CIA Report Finds No Conclusive Zarqawi-Saddam Link

Reuters ^ | 10.05.04 | NA

[Mr.Atos]

"There's no conclusive evidence the Saddam Hussein regime had harbored Zarqawi," a U.S. official said on Tuesday about the CIA findings.

But the official, speaking on condition of anonymity, stressed that the report, which was a mix of new information and a look at some older information, did not make any final judgments or come to any definitive conclusions.

"To suggest the case is closed on this would not be correct," the official said in confirming an ABC News story about the CIA report that the network said was delivered to the White House last week.

ABC quoted an unnamed senior U.S. official as saying that the CIA document raises "serious questions" about Bush administration assertions that Zarqawi found sanctuary in pre-war Baghdad.

[Mr.Atos]

Reuters seems to be blogging the debate tonight as well, per the convenience of anonymous(likely imaginary) sources.

[Bogey78O]

Well I guess internet bloggers are not only better than the MSM but also the CIA.

[Auntie Dem]

V.P. Cheney brought out some of the evidence we have had that Zarqawi was injured in Afghanistan and went to a Baghdad hospital and was sheltered by Saddam, and other evidence about the various terrorist activities Zarqawi supervised while in Iraq.

The Breck Girl did not present any arguments or evidence to the contrary (IIRC). If there was anything to this "new" report you would think the demonrats would have capitalized on it tonight.

[nckerr]

wow- a convenient story at a convenient time. As the official said, this is not in any way case closed.

[DainBramage]

I find it impossible that they still will not report the Canadian News finding the documents stating the opposite!

[dinok]

Anyone who sais there was no connection between Al-Queda's Zarqaui was not connected with Saddam's regime has no clue of how dictatorships work.

No one...NO ONE...enters a dictatorial government's check point (border or airport) with out the permission of that dictatorial government. When our forces took over the Ansar Al Islam camp in Norther Iraq they found passport after passport stamped by the Iraqi government approving entry. The reason for travel in to Iraq was stated as "Jihad" Holly war in passport after passport.

[piasa]

* Ansar al Islam Links to Saddam regime : Bush administration and PUK officials have also speculated that Ansar may be working with Saddam through a man named Abu Wa'il, reportedly an al-Qaeda operative on Saddam's payroll. Kurdish explosives experts also claim that TNT seized from Ansar was produced by the Iraqi military, and that arms are sent to the group from areas controlled by Saddam. Iraqi officials deny all such ties, yet Saddam clearly profits from Ansar's activities, which keep Kurdish opposition forces tied up on the border and away from Saddam. Indeed, support for Ansar is not unlike the money Saddam gives to families of Palestinian suicide bombers; turning up the heat in Kurdistan and the Palestinian territories takes heat off Saddam as a crisis looms. Currently, Kurdish and international sources are accumulating evidence they say could soon present a clearer picture of Saddam's cooperation with al-Qaeda.- "Ansar Al-Islam: Iraq's Al-Qaeda Connection, " By Jonathan Schanzer, The Washington Institute for Near East Policy, via FrontPageMagazine.com , Friday, January 17, 2003

[piasa]

* Yasin : Bush on Oct. 10 named Yasin as one of the world's 22 Most Wanted Terrorists for his role in the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center. Bush's list is headed by Osama bin Laden and his cohorts in al-Qaida, the terror group accused of finishing the destruction of the New York landmark begun by Yasin and others. There is no doubt about Yasin's whereabouts after the 1993 outrage. The FBI agents who perfunctorily questioned Yasin in New York and were conned by his pleasant manner quickly understood their mistake in letting him go. They got his brother to telephone Yasin in Baghdad repeatedly to ask him to come back for more questioning. Guess what? Mr. Yasin sent his regrets. In 1998 then-FBI Director Louis Freeh said publicly that the fugitive was "hiding in his native Iraq." The Iraqi National Congress, the leading anti-Saddam movement, earlier obtained a photograph of Yasin in Baghdad and provided it to Washington. Every indication points to Yasin's not having left Iraq since then, a senior U.S. official tells me. --Will We Find Abdul Rahman Yasin? , http://209.157.64.200/focus/f-news/894098/posts

[piasa]

Why did the Bush administration immediately suspect that Iraq was behind the 9/11 attacks when there was no evidence of any connection, as Richard Clarke and other Bush critics maintain? Maybe it was because there was indeed evidence, very dramatic evidence, in fact - in the form of warnings in the state-run Iraqi press that such an attack was coming, along with praise for Osama bin Laden and his kamikaze hijackers in the days after the World Trade Center was destroyed. ...
Then in the late 1990s, according to UPI, "a cable to Saddam from the chief of Iraqi intelligence was transmitted by Baghdad Radio. The message read, 'We will chase [Americans] to every corner at all times. No high tower of steel will protect them against the fire of truth.'" Coincidence? Perhaps. ...
As Richard Clarke and his fans in the Democrat-media complex report in ominous tones that President Bush ordered him to launch an unwarranted investigation into the 9/11-Iraq connection, it's worth remembering how much Iraq had done justify that order.
---- Source: "Saddam Warned of WTC Attack Before 9/11, Praised Bin Laden Afterwards," Carl Limbacher, Newsmax, 3-28-04

[piasa]

OCTOBER 27, 2003 : (FEITH MEMO IS SENT TO SENATORS ROBERTS & ROCKEFELLER- DEMOCRATS SCREAM BLOODY MURDER AND WHINE INCESSANTLY) 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. 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 Weekly Standard, Nov. 24, 2003

[piasa]

JANUARY 27, 2004 : (FEITH MEMO TO SENATE INTELLIGENCE COMMITTEE : CHENEY REFERS TO A STEPHEN F. HAYES ARTICLE "THE US GOVERNMENT'S SECRET MEMO DETAILING COOPERATION BETWEEN SADDAM HUSSEIN AND OSAMA BIN LADEN " IN THE NOVEMBER 24, 2003 ISSUE OF THE WEEKLY STANDARD, WHICH CONTAINED LEAKED CLASSIFIED INFORMATION, AS THE 'BEST SOURCE OF INFORMATION' ON THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN IRAQI LEADER HUSSEIN & AL QAEDA) In today's Washington Post, Dana Milbank reported that "Vice President Cheney . . . in an interview this month with the Rocky Mountain News, recommended as the 'best source of information' an article in The Weekly Standard magazine detailing a relationship between Hussein and al Qaeda based on leaked classified information."
(The leaked info would be memo by Undersecretary of Defense for Policy douglas J. Feith to senators Pat Roberts and Jay Rockefeller of the Senate intelligence Committee) - Dana Milbank of the Washington Post, January 27, 2004

[TruthShallSetYouFree]

The reason for travel in to Iraq was stated as "Jihad" Holy war in passport after passport.

Wow! Usually, when I am entering a foreign country, they ask me if it's business or pleasure. I didn't even know that "Jihad Holy War" was an acceptable response. Then again, I haven't traveled to the lands of the peaceloving Muslims.

[dinok]

"I didn't even know that "Jihad Holy War" was an acceptable response. Then again, I haven't traveled to the lands of the peace loving Muslims."

The Middle east is not like any other place on earth. Arab culture accepts murder of infidels and even condones it. Their Jihadism is akin to our patriotism. Sick it may be, but its part of the reality we have to cope with.

[FreedomCalls]

But the official, speaking on condition of anonymity...

Bill Burkett?

[jwalsh07]

Kerry campaign:
"There was no terrorism in Iraq before we went to war."
CIA Analysis, January 2003: Iraqi Support for Terrorism, (p.

314 of Senate Intel Report):
"Iraq has a long history of supporting terrorism."

Kerry campaign:
"There was no terrorism in Iraq before we went to war."
CIA Analysis, January 2003--Iraqi Support for Terrorism, (p. 314 of Senate Intel Report):
"Iraq continues to be a safehaven, transit point, or operational node for groups and individuals who direct violence against the United States, Israel and other allies."

Kerry campaign:
"There was no terrorism in Iraq before we went to war."
Bipartisan Senate Intelligence Committee Report (p. 315):
"The CIA provided 78 reports, from multiple sources, [redacted] documenting instances in which the Iraqi regime either trained operatives for attacks or dispatched them to carry out attacks."

Kerry campaign:
"There was no terrorism in Iraq before we went to war."
Bipartisan Senate Intelligence Committee Report (p. 316):
"Iraq continued to participate in terrorist attacks throughout the 1990s."

Kerry campaign:
"There was no terrorism in Iraq before we went to war."
Bipartisan Senate Intelligence Committee Report (p. 316):
"From 1996 to 2003, the [Iraqi Intelligence Service] focused its terrorist activities on western interests, particularly against the U.S. and Israel."

Kerry campaign:
"There was no terrorism in Iraq before we went to war."
Bipartisan Senate Intelligence Committee Report (p. 316):
"Throughout 2002, the [Iraqi Intelligence Service] was becoming increasingly aggressive in planning attacks against U.S. interests. The CIA provided eight reports to support this assessment."

Kerry campaign:
"There was no terrorism in Iraq before we went to war."
Bipartisan Senate Intelligence Committee Report (p. 331):
"Twelve reports received [redacted] from sources that the CIA described as having varying reliability, cited Iraq or Iraqi national involvement in al Qaeda's [chemical, biological, nuclear] CBW efforts."

[faithincowboys]

Because the CIA had so many boots on the ground. The CIA is a joke.

[FreedomCalls]

ABC quoted an unnamed senior U.S. official as saying that the CIA document raises "serious questions" about Bush administration assertions ...

Is the "unnamed senior U.S. official" John Kerry or John Edwards?

[piasa]

1982 - 1990 : (IRAQI INTELLIGENCE OFFICER AL MAMOURI IS EMPLOYED TO FORGE LINKS BETWEEN IRAQ & FUNDAMENTALIST GROUPS IN PAKISTAN, AFGHANISTAN, THE GULF & SUDAN) Italian officials say that Mr al-Mamouri held the rank of general in the Iraqi secret service, and from 1982 to 1990 worked in the Special Operations Branch forging Baghdad’s links with Islamic fundamentalist groups in Pakistan, Afghanistan, the Gulf and Sudan. - "Hijacker 'given anthrax flask by Iraqi agent'," by DANIEL MCGRORY, The London Times, SATURDAY OCTOBER 27 2001

MARCH 2003 : (REPORTS SURFACE THAT 911 CONSPIRATOR YUSUF GALAN WAS INVITED TO PARTY BY IRAQI AMBASSADOR TO SPAIN) 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 lawsuit lists Saddam's government in Iraq as one of its principal defendants, claiming it provided 'material support' to the al-Qaeda terrorists. Under US law, the victims' families do not have to prove active direction or involvement in the details of the 9/11 conspiracy by Iraq, only that Saddam's regime gave al-Qaeda more general assistance in the knowledge that it was planning to attack American targets.
The evidence in support of the 9/11 damages claim cites several examples of this alleged co-operation. They include the terrorist training camp at Salman Pak near Baghdad, where former Iraqi intelligence brigadier Jamal al-Qurairy has said that non-Iraqi Islamic radicals were trained to hijack aircraft using knives. - "Spain links suspect in 9/11 plot to Baghdad," by David Rose, The Observer , see UK Guardian , Sunday March 16, 2003

[piasa]

1994 : (CIA : SADDAM HUSSEIN IS FUNNELING MONEY TO THE ARMED ISLAMIC GROUP aka GIA IN ALGERIA THROUGH BIN LADEN; AT LEAST ONE OF BIN LADEN'S CIRCLE OF ASSOCIATES IS IDENTIFIED AS HAVING CLOSE TIES TO IRAQ'S INTELLIGENCE SERVICE) WASHINGTON — Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda network has ties to Iraqi intelligence that date to the mid-1990s, when they came together in Sudan to support Islamic insurgencies in Algeria and across the Middle East. The CIA had convincing evidence at the time that Saddam Hussein's regime was funneling money through bin Laden to the Armed Islamic Group (GIA) in Algeria and other terrorist organizations, according to current and former U.S. officials who reviewed intelligence at the time. The scheme was seen as an effort to mask Iraq's support for the groups.
It's unclear whether the pass-through was directed by bin Laden, then living in Sudan, or by his circle of associates, at least one of whom was identified by 1994 as having close ties to Iraq's intelligence service, officials say.
"We were convinced that money from Iraq was going to bin Laden, who was then sending it to places that Iraq wanted it to go," says Stanley Bedlington, a senior analyst in the CIA's counterterrorism center from 1986 until his retirement in 1994.
"There certainly is no doubt that Saddam Hussein had pretty strong ties to bin Laden while he was in Sudan, whether it was directly or through (Sudanese) intermediaries. We traced considerable sums of money going from bin Laden to the GIA in Algeria. We believed some of the money came from Iraq."
At the time, bin Laden was just emerging in U.S. intelligence reports on Sudan's sponsorship of terrorist groups and the role Iraq, Iran and other Arab states played in those arrangements.- "U.S. officials question link between 9/11 and Iraq," By Peter Eisler, USA TODAY , 12/02/2001

[Deb]

The CIA also reports they can't find their asses with both hands.