MARCH 2003 : (SPAIN : REPORTS SURFACE THAT 911 CONSPIRATOR 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
APRIL 14, 2003 Monday : (SPAIN EXPELS IRAQI DIPLOMATS AFTER FINDING WEAPONS STASH AT THE IRAQI EMBASSY IN MADRID) Spain ordered seven Iraqi officials to leave the country by Wednesday after 21 guns and 800 rounds of ammunition were found at the Iraqi Embassy in Madrid, Spain's Foreign Ministry said Monday. Two other Iraqi diplomats -- including one who told Spain last week about the weapons cache -- will not be expelled, and the embassy will remain open, the Foreign Ministry said.
--------(Full story)(http://www.cnn.com/2003/WORLD/europe/04/14/sprj.irq.spain/index.html) via "U.S. troops sweep through Tikrit : U.S.: Mobile chem-bio labs found," CNN, Monday, April 14, 2003 Posted: 1:14 PM EDT (1714 GMT)