Saddam's Connection to 911

Here's an interesting summarized timeline showing several important points that I've suggested earlier. 1) Saddam and UBL had a relationship

2) The claims of that relationship stemmed not from a BUSHLIED conspiracy theory or an OSP neocon crap, but from the Clinton Administration

3) Operation Desert Fox emboldened Saddam and UBL, and proved to both: a) America wasn't serious about fighting either one of them b) If there was to be a drastic change in US policy re Iraq (which both UBL and Saddam wanted), then drastic action would be needed

4) The Desert Fox bombing campaign was so weak that it actually set the 911 attacks from idea to action as well as the Millenium plot, the USS Cole, the USS The Sullivans, and other failed AQ attempts.

The Clinton Administration indicted UBL in June 98, but it was a sealed indictment until November 98, and even when unsealed it remained unannounced until early December 1998.

quote:al Qaeda reached an understanding with the government of Iraq that al Qaeda would not work against that government and that on particular projects, specifically including weapons development, al Qaeda would work cooperatively with the Government of Iraq.

[that kinda nixes the idea that Iraq and AQ weren't going to form a nexus of evil, and at the same time completely obliterates the idea that it was a theory concoted by neocons of the Bush Administration, the OSP, etc. It stemmed from the Clinton Administration.

12/16/98 "OK, look, we'll give you one more chance. If you show a sign that you're not going to cooperate, then we're going to take military action, and there won't be any intervening diplomacy either -vp Gore

12/16/98 US and Britain begin four days of limited airstrikes against Iraq. [Operaton Desert Fox] -PBS.Org

12/17/98 the day after the United States and Britain began their Desert Fox bombing campaign against Iraq, the Small Group convened to discuss intelligence suggesting imminent Bin Ladin attacks on the U.S. embassies in Qatar and Ethiopia.The next day, Director Tenet sent a memo to the President, the cabinet, and senior officials throughout the government describing reports that Bin Ladin planned to attack U.S. targets very soon, possibly over the next few days, before Ramadan celebrations began. Tenet said he was “greatly concerned.” [114.NSC notes,Clarke briefing notes for Berger for Small Group,Dec. 17,1998;CIA memo,“Bin Ladin Ready to Attack,” Dec. 18, 1998.]

12/18/98 Dr. Ayman Al Zawahiri (Al Queda's #2 man and strategic planner) issues the following statement in response to the US attacks on Iraq: (signed by Abdullah al-Mansur leader of the AQ affiliate Vanguards of Conquest) [the Arab world] "not be content with the empty words of denunciation and condemnation that we are accustomed to hearing from the [Arab] regimes." ..."In the name of all the sons of the Islamic movement in Egypot, and with the participation of our brothers throughout the great Islamic world, we openly and loudly declare that we will retaliate for what is ahppening to the sons of our nations in Iraq, since the crimes committed by the United States against our Islamic nation will not go unpunished." -'Bin Laden: The Man Who Declared War on America by Yossef Bodansky

quote:KSM then accepted Bin Ladin’s standing invitation to move to Kandahar and work directly with al Qaeda. In addition to supervising the planning and preparations for the 9/11 operation, KSM worked with and eventually led al Qaeda’s media committee. But KSM states he refused to swear a formal oath of allegiance to Bin Ladin, thereby retaining a last vestige of his cherished autonomy.17 -911 Commission Final Report

[this makes KSM, his nephew Ramsi Yousef, and Zarqawi identical in their ties to AQ]

quote:At this point, late 1998 to early 1999, planning for the 9/11 operation began in earnest. -911 Commission Final Report

quote:KSM acknowledges formally joining al Qaeda, in late 1998 or 1999, and states that soon afterward, Bin Ladin also made the decision to support his proposal to attack the United States using commercial airplanes as weapons. -911 Commission Final Report

12/21/98 Hijazi, formerly a high-ranking Iraqi intelligence official, has confirmed to U.S. officials that he met Osama bin Laden in Sudan in 1994. He denies meeting with al Qaeda officials in 1998, but U.S. officials don't believe him. At that time, a leading newspaper in Rome reported that Hijazi traveled to Afghanistan on December 21, 1998, to offer asylum to bin Laden. The Corriere della Sera described Hijazi as "the person who has been responsible for nurturing Iraq's ties with the fundamentalist warriors since 1994." -"Saddam's links to Osama were no secret"

12/21/98 December 21, 1998: In a Time magazine cover story entitled "The Hunt for Osama," it is reported intelligence sources "have evidence that bin Laden may be planning his boldest move yet - a strike on Washington or possibly New York City in an eye-for-an-eye retaliation. 'We've hit his headquarters, now he hits ours,' says a State Department aide." -[Time, 12/21/98](I have this issue if anyone would like to borrow it [Smile] )

12/22/98-Bin Laden declares that it is ever Muslim's duty to seek to possess WMD

quote:“To seek to possess the weapons that could counter those of the infidels is a religious duty. If I have indeed acquired these weapons, then this is an obligation I carried out and I thank God for enabling us to do that. And if I seek to acquire these weapons I am carrying out a duty. It would be a sin for Muslims not to try to possess the weapons that would prevent the infidels from inflicting harm on Muslims. But how we could use these weapons if we possess them is up to us.” -Osama Bin Laden interview with Peter Arnett 12/22/98

quote:According to KSM, the 1998 bombings of the U.S. embassies in Nairobi and Dar es Salaam marked a watershed in the evolution of the 9/11 plot. KSM claims these bombings convinced him that Bin Ladin was truly committed to attacking the United States. He continued to make himself useful, collecting news articles and helping other al Qaeda members with their outdated computer equipment. Bin Ladin, apparently at Atef ’s urging, finally decided to give KSM the green light for the 9/11 operation sometime in late 1998 or early 1999.16 -911 Commission Final Report

quote:In late 1998, Iraq sent an intelligence official to Afghanistan to seek close ties with bin Laden and the ruling Taliban. "The source reported that the Iraqi regime was trying to broaden its cooperation with al Qaeda." A senior Iraqi intelligence official met with the Taliban leader, Mullah Mohammed Omar. Thereafter, bin Laden hosted a series of meetings with Iraqi officials in Pakistan. -"Iraq al Qaeda link comes in focus"

12/31/98 The Arabic daily newspaper, Al-Quds al-Arabi, first raised the issue of cooperation between Saddam Hussein's Iraq and Osama bin-Laden's al-Qaeda in a late December 1998 editorial that predicted, President Saddam Hussein , whose country was subjected to a four day air strike , will look for support in taking revenge on the United States and Britain by cooperating with Saudi oppositionist Osama bin-Laden, whom the United States considers to be the most wanted person in the world." The editorial noted that this type of cooperation was very likely considering that "bin-Laden was planning moving to Iraq before the recent strike."" -Bin Laden: The Man Who Declared War on America (1999edition)

quote:Newsweek magazine, in its January 11, 1999, issue, ran the headline "Saddam + Bin Laden." The subhead declared, "America's two enemies are courting." The article was written by Christopher Dickey, Gregory Vistica, Russell Watson, and Joseph Contreras. The authors cited reports from an "Arab intelligence source" about the alliance. -"Saddam's links to Osama were no secret"

1/1/99 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. . . . -Feith memo per Weekly Standard article from Stephen Hayes

1/1/99 An Arab intelligence officer who knows Saddam Hussein personally predicts in Newsweek Magazine: "Very soon you will be witnessing large-scale terrorist activity run by the Iraqis." He describes these operations as "false-flag" operations; incidents where the actual bombers are not directly attributable to the primary source, and where those who commit the actual acts are deliberately chosen and manipulated in a way so as to lead subsequent investigations toward incorrect determination of the incidents' primary source. Many claim the 1993 WTC attack was a classic false-flag operation, and that the Iraqis were really the primary source of that attack. -Losing Bin Laden by Richard Miniter

Of course there were other ties too. Like the fact that Iraq used its embassy in Pakistan as a liason with Al Queda, an Iraqi who got his passport through the Iraqi embassy in Malaysia was key to the 911 plot's facilitators making it to the infamous Malaysia Meeting where the 911 plot was planned-among other attacks. And the list goes on and on and on.... *****

Saddam and UBL working together? The idea was perfectly acceptable during the Clinton years.

Saddam and UBL forming a Nexus of Evil? The idea was perfectly acceptable during the Clinton years.

Saddam and UBL working together to hijack planes and fly them into buildings specifically in Washington DC and NYC....the idea was perfectly acceptable, worrisome, and known about by the Clinton Administration.

Pres Clinton's impotent air strikes of Desert Fox emboldened Saddam and UBL? Clearly. History shows us that, and the 911 Commission (among many others) confirm it.

1980-88. Chemical weapons are used extensively during Iran-Iraq war. Most are used by Iraq. Saddam is also believed to have used them against his own people, primarily Kurdish and Shiia minorities. First use during the war is by Iraq. By 1985 Iraq is producing 1,000 tons of various chemical weapons agents annually.
During the war, Saddam appoints his cousin, Ali Hasan al-Majid, as his deputy in the north. In 1987-88, al-Majid led the "Anfal" campaign of attacks on Kurdish villages. All villages within 20 kilometers of the Iranian border are ruthlessly destroyed, and many are attacked with chemical weapons. Amnesty International estimates that more than 100,000 Kurds were killed or “disappeared” during this period.
During the first half of the war the United States provides Iraq with limited military assistance in the form of satelite imagry of Iranian military dispostions and troop concentrations. Assistance is ended when their use of chemical weapons is confirmed.

1984, 1986, 1987. The United Nations dispatches teams of specialists to the area to verify claims of Iraqi use of chemical weapons against Iran. The conclusion from all three trips is the same: Iraq is using chemical weapons against Iranian troops. In addition, the second mission also stressed that the use of chemical weapons by Iraq appeared to be increasing despite the publicity of their use. The reports indicated that Mustard agent and the nerve agent Tabun are the primary agents used, and that they were generally delivered in airplane bombs. The third mission reports the use of artillery shells and chemical rockets, and the use of chemical weapons against civilian personnel. The third mission is the only one allowed to visit Iraq.
The Iran–Iraq War fails to reach a military conclusion despite the use of chemical weapons by both sides. Roughly 5% (20,000) of the Iranian casualties are caused by chemical weapons. Many remain hospitalized to this day.

Bio-Chemical Weapons & Saddam: A History.

The BUSHLIED conspiracy is dead

Anyone......REPEAT.......anyone who sports JUST a shred of logic or an IQ above room temperature on a cool autumn day with the heater turned off, knows that in order for BUSH to have lied about Saddam having WMD.....he would have HAD TO BE the ONLY person on the face of the EARTH to KNOW that SADDAM didn't have WMD.

You DU'ers out there....think about it!!!

It proves that the very NIGHT(!) that the 911 plot went from idea to action/mission in motion...Iraq's head of intel was there.

Given the fact (as the 911 Commission points out) that one of UBL and AQ's 3 primary reasons for going to war with the US was America's attacks on Iraq...it's very reasonable to conclude that the 911 attacks happened on 911 in anniversary of the 91190 defacto declaration of war by the US on Iraq. Just as the 1998 African Embassy Bombings happened on the anniversary of Iraq's invasion of Kuwait, the 1993 WTC attack happened on the anniversary of the end of Desert Storm, and the Bali Bombing happened in response to the US authorization to use force vote. AQ was mega mega mega sympathetic with Iraq, and wanted US forces out of the region. Having the head of Iraq's intel services there the very day after Desert Fox stopped bombing Iraq, this leads me to believe-as mentioned earlier-that Iraq had knowledge of the attacks, encouraged them at least, and that they were done in sympathy for the Desert Fox and other US attacks on Iraq.

Doubt it? Go back and read Ayman Al Zawahiri's statement vowing to attack the US in retaliation for Desert Fox...just hours before the 911 plot was initiated.

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.