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Bin Laden and Iraq (What the Media Said in the 90's)
FrontPage Magazine ^ | July 14, 2003 | Anonymous

Posted on 06/29/2005 1:19:20 PM PDT by Peach

Bin Laden and Iraq FrontPageMagazine.com ^ | July 14, 2003 | Anonymous

Posted on 07/15/2003 8:43:03 PM EDT by Mia T

Bin Laden and Iraq By Anonymous FrontPageMagazine.com | July 14, 2003

I decided to look back to 1999 to see what links there may have been between Saddam and OBL. I found hundreds of articles. Here are condensed summaries of some of the more relevant ones.ÝÝI wonder why no one is talking about these articles and links today.

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The Herald (Glasgow, Scotland), December 28, 1999.

Iraq tempts bin Laden to attack West Exclusive. By: Ian Bruce, Geopolitics Editor.

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 WestÝ ...

Now we are also facing the prospect of an unholy alliance between bin Laden and Saddam. The implications are terrifying.

"We might be looking at the most wanted man on the FBI's target list gaining access to chemical, biological or even nuclear weapons courtesy of Iraq's clandestine research programmes."

The U.S. intelligence community has been squeezing bin Laden's finances steadily for several years. His personal fortune of anything up to £500m has been whittled down to single figures ...

- - - - -

U.S. Newswire, December 23, 1999.

Terrorism Expert Reveals Why Osama bin Laden has Declared War On America; Available for Comment in Light of Predicted Attacks.

... (author Yossef) Bodansky also reveals the relationship between bin Laden and Saddam Hussein and how the U.S. bombing of Iraq is "strengthening the hands of militant Islamists eager to translate their rage into violence and terrorism."Ý ....

- - - - -

The Observer. December 19, 1999.

Sanctions reviewed in West as Saddam wields sword of Islam

The Iraqi dictator has rejected a UN deal to lift sanctions. The Western blockade, far from toppling the regime, has bolstered it. He's ditched the sunglasses and taken up the Koran to harness the fervour ofÝ fundamentalists.

By: Jason Burke, in Baghdad

... This time last year the U.S. claimed that another delegation had met Osama bin Laden, the alleged terrorist mastermind and tried to woo him to Iraq.

Senior officials claim that the Islamisation programme is an attempt to defuse the threat of Islamic militancy rather than encourage it ...

- - - - -

United Press International. November 3, 1999, Wednesday, BC cycle.

WASHINGTON -- The U.S. government has tried to prevent accused terror suspect Osama bin Laden from fleeing Afghanistan to either Iraq or Chechnya, Michael Sheehan, head of counter-terrorism at the State Department, told a Senate Foreign Relations subcommittee ...

- - - - -

Akron Beacon Journal (Ohio). October 31, 1999. Sunday 1 STAR EDITION.

BIN LADEN SPOTTED AFTER OFFER TO LEAVE By: From Beacon Journal wire services

DATELINE: JALALABAD, AFGHANISTAN:

... The Taliban has since made it known through official channels that the likely destination is Iraq.

A Clinton administration official said bin Laden's request "falls far short" of the UN resolution that the Taliban deliver him for trial....

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The Kansas City Star. March 2, 1999, Tuesday.

International terrorism, a conflict without boundaries

By Rich Hood

... He (bin Laden)Ýhas 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, Tuesday, Home Edition. SECTION: Metro; Part B; Page 6; Letters Desk. HEADLINE: OSAMA BIN LADEN

Where is Osama bin Laden (Feb. 14)? That should be the U.S.'s main priority. If as rumored he and Saddam Hussein are joining forces, it could pose a threat making Hitler and Mussolini seem like a sideshow....

- - - - -

National Public Radio (NPR) MORNING EDITION (10:00 AM on ET) February 18, 1999.

THOUGH AFGHANISTAN HAS PROVIDED OSAMA BIN LADEN WITH SANCTUARY, IT IS UNCLEAR WHERE HE IS NOW. ANCHORS: BOB EDWARDS REPORTERS: MIKE SHUSTER

... There have also been reports in recent months that bin Laden might have been considering moving his operations to Iraq. Intelligence agencies in several nations are looking into that. According to Vincent Cannistraro, a former chief of CIA counterterrorism operations, a senior Iraqi intelligence official, Farouk Hijazi(ph), sought out bin Laden in December and invited him to come to Iraq.

Mr. VINCENT CANNISTRARO (Former Chief of CIA Counterterrorism Operations): Farouk Hijazi, who was the Iraqi ambassador in Turkey ... known through sources in Afghanistan, members of Osama's entourage let it be known that the meeting had taken place.

SHUSTER: Iraq's contacts with bin Laden go back some years, to at least 1994, when, according to one U.S. government source, Hijazi met him when bin Laden lived in Sudan. According to Cannistraro, Iraq invited bin Laden to live in Baghdad to be nearer to potential targets of terrorist attack in Saudi Arabia and Kuwait. There is a wide gap between bin Laden's fundamentalism and Saddam Hussein's secular dictatorship. But some experts believe bin Laden might be tempted to live in Iraq because of his reported desire to obtain chemical or biological weapons. CIA director George Tenet referred to that in recent testimony....

- - - - -

Agence France Presse. February 17, 1999.

Saddam plans to use bin Laden against Kuwait, Saudi: opposition

Iraq's President Saddam Hussein plans to use alleged terrorist Osama bin Laden's network to carry out his threats against Kuwait and Saudi Arabia, an Iraqi opposition figure charged on Wednesday. "If the ... Jaber, a member of the Supreme Council for Islamic Revolution in Iraq (SCIRI), said Iraq had "offered to shelter bin Laden under the precondition that he carry out strikes on targets in neighbouring countries."

... Islamic fundamentalist bin Laden, who has gone missing from his base in Afghanistan, would never seek refuge in secular Iraq on ideological grounds. "I think bin Laden would keep quiet or fight to the death rather than seek asylum in Iraq," the London-based dissident, who asked not to be named, told AFP last week.....

- - - - -

Deutsche Presse-Agentur. February 17, 1999, Wednesday, BC Cycle

Opposition group says bin Laden in Iraq

DATELINE: Kuwait City

An Iraqi opposition group claimed in a published report Wednesday that Islamic militant Osama bin Laden is in Iraq from where he plans to launch a campaign of terrorism against Baghdad's Gulf neighbours.

The claim was made by Bayan Jabor, spokesman for the Teheran-based Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq (SCIRI).

Bin Laden "recently settled in Iraq at the invitation of Saddam Hussein in exchange for directing strikes against targets in neighbouring countries," Jabor told the Kuwaiti newspaper al-Rai al- Aam ... Taleban leaders in Afghanistan, where he had been living, said they lost track of him. Media reports have speculated he sought refuge in Chechnya, Somalia, Iraq, or with a non-Taliban group in Afghanistan.

Jabor, who was interviewed in Damascus, Syria, said Iraq began extending invitations to bin Laden six months ago, shortly after the United States bombed his suspected terrorist training camps in Afghanistan after linking him with the August 7 bombings of U.S. embassies in Nairobi, Kenya and in Dar-es-Salam, Tanzania.

The United States indicted Bin Laden for the embassy bombings and has offered a five million dollar reward for information leading to his capture. Bin Laden's disappearance has coincided with stepped up threats by Iraq against neighbours Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Turkey for allowing the United States and Britain to use their air bases to carry out air patrols over two "no-fly" zones over northern and southern Iraq ....

- - - - -

Associated Press Worldstream. February 14, 1999.

Taliban leader says whereabouts of bin Laden unknown

... Analysts say bin Laden's options for asylum are limited.

Iraq was considered a possible destination because bin Laden had received an invitation from Iraqi President Saddam Hussein last month. And Somalia was a third possible destination because of its anarchy and violent anti-U.S. historyÝ....

- - - - -

San Jose Mercury News (California).Ý February 14, 1999 Sunday MORNING FINAL EDITION

U.S. WORRIED ABOUT IRAQI, BIN LADEN TIES TERRORIST COULD GAIN EVEN DEADLIER WEAPONS

U.S. intelligence officials are worried that a burgeoning alliance between terrorist leader Osama bin Laden and Iraqi President Saddam Hussein could make the fugitive Saudi's loose-knit organization much more dangerous ...

In addition, the officials said, Palestinian terrorist Abu Nidal is now in Iraq, as is aÝrenowned Palestinian bomb designer, and both could make their expertise available to bin Laden.

"It's clear the Iraqis would like to have bin Laden in Iraq," said Vincent Cannistraro, a former head of counterterrorism operations at the Central Intelligence AgencyÝ ...

Saddam has even offered asylum to bin Laden, who has expressed support for Iraq.

... (in) late December, when bin Laden met a senior Iraqi intelligence official near Qandahar, Afghanistan, there has been increasing evidence that bin Laden and Iraq may have begun cooperating in planning attacks against American and British targets around the world.

Bin Laden, who strikes in the name of Islam, and Saddam, one of the most secular rulers in the Arab world, have little in common except their hatred of the United States ...

More worrisome, the American officials said, are indications that there may be contacts between bin Laden's organization and Iraq's Special Security Organization (SSO), run by Saddam's son Qusay. Both the SSO and the Mukhabarat were involved in a failed 1993 plot to assassinate former President George Bush ...

"The idea that the same people who are hiding Saddam's biological weapons may be meeting with Osama bin Laden is not a happy one," said one American official....

- - - - -

Associated Press Worldstream. February 13, 1999; Saturday 14:32 Eastern Time

Bin Laden said to have left Afghanistan, whereabouts unknown

... It is very unlikely bin Laden could remain in Afghanistan without Taliban officials knowing his whereabouts.

Iraqi President Saddam Hussein has offered asylum to bin Laden, who has expressed support for Iraq.

U.S. officials believe bin Laden masterminded the Aug. 7 bombings of its embassies in Kenya and Tanzania ...

Bin Laden urged devout Muslims to attack U.S. and British interests in retaliation for their joint assault on Iraq.

U.S. officials demanded that the Taliban hand over bin Laden, who has been indicted in a U.S. court on murder charges in connection with the bombings. But the Taliban had refused.

- - - - -

The Bulletin's Frontrunner. January 4, 1999, Monday.

Defiant Saddam Looks To Provoke U.S.

... Time also reported, "For now, the White House will respond to each provocation by counterattacking the offending battery."

Saddam Reaching Out To bin Laden.

Newsweek (1/11, Contreras) reported, "U.S. sources say (Saddam) is reaching out to Islamic terrorists, including some who may be linked to Osama bin Laden." ...

(Osama bin Laden was) calling for all-out war on Americans, using as his main pretext Washington's role in bombing and boycotting Iraq." In a Newsweek interview, bin Laden said that "'any American who pays taxes to hisÝ government," is a legitimate target." Newsweek reported, "The idea of an alliance between Iraq and bin Laden is alarming to the West," although "Saddam may think he's too good for such an association." However, "Now that the United States has made his removal from office a national objective....

- - - - -

The White House Bulletin. Copyright 1999. Bulletin Broadfaxing Network, Inc.

In a Newsweek interview, bin Laden said that "'any American who pays taxes to his government," is a legitimate target." Newsweek reported, "The idea of an alliance between Iraq and bin Laden is alarming to the West," although "Saddam may think he's too good for such an association." However, "Now that the United States has made his removal from office a national objective, he....

- - - - -

United Press International. January 3, 1999, Sunday, BC cycle.

UPI Focus: Bin Laden 'instigated' embassy bombings

... (The Taliban) government in Afghanistan says the Saudi does not have the money to finance projects in the country. Newsweek also reported that Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein has been making new overtures to bin Laden in an attempt to rebuild his intelligence network and to create his own terror network....


TOPICS: Extended News; Foreign Affairs; Government; Miscellaneous; War on Terror
KEYWORDS: aq; binladen; connections; iraq
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To: Peach

So ABC,CBS,NYT,etc. are right when they parrot what you want them to but wrong when they backtrack because there is no proof to support the claims? Back in the 90s, most of them thought WMDs existed too.


21 posted on 06/29/2005 1:35:00 PM PDT by billbears (Deo Vindice)
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To: billbears

ABC, etc., reported the truth when it supported their guy - Clinton. I don't know why this is difficult for you to understand.


22 posted on 06/29/2005 1:36:30 PM PDT by Peach
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To: Peach
They don't understand because they believe like most consprazoids that Bush and hundreds of others lied about Iraq, for a host of reasons.

And their media backs them up, in the defamation campaign against a President of the US, our troops, and our WOT.

They don't understand because they trusted Saddam and Sons, and the President did not.
23 posted on 06/29/2005 1:41:44 PM PDT by roses of sharon (,)
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To: roses of sharon
They don't understand because they trusted Saddam and Sons, and the President did not.

Who's this 'they'? I don't trust Hussein, and maybe he was a SOB. Maybe not. But for over 20 years he was 'our' SOB. And the 'ties' to Al Qaeda were denied by the President last year but when he sees support for his police action, all the sudden they exist again?

24 posted on 06/29/2005 1:44:02 PM PDT by billbears (Deo Vindice)
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To: roses of sharon

The left never met a dictator they didn't like. Except for President Bush who they claim is a dictator. LOL


25 posted on 06/29/2005 1:46:54 PM PDT by Peach
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To: billbears
Saddam was not 'our' SOB.

American troops never set foot in the sands of Iraq or Iran during the 1980 - 1988 Iran/Iraq war, and we where on the liberating side of Kuwait conflict in late 1990 and early 19991.

He arms are all (T72 MBT, AK47, AK74, PRG-7) Russian with some French anti-aircraft stuff.

Why do you lap up the AQ line that we create all our enemies, and then attempt to regurgitate such nonsense as your own ?

26 posted on 06/29/2005 1:57:49 PM PDT by ChadGore (VISUALIZE 62,041,268 Bush fans.)
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To: Peach

Actually, I was making a reference to the left's argument, "What did Saddam ever do to us?". Since it's obvious that he did quite a bit to us, you gotta dig deeper....


27 posted on 06/29/2005 1:59:21 PM PDT by randog (What the....?!)
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To: Peach

A while back, I tried to find citations for the training camp in Northern Iraq which was teaching Al Qaeda members how to take over airliners. Did you spot anything about that?


28 posted on 06/29/2005 2:11:51 PM PDT by dangus
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To: dangus

Salmon Pak?

This was all I could find but know it's in the list of articles I gave the link for.

Salman Pak. Satellite discussion about the terror camps in Iraq.
January 7, 2002. Aviation Weekly.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/865435/posts


29 posted on 06/29/2005 2:16:31 PM PDT by Peach
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To: billbears
George W Bush was not President 20 years ago.

The US was not fighting a WOT 20 years ago.

The US fought the Gulf war in 1991, and Saddam signed a surrender agreement.

And since then the US media has reported on Saddam and Sons connections to Islamic Cults, his crimes, his billions, his rogue nation status, his terrorist state status with the State Dept, his refusal to show doc of destruction of his WMD, his science, his attack on our pilots, his assassination attempts, the UN's failure to contain.

And now the US media "reports" everyday that the President of the United States lied about a pretext for war, when he has repeatedly said he could not trust him after 9/11, with US boots on the ground fighting in the ME.
30 posted on 06/29/2005 2:17:48 PM PDT by roses of sharon (,)
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To: Peach
PBS Frontline interview with Sabah Khodadah, former member of Saddam's super-secret Special Operations Group: Khodadah reports on Salman Pak terror training camp
31 posted on 06/29/2005 2:20:08 PM PDT by Dems_R_Losers (No government will EVER take my house from me!!)
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To: Dems_R_Losers; dangus

Dangus, see Post #31 which may have the information you were looking for.

Thank you, Dems_R_Losers, for that link.


32 posted on 06/29/2005 2:22:32 PM PDT by Peach
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To: Peach

Thanks


33 posted on 06/29/2005 2:28:26 PM PDT by dangus
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To: Peach

It's still Bush's fault.


34 posted on 06/29/2005 2:29:27 PM PDT by Voir Dire (I'm seeing and saying.)
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To: Dems_R_Losers

Interesting, thanks.


35 posted on 06/29/2005 5:19:44 PM PDT by roses of sharon (,)
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To: ChadGore
Saddam was not 'our' SOB.

Well that's not necessarily true now is it?

American troops never set foot in the sands of Iraq or Iran during the 1980 - 1988 Iran/Iraq war, and we where on the liberating side of Kuwait conflict in late 1990 and early 19991.

There was more than one regime during the Cold War that was supported on the back end by the US without troop support. Because we didn't send troops does that mean we didn't support them?

Read some of the documents for yourself. This isn't the MSM making it up.

Why do you lap up the AQ line that we create all our enemies, and then attempt to regurgitate such nonsense as your own ?

I never claimed this knowledge was my own. I'm just able to read both sides of the argument without out of hand dismissing the information because the person writing the document doesn't have the right letter by their name. As for your statement that we create our own enemies, I challenge you to remember this conversation in a generation when US forces are either still in Iraq or going back in the same general area again to fix what was created at the beginning of the 21st century.

36 posted on 06/29/2005 6:27:59 PM PDT by billbears (Deo Vindice)
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To: roses of sharon
George W Bush was not President 20 years ago

Thank God. Reagan, with his faults, was actually a conservative. Although he did allow some expansion of domestic spending that shouldn't have happened

The US was not fighting a WOT 20 years ago

No they were not, at least not completely. They were involved in the end of the Cold War. However, there was a WOT going on. Or do you not remember the bombings of the barracks in the ME or Qaddafi's threats in the mid 80s?

The US fought the Gulf war in 1991, and Saddam signed a surrender agreement

The US involved itself in an affair between two nation states, neither of which represented a direct nor present threat to the borders of this nation of states. It was none of our business

And since then the US media has reported on Saddam and Sons connections to Islamic Cults, his crimes, his billions, his rogue nation status, his terrorist state status with the State Dept, his refusal to show doc of destruction of his WMD, his science, his attack on our pilots, his assassination attempts, the UN's failure to contain.

And yet this is the same US media according to you we are not to believe now because as information as been released, some if not all they reported originally was not completely truthful. So we believe them when they support the Republican agenda and not when they report the news that comes in conflict with the Republican agenda?

37 posted on 06/29/2005 6:33:45 PM PDT by billbears (Deo Vindice)
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To: billbears
OK, so NOW you do understand what was happening 20 years ago.

And you have established that you did not mind Saddam taking Kuwait, SA, or Israel, because it was "none of our business".

And you did not read the papers in the 90's, under Clinton, when his media were working diligently to report on OBL, Saddam and Sons, CIA and Justice dept documents, and statements on their possible connections, movements, plans, ect. Just as I said before.

Finally, that you believe the MSM reporting for the last 2 years that the President of the US is just nuts for not trusting Saddam and Sons because he just hated OBL, would have nothing to do with him, or any terrorism, that Saddam was perfectly contained for all time, and that the President of the US lied to go into Iraq to prove he was lying?

OK, if you say so.
38 posted on 06/29/2005 7:30:36 PM PDT by roses of sharon (,)
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To: roses of sharon
And you have established that you did not mind Saddam taking Kuwait, SA, or Israel, because it was "none of our business".

You know, I remember the issue of oil rights conflicts between Iraq and Kuwait (one of the many reasons for their tensions) but for the life of me I don't remember a secular state (namely Iraq) wanting to 'take' Saudi Arabia or Israel...

39 posted on 06/29/2005 8:57:43 PM PDT by billbears (Deo Vindice)
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To: billbears

Ok, ok, Saddam and Sons were wonderful peaceful neighbors, who would not hurt a fly.


40 posted on 06/29/2005 9:07:12 PM PDT by roses of sharon (,)
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