CNSNews.com Publishes Iraqi Intelligence Docs

CNSNews ^ | October 11, 2004 | David Thibault

[Quilla]

When CNSNews.com published an article Monday, Oct. 4, entitled, "Exclusive: Saddam Possessed WMD, Had Extensive Terror Ties," we decided against publishing all 42 pages of the Iraqi intelligence documents in our possession and on which the article was based.

We published only the first page, fearing that if more were made widely available on the Internet, they might end up being altered or otherwise manipulated. We offered credentialed news organizations and counter-terrorism experts the opportunity to view and receive copies of the documents so that they might check for themselves on the authenticity of the documents and judge their importance in the debate over whether Saddam Hussein possessed weapons of mass destruction and/or had ties to international terrorist organizations.

Several news organizations did just that. But in light of other assertions on Wednesday, widely reported by the mainstream media, that Saddam did not pose any significant threat prior to the U.S. invasion of Iraq, we felt it was time to publish as many of the Iraqi intelligence documents as possible.

What follows are copies of 24 of the 42 pages that are in our possession. Pages 21 through 26 were not published because they contain a list of terrorists trained at a camp belonging to the Iraqi Intelligence Directorate. CNSNews.com hopes to glean more information about the individuals on this list and provide updates in the future on their activities and whereabouts. Pages 29 through 40 were excluded because they replicate, though in a different person's handwriting, earlier documents.

Upon clicking on the individual pages of Arabic documents, readers will have an opportunity to click on the unedited English translation of those documents. We hope this serves to further illuminate a very important element of the ongoing debate.

Page 1: Jan. 18, 1993 memo from Saddam Hussein, through his secretary, to the Iraqi Intelligence Service, urging that missions be undertaken to "hunt down Americans," especially in Somalia.

Pages 2-12: Jan. 25, 1993 memo from the Iraqi Intelligence Service to Saddam Hussein, outlining the existing or developing relationships between Iraq and terrorist organizations.
Page 2
Page 3
Page 4
Page 5
Page 6
Page 7
Page 8
Page 9
Page 10
Page 11
Page 12

Page 13: Feb. 8, 1993 response from Saddam Hussein to the Jan. 25, 1993 memo.

Pages 14, 15: March 11, 1993 memo from the Iraqi Intelligence Service detailing plans for a meeting with "one of the leaders from the Egyptian Al-Jehad" terrorist organization.
Page 14
Page 15

Page 16: March 16, 1993 response from Saddam's secretary to the March 11, 1993 memo.

Pages 17, 18: March 18, 1993 memo from the Iraqi Intelligence Service detailing plans to "move against the Egyptian regime" of Hosni Mubarak.
Page 17
Page 18

Pages 19-20: Iraqi Intelligence Service internal memos regarding the information of individuals who participated at "the martyr act camp" belonging to the Iraqi intelligence directorate.
Page 19
Page 20

Pages 21-26: They comprise a list of terrorists trained at a camp belonging to the Iraqi Intelligence Directorate.
Page 21
Page 22
Page 23
Page 24
Page 25
Page 26

Pages 27, 28: Notes from the Iraqi Intelligence Service outlining strategies. Included is the assessment that terrorist "efforts should be concentrated on Egypt." The notes also advise against targeting the U.S. military, but recommend targeting "Americans as general" as well as "US agents inside the (Egyptian) regime."
Page 27
Page 28

Page 29-40: Duplicative of pages 2-12, except in a different person's handwriting.

Page 41: Table indicating Sept. 6, 2000 acquisition of malignant pustule (anthrax) as well as sterilization/decontamination equipment.

Page 42: Table indicating Aug. 21, 2000 acquisition of mustard gas as well as protective equipment.

[rwfromkansas]

Impressive. Unlike CBS, they don't contact a political campaign to give them a heads up on info when working on an article.

In other words, they actually do journalism.

[rwfromkansas]

As the original article states, these documents are largely still under the radar for the admin because they are just a small part of a mountain needing to be translated still.

[Cosmo]

I met Scott at the CN convention in Phoenix several year ago. Straight shooting guy and quite a character. It was great getting acquainted with him.

[SunkenCiv]

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[AndyTheBear]

Very suspicious documents if you ask me. Please notice:

1) They were not vetted by Dan Rather or CBS News.

2) They do not appear to be created by Microsoft Word.

3) They were not faxed in by an "unimpeachable" left wing nut with a grudge.

Obviously CNSNews is not in the same league as the MSM.

[joesbucks]

Have I read the report? No. But the administration has agreed that it reports no active program, no ongoing capacity, no stockpiles, and so forth. So, back to my orginal question, are they being truthful about agreeing with it?

[Tweaker]

bump for later.

[Grampa Dave]

Quilla thanks.

For the others, FYI and ping lists.

[Peach]

Thanks for the ping. I read this with great interest yesterday and found it fascinating.

[Ma3lst0rm]

Don't forget this story.

An Egyptian sailor was in Brazil, where he would join his ship as it traveled to Canada. He opened the suitcase he was carrying in his hotel room, says the report... and now he's dead from anthrax.

http://windsofchange.net/archives/003393.php

[Quilla]

You're quite welcome, Grampa. I noticed that the article was moved into "Breaking News" since I last logged on to FR. Hopefully, these documents will get the exposure they deserve.

[jmstein7]

BUMP!

[Grampa Dave]

Scott is a hard working conservative at CSN.

Hopefully this will get traction.

[ArmedNReady]

I sent info out to several "friendly" media types when the story first broke here and of course never received a reply nor have I seen it mentioned in the MSM.

Even at Fox, the only person that has ever responded has been Linda Vester. Since she has had her show "Dayside", she has responded to every email thay I have sent her. The responses were not automated replies because they make mention of the content of my emails. Linda's "Dayside" show has great potential if she does not do too many supermarket tabloid type segments. I would encourage all to send her ideas for segments of her show.

[Redbob]

I'd happily strangle Hussein for the painting alone.

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

Thanks very much for the ping.

[Quilla]

The usual suspects chime in:

Anti-War Group Doubts Authenticity of Saddam/WMD Documents

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

Not a big surprise!

Thanks.

[Dr. Frank fan]

But the administration has agreed that it reports no active program,

This does not contradict the pages published above as far as I can tell. For example above there's a page documenting that they procured some anthrax and mustard gas. Is that an "active program"? I guess not. Yet it still means that they had some anthrax and mustard gas (i.e. "WMD").

These simpleminded categories people have in their head ("Iraq had WMD!" or "Iraq didn't have WMD!") are not all that related to reality, and (i.e. in your case) lead people to see contradictions where there are none. "WMD" are not well-defined objects that exist in boxes labeled "WMD" that you either have or don't have. They come in variations and degrees. Unfortunately this is the kind of issue that can't be adequately described by a screaming headline, hence we get absurd contradictions.

For example, lots of people now seem to think that the Duelfer report Proves That Iraq Had No WMD. Yet just this summer, you might recall, we got a bunch of news stories about how we've found several shells in Iraq containing.... WMD. So this seems like a contradiction unless you abandon the idea that the headline "Iraq Had No WMD" is actually a fair summary of the Duelfer report.

no ongoing capacity

Again does not contradict anything above as far as I can tell. What pray tell is an "ongoing capacity"? Well I suppose it's the metaphorical equivalent of a functioning assembly line to produce "WMD" (which, when the mainstream media talks about them seems to be limited to: missiles tipped with chem or bio warheads; they seem not to know about anthrax). One can think they did not have such an assembly line and yet think the docs described above are genuine because again, they do not actually contradict as far as I can tell.

no stockpiles

"Stockpiles" has been the biggest media con job of all. Frankly I don't give a rat's ass about whether Iraq had "stockpiles". Who moved the goalposts to that absurd level? WTF is a "stockpile" anyway? When exactly does a collection of chem warhead shells become a "stockpile"? At what magical number - 17? 23?

But again, "Iraq had no stockpiles" and "the docs above are genuine" do not seem to contradict anyway.

There are no contradictions you've pointed to. If you think there is a contradiction, tell me where.

So, back to my orginal question, are they being truthful about agreeing with it?

The point, as you can see, is that the answer to that question is irrelevant to this thread. That question is only interesting if the two are in contradiction, but you have no reason to believe that they are.

My guess? Yes I suppose they're being "truthful"; Duelfer comes back, writes a report, what are they gonna say? They say "looks ok to me". What's your point?

[wasp69]

bump