed manila envelope that was turned over to the FBI unopened by the Oklahoma state troopers who arrested McVeigh. The FBI logged in the evidence as "manila envelope with content," but never disclosed what was inside.
Yet another potential Iraqi connection to the Oklahoma City bombing is being promoted by a former Oklahoma City TV reporter named Jayna Davis, who claims to have discovered an Iraqi terrorist network embedded within the Arab immigrant community in the city. . . .
But new evidence uncovered by Johnston and his investigators suggests that Youssef may have had direct ties to Iraqi intelligence all along. "We have sworn witness statements and affidavits from court cases that predate the Oklahoma City bombing that directly tie Ramzi Youssef to Dr. Ihsan Barbouti," Johnston tells INSIGHT. "The witnesses say Barbouti introduced Ramzi Youssef as an 'explosives expert for the Iraqi National Oil Company,' and that Youssef was working in Kuwait for Barbouti prior to the Iraqi invasion." Johnston says that he believes Barbouti was married to a member of Saddam Hussein's al-Tikriti clan. In tribal Iraq, such ties create bonds of absolute loyalty.
http://www.insightmag.com/main.cfm?include=detail&storyid=221859
OpinionJournal
The Iraq Connection
BY MICAH MORRISON
Thursday, September 5, 2002 12:01 a.m. EDT
. . . the long investigative work by Ms. Davis and Ms. Mylroie, coming to parallel conclusions though working largely independently of each other, has gained some prominent supporters. Former CIA Director James Woolsey, for example, recently told the Journal that "when the full stories of these two incidents are finally told, those who permitted the investigations to stop short will owe big explanations to these two brave women. And the nation will owe them a debt of gratitude."
http://www.opinionjournal.com/extra/?id=110002217
Highlights of complaint against Iraq for OK City bombing filed in US District Court, Washington DC (filed in March 2002) Jury selection March 2004:
7. The parties hereto, based on their collective knowledge and on the knowledge of other victims of the bombing of April 19, 1995, believe that the attack was not as simple as has been portrayed by the United States government during the criminal trials of Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols. Specifically, upon information and belief, Plaintiffs assert that other individuals were involved in preparation for and execution of the attack. Plaintiffs assert that the entire plot was, in whole or in part, orchestrated, assisted technically and/or financially, and directly aided by agents of The Republic of Iraq. Plaintiffs further assert that this attack was an illegal continuation of the Persian Gulf War. Plaintiffs herein assert that they or their loved ones are, in effect, civilian casualties of said Gulf War in a manner contrary to the Geneva Convention and other applicable international treaties. Plaintiffs assert that the involvement and complicity of Iraq can be proven by both direct and circumstantial evidence in classic application, i.e., means, opportunity and motive, to wit:
10. On April 20, 1990, a Criminal Investigation Agent for the U.S. Customs Service authored a “Report of Investigation” including information from a confidential informant from Europe who revealed that Barbouti was a “conduit for. . .funds to terrorist organizations.” The Customs informant also noted that there was an individual working with Barbouti. . . . Said individual was identified in a 1991 Florida federal court case, i.e., testimony given two years before the first attack on the World Trade Center, as being “Ramzi Youssef.” Youssef was an Iraqi government agent.
20. Three months later, when the Murrah Building was bombed, Abdul Hakim Murad, in a prison cell in New York City awaiting trial for his part in the plot to bomb five American 747 aircraft, admitted verbally on April 19, 1995 and in writing that Ramzi Youssef’s “liberation army” was responsible for the Murrah Building bombing! Murad’s conspiratorial admission of foreign involvement in the Oklahoma City bombing was revealed by an FBI 302 Report that was referenced in Timothy McVeigh’s March 1997 “Petition for Writ of Mandamus,” Case No. 97-1109 (10th Cir.). The 302 Report was sealed. Said conspiratorial admission, however, was never reported by the government to the bombing victims.
23. Freedom of Information Act records obtained from Interpol’s National Central Bureau on February 24, 2000 revealed that, long after Nichols and McVeigh were in custody for the Murrah Building bombing, Interpol was still trying to apprehend at least two other individuals, one a foreign national, somewhere overseas, who were “implicated in the bomb attack against the Oklahoma City federal building on April 19, 1995.” Also, the last (released) document contained in Interpol’s file regarding the Oklahoma City bombing was a New York Times article about the 1997 trial of Ramzi Youssef for the terrorist plots prepared in the Philippines during 1994 and early 1995. See Exhibit 4, attached hereto, which is incorporated herein by reference. Obviously, Interpol connected Ramzi Youssef to the Oklahoma City bombing. Neither of these things was ever revealed by the United States government to Plaintiffs, i.e., bombing victims, herein.
24. Plaintiffs further assert that Timothy McVeigh had additional Iraqi assistance in preparing the Murrah Building attack during the days leading up to April 19, 1995. This included, specifically, the assistance of Hussain Hashem Alhussaini, a former soldier in the Iraqi army during the Gulf War who had been allowed entry into the United States in 1994 through Boston from an interment camp in Saudi Arabia. Also, see Exhibit 5, attached hereto, which is a copy of an April 19, 1995 government memorandum documenting a report to the Washington Metropolitan Field Office of the FBI, made by a former high-ranking CIA official, and is incorporated herein by reference. Said CIA official (who had previously worked on the Pan Am 103 case) was passing on urgent information from a Saudi Arabian counterterrorism official in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. The intelligence information was that “there was a ‘squad’ of people currently in the United States, very possibly Iraqis, who have been tasked with carrying out terrorist attacks against the United States.” One of the three targets specifically mentioned in the report was Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. The existence of this memo was never communicated by the U.S. government to Plaintiffs herein, i.e., victims.
http://www.judicialwatch.org/cases/86/complaint.html
Insight on the news
The Link Between Iraq and Al-Qaeda
Posted Sept. 29, 2003
By Scott L. Wheeler
Senior investigators and analysts in the U.S. government have concluded that Iraq acted as a state sponsor of terrorism against Americans and logistically supported the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the United States - confirming news reports that until now have emerged only in bits and pieces. . . . That assistance, confirmed independently, came in a variety of ways, including financial support spun out through a complex web of financial institutions in Switzerland, Liechtenstein, Italy and elsewhere. Long suspected of having terrorist ties to al-Qaeda, they now have been linked to Iraq as well. . . . Bush officially cited al-Taqwa as part of al-Qaeda's money-laundering activities. . . . It is in al-Taqwa and Nada Management that the government investigator says he found the links to Saddam and Iraq.
Leitner says. The O'Neill lawsuit . . . against Iraq points to numerous organizations and financial institutions the plaintiffs say were "fronts" for Islamic terrorism activities and claims financial linkages to Iraq, Iraqi intelligence and Saddam. . . . Also listed as a defendant in the lawsuit is the Arab TV network al-Jazeera. "Defendant Mohammed Jaseem al-Ali and two other employees of al-Jazeera are identified in documents captured in the April 2003 U.S. military action in Iraq as having received substantial funding from the Iraqi regime in exchange for acting as liaisons between Iraq and al-Qaeda. One document reveals that al-Jazeera passed letters from Osama bin Laden to Saddam Hussein," the complaint alleges. . . .
Scott L. Wheeler is a contributing writer for Insight magazine.
email the author
http://www.insightmag.com/main.cfm/include/detail/storyid/477622
the weekly Standard
Saddam's Ambassador to al Qaeda
From the March 1, 2004 issue: An Iraqi prisoner details Saddam's links to Osama bin Laden's terror network.
by Jonathan Schanzer
03/01/2004, Volume 009, Issue 24
A RECENTLY INTERCEPTED MESSAGE from Iraq-based terrorist Abu Musab al Zarqawi asking the al Qaeda leadership for reinforcements reignited the debate over al Qaeda ties with Saddam Hussein's fallen Baath regime. . . . In addition to weapons, al-Shamari said, the Mukhabarat also helped finance Ansar al Islam. "On one occasion we gave them ten million Swiss dinars [$700,000]," al-Shamari said, referring to the pre-1990 Iraqi currency. On other occasions, the Mukhabarat provided more than that. The assistance, he added, was furnished "every month or two months." . . . “Abu Wael was "the actual decision-maker" for Ansar al Islam and "an employee of the Mukhabarat." . . . The prisoner told me that he had worked for Abu Wael, who was the leader of a special intelligence directorate in the Mukhabarat. That directorate provided assistance to Ansar al Islam at the behest of Saddam Hussein. . . . Al-Shamari also told me that the links between Saddam's regime and the al Qaeda network went beyond Ansar al Islam. He explained in considerable detail that Saddam actually ordered Abu Wael to organize foreign fighters from outside Iraq to join Ansar. Al-Shamari estimated that some 150 foreign fighters were imported from al Qaeda clusters in Jordan, Turkey, Syria, Yemen, Egypt, and Lebanon to fight with Ansar al Islam's Kurdish fighters. . . . a man known simply as Qods. In June 2003, just before he was arrested and put in the jail where I met him, Qods said that . . . It was only then, . . . that he learned of the link between the Baathists and al Qaeda. . . .
Jonathan Schanzer is a terrorism analyst for the Washington Institute for Near East Policy and author of the forthcoming book "Al-Qaeda's Armies: Middle East Affiliates and the Next Generation of Terror."
http://www.weeklystandard.com/Content/Public/Articles/000/000/003/768rwsbj.asp?pg=1
An Essay:
Iraq’s State Sponsorship of Osama bin-Laden and the
al-Qaeda Terror Network
The Washington Dispatch
Essay by Chris Farrell
Jun 30, 2002
http://www.washingtondispatch.com/cgi-bin/artman/exec/view.cgi/16/32/printer
Arafat-Saddam-Bin Laden Links Surface
DEBKAfile Expose
September 24, 2002, 4:37 PM (GMT+02:00)
http://www.debka.com/article.php?aid=155
For Immediate Release
Aug 13, 2002
SEPTEMBER 11 LAWSUIT AGAINST IRAQ MOVES FORWARD
State Department Confirms Saddam Hussein’s Government Served With Lawsuit Alleging September 11 Involvement
(Washington, DC) Judicial Watch, the public interest group that investigates and prosecutes government corruption, today announced that the governments of Iraq and Afghanistan have been served with a civil lawsuit. . . . The lawsuit alleges a conspiracy among Iraq, bin Laden, the Taliban/Afghani government in the September 11 terrorist attacks on America. The lawsuit alleges that Iraq provided “material support and assistance” to bin Laden’s network to carry out the September 11 attacks and that Iraqi intelligence met several times with September 11 terrorists, in addition to providing training for bin Laden’s terrorist network in Iraq itself. - Judicial Watch, Inc.
http://www.judicialwatch.org/2323.shtml
9/11 SUIT TIES SADDAM TO 10 YRS. OF AID FOR OSAMA
New York Post; New York; Sep 9, 2002; JOHN LEHMANN;
Words in Document: 265
Abstract:
The civil suit against Iraq, filed last week on behalf of 1,400 victims of the Sept. 11 attacks and their families, relies on confidential briefings by ex-CIA officers, interviews with Iraqi defectors, al Qaeda members' testimonies at the African embassy bombing trial and Iraqi and American press reports, according to Manhattan law firm Kreindler and Kreindler. http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/nypost/164848461.html?did=164848461&FMT=ABS&FMTS=FT&date=Sep+9,+2002&desc=9%2f11+SUIT+TIES+SADDAM+TO+10+YRS.+OF+AID+FOR+OSAMA
(2002/09/05):
"Lawsuit: Iraq Knew of 9/11 Attacks"
By Larry Neumeister
Associated Press Writer
Wednesday, September 4, 2002; 7:16 PM
NEW YORK -- A lawsuit filed Wednesday claims Iraq knew Osama bin Laden was targeting the Pentagon and New York City prior to Sept. 11 and that it sponsored terrorists for a decade to avenge its defeat in the Gulf War. . . . The lawsuit alleges that Yousef was an Iraqi intelligence agent who traveled to the United States using travel documents forged in Kuwait during the Iraqi occupation of that country in 1991. Yousef was eventually convicted in the trade center bombing and a plot to blow up a dozen airliners over the Far East in 1995. He is serving a life prison term.
http://www.apfn.net/messageboard/9-06-02/discussion.cgi.39.shtml
Friday, March 7, 2003 1:57 p.m. EST
NewsMax,com
CIA's Woolsey Tells Court: Iraq Involved in 9/11
Former CIA Director James Woolsey offered bombshell testimony this week in a lawsuit brought by the families of World Trade Center victims that implicates Saddam Hussein in the 9/11 attacks. . . . The one-time Clinton administration intelligence chief described what he said was a conspiracy between al-Qaeda and Baghdad.
http://www.newsmax.com/showinside.shtml?a=2003/3/7/140812
Sept. 11 Families Win $104-Million
NEW YORK-May 7, 2003 — A federal judge Wednesday awarded nearly $104 million in damages to the families of at least two victims of the Sept. 11 terror attacks, saying they had shown that Iraq provided material support to Osama bin Laden and al-Qaeda.
Judge Harold Baer outlined the damages against bin Laden, the Taliban and Saddam Hussein and his Iraqi government in a written decision in U.S. District Court in Manhattan. Baer said he had concluded that lawyers for the two victims "have shown, albeit barely ... that Iraq provided material support to bin Laden and al-Qaeda." - ABC Action News
http://www.apfn.net/messageboard/5-09-03/discussion.cgi.53.html
NewsMax,com
Friday, May 9, 2003 7:22 a.m. EDT
9/11 Bombshell: Judge Rules Saddam Trained Hijackers
In a bombshell finding virtually ignored by the American media, a U.S. district court judge in Manhattan ruled Wednesday that Salman Pak, Saddam Hussein's airplane hijacking school located on the outskirts of Baghdad, played a material role in the devastating Sept. 11 attacks on America. . . . according to courtroom testimony by three of the camp's instructors, the facility was a virtual hijacking classroom where al-Qaeda recruits practiced overcoming U.S. flight crews using only small knives - a terrorist technique never employed before 9/11.
At least one veteran of Salman Pak, Sabah Khodad, has maintained that the 9/11 hijackers were actually trained by Saddam's henchman. He told PBS in October 2001 that the World Trade Center attack "was done by graduates of Salman Pak."
http://www.newsmax.com/showinside.shtml?a=2003/5/9/72820
The above lawsuit was filed in Manhattan, the following lawsuit is unrelated and was filed in Washington D.C.
NewsMax,com
Wednesday Feb. 5, 2003; 1:47 p.m. EST
Lawsuit Alleges Saddam Trained 9/11 Hijackers
A lawsuit set to be filed in Washington, D.C. will allege that . . . "Saddam Hussein helped to plan and pay for the September 11 terror attacks on New York and Washington, according to U.S. court documents obtained by the Sunday Express," the paper claimed. . . . Five key witnesses - three Iraqi defectors and two former U.N. weapons inspectors - have "provided chilling details," the Express said . . .
http://www.newsmax.com/showinside.shtml?a=2003/2/5/135346
Spain links suspect in 9/11 plot to Baghdad
David Rose
Sunday March 16, 2003
The Observer
An alleged terrorist accused of helping the 11 September conspirators was invited to a party by the Iraqi ambassador to Spain under his al-Qaeda nom de guerre, according to documents seized by Spanish investigators.
Yusuf Galan, who was photographed being trained at a camp run by Osama bin Laden, is now in jail, awaiting trial in Madrid. The indictment against him, drawn up by investigating judge Baltasar Garzon, claims he was 'directly involved with the preparation and carrying out of the attacks ... by the suicide pilots on 11 September'.
Evidence of Galan's links with Iraqi government officials came to light only recently, as investigators pored through more than 40,000 pages of documents seized in raids at the homes of Galan and seven alleged co-conspirators. The Spanish authorities have supplied copies to lawyers in America, and this week the documents will form part of a dossier to be filed in a federal court in Washington, claiming damages of approximately $100 billion on behalf of more than 2,500 11 September victims. - The Observer
http://observer.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,6903,915142,00.html
WorldNetDaily
Posted: December 11, 2002
Iraq-al-Qaida links go back decade
By David Rose
CIA reports of Iraqi-al-Qaida cooperation number nearly 100 and extend back to 1992, according to a reporter for Vanity Fair whose sources include senior Pentagon officials.
http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=29949
Contacts among Ansar al-Islam, Al Qaeda, and aides to the Iraqi President
By Scott Peterson
Staff Writer of the Christian Science Monitor
2 April 2002
While Ansar is gaining strength in numbers, new information is emerging that ties the organization to both Osama bin Laden's Al Qaeda network and to Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein. The Al Qaeda contacts allegedly stretch back to 1989, and include regular recruiting visits by bin Laden cadres to Kurdish refugee camps in Iran and to northern Iraq, as well as a journey by senior Ansar leaders to meet Al Qaeda chiefs in Kandahar, Afghanistan, in the summer of 2000.
A 20-year veteran of Iraqi intelligence alleges the Iraqi government secretly provided cash and training to Ansar . . .
http://usinfo.state.gov/regional/nea/iraq/press/0418irqtr.htm
Asia Times
Bin Laden uses Iraq to plot new attacks
By Syed Saleem Shahzad
February 23, 2003
Similarly, bin Laden and the al-Qaeda have maintained close relations with Iraqi intelligence since the early 1990s. In 1994, Iraqi intelligence chief Farooq al-Hijazi visited the Sudanese capital of Khartoum, where bin Laden had established a headquarters for al-Qaeda in 1991 to run businesses to provide it with income and support. Farooq and bin Laden met. Also present was Dr Hasan Turabi, the head of the Muslim Brotherhood organization of Sudan. (Bin Laden married one of Turabi's nieces while he was in Sudan.)
This meeting was to prove helpful to both bin Laden and Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein.
http://atimes.com/c-asia/DB23Ag02.html
Philippines' expulsion of Iraqi diplomat bolsters U.S. case that Iraq engaged in terrorism
Thu Feb 13, 2003, 8:14 AM ET
By HRVOJE HRANJSKI, Associated Press Writer
MANILA, Philippines - The expulsion from the Philippines of an Iraqi diplomat allegedly linked to the Muslim extremist Abu Sayyaf group has bolstered the U.S. case that Iraq is sponsoring international terrorism, Philippine officials said Thursday.
The Abu Sayyaf has been loosely linked to Osama bin Laden (news - web sites)'s al-Qaeda network. The Philippines has given Iraqi Consul Husham Husain until Friday to leave the country. . . . Shortly after the outbreak of the Gulf War in January 1991, Manila expelled then-Iraqi Charge d'Affaires Muwafak al-Ani after an Iraqi man was killed and another wounded in the premature detonation of a bomb believed intended for the U.S. cultural center in suburban Makati. The planned bombing appeared to be an initial attempt by Iraq to carry out a threat of global terrorism in response to the U.S.-led assault to force its military out of Kuwait.
http://www.highbeam.com/library/doc0.asp?docid=1P1:71751371&dtype=0~0&dinst=&author=&title=Expelled%20Iraqi%20Envoy%20Leaves%20Philippines&date=02/14/2003&refid=ency_botnm
Saddam link to terror group
By Philip Smucker in Baghdad and Adrian Blomfield in Nairobi
(Filed: 17/04/2003)
London Telegraph
Saddam Hussein's regime was linked to an African Islamist terrorist group, according to intelligence papers seen by The Telegraph. The documents provide the first hard evidence of ties between Iraq and religious terrorism. . . The papers show how Iraq's charge d'affaires in Nairobi, Fallah Hassan Al Rubdie, was in discussion with the Allied Democratic Forces, a Ugandan guerrilla group with ties to other anti-western Islamist organisations. . . In a letter to the head of the Iraqi spy agency, a senior ADF operative outlined his group's efforts to set up an "international mujahideen team". . . Nassir offered to "vet, recruit and send youth to train for the jihad" at a centre in Baghdad, which he described as a "headquarters for international holy warrior network". . .
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2003/04/17/wsad17.xml
'We'll pay all expenses to gain the knowledge from bin Laden and convey a message back'
(Filed: 27/04/2003)
London Telegraph
Document 1, dated February 19, 1998
Marked "Top Secret and Urgent" in the margin and signed by "MDA", thought to be the codename for the director of one of the intelligence sections within the Mukhabarat.
"The envoy is a trusted confidant and known by them. According to the above mediation we request official permission to call Khartoum station to facilitate the travel arrangements for the above-mentioned person to Iraq. And that our body carry all the travel and hotel expenses inside Iraq to gain the knowledge of the message from bin Laden and to convey to his envoy an oral message from us to bin Laden, the Saudi opposition leader, about the future of our relationship with him, and to achieve a direct meeting with him." . . .
Document 2, dated February 23, 1998
Addressed to codename "M4/7", marked "Information M4 D1/3/4" and given the number 375 by the Mukhabarat bureaucracy.
"The permission of Mr Deputy Director of Intelligence has been gained on 21 February for this operation, to secure a reservation for one of the intelligence services guest's for one week in one of the first class hotels [the Al Mansour Melia hotel in Baghdad]".
Signed by "M.D. 1/3", next to which is written February 22.
In the margin it is written that this has been done in co-ordination with the chief of the Saudi section and that they write to extend the period of host for one more week.
A note at the bottom of the page says "The envoy H arrived 5th March". Another note mentions "room 414" next to the name, Mohammed F. Mohammed Ahmed.
Document 3, dated March 24, 1998
Written by hand and labelled number 736 and marked "Secret" in the margin. This paper has been given the code number M 4/7/2 and is addressed to codename "2/D1/3".
"Your information numbered D1/3/4/375 dated 23rd February 1998, we enclose herewith the bill to host a guest in Mansour Melia Hotel. Please let it be known and get the official permission to spend the amount and return the permission back with our regards. Include the name of bills of the hotel." Signed by another official with the codename M.M. 4/7
At the foot of this document there is another note, dated April 13, that says that after 21 days:
"We have been informed by Saudi section chief [of the Iraqi Intelligence Service, the Mukhabarat] that we get permission to send the amount and the permission is sent to directorate accountant."
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2003/04/27/walq127.xml
Toronto Star
Apr. 27, 2003. 09:58 AM
Clumsy efforts hid bin Laden's name
MITCH POTTER
MIDDLE EAST BUREAU
As the mystery slowly unravelled, Amir's eyes grew wider. Finally, he leapt from the bed in stunned disbelief. "What? What have you got," I asked.
"It says bin Laden. It says bin Laden," he bellowed, jumping in the air.
http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/Article_Type1&c=Article&cid=1051125568653&call_pageid=968332188492&col=968793972154
Toronto Star
Star finds bin Laden-Iraq links
Three pages of documents point to the arrival of a messenger
MITCH POTTER
TORONTO STAR
Apr. 28, 2003. 01:34 PM
Osama bin Laden's Al Qaeda organization and Saddam Hussein's regime shared direct contact as early as 1998, according to top-secret Iraqi intelligence documents obtained by the Star. . . .
The handwritten file, three pages in all, relates to the arrival of a secret envoy sent by bin Laden to Iraq in March, 1998, apparently to establish a clandestine relationship with the Iraqi regime.
http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/Article_Type1&c=Article&cid=1051125568646&call_pageid=1045739058633
FreeRepublic
Target: Safe Harbor – Bush’s case against Iraq is iron-clad post – 9/11
National Review Online ^ | September 6, 2002 | Larry Kudlow
The New Yorker's Jeffrey Goldberg reported brilliantly on Ansar al-Islam last winter. This is a group of several hundred terrorists who were initially trained and organized by bin Laden troops and co-financed by al Qaeda and Saddam Hussein's secret police. . . .
And Ledeen points out that these groups are being aided and abetted by the "terror masters" — namely Iran, Iraq, and Syria who foster, arm, and train these terrorists, and Saudi Arabia, the financier. These are the safe-harboring states who shield enemies of the United States.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/745761/posts
Jane’s Information Group
Who did it?
19 September 2001
. . . The Iraqis, who for several years paid smaller groups to do their dirty work, were quick to discover the advantages of Al-Qaeda. . . .
http://www.janes.com/security/international_security/news/fr/fr010919_1_n.shtml
Was bin Laden working with Iraq?
Boston Globe ^ | 9/25/01 | Laurie Mylroie
. . . Above all, a critical question has not been addressed: Was bin Laden alone responsible for the carnage that occurred on Sept. 11, or was he working with an enemy state, namely Iraq?As Rafael Eitan, former head of Israel's Mossad, stated, ''I have no doubt whatsoever that the
mastermind of this atrocity is none other than the Iraqi dictator.'' Former CIA director Jim Woolsey has also fingered Iraq, and senior officials in the Pentagon agree. . . .
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/531970/posts
FreeRepublic
Iraq Tempts Bin Laden To Attack West
The Herald (UK)
By Ian Bruce
December 28, 1999
The world's most wanted man, Osama bin Laden, has been offered sanctuary in Iraq if his worldwide terrorist network succeeds in carrying out a campaign of high-profile attacks on the West . . .
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/527008/posts
FreeRepublic
Seven Years Later: Was TWA Flight 800 a First Strike By Jihad Terrorists?
Capitalism Magazine ^ | July 17, 2003 | Scott Holleran
Skeptics questioned the investigation, including former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Thomas Moorer, a retired admiral, who added his name to those who believe a missile destroyed the plane.
Moorer -- joined by Vernon Grose, a former member of the National Transportation Safety Board -- expressed grave doubts about the investigation. "All the evidence," Moorer said, "would point to a missile."
At the time of the crash, 270 eyewitnesses reported seeing a streak of light. Nearly 100 eyewitnesses said that the streak of light *originated* from the earth's surface, contrary to the CIA's animated simulation.
http://209.157.64.200/focus/f-news/947966/posts
If you quote or reference this site please provide a link to this page.
The url is:
http://www.pixelpages.net/intel/saddam-laden.htm.
We would also appreciate an e-mail letting us know where you linked it at.
You may submit articles or comments to saddam-laden@pixelpages.net
Last updated: 05/27/2004 02:49 PM -0400
CASE CLOSED (Osama-Saddam Link Proved in Intel Cmte Brief)
Weekly Standard ^ | Nov 14, 2003 | Stephen Hayes
Posted on 11/14/2003 8:15 PM EST by RobFromGa
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/1022083/posts?page=1
Case Closed
From the November 24, 2003 issue: The U.S. government's secret memo detailing cooperation between Saddam Hussein and Osama bin Laden.
by Stephen F. Hayes
11/24/2003, Volume 009, Issue 11
OSAMA BIN LADEN and Saddam Hussein had an operational relationship from the early 1990s to 2003 that involved training in explosives and weapons of mass destruction, logistical support for terrorist attacks, al Qaeda training camps and safe haven in Iraq, and Iraqi financial support for al Qaeda--perhaps even for Mohamed Atta--according to a top secret U.S. government memorandum obtained by THE WEEKLY STANDARD.
The memo, dated October 27, 2003, was sent from Undersecretary of Defense for Policy Douglas J. Feith to Senators Pat Roberts and Jay Rockefeller, the chairman and vice chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee. It was written in response to a request from the committee as part of its investigation into prewar intelligence claims made by the administration. Intelligence reporting included in the 16-page memo comes from a variety of domestic and foreign agencies, including the FBI, the Defense Intelligence Agency, the Central Intelligence Agency, and the National Security Agency. Much of the evidence is detailed, conclusive, and corroborated by multiple sources. Some of it is new information obtained in custodial interviews with high-level al Qaeda terrorists and Iraqi officials, and some of it is more than a decade old. The picture that emerges is one of a history of collaboration between two of America's most determined and dangerous enemies.
According to the memo--which lays out the intelligence in 50 numbered points--Iraq-al Qaeda contacts began in 1990 and continued through mid-March 2003, days before the Iraq War began. Most of the numbered passages contain straight, fact-based intelligence reporting, which in
some cases includes an evaluation of the credibility of the source. This reporting is often followed by commentary and analysis.
The relationship began shortly before the first Gulf War. According to reporting in the memo, bin Laden sent "emissaries to Jordan in 1990 to meet with Iraqi government officials." At some unspecified point in 1991, according to a CIA analysis, "Iraq sought Sudan's assistance to establish links to al Qaeda." The outreach went in both directions. According to 1993 CIA reporting cited in the memo, "bin Laden wanted to expand his organization's capabilities through ties with Iraq."
The primary go-between throughout these early stages was Sudanese strongman Hassan al-Turabi, a leader of the al Qaeda-affiliated National Islamic Front. Numerous sources have confirmed this. One defector reported that "al-Turabi was instrumental in arranging the Iraqi-al Qaeda relationship. The defector said Iraq sought al Qaeda influence through its connections with Afghanistan, to facilitate the transshipment of proscribed weapons and equipment to Iraq. In return, Iraq provided al Qaeda with training and instructors."
One such confirmation came in a postwar interview with one of Saddam Hussein's henchmen. As the memo details:
4. According to a May 2003 debriefing of a senior Iraqi intelligence officer, Iraqi intelligence established a highly secretive relationship with Egyptian Islamic Jihad, and later with al Qaeda. The first meeting in 1992 between the Iraqi Intelligence Service (IIS) and al Qaeda was brokered by al-Turabi. Former IIS deputy director Faruq Hijazi and senior al Qaeda leader [Ayman al] Zawahiri were at the meeting--the first of several between 1992 and 1995 in Sudan. Additional meetings between Iraqi intelligence and al Qaeda were held in Pakistan. Members of al Qaeda would sometimes visit Baghdad where they would meet the Iraqi intelligence chief in a safe house. The report claimed that Saddam insisted the relationship with al Qaeda be kept secret. After 9-11, the source said Saddam made a personnel change in the IIS for fear the relationship would come under scrutiny from foreign probes.
A decisive moment in the budding relationship came in 1993, when bin Laden faced internal resistance to his cooperation with Saddam.
5. A CIA report from a contact with good access, some of whose reporting has been corroborated, said that certain elements in the "Islamic Army" of bin Laden were against the secular regime of Saddam. Overriding the internal factional strife that was developing, bin Laden came to an "understanding" with Saddam that the Islamic Army would no longer support anti-Saddam activities. According to sensitive reporting released in U.S. court documents during the African Embassy trial, in 1993 bin Laden reached an "understanding" with Saddam under which he (bin Laden) forbade al Qaeda operations to be mounted against the Iraqi leader.
Another facilitator of the relationship during the mid-1990s was Mahmdouh Mahmud Salim (a.k.a. Abu Hajer al-Iraqi). Abu Hajer, now in a New York prison, was described in court proceedings related to the August 1998 bombings of U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania as bin Laden's "best friend." According to CIA reporting dating back to the Clinton administration, bin Laden trusted him to serve as a liaison with Saddam's regime and tasked him with procurement of weapons of mass destruction for al Qaeda. FBI reporting in the memo reveals that Abu Hajer "visited Iraq in early 1995" and "had a good relationship with Iraqi intelligence. Sometime before mid-1995 he went on an al Qaeda mission to discuss unspecified cooperation with the Iraqi government."
Some of the reporting about the relationship throughout the mid-1990s comes from a source who had intimate knowledge of bin Laden and his dealings. This source, according to CIA analysis, offered "the most credible information" on cooperation between bin Laden and Iraq.
This source's reports read almost like a diary. Specific dates of when bin Laden flew to various cities are included, as well as names of individuals he met. The source did not offer information on the substantive talks during the meetings. . . . There are not a great many reports in general on the relationship between bin Laden and Iraq because of the secrecy surrounding it. But when this source with close access provided a "window" into bin Laden's activities, bin Laden is seen as heavily involved with Iraq (and Iran).
Reporting from the early 1990s remains somewhat sketchy, though multiple sources place Hassan al-Turabi and Ayman al Zawahiri, bin Laden's current No. 2, at the center of the relationship. The reporting gets much more specific in the mid-1990s:
8. Reporting from a well placed source disclosed that bin Laden was receiving training on bomb making from the IIS's [Iraqi Intelligence Service] principal technical expert on making sophisticated explosives, Brigadier Salim al-Ahmed. Brigadier Salim was observed at bin Laden's farm in Khartoum in Sept.-Oct. 1995 and again in July 1996, in the company of the Director of Iraqi Intelligence, Mani abd-al-Rashid al-Tikriti.
9 . . . Bin Laden visited Doha, Qatar (17-19 Jan. 1996), staying at the residence of a member of the Qatari ruling family. He discussed the successful movement of explosives into Saudi Arabia, and operations targeted against U.S. and U.K. interests in Dammam, Dharan, and Khobar, using clandestine al Qaeda cells in Saudi Arabia. Upon his return, bin Laden met with Hijazi and Turabi, among others.
And later more reporting, from the same "well placed" source:
10. The Director of Iraqi Intelligence, Mani abd-al-Rashid al-Tikriti, met privately with bin Laden at his farm in Sudan in July 1996. Tikriti used an Iraqi delegation traveling to Khartoum to discuss bilateral cooperation as his "cover" for his own entry into Sudan to meet with bin Laden and Hassan al-Turabi. The Iraqi intelligence chief and two other IIS officers met at bin Laden's farm and discussed bin Laden's request for IIS technical assistance in: a) making letter and parcel bombs; b) making bombs which could be placed on aircraft and detonated by changes in barometric pressure; and c) making false passport [sic]. Bin Laden specifically requested that [Brigadier Salim al-Ahmed], Iraqi intelligence's premier explosives maker--especially skilled in making car bombs--remain with him in Sudan. The Iraqi intelligence chief instructed Salim to remain in Sudan with bin Laden as long as required.
The analysis of those events follows:
The time of the visit from the IIS director was a few weeks after the Khobar Towers bombing. The bombing came on the third anniversary of a U.S. [Tomahawk missile] strike on IIS HQ (retaliation for the attempted assassination of former President Bush in Kuwait) for which Iraqi officials explicitly threatened retaliation.
IN ADDITION TO THE CONTACTS CLUSTERED in the mid-1990s, intelligence reports detail a flurry of activities in early 1998 and again in December 1998. A "former senior Iraqi intelligence officer" reported that "the Iraqi intelligence service station in Pakistan was Baghdad's point of contact with al Qaeda. He also said bin Laden visited Baghdad in Jan. 1998 and met with Tariq Aziz."
11. According to sensitive reporting, Saddam personally sent Faruq Hijazi, IIS deputy director and later Iraqi ambassador to Turkey, to meet with bin Laden at least twice, first in Sudan and later in Afghanistan in 1999. . . .
14. According to a sensitive reporting [from] a "regular and reliable source," [Ayman al] Zawahiri, a senior al Qaeda operative, visited Baghdad and met with the Iraqi Vice President on 3 February 1998. The goal of the visit was to arrange for coordination between Iraq and bin Laden and establish camps in an-Nasiriyah and Iraqi Kurdistan under the leadership of Abdul Aziz.
That visit came as the Iraqis intensified their defiance of the U.N. inspection regime, known as UNSCOM, created by the cease-fire agreement following the Gulf War. UNSCOM demanded access to Saddam's presidential palaces that he refused to provide. As the tensions mounted, President Bill Clinton went to the Pentagon on February 18, 1998, and prepared the nation for war. He warned of "an unholy axis of terrorists, drug traffickers, and organized international criminals" and said "there is no more clear example of this threat than Saddam Hussein."
The day after this speech, according to documents unearthed in April 2003 in the Iraqi Intelligence headquarters by journalists Mitch Potter and Inigo Gilmore, Hussein's intelligence service wrote a memo detailing coming meetings with a bin Laden representative traveling to Baghdad. Each reference to bin Laden had been covered by liquid paper that, when revealed, exposed a plan to increase cooperation between Iraq and al Qaeda. According to that memo, the IIS agreed to pay for "all the travel and hotel costs inside Iraq to gain the knowledge of the message from bin Laden and to convey to his envoy an oral message from us to bin Laden." The document set as the goal for the meeting a discussion of "the future of our relationship with him, bin Laden, and to achieve a direct meeting with him." The al Qaeda representative, the document went on to suggest, might provide "a way to maintain contacts with bin Laden."
Four days later, on February 23, 1998, bin Laden issued his now-famous fatwa on the plight of Iraq, published in the Arabic-language daily, al Quds al-Arabi: "For over seven years the United States has been occupying the lands of Islam in the holiest of places, the Arabian Peninsula, plundering its riches, dictating to its rulers, humiliating its people, terrorizing its neighbors, and turning its bases in the Peninsula into a spearhead through which to fight the neighboring Muslim peoples." Bin Laden urged his followers to act: "The ruling to kill all Americans and their allies--civilians and military--is an individual duty for every Muslim who can do it in any country in which it is possible to do it."
Although war was temporarily averted by a last-minute deal brokered by U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan, tensions soon rose again. The standoff with Iraq came to a head in December 1998, when President Clinton launched Operation Desert Fox, a 70-hour bombing campaign that began on December 16 and ended three days later, on December 19, 1998.
According to press reports at the time, Faruq Hijazi, deputy director of Iraqi Intelligence, met with bin Laden in Afghanistan on December 21, 1998, to offer bin Laden safe haven in Iraq. CIA reporting in the memo to the Senate Intelligence Committee seems to confirm this meeting and relates two others.
15. A foreign government service reported that an Iraqi delegation, including at least two Iraqi intelligence officers formerly assigned to the Iraqi Embassy in Pakistan, met in late 1998 with bin Laden in Afghanistan.
16. According to CIA reporting, bin Laden and Zawahiri met with two Iraqi intelligence officers in Afghanistan in Dec. 1998.
17. . . . Iraq sent an intelligence officer to Afghanistan to seek closer ties to bin Laden and the Taliban in late 1998. The source reported that the Iraqi regime was trying to broaden its cooperation with al Qaeda. Iraq was looking to recruit Muslim "elements" to sabotage U.S. and U.K. interests. After a senior Iraqi intelligence officer met with Taliban leader
[Mullah] Omar, arrangements were made for a series of meetings between the Iraqi intelligence officer and bin Laden in Pakistan. The source noted Faruq Hijazi was in Afghanistan in late 1998.
18. . . . Faruq Hijazi went to Afghanistan in 1999 along with several other Iraqi officials to meet with bin Laden. The source claimed that Hijazi would have met bin Laden only at Saddam's explicit direction.
An analysis that follows No. 18 provides additional context and an explanation of these reports:
Reporting entries #4, #11, #15, #16, #17, and #18, from different sources, corroborate each other and provide confirmation of meetings between al Qaeda operatives and Iraqi intelligence in Afghanistan and Pakistan. None of the reports have information on operational details or the purpose of such meetings. The covert nature of the relationship would indicate strict compartmentation [sic] of operations.
Information about connections between al Qaeda and Iraq was so widespread by early 1999 that it made its way into the mainstream press. A January 11, 1999, Newsweek story ran under this headline: "Saddam + Bin Laden?" The story cited an "Arab intelligence source" with knowledge of contacts between Iraq and al Qaeda. "According to this source, Saddam expected last month's American and British bombing campaign to go on much longer than it did. The dictator believed that as the attacks continued, indignation would grow in the Muslim world, making his terrorism offensive both harder to trace and more effective. With acts of terror contributing to chaos in the region, Turkey, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, and Kuwait might feel less inclined to support Washington. Saddam's long-term strategy, according to several sources, is to bully or cajole Muslim countries into breaking the embargo against Iraq, without waiting for the United Nations to lift if formally."
INTELLIGENCE REPORTS about the nature of the relationship between Iraq and al Qaeda from mid-1999 through 2003 are conflicting. One senior Iraqi intelligence officer in U.S. custody, Khalil Ibrahim Abdallah, "said that the last contact between the IIS and al Qaeda was in July 1999. Bin Laden wanted to meet with Saddam, he said. The guidance sent back from Saddam's office reportedly ordered Iraqi intelligence to refrain from any further contact with bin Laden and al Qaeda. The source opined that Saddam wanted to distance himself from al Qaeda."
The bulk of reporting on the relationship contradicts this claim. One report states that "in late 1999" al Qaeda set up a training camp in northern Iraq that "was operational as of 1999." Other reports suggest that the Iraqi regime contemplated several offers of safe haven to bin Laden throughout 1999.
23. . . . Iraqi officials were carefully considering offering safe haven to bin Laden and his closest collaborators in Nov. 1999. The source indicated the idea was put forward by the presumed head of Iraqi intelligence in Islamabad (Khalid Janaby) who in turn was in frequent contact and had good relations with bin Laden.
Some of the most intriguing intelligence concerns an Iraqi named Ahmed Hikmat Shakir:
24. According to sensitive reporting, a Malaysia-based Iraqi national (Shakir) facilitated the arrival of one of the Sept 11 hijackers for an operational meeting in Kuala Lumpur (Jan 2000). Sensitive reporting indicates Shakir's travel and contacts link him to a worldwide network of terrorists, including al Qaeda. Shakir worked at the Kuala Lumpur airport--a job he claimed to have obtained through an Iraqi embassy employee.
One of the men at that al Qaeda operational meeting in the Kuala Lumpur Hotel was Tawfiz al Atash, a top bin Laden lieutenant later identified as the mastermind of the October 12, 2000, attack on the USS Cole.
25. Investigation into the bombing of the USS Cole in October 2000 by al Qaeda revealed no specific Iraqi connections but according to the CIA, "fragmentary evidence points to possible Iraqi involvement."
26. During a custodial interview, Ibn al-Shaykh al-Libi [a senior al Qaeda operative] said he was told by an al Qaeda associate that he was tasked to travel to Iraq (1998) to establish a relationship with Iraqi intelligence to obtain poisons and gases training. After the USS Cole bombing in 2000, two al Qaeda operatives were sent to Iraq for CBW-related [Chemical and Biological Weapons] training beginning in Dec 2000. Iraqi intelligence was "encouraged" after the embassy and USS Cole bombings to provide this training.
The analysis of this report follows.
CIA maintains that Ibn al-Shaykh's timeline is consistent with other sensitive reporting indicating that bin Laden asked Iraq in 1998 for advanced weapons, including CBW and "poisons."
Additional reporting also calls into question the claim that relations between Iraq and al Qaeda cooled after mid-1999:
27. According to sensitive CIA reporting, . . . the Saudi National Guard went on a kingdom-wide state of alert in late Dec 2000 after learning Saddam agreed to assist al Qaeda in attacking U.S./U.K. interests in Saudi Arabia.
And then there is the alleged contact between lead 9/11 hijacker Mohamed Atta and an Iraqi intelligence officer in Prague. The reporting on those links suggests not one meeting, but as many as four. What's more, the memo reveals potential financing of Atta's activities by Iraqi intelligence.
The Czech counterintelligence service reported that the Sept. 11 hijacker [Mohamed] Atta met with the former Iraqi intelligence chief in Prague, [Ahmed Khalil Ibrahim Samir] al Ani, on several occasions. During one of these meetings, al Ani ordered the IIS finance officer to issue Atta funds from IIS financial holdings in the Prague office.
And the commentary:
CIA can confirm two Atta visits to Prague--in Dec. 1994 and in June 2000; data surrounding the other two--on 26 Oct 1999 and 9 April 2001--is complicated and sometimes contradictory and CIA and FBI cannot confirm Atta met with the IIS. Czech Interior Minister Stanislav Gross continues to stand by his information.
It's not just Gross who stands by the information. Five high-ranking members of the Czech government have publicly confirmed meetings between Atta and al Ani. The meeting that has gotten the most press attention--April 9, 2001--is also the most widely disputed. Even some of the most hawkish Bush administration officials are privately skeptical that Atta met al Ani on that occasion. They believe that reports of the alleged meeting, said to have taken place in public, outside the headquarters of the U.S.-financed Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, suggest a level of sloppiness that doesn't fit the pattern of previous high-level Iraq-al Qaeda contacts.
Whether or not that specific meeting occurred, the report by Czech counterintelligence that al Ani ordered the Iraqi Intelligence Service officer to provide IIS funds to Atta might help explain the lead hijacker's determination to reach Prague, despite significant obstacles, in the spring of
2000. (Note that the report stops short of confirming that the funds were transferred. It claims only that the IIS officer requested the transfer.) Recall that Atta flew to Prague from Germany on May 30, 2000, but was denied entry because he did not have a valid visa. Rather than simply return to Germany and fly directly to the United States, his ultimate destination, Atta took pains to get to Prague. After he was refused entry the first time, he traveled back to Germany, obtained the proper paperwork, and caught a bus back to Prague. He left for the United States the day after arriving in Prague for the second time.
Several reports indicate that the relationship between Saddam and bin Laden continued, even after the September 11 attacks:
31. An Oct. 2002 . . . report said al Qaeda and Iraq reached a secret agreement whereby Iraq would provide safe haven to al Qaeda members and provide them with money and weapons. The agreement reportedly prompted a large number of al Qaeda members to head to Iraq. The report also said that al Qaeda members involved in a fraudulent passport network for al Qaeda had been directed to procure 90 Iraqi and Syrian passports for al Qaeda personnel.
The analysis that accompanies that report indicates that the report fits the pattern of Iraq-al Qaeda collaboration:
References to procurement of false passports from Iraq and offers of safe haven previously have surfaced in CIA source reporting considered reliable. Intelligence reports to date have maintained that Iraqi support for al Qaeda usually involved providing training, obtaining passports, and offers of refuge. This report adds to that list by including weapons and money. This assistance would make sense in the aftermath of 9-11.
Colin Powell, in his February 5, 2003, presentation to the U.N. Security Council, revealed the activities of Abu Musab al Zarqawi. Reporting in the memo expands on Powell's case and might help explain some of the resistance the U.S. military is currently facing in Iraq.
37. Sensitive reporting indicates senior terrorist planner and close al Qaeda associate al Zarqawi has had an operational alliance with Iraqi officials. As of Oct. 2002, al Zarqawi maintained contacts with the IIS to procure weapons and explosives, including surface-to-air missiles from an IIS officer in Baghdad. According to sensitive reporting, al Zarqawi was setting up sleeper cells in Baghdad to be activated in case of a U.S. occupation of the city, suggesting his operational cooperation with the Iraqis may have deepened in recent months. Such cooperation could include IIS provision of a secure operating bases [sic] and steady access to arms and explosives in preparation for a possible U.S. invasion. Al Zarqawi's procurements from the Iraqis also could support al Qaeda operations against the U.S. or its allies elsewhere.
38. According to sensitive reporting, a contact with good access who does not have an established reporting record: An Iraqi intelligence service officer said that as of mid-March the IIS was providing weapons to al Qaeda members located in northern Iraq, including rocket propelled grenade (RPG)-18 launchers. According to IIS information, northern Iraq-based al Qaeda members believed that the U.S. intended to strike al Qaeda targets during an anticipated assault against Ansar al-Islam positions.
The memo further reported pre-war intelligence which "claimed that an Iraqi intelligence official, praising Ansar al-Islam, provided it with $100,000 and agreed to continue to give assistance."
CRITICS OF THE BUSH ADMINISTRATION have complained that Iraq-al Qaeda connections are a fantasy, trumped up by the warmongers at the White House to fit their preconceived notions about international terror; that links between Saddam Hussein and Osama bin Laden have been routinely "exaggerated" for political purposes; that hawks "cherry-picked" bits of intelligence and tendentiously presented these to the American public.
Carl Levin, a senior member of the Senate Intelligence Committee, made those points as recently as November 9, in an appearance on "Fox News Sunday." Republicans on the committee, he complained, refuse to look at the administration's "exaggeration of intelligence."
Said Levin: "The question is whether or not they exaggerated intelligence in order to carry out their purpose, which was to make the case for going to war. Did we know, for instance, with certainty that there was any relationship between the Iraqis and the terrorists that were in Afghanistan, bin Laden? The administration said that there's a connection between those terrorist groups in Afghanistan and Iraq. Was there a basis for that?"
There was, as shown in the memo to the committee on which Levin serves. And much of the reporting comes from Clinton-era intelligence. Not that you would know this from Al Gore's recent public statements. Indeed, the former vice president claims to be privy to new "evidence" that the administration lied. In an August speech at New York University, Gore claimed: "The evidence now shows clearly that Saddam did not want to work with Osama bin Laden at all, much less give him weapons of mass destruction." Really?
One of the most interesting things to note about the 16-page memo is that it covers only a fraction of the evidence that will eventually be available to document the relationship between Iraq and al Qaeda. For one thing, both Saddam and bin Laden were desperate to keep their cooperation secret. (Remember, Iraqi intelligence used liquid paper on an internal intelligence document to conceal bin Laden's name.) For another, few people in the U.S. government are expressly looking for such links. There is no Iraq-al Qaeda equivalent of the CIA's 1,400-person Iraq Survey Group currently searching Iraq for weapons of mass destruction.
Instead, CIA and FBI officials are methodically reviewing Iraqi intelligence files that survived the three-week war last spring. These documents would cover several miles if laid end-to-end. And they are in Arabic. They include not only connections between bin Laden and Saddam, but also revolting details of the regime's long history of brutality. It will be a slow process.
So Feith's memo to the Senate Intelligence Committee is best viewed as sort of a "Cliff's Notes" version of the relationship. It contains the highlights, but it is far from exhaustive.
One example. The memo contains only one paragraph on Ahmed Hikmat Shakir, the Iraqi facilitator who escorted two September 11 hijackers through customs in Kuala Lumpur. U.S. intelligence agencies have extensive reporting on his activities before and after the September 11 hijacking. That they would include only this brief overview suggests the 16-page memo, extensive as it is, just skims the surface of the reporting on Iraq-al Qaeda connections.
Other intelligence reports indicate that Shakir whisked not one but two September 11 hijackers--Khalid al Midhar and Nawaq al Hamzi--through the passport and customs process upon their arrival in Kuala Lumpur on January 5, 2000. Shakir then traveled with the hijackers to the Kuala Lumpur Hotel where they met with Ramzi bin al Shibh, one of the masterminds of the September 11 plot. The meeting lasted three days. Shakir returned to work on January 9 and January 10, and never again.
Shakir got his airport job through a contact at the Iraqi Embassy. (Iraq routinely used its embassies as staging grounds for its intelligence operations; in some cases, more than half of the alleged "diplomats" were intelligence operatives.) The Iraqi embassy, not his employer, controlled Shakir's schedule. He was detained in Qatar on September 17, 2001. Authorities found in his possession contact information for terrorists involved in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, the 1998 embassy bombings, the 2000 attack on the USS Cole, and the September 11 hijackings. The CIA had previous reporting that Shakir had received a phone call from the safe house where the 1993 World Trade Center attacks had been plotted.
The Qataris released Shakir shortly after his arrest. On October 21, 2001, he flew to Amman, Jordan, where he was to change planes to a flight to Baghdad. He didn't make that flight. Shakir was detained in Jordan for three months, where the CIA interrogated him. His interrogators concluded that Shakir had received extensive training in counter-interrogation techniques. Not long after he was detained, according to an official familiar with the intelligence, the Iraqi regime began to "pressure" Jordanian intelligence to release him. At the same time, Amnesty International complained that Shakir was being held without charge. The Jordanians released him on January 28, 2002, at which point he is believed to have fled back to Iraq.
Was Shakir an Iraqi agent? Does he provide a connection between Saddam Hussein and September 11? We don't know. We may someday find out.
But there can no longer be any serious argument about whether Saddam Hussein's Iraq worked with Osama bin Laden and al Qaeda to plot against Americans.
Stephen F. Hayes is a staff writer at The Weekly Standard.
Man, you should be a prosecuting attorney!
Thanks for the ping both of you. I'd have missed this and will add it to my list of links.
This is a list of connections between Iraq and AQ and Saddam and OBL, put into chronological order.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1327993/posts
Bookmark Bump.
Obsessive compulsive mechanical engineer!
And I also recommend Laurie Mylrois' great book "The War Against America" a stunning look at Iraq's connection to the first WTC bombing. If there is any doubt about Saddam's close relationship, this book will clarify the idea. I cannot undertand why the MSM and the RATs can and do ignore such evidence.
Thanks for posting this information.
All Facist's think alike.
Save for later.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.