U.S. intelligence officials say they have not seen evidence from the Czech government to confirm reports accepted by the State Department that a key al Qaeda terrorist met with an Iraqi agent in Prague five months before September 11.
Well, I thought it might have been an overly-anxious Czech government trying to be helpful, but the more I think about it, the more I believe the meeting really occurred.
The Iraqi, Ahmed al-Ani, is a top intelligence agent, and would normally have been under a lot of surveillance. Spycraft SOP would be to photograph or videotape his activities, especially his meetings. So if the Iraqi met an un-identified man of ME origin, the Czechs ought to have some detailed record of the meeting. Since the Czechs came out with a public announcement of the "fact" of Atta's meeting, they had to be going on something more than somebody's faded memory of what had happened 6 months prior. There is at least one
report of the Czechs confirming they have video.
In fact, several responsible Czech officials (with no apparent ax to grind) are on the record as pro-meeting: Czech interior minister, Stanislav Gross ("I believe the counterintelligence services more than journalists."); Czech intelligence (BIS) chief, Jeri Ruzek (There is no information to cast doubt on the meeting.); Czech Prime Minister, Milos Zeman (We were concerned that the al-Ani-Atta tryst might concern America's most visible facility in Prague - the headquarters for Radio Free Europe); and Czech deputy foreign minister, Hynek Kmonicek ("It's not a common thing for an Iraqi diplomat [al-Ani] to meet a student [Atta] from a neighboring country [Germany].").
Further, all the US denials are from anonymous officials and speculation from journalists. Hardly something one can hang one's hat on.
Evidence of such a meeting does exist according to the most credible source. All the public details fit the Atta/al-Ani meeting scenario.
