Posted on 06/29/2005 9:01:00 PM PDT by nwrep
Abu Nidal, one of the world's most infamous terrorists, moved to Baghdad late last year and obtained the protection of President Saddam Hussein, according to intelligence reports received by United States and Middle Eastern government officials. The reports have raised questions about whether Iraq is pushing to establish a terrorism network, American and Middle Eastern officials say.
Abu Nidal, a brutal survivor of the Middle East's terrorist wars dating to the 1970's, had been living in Cairo for more than a year, according to Middle Eastern government officials who say they have information from inside his organization. While intelligence information about terrorist groups is hard to corroborate, American intelligence officials say they consider these Middle Eastern officials to be highly reliable. But counterterrorism experts in the Middle East say Abu Nidal remains a significant threat. One official who has watched Abu Nidal for years said, ''Osama bin Laden is a student by comparison.''
Although Abu Nidal's organization is a shadow of the terrorist machine that staged airport killings in the mid-1980's and raids on Arab, Jewish and other targets, since he moved to Egypt he has been directing attacks on Islamic radicals at war with the Egyptian Government, the Middle Eastern officials said.
United States intelligence officials said he has been hard-pressed financially and has been seeking a new government sponsor since Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi of Libya, looking for ways to persuade the United Nations to lift economic sanctions, backed away from him in the early 1990's.
Abu Nidal's move to Iraq, which he was forced to leave 15 years ago because of his ties to Syria, suggests that he may have renewed a relationship with President Hussein. ''He could become a more significant threat again if he finds more effective state sponsorship,'' an American intelligence official said.
Abu Nidal still has 200 to 300 followers in his organization, and President Hussein lacks such hard-earned expertise at terrorism.
Officials caution that there is no evidence that Abu Nidal is planning to conduct terrorism on Iraq's behalf. In recent years he has not attacked American targets and thus has become a lower priority for American officials, who have focused instead on Osama bin Laden, the Saudi exile who officials say ordered the bombings of embassies in Kenya and Tanzania in August.
Ping
bttt
Well, well ... Dandy find.
good job...assuming we cannot get a link??
Oh come on, this is irrelavent. That was 1999 during the Clinton Administration. It's different now, Bush is president. Zarqawi wasn't in Iraq before the war either.
Believe that and I'll show you a democrat to vote for.
as the Dems would say.
Old news? More like an entire decade vanished into thin air.
It is frightening how an entire western media, academics, and the Dem party can change history in a matter of 2 years.
And even more scary how many Americans say, OK, lets go to blockbuster.
Abu Abbas is another terrorist that Iraq sheltered.
As soon as Clinton left office, this type of quality reporting all but ceased at the Times.
Well Looky here ... and from the NYT no less
Thanks for the ping. :-)
Abu Nidal. Abu Abbas. Al Zarqawi. Need we say anything more? If Bin Laden where there, Saddam would have been four for four on the biggest terrorist that anybody could name. 3-4 is enough to get his @ss bombed though. Rangel can go suck it if he thinks that the first three aren't terrorists enough to justify the article of war that he voted for.
Abu Nidal in Iraq? I wonder if Oliver North will re-enlist? This is the terrorist that tried to kill North and his family back in the 80's.
Does the cessation of interest in terrorism during the 90's correlate to Clinton's leaving office, or to the arrival of Howell Raines in the editor's job at The NYT?
Yes. "Ansar al-Islam" and "ricin". Ansar's poisoner-in-chief was a frequent and honored guest in Baghdad. I don't know where he is now, can't even remember his name, but he was definitely a person of interest, especially after all that ricin turned up in a radical mosque in London. Scotland Yard's people were pretty torqued about that.
Good find. Will add to my list.
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