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Connect the Dots . . .
Saddam Hussein and Osama bin Laden
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| Date |
Article |
Source |
Extract |
| Pre-911 |
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| November 4, 1998 |
Press Release on the Indictment of Bin Laden and Atef
Indicted for bombings of U.S. Embassies in Kenya, Tanzania |
U.S. State Department
International Information Programs |
MARY JO WHITE, the United States Attorney - for the Southern District of New York, and LEWIS D. SCHILIRO, Assistant Director in Charge of the New York FBI Office, announced that USAMA BIN LADEN and MUHAMMAD ATEF, a/k/a "Abu Hafs," were indicted today in Manhattan federal court for the August 7, 1998, bombings of the United States embassies in Nairobi, Kenya, and Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, and for conspiring to kill American nationals outside of the United States.
The United States Department of State also announced today rewards of up to $5 million each for information leading to the arrest or conviction of BIN LADEN and ATEF.
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| November 4, 1998 |
USA v. Bin Laden - Docket 6 November 1998 (all al Qaeda Files) |
U.S. District Court |
CRIMINAL DOCKET FOR CASE #: 98-CR-539-ALL
USA v. Bin Laden, Filed: 11/04/98 |
| February 6, 1999 |
Saddam link to Bin Laden |
The Guardian (UK)
by Julian Borger |
Saddam Hussein's regime has opened talks with Osama bin Laden, bringing closer the threat of a terrorist attack using chemical, biological or nuclear weapons, according to US intelligence sources and Iraqi opposition officials. |
| February 6, 1999 |
The Western nightmare: Saddam and Bin Laden versus the world |
The Guardian (UK)
by Julian Borger and Ian Black |
But the most wanted man in the West may be at his most dangerous when cornered. And the increased pressure makes the prospect of a Saddam Hussein-Osama bin Laden alliance, once an improbable marriage of opposites, seem a more credible threat. The Saudi royal family, presumably stirred into action by last year's bloodbaths in Nairobi and Dar es Salaam, have closed down a number of Mr Bin Laden's front charities, and have been tightening the screws on their erstwhile Taliban clients, whose 'embassy' in Riyadh was closed down in September. |
| February 10, 1999 |
Osama bin Ladin and Iraq |
Iraq News
by Laurie Mylroie |
When US officials were obliged to defend their decision to attack the al-Shifa plant, after the Aug 20 strike, they revealed an Iraqi link to al-Shifa, as reported, for example, in the NYT Aug 25. US officials al-Shifa, as reported, for example, in the NYT Aug 25. US officials also revealed the existence of other sites in Khartoum thought to be associated with Iraq and VX production. Clinton chose al-Shifa as a target, because it was the only VX-related site not near a populated area. |
| February 13, 1999 |
Bin Laden reportedly leaves Afghanistan, whereabouts unknown |
CNN.com |
Iraqi President Saddam Hussein has offered asylum to bin Laden, who openly supports Iraq against the Western powers.
Despite repeated demands from Washington, the Taliban refused to hand over bin Laden after the August 7 bombings of the U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania, demanding proof of his involvement in terrorist activities. |
| December 28, 1999 |
Iraq Tempts Bin Laden To Attack West |
The Herald (UK)
by Ian Bruce |
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 over the next few weeks.
Intelligence sources say the Saudi dissident believed responsible for the bombings of American embassies in Kenya and Tanzania and a US military barracks in Saudi Arabia in 1998, is running out of options for a safe haven.
He is now thought to have overcome his initial rejection of Saddam Hussein, whom he regarded as an exploiter of the Islamic cause rather than a true believer, and is considering the offer of a bolt-hole from which he can continue to mastermind terrorism on a global scale. |
| October 19, 2000 |
Iraq-Bin Laden boat bomb link |
The Guardian
by Julian Borger |
Investigators in Yemen yesterday uncovered evidence suggesting the bomb attack on the warship USS Cole had been a meticulously organised conspiracy, which a leading US terrorism expert said may have been the first joint operation between Osama bin Laden and Saddam Hussein.
Under an overcast sky at the Norfolk naval base in Virginia, President Clinton led thousands of US servicemen in mourning the 17 victims of last week's blast, as the state department warned that more attacks against US citizens could be on the way in the Middle East or Turkey. |
| June 2001 |
Iraqi Complicity in the World Trade Center Bombing and Beyond |
Middle East Intelligence Bulletin
by Laurie Mylroie |
On February 26, 1993, a massive bomb exploded in the parking garage of the north tower of the World Trade Center building in New York City, killing six people and leaving a crater six stories deep in the building's basement floors. The mastermind of the bombing, Ramzi Yousef, later boasted that he had hoped to kill 250,000 people. Two years later, Yousef was involved in a plot to bomb a dozen US airplanes flying over the Pacific.
Yousef's bombing plots gave rise to the notion that a new form of international terrorism had emerged that was not state-sponsored, but said to consist of "loose networks" of militant Muslims, not backed by states. Yet, as The Washington Post recently noted, "some critics have disputed this approach, contending that rogue nations like Iraq have managed to slip intelligence operatives in and out of bomb conspiracies, leaving the FBI to chase and catch the small fish that the skilled men left behind." |
| July 21, 2001 |
"American, an Obsession called Osama Bin Ladin" referenced in Saddam Warned of WTC Attack Before 9/11, Praised Bin Laden Afterwards by Carl Limbacher, NewsMax, March 29, 2004 |
Al-Nasiriya
(state-controlled Iraqi newspaper)
by Naeem Abd Muhalhal |
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”. |
| August 1, 2001 |
Osama bin Laden to lead Taliban military operations |
Pravda online |
Citing high-ranking Afghan sources, the Pakistani newspaper, Nation, has reported that the Taliban have appointed two international terrorists, Osama bin Laden and Juma Namangani, to lead military operations against the Northern Alliance.
According to the paper's information, the Taliban leadership has de facto appointed terrorist no.1, bin Laden, as defence minister. He is currently organising offensives from his secret hide-out. Another terrorist, the Uzbek Juma Namangani, has become bin Laden's assistant, carrying out his orders on the northern front.
In the paper's opinion, the new appointments will increase the role of Arab, Pakistani and other foreign mercenaries fighting for the Taliban and could lead to new groups of religious fanatics entering Afghanistan. According to Nation's information, up to 60,000 foreign mercenaries are now fighting for the Taliban. |
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| Post-911 |
X |
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X |
| September 13, 2001 |
The Iraqi Connection
Did Osama bin Laden act alone? Not likely.
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WSJ.com Opinion Journal
by Laurie Mylroie |
Following the "resolution" of the second crisis, in late February 1998, through the mediation of U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan, bin Laden began to issue a series of bloody-minded threats against Americans. Soon Baghdad was issuing its own threats, asserting that its proscribed weapons of mass destruction had been eliminated and demanding that sanctions be lifted.
The threats issued by bin Laden, the threats issued by Iraq, and the preparations for the bombing all moved in virtual lockstep. On Aug. 3, 1998, Unscom chairman Richard Butler arrived in Baghdad. The Iraqis demanded that he declare Iraq in compliance or leave immediately. Mr. Butler departed the next day. The following day, Aug. 5, Baghdad declared "suspension day"--that is, the suspension of weapons inspections. It restated its previous threats, affirming, "To those against whom war is made, permission is given to fight." |
| September 19, 2001 |
Who did it? Foreign Report presents an alternative view |
Jane's |
The Iraqis, who for several years paid smaller groups to do their dirty work, were quick to discover the advantages of Al-Qaeda. The Israeli sources claim that for the past two years Iraqi intelligence officers were shuttling between Baghdad and Afghanistan, meeting with Ayman Al Zawahiri. According to the sources, one of the Iraqi intelligence officers, Salah Suleiman, was captured last October by the Pakistanis near the border with Afghanistan. The Iraqis are also reported to have established strong ties with Imad Mughniyeh.
"... One of our indications suggested that Imad Mughniyeh met with some of his dormant agents on secret trips to Germany. We believe that the operational brains behind the New-York attack were Mughniyeh and Zawahiri, who were probably financed and got some logistical support from the Iraqi Intelligence Service (SSO)."
Mughniyeh was the only one believed to have tried it before. On April 12th 1997, he was reported to be only two hours away from achieving the highest goal of any terrorist organisation (until last week): blowing up an Israeli El-Al airliner above Tel Aviv. |
| September 23, 2001 |
Alert by Saddam points to Iraq |
The Telegraph (UK)
by Jessica Berry in Jerusalem, Philip Sherwell and David Wastell in Washington
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SADDAM HUSSEIN put his troops on their highest military alert since the Gulf war two weeks before the suicide attacks on America in the strongest indication yet that the Iraqi dictator knew an atrocity was planned.
Since the attacks, The Telegraph has learnt that the Iraqi leader had been providing al-Qaeda, Osama bin Laden's terrorist network, with funding, logistical back-up and advanced weapons training. His operations reached a "frantic pace" in the past few months, according to Western intelligence officials. |
| October 18, 2001. |
Gunning for Saddam Interview with Laurie Mylroie |
Frontline - PBS.org |
The reason that the Clinton administration did not want the evidence of Iraqi involvement coming out in the Trade Center bombing was because, in June of 1993, Clinton had attacked Iraqi intelligence headquarters. It was for the attempt to kill George Bush. But Clinton also believed that that attack on Iraqi intelligence headquarters would take care of the bombing in New York, that it would deter Iraq from all future acts of terrorism. And by not telling the public what was suspected of happening -- that New York FBI really believed Iraq was behind the Trade Center bombing -- Clinton avoided raising the possibility the public might demand that the United States do a lot more than just bomb one building. And Clinton didn't want to do more. Clinton wanted to focus on domestic politics, including health policy. |
| October 2001 |
Mounting Evidence of Iraqi Link to Terror Attacks |
Middle East Intelligence Bulletin
by Ziad K. Abdelnour |
According to the London-based Iraqi National Congress (INC), Hijazi and Brigadier-General Habib Ma'amouri reportedly developed plans for hijacking civilian airliners and crashing them into civilian targets during the mid-1990s at the GID Special Operations Branch in Salman Pak, south of Baghdad. Two Iraqi defectors have corroborated this claim. A former Iraqi military officer, Sabah Khalifa Khodada Alami, said he was in charge of training an elite special forces team, "designed to plan and conduct operations against US and British interests around the world," at Salman Pak. Using a Boeing 707 parked inside the complex, Alami's team practiced hijacking planes without weapons. He also said that another team of non-Iraqis underwent similar training at the same camp. A second defector gave a similar description of the camp, and recounted meeting some of the non-Iraqi trainees, whom he described as deeply religious, when a group of five Saudis and an Egyptian helped him move his car and jump-start the engine. |
| April 21, 2002 |
Saddam 'sends troops to help bin Laden men' |
The Telegraph (UK)
by Sarah Latham |
The strongest evidence of links between Saddam Hussein and Osama bin Laden has emerged with reports that the Iraqi dictator is supporting former al-Qa'eda fighters who have established a Taliban-style enclave in Kurdistan.
Members of Saddam's Republican Guard have been seen in two villages run by militants from Ansar al-Islam inside Iraqi Kurdistan, an area which is otherwise controlled by anti-Saddam factions. |
| August 25, 2002 |
Saddam killed Abu Nidal over al-Qa'eda row |
The Telegraph (UK)
by By Con Coughlin
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Abu Nidal, the Palestinian terrorist, was murdered on the orders of Saddam Hussein after refusing to train al-Qa'eda fighters based in Iraq, The Telegraph can reveal.
Despite claims by Iraqi officials that Abu Nidal committed suicide after being implicated in a plot to overthrow Saddam, Western diplomats now believe that he was killed for refusing to reactivate his international terrorist network. |
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Lawsuit: Iraq Involved In 9/11 Conspiracy |
CBS News.com |
Over a thousand victims and family members of those who died in the Sept. 11 attacks sued Iraq and its leader Saddam Hussein Wednesday alleging there is evidence of a conspiracy with Osama bin Laden to attack the United States.
The lawsuit alleges that Iraqi officials were aware, before Sept. 11, of plans by bin Laden to attack New York and the Pentagon |
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Homeland Security Act of 2002 |
USCG.mil |
Mr. WARNER: It is interesting, against his speech is the background of another President, President Clinton, who on February 19, 1998, referring to his own perspective on terrorism, said, referring to the terrorists:
"They actually take advantage of the freer movement of people, information and ideas, and they will be all the more lethal if we allow them to build arsenals of nuclear, chemical, and biological weapons and the missiles to deliver them. We simply cannot allow this to happen. There is no more clear example of this threat than Saddam Hussein's Iraq. His regime threatens the safety of his people, the stability of the region, and the security of all the rest of us."
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| May 12, 2003 |
The Al Qaeda Connection: Saddam's links to Osama were no secret. |
The Weekly Standard
by Stephen F. Hayes |
Babil, the official newspaper of Saddam Hussein's government, run by his oldest son Uday, last fall published information that appears to confirm U.S. allegations of links between the Iraqi regime and al Qaeda. It adds one more piece to the small pile of evidence emerging from Iraq that, when added to the jigsaw puzzle we already had, makes obsolete the question of whether Saddam and Osama bin Laden were in league and leaves in doubt only the extent of the connection |
| March 19, 2003 |
WND stories on al-Qaida-Iraq link |
WorldNetDaily
various |
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, as well as financial and logistical support, and may have included the bombing of the USS Cole and the Sept. 11 attacks.
That's the assessment of a 16-page top secret government memo to the Senate Intelligence Committee, reports the Weekly Standard. |
| June 25, 2003 |
Document links Saddam, bin Laden |
The Tennessean
by Gilbert S Merritt |
Federal appellate Judge Gilbert S. Merritt of Nashville is in Iraq as one of 13 experts selected by the U.S. Justice Department to help rebuild Iraq's judicial system.
"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."
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| July 11, 2003 |
The Al Qaeda Connection, cont.: More reason to suspect that bin Laden and Saddam may have been in league. |
The Weekly Standard
by Stephen F. Hayes |
Former Navy Secretary John Lehman, a member of the congressional commission investigating the September 11 attacks, added to the intrigue this week when he flatly declared, "there is evidence" of Iraq-al Qaeda links. Lehman has access to classified intelligence as a member of the commission, intelligence that has convinced him the links may have been even greater than the public pronouncements of the Bush administration might suggest. "There is no doubt in my mind that [Iraq] trained them in how to prepare and deliver anthrax and to use terror weapons." |
| July 13, 2003 |
Bin Laden and Iraq |
FrontPageMagazine.com
by Anonymous |
Sourced quotes from the following journals (no online links): The Herald (Glasgow, Scotland), December 28, 1999U.S.
Newswire, December 23, 1999
The Observer. December 19, 1999
United Press International. November 3, 1999
Akron Beacon Journal (Ohio). October 31, 1999
The Kansas City Star. March 2, 1999
... He (bin Laden) has a private fortune ranging from $250 million to $500 million and is said to be cultivating a new alliance with Iraq's Saddam Hussein, who has biological and chemical weapons bin Laden would not hesitate to use. An alliance between bin Laden and Saddam Hussein could be deadly. Both men are united in their hatred for the United States and any country friendly to the United States....
Los Angeles Times. February 23, 1999
National Public Radio (NPR), February 18, 1999
Agence France Presse. February 17, 1999
Deutsche Presse-Agentur. February 17, 1999
Associated Press Worldstream. February 14, 1999
San Jose Mercury News (California). February 14, 1999
United Press International. January 3, 1999 |
| September 1, 2003 |
'Losing bin Laden' |
Townhall.com
by Robert Novak |
On Oct. 12, 2000, the day of the devastating terrorist attack on the USS Cole, President Clinton's highest-level national security team met to determine what to do. Counter-terrorism chief Richard Clarke wanted to hit Afghanistan, aiming at Osama bin Laden's complex and the terrorist leader himself. But Clarke was all alone. There was no support for a retaliatory strike that, if successful, might have prevented the 9/11 carnage.
This startling story is told for the first time in a book by Brussels-based investigative reporter Richard Miniter to be published this week. Losing bin Laden relates that Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, Secretary of Defense William Cohen, Atty. Gen. Janet Reno and CIA Director George Tenet all said no to the attack. |
| September 19, 2003 |
No Question About It: Saddam and the terrorists
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National Review Online
by James S. Robbins |
But the premise is facile. The principle that drove Iraq and al Qaeda together is one of the oldest in international-relations theory — the enemy of my enemy is my friend. The motive for their alliance was a common hatred for the United States and Israel.
Saddam Hussein showed no reluctance to support terrorism per se during his career. The fact that he gave money to the families of Palestinian suicide terrorists and had a close working relationship with the PLO was well known, and something he admitted. The Iraqi regime maintained a terrorist training camp at Salman Pak near Baghdad where foreign terrorists were instructed in methods of taking over commercial aircraft using weapons no more sophisticated than knives (interesting thought that). Saddam also harbored Abu Nidal and other members of his international terror organization (ANO) in Baghdad. |
| September 22, 2003 |
Khalid Sheikh Mohammed's Account Links 9/11 to '93 WTC Attack |
NewsMax.com
by Carl Limbacher and NewsMax.com Staff
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According to a report Sunday by the Associated Press, 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed "told his interrogators he had worked in 1994 and 1995 in the Philippines with Ramzi Yousef, Abdul Hakim Murad and Wali Khan Amin Shah on the foiled Bojinka plot to blow up 12 Western airliners simultaneously in Asia."
Yousef, of course, was the man who plotted and executed the failed 1993 World Trade Center bombing, who entered the U.S. on an Iraqi passport the year before and whose partner in the plot, Abdul Rahman Yasin, was granted sanctuary by Saddam Hussein after the attack. Yasin is still at large.
Unmentioned by the AP, Mohammed's account of meetings with Yousef has been corroborated by Yousef's Bojinka partner, Abdul Hakim Murad. After his capture in 1995, Murad told the FBI that he and Yousef were contacted by Mohammed repeatedly during their time in the Philippines. Murad's FBI 302 witness statements detailing the contacts are reprinted in the new book "1000 Years for Revenge," by investigative reporter Peter Lance. |
| December 29, 2003 |
The Clinton View of Iraq-al Qaeda Ties
Connecting the dots in 1998, but not in 2003. |
The Weekly Standard
by Stephen F. Hayes |
Are al Qaeda's links to Saddam Hussein's Iraq just a fantasy of the Bush administration? Hardly. The Clinton administration also warned the American public about those ties and defended its response to al Qaeda terror by citing an Iraqi connection.
For nearly two years, starting in 1996, the CIA monitored the al Shifa pharmaceutical plant in Khartoum, Sudan. The plant was known to have deep connections to Sudan's Military Industrial Corporation, and the CIA had gathered intelligence on the budding relationship between Iraqi chemical weapons experts and the plant's top officials. The intelligence included information that several top chemical weapons specialists from Iraq had attended ceremonies to celebrate the plant's opening in 1996. And, more compelling, the National Security Agency had intercepted telephone calls between Iraqi scientists and the plant's general manager. |
| February 22, 2004 |
Ghost Wars : The CIA and Osama bin Laden, 1997-1999
A Secret Hunt Unravels in Afghanistan
Mission to Capture or Kill al Qaeda Leader Frustrated by Near Misses, Political Disputes
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Washington Post
by Steve Coll |
As bin Laden's bloodcurdling televised threats against Americans increased in number and menace during 1997, the CIA -- with approval from Clinton's White House -- turned from just watching bin Laden toward making plans to capture him.
At Langley, CIA officers sometimes saw the Clinton cabinet as overly cautious, obsessed with legalities and unwilling to take political risks in Afghanistan by arming bin Laden's Afghan enemies and directly confronting the radical Taliban Islamic militia. But at the Clinton White House, senior policymakers and counterterrorism analysts sometimes saw the CIA's efforts in Afghanistan as timid, naïve, self-protecting and ineffective. |
| April 27, 2004 |
The proof that Saddam worked with bin Laden |
The Telegraph
by Inigo Gilmore |
Iraqi intelligence documents discovered in Baghdad by The Telegraph have provided the first evidence of a direct link between Osama bin Laden's al-Qa'eda terrorist network and Saddam Hussein's regime.
Property Classified
Papers found yesterday in the bombed headquarters of the Mukhabarat, Iraq's intelligence service, reveal that an al-Qa'eda envoy was invited clandestinely to Baghdad in March 1998. |
| June 23, 2004 |
The Connection Interview with Stephen F. Hayes, the author of The Connection: How al-Qaeda's Collaboration with Saddam Hussein Has Endangered America |
FrontPageMagazine.com
by Jamie Glazov
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In late 1998, according to U.S. intelligence documents and numerous reports in the media, Saddam dispatched Faruz Hijazi, a top intelligence officer and longtime al Qaeda liaison, to Afghanistan to offer Osama bin Laden safe haven in Iraq. Saddam was continuing his policy of denying UN inspectors access to sensitive sites. The inspectors left Iraq and a 70-hour bombing campaign – Desert Fox – ensued. Meanwhile, just five months after the simultaneous al Qaeda bombing of U.S. embassies in East Africa, the Taliban was receiving intense pressure from the West to expel bin Laden. The overture sparked widespread news media coverage of the possibility that, as you say, our two most dangerous foes could be collaborating against us. |
| September 22, 2004 |
Saddam and Osama Bin Laden Worked Together for Over a Decade |
Free Republic
posted by Peach |
Numerous links to articles as well as valuable articles or excerpts from articles that have expired links. Wealth of information, but quite a maze. |
| September 23, 2004 |
Making the Case: For War Against Iraq |
The Federal Observer
by Barbara Stanley |
I have heard many in the media and elsewhere (as in the recent antiwar march in D.C. that was sponsored by the Communists Workers World Party, the founders of the International A.N.S.W.E.R., comrades and good friends of N. Korea) claim Bush hasn’t made the case for war against Iraq. I have recently been given the research that makes the case, in no uncertain terms, once and for all, tying Iraq directly to the terrorists who threaten us all.
Herewith, the facts, for any who would just read them, for to be informed is to be able to pass this intel around to others. At the end of this piece, there is a direct connection, also, with the Venezuelan Chavez government (Fidel Castro’s close ally and friend) and this, I believe, should sound the alarm. The Chinese communists now control both ends of the Panama Canal and this bodes ill for the land-route coming up to our southern border. Considering the Chinese Communists were instrumental in arming the Taliban in Afghanistan, their involvement, especially now with the N. Korean nukes, brings a dangerous note to the current world situation.
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| Books |
| Yossef Bodansky, The Secret History of the Iraq War (Regan Books, 2004) |
| Jayna Davis, The Third Terrorist |
| Stephen F. Hayes, The Connection: How al-Qaeda's Collaboration with Saddam Hussein Has Endangered America |
| Peter Lance, 1000 Years for Revenge: International Terrorism and the FBI, the Untold Story |
| John Miller,Michael Stone, and Chris Mitchell, The Cell |
| Laurie Mylroie, The War Against America: Saddam Hussein's and the World Trade Center Attacks, A Study of Revenge (Regan Books, 2001) |
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| Video |
| The Man Who Knew |
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