Iraq Daily: Saddam ordered training of Al-Qa'ida members

Memri ^ | Oct. 16, 2003 | Al-Yawm Al-Aakher

[DarthMaulrulesok]

"An Iraqi officer (L) [only identified by initial] tells us that one day a Land Cruiser belonging to the Personal Security Force (Al-Amn Al-Khass, responsible for the protection of Saddam Hussein) arrived and a senior officer from the Presidential Palace stepped out of it. He was one of those officers who used to stand behind Saddam, which means that he was one of [his] personal bodyguards. After a two-hour meeting with a select group of officers at the Special Forces School, we were informed that we would have dear guests, and that we should train them very well in a high level of secrecy - not to allow anyone to approach them or to talk to them in any way, shape, or form.

"A few days later, about 100 trainees arrived. They were a mixture of Arabs, Arabs from the Peninsula [Saudi Arabia], Muslim Afghans, and other Muslims from various parts of the world. They were divided into two groups, the first one went to Al-Nahrawan and the second to Salman Pak, and this was the group that was trained to hijack airplanes. The training was under the direct supervision of major general (M. DH. L) [only identified by initials] who now serves as a police commander in one of the provinces. Upon the completion of the training most of them left Iraq, while the others stayed in the country through the last battle in Baghdad against the coalition forces."

[Republic]

Don't know anything about this newspaper (Iraqi) and am disappointed that the interviewee only gave out his initials..but it would seem the information he has given out could be checked out in Iraq---and IF the training grounds for these 100 muslim al qaeda terrorists, the two the man speaks of, ESPECIALLY the training ground for the airline hijackings can be proven....

THEN AMERICA HIT THE RIGHT NATION IN RETALIATION FOR 9/11!!!!!!!!!!!!!! NO questions asked. This demonstrates a SOLID link between saddam and osama.

How I pray this article is followed up on and not left to die in the dust of the biased, hitlerian propagandists in our mainstream press.

I confess-I WOULD LOVE to hear of katie colic choking on her own venomous spittle as she reports the connection.

Payback is SUCH a bitch.

And it should be...when you consider that the leftist is TRYING to break America's trust with our President and our HURT our TROOPS morale for nothing more than to win an election.

Beyond pathetic. Into treason.

[FairOpinion]

Great find! Thanks for posting it.

Now for the question -- why isn't this front page news in the main media? Why isn't the main media researching this and doing stories on this, instead of researching whom Arnold may or may not have groped 30 years ago?

I would say this would be much more important.

[FairOpinion]

Here is another article summarizing several specifics things, which are evidence of connection between Saddam and the terrorists, which is being ignored by the main media.

A Terrorist Sugar Daddy Named Saddam (MUST READ -- factual info)

[BARLF]

Bookmark great news.

Thanks MHG

[Gritty]

No doubt the Iraqi press will print more such articles.

Don't look for most of the American Media to pick up the stories. They are too busy quoting Kennedy, clinton, and other Liberals from Al Qaeda's cheering section.

[moodyskeptic]

This is potentially "hugh".

Thanks for posting. are there ANY journalist in America with the guts to follow this up? Step forward!

(sound of crickets)

[MHGinTN]

For your information; note the date.

Containment versus Pre-emptive Deterrence and Regime Change: 3/22/2003
http://www.washingtondispatch.com/article_4813.shtml

This past week, in The British House of Commons, an insulting little man named Cook asserted that had Al Gore been sworn in as President, the world would not now be facing the prospect of war in the Middle East.

Poor Mister Cook was defending the policy of containment through inspections. Containment without muscle on the ground to back it up when dealing with a despotic demon like Saddam Hussein is a fool’s errand … or worse, an exercise in delayed suicide, for expedience sake. But that’s what appeasement and postponement have usually meant.

Aside from the bitter irrationality of raising the United States elections as an excuse for Saddam’s twelve-year defiance of agreed to terms in the 1991 cease-fire, and aside from the irrationality of implying different tactics of a failed politician from two previous terms in office, this alcoholic Brit points to an issue that should be addressed, immediately, before the obstructionists in America gain further traction with this foolishness.

What of containment, the Clinton administration’s chosen policy toward Iraq and terrorism? Has it worked? Would it work as a future policy in a worldwide war against terrorism by fanatical Islamicists? For Chirac and too many American politicians in and out of office, containment of terrorist sponsoring states is still the policy to follow. That’s why they so adamantly pushed the inspections regime; they calculate that leaving rogue regimes in power but containing those regimes through inspections can effectively deal with the threat posed by terrorist organization worldwide.

First, let’s be clear: abject failure at containment leads directly to such horrific tragedies as Kobar Towers, and the World Trade Center bombings, and the Bali bombing, and the USS Cole bombing, and the suicide murders on Israeli buses and in Israeli markets and restaurants, and bombings of U.S. Embassies in Africa, and … and you get the picture. Terrorists networks must have a country in which to be trained, and which under gird their finances and documents of identity.

Can failure of Iraqi containment be tied to the horror of 9/11/2001? YES! And to many other terrorist acts around the world.

While the Clinton administration pursued a policy of hit-and-miss containment, the Iraqi secret service sent officers into Afghanistan, to train al Qaeda operatives in the production and use of biological and chemical weapons. All during the Clinton administration’s policy of containment and inspections in Iraq, Saddam maintained a research facility at Salman Pak, developing chemical and biological weapons. Salman Pak was also maintained as a training camp, where operatives from several terrorist organizations received training in hijacking modern airliners with no more armament than sharp knives, received training in the use of weapons of mass destruction against civilian targets, received training in forgery and robbery as a means to maintain their presence in foreign countries, and received training in assassination methods.

Containment, at least as practiced by the previous administration, didn’t work. It was a feckless diversion from the truth that this nation can no longer afford to ignore: containment without force does not work to safeguard the civilian populations of nations that terrorists choose to target. And yet, there are vocal politicians in America still trying to push this approach by various means. They will not shut up until this feckless strategy is exposed and debated into rejection.

What of pre-emptive deterrence coupled with regime change? Well, when directed at the states sponsoring terrorists in order to employ them as weapons against other nations, it is the only thing that does work … as we have begun to prove with the Taliban’s sponsorship for al Qaeda, and we are about to discover regarding Iraq.

[MHGinTN]

You raise a great ppoint ... the scientists who worked to build Saddam's WMD programs fear for their lives if they speak out before the maniac is toast. Some have already been assassinated by Saddam hit teams.

[GeorgiaYankee]

bookmark

[MHGinTN]

You may have missed the reporting from Ollie North, as he rode with the MArines who took Salman Pak. He reproted things regarding the presence of 'foreigners' at that training camp that only Fox aired and then were quickly hushed. Salman Pak has been exposed for more than two years prior to the hostilities. Even Rush Limbaugh had a sattelite visual showing the fuselage of a modern jet at Slman Pak with accompanying story of the 'trainees'. A military interpreter/interrogator who reported the data from interviews he had with Iraqis was fired by the powers that be for sharing information on the al Qaeda connection via Salman Pak. I cannot recall his name, but I'm sure there are Freepers who know to whom I refer.

[LADYAK]

did you forward ted a copy? and every other news outlet

[Mad_Tom_Rackham]

["I remember that the leader of the group was a Saudi cleric called [Muhammad], who was a fervent and audacious individual and did not require much training. He was highly skilled, and could fire accurately at a target while riding a motorcycle. Additionally, he used to deliver fiery sermons calling for Jihad and for fighting the Americans anywhere in the world." ]

I can't recall the last time a Roman Catholic Priest rode down the street firing a Kalishnakov from a motorcycle while threatening to kill Americans anywhere in the world. These Muslims "Clerics" sure are versatile.

[Tennessean4Bush]

This just simply cannot be true. There is no connection between raq and Al-Qa'ida. Ask any demonRAT.

[LADYAK]

Let's see what happens....everyone send this article to your local news media....I have already sent to Senator Kennedy, Senator McConnell, Hannity, Hardball, MSNBC, CBS News, and NBC....let's see if anyone reports on this....so let's keep it going....

[Matchett-PI]

"Salman Pak has been exposed for more than two years prior to the hostilities." ~ MHGinTN

Here's an item. I'm looking for more on this in my personal computer archives and will post it in this thread if and when I find it.

Monday, July 28, 2003 12:49 p.m. EDT -NewsMax.com

Congressional Probers Ignored Evidence of Iraq-9/11 Link

The attorney who won a $64 million federal court judgment just two months ago in a case alleging that Iraq played a significant role in the 9/11 attacks was never contacted by congressional probers who were supposedly investigating the disaster.

Attorney James Beasley disputed the 9/11 committee's finding that there was no tie between Iraq and al-Qaeda, telling NewsMax.com on Monday, "There's a ton of stuff" that establishes the connection.

Beasley hinted that the selective review may be an attempt by some members of Congress to cover their tracks, explaining, "I'm not really sure what political motivation these guys have ... except that some of them knew about all this stuff before 9/11 and they're the same people who have concluded there's no connection between 9/11 and Iraq."

On May 7, Manhattan U.S. District Judge Harold Baer ruled that attorney Beasley and his legal team had presented enough evidence to convince a "reasonable jury" that Iraq played a material role in the deadly attacks.

Beasley's evidence included accounts from Czech government officials who continue to insist over CIA objections that lead hijacker Mohamed Atta indeed met with an Iraqi intelligence agent in Prague five months before the attacks.

"We talked to the Czech ambassador to the U.S., the guy who kicked out [Iraqi ambassador to the Czech Republic] Ahmad al Ani two weeks after he met with Atta," Beasley told NewsMax. "He's absolutely sure that they met."

The Philadelphia attorney also called upon former CIA Director James Woolsey, who testified that he interviewed two terrorist instructors who say they trained radical Islamists at the south Baghdad terrorist training camp, Salman Pak.

Their regimen included practice sessions on how to hijack U.S.
commercial airliners using the exact methods employed on 9/11.

In separate testimony introduced in the case, Sabah Khodada, a Salman Pak instructor who defected to the U.S. in May 2000, said that his first reaction upon learning how the World Trade Center had been destroyed was "This was done by graduates of Salman Pak."

Last week, former Georgia Democratic Sen. Max Cleland, a 9/11 committee member, dismissed out of hand any evidence of a tie between Iraq and al-Qaeda, saying he accepted the denials from Osama bin Laden's camp.

"There's no connection, and that's been confirmed by bin Laden's terrorist followers," Cleland told reporters last Wednesday.

Sen Jon Corzine, D-N.J., echoed Cleland on Sunday, telling WABC Radio's Steve Malzberg, "There's nothing about any Iraq-al-Qaeda connection in the 9/11 report."

Attorney Beasley also told NewsMax that a separate probe by the independent commission investigating the 9/11 attacks had yet to contact his office.

[Mudboy Slim]

Smoking gun, indeed, if it proves to be true!! If FoxNews doesn't pick it up soon, then Drudge surely will. And if neither of them do, we must make sure that this makes it into ElRushbo's "Stack O' Stuff" for when he returns to the Golden EIB microphone!!

Great catch...MUD

[MHGinTN]

Appreciate the post. Do you recall the name of the interpreter who was dismissed for revealing connections between Saddam and al Qaeda?

[MHGinTN]

Was his name Bill Tierney?... So much to remember!

[jwalsh07]

BTT

[Matchett-PI]

Al-Qaeda chief told us Iraq supplied WMD material:
USSMH.COM.AU ^ | http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2003/08/09/1060360536966.html
August 9, 2003
Posted on 08/09/2003 5:35 AM EDT by Aeronaut
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/960971/posts

A high-ranking al-Qaeda operative in custody disclosed that Iraq supplied the Islamist militant group with material to build chemical and biological weapons, the White House said today.

"A senior al-Qaeda terrorist, now detained, who had been responsible for al-Qaeda training camps in Afghanistan, reports that al-Qaeda was intent on obtaining (weapons of mass destruction) assistance from Iraq," the White House said in a report. ....

The Bush administration cited links between al-Qaeda and Saddam Hussein's Baath party regime as justification for attacking Iraq to oust Saddam. The administration also insisted Saddam had chemical and biological weapons and was pursuing nuclear weapons.

The report quoted the unnamed prisoner as saying al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden turned to Iraq after concluding his group could not produce chemical or biological weapons on its own in Afghanistan.

"Iraq agreed to provide chemical and biological weapons training for two al-Qaeda associates starting in December 2000," the report said.

"Senior al-Qaeda associate Abu Musab al-Zarqawi came to Baghdad in May 2002 for medical treatment, along with approximately two dozen al-Qaeda terrorist associates.

"This group stayed in Baghdad and other parts of Iraq and plotted terrorist attacks around the world."

The report, quoting the State Department, also says the fallen regime of Saddam Hussein "provided material assistance to Palestinian terrorist groups, including the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-General Command, Hamas and the Palestine Islamic Jihad".

The Saddam regime, says the report, "posed a threat to the security of the United States and the world. With the removal of Saddam Hussein's regime, a leader who pursued, used and possessed weapons of mass destruction is no longer in power." ...