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Connections - Papers reveal Iraq-al Qaeda ties — again.
NRO ^ | April 10, 2006 | Deroy Murdock

Posted on 04/10/2006 2:01:13 PM PDT by neverdem

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Connections

Papers reveal Iraq-al Qaeda ties — again.

With conservative congressional majorities at risk in next November's midterm election, President Bush repeatedly should remind everyone that a key reason Coalition troops invaded Iraq was to padlock Saddam Hussein's Wal-Mart for terrorists. Pressured by congressmen and journalists, the administration finally has started releasing intelligence documents captured in Baghdad. These papers confirm what The Weekly Standard’s Stephen Hayes, Wall Street Journal editorialists, and I have demonstrated for years: Saddam Hussein indeed was entwined with terrorists in general and al Qaeda in particular. Bush should explain this, in detail, in his speeches on Iraq.

These papers appear on the U.S. Army Foreign Military Studies Office's website (http://fmso.leavenworth.army.mil/products-docex.htm). The administration should create and promote a simple URL (e.g., iraqdocuments.gov) so readers easily can examine Hussein's terror ties.

According to a March 23 ABC News analysis of several records, "an official representative of Saddam Hussein's government met with Osama bin Laden in Sudan on February 19, 1995, after receiving approval from Saddam Hussein." Bin Laden requested that Baghdad broadcast into Saudi Arabia sermons by radical Saudi mullah Suleiman al Ouda. He also proposed, as one file says, "carrying out joint operations against foreign forces" in Saudi Arabia.

The document states that Hussein was briefed on the March 4, 1995 meeting, and that further "development of the relationship and cooperation between the two parties to be left according to what's open [in the future] based on dialogue and agreement on other ways of cooperation." This memo notes that after Sudan booted bin Laden, and he decamped to Afghanistan, "The relationship with him is still through the Sudanese. We're currently working on activating this relationship through a new channel in light of his current location."

Hussein approved bin Laden's requested broadcasts. As for "joint operations against foreign forces," ABC notes that "eight months after the meeting — on November 13, 1995 — terrorists attacked Saudi National Guard Headquarters in Riyadh, killing five U.S. military advisers. The militants later confessed on Saudi TV to having been trained by Osama bin Laden."

In the April 3 Weekly Standard, Stephen Hayes cites a U.S. government "Summary of Evidence" on an Iraqi at Guantanamo. "From 1987 to 1989, the detainee served as an infantryman in the Iraqi Army and received training on the mortar and rocket propelled grenades," the document states. "A Taliban recruiter in Baghdad convinced the detainee to travel to Afghanistan to join the Taliban in 1994," it continues. "The detainee was a member of al Qaeda," it adds. "In August 1998, the detainee traveled to Pakistan with a member of Iraqi Intelligence for the purpose of blowing up the Pakistan, United States and British embassies with chemical mortars."

In a March 27 cover story, Hayes dissects an eight-page fax from Iraq's then-ambassador to Manila, Salah Samarmad, to Baghdad's foreign ministry. The June 6, 2001, communiqué reveals Baathist financing of Abu Sayyaf, al Qaeda's Philippine branch. That May 27, these terrorists abducted 20 tourists, including three Americans, on the resort island of Palawan. They soon beheaded Californian Guillermo Sobrero. A June 7, 2002, rescue liberated Kansas City missionary Gracia Burnham, though her husband, Martin, died in the crossfire. The Burnhams were seized while celebrating their 18th wedding anniversary.



Martin and Gracia Burnham, seized by

the Baathist-funded Abu Sayyaf.

Samarmad tried to loosen Hussein's embrace of these extremists.

"The kidnappers were formerly (from the previous year) receiving money and purchasing combat weapons," Ambassador Samarmad wrote headquarters. "From now on we (IIS) are not giving them this opportunity and are not on speaking terms with them," he added, mentioning the Iraqi Intelligence Service.

As former Clinton foreign-policy adviser Laurie Mylroie wrote April 2 on OpinionJournal.com, an order from Saddam Hussein dated January 18, 1993, reads: "Hunt Americans on Arab territory, particularly in Somalia." On October 3, 1993, Islamic zealots staged the so-called Blackhawk Down attack in Mogadishu, Somalia, killing 18 U.S. soldiers and wounding 73.

The Iraqi Perspectives Project, led by retired Army Lt. Colonel Kevin Woods for the U.S. Joint Forces Command, reviewed some of these papers and discovered an October 7, 2000, document titled "Correspondence from Presidential Office to Secretary General of the Fedayeen Saddam Regarding Foreign Arab Volunteers." The FS, as this document indicates, operated paramilitary training camps that hosted "Arab volunteers from Egypt, Palestine, Jordan, 'the Gulf,' and Syria" who were "sacrificing for the cause."

Lebanese-born Joseph Shahda translated Document BIAP 2003-00654 for FreeRepublic.com. Dated March 11, 2001, this top-secret letter is addressed "To all the Units" from Air Brigadier General Abdel Magid Hammot Ali, Commander of Ali Bin Abi Taleb Air Force Base, and Air Colonel Mohamad Majed Mohamadi. The subject is "Volunteer for Suicide Mission." It reads, "We ask to provide...[Command of Ali Military] Division with the names of those who desire to volunteer for Suicide Mission to liberate Palestine and to strike American Interests."

"This idea that Saddam Hussein was some sort of isolationist dictator holed up in his palace and just happy to have his hands around the throats of his own people was inaccurate," Rep. Dana Rohrbacher (R., Calif.), chairman of the House International Relations Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee tells me. "He saw himself as a Saladin and had contacts with people around the world who hated the United States, because he hated the United States."

Rohrbacher, who conducted a hearing Thursday on these documents, wishes Team Bush would move more quickly to release these papers. "This administration is overly protective and, I think, overly restrictive, and a little bit arrogant," he says. "My advice to President Bush is what Rep. Pete Hoekstra (R., Mich.) and I suggested in the first place: Get as much information out to the public as fast as you can, and let people make their own determinations based on what they see in the documents. So much of this has been held up for so long, in part so the government can control distribution of the documents. Forget distribution. Let it all hang out, and let people decide for themselves."

Senator Rick Santorum (R., Pa.) shares Rohrbacher's impatience. "The pace with which these documents are being released is inadequate," Santorum said March 28 in the Senate chamber. Of the "48,000 boxes, containing roughly 2 million documents,...less than 2 percent of the documents have been translated. At this pace, my grandchildren may know what is in these documents."

Still, even at a trickle, what is emerging is unsettling.

The May-June 2006 Foreign Affairs cites a May 25, 1999, text titled "Fedayeen Saddam Instructions" in which Uday Hussein, the tyrant's older son, orders "special operations, assassinations, and bombings, for the centers and traitor symbols in London, Iran and the self-ruled areas" [Kurdistan]. As authors Kevin Woods, James Lacey, and Williamson Murray observe, "Preparations for 'Blessed July,' a regime-directed wave of 'martyrdom' operations against targets in the West, were well under way at the time of the coalition invasion."

President Bush repeatedly should remind everyone that Coalition forces liberated Iraq on April 9, 2003, less than three months before "Blessed July."

Deroy Murdock is a columnist with the Scripps Howard News Service and a media fellow with the Hoover Institution.


 

 
http://www.nationalreview.com/murdock/murdock200604100727.asp
     



TOPICS: Editorial; Foreign Affairs; Government; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections; US: District of Columbia; War on Terror
KEYWORDS: 109th; abusayyaf; alqaeda; alqaedaandiraq; alqaida; bigbutt; burnham; burnhams; clintoonisaterrorist; graciaburnham; hitlery; hoekstra; iraq; iraqiintelligence; jihad; martinburnham; murderers; murdock; pajamahadeen; prewardocs; scumbags; shahda; stephenhayes; terrorism; terrorists; thunderthighs
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1 posted on 04/10/2006 2:01:16 PM PDT by neverdem
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To: jveritas; Jim Robinson; eyespysomething

Free Republic Bump!


2 posted on 04/10/2006 2:03:45 PM PDT by neverdem (May you be in heaven a half hour before the devil knows that you're dead.)
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To: Peach; Dog; rodguy911; eeevil conservative; AliVeritas; Ernest_at_the_Beach; SandRat; jazusamo

Victory Dance time. Slowly but surely the truth is getting out. Mega thanks to Jveritas for the work and J Rob for the forum!


3 posted on 04/10/2006 2:33:09 PM PDT by MNJohnnie (In the end it does not matter if you win. All men die. What matters is how you lived. No surrender)
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To: Shelayne; Southack; gov_bean_ counter; fanfan; Calpernia; Ben Hecks; eyespysomething

You all were part of the original thread, thought you might like to see the word IS getting out there.


4 posted on 04/10/2006 2:39:31 PM PDT by MNJohnnie (In the end it does not matter if you win. All men die. What matters is how you lived. No surrender)
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To: neverdem; MNJohnnie

This is great news. I was sure the MSM wouldn't be able to bury this info. I want to see how it will be reported on ABC,CBS and NBC.

Thanks for the ping.


5 posted on 04/10/2006 2:45:48 PM PDT by jazusamo (-- Married a WAC in '65 and I'm still re-enlisting. :-)
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To: neverdem; Chena; Valin; M. Thatcher; DocRock; Calpernia; Madame Dufarge; Txsleuth; Peach; ...
Thanks neverdem! Congrats jveritas, you're in National Review Online! I'm impressed! And a big FR bump!

Connections - Papers reveal Iraq-al Qaeda ties — again.

Release/Translation of Classified PreWar Docs ping. If you want to be added or removed to the ping list, please Freepmail me.

Please add the keyword prewardocs to any articles pertaining to this subject.

Operation Iraqi Freedom Documents

Also here

Documents from the Harmony Database

jveritas’s blog

Ray Robison’s blog

6 posted on 04/10/2006 2:45:57 PM PDT by eyespysomething (American liberals like everything about the struggle for freedom except the struggle.)
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To: jazusamo
>>> I was sure the MSM wouldn't be able to bury this info. I want to see how it will be reported on ABC,CBS and NBC. <<<

Your looking at it - its been out there for days. Your friends in the MSM have totally ignored it. They will keep ignoring it! We could translate a document that has Saddam meeting with Atta and Osama and Zawahiri - and they would ignore it!

Bush needs an offensive coach.

7 posted on 04/10/2006 2:52:59 PM PDT by HardStarboard
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To: jazusamo
>>> I was sure the MSM wouldn't be able to bury this info. I want to see how it will be reported on ABC,CBS and NBC. <<<

Your looking at it - its been out there for days. Your friends in the MSM have totally ignored it. They will keep ignoring it! We could translate a document that has Saddam meeting with Atta and Osama and Zawahiri - and they would ignore it!

Bush needs an offensive coach.

8 posted on 04/10/2006 2:53:34 PM PDT by HardStarboard
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To: neverdem
Ya know;

It took me a while to figure out why the MSM was so POed about President Bush's spy plan on terrorists. The it hit me.

They are POed because they are afraid they will be picked up on one of the tapes when they are chatting with the terrorists to get an interview.
9 posted on 04/10/2006 2:56:51 PM PDT by PeteB570 (Guns, what real men want for Christmas)
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To: HardStarboard
[Bush needs an offensive coach.]

You're sure right about that. I've kind of been keeping my fingers crossed now that Card is out for a change like that, we need it to happen now.

I still think the the 3 are going to be forced to start reporting this. We have only seen the very beginning of what's going to come out.
10 posted on 04/10/2006 3:02:16 PM PDT by jazusamo (-- Married a WAC in '65 and I'm still re-enlisting. :-)
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To: eyespysomething

How about we all send this to the Senate Intelligence Committee?


11 posted on 04/10/2006 3:03:50 PM PDT by Peach
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To: MNJohnnie

Send it to the Senate Intelligence Committee. They need to start talking about this when they return.


12 posted on 04/10/2006 3:04:26 PM PDT by Peach
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To: All

This is the list of Senate Intel Committee members; the link takes you to their names and if you click their names, you can e-mail them.

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1014660/posts?page=458#458


13 posted on 04/10/2006 3:08:58 PM PDT by Peach
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To: Peach

Great idea, emailing now.


14 posted on 04/10/2006 3:10:52 PM PDT by MNJohnnie (In the end it does not matter if you win. All men die. What matters is how you lived. No surrender)
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To: Peach

Thanks Peach, I'm starting now.


15 posted on 04/10/2006 3:11:22 PM PDT by jazusamo (-- Married a WAC in '65 and I'm still re-enlisting. :-)
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To: jazusamo

Thank YOU!

Other addresses:

Hannity@foxnews.com
Oreilly@foxnews.com
Studiob@foxnews.com
Hardball@msnbc.com
Imus@msnbc.com
Myword@foxnews.com
Drudge@drudgereport.com
writemalkin@gmail.com
hhewitt@hughhewitt.com
rush@eibnet.com


16 posted on 04/10/2006 3:13:55 PM PDT by Peach
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To: MNJohnnie

Thank you, johnnie!


17 posted on 04/10/2006 3:14:14 PM PDT by Peach
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To: chillout

Another translation ping


18 posted on 04/10/2006 3:20:56 PM PDT by SittinYonder (That's how I saw it, and see it still.)
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To: MNJohnnie

Thanks Johnnie!


19 posted on 04/10/2006 3:23:08 PM PDT by Dog (We have had a date with destiny and Iran for 27 years---appealof2)
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To: jveritas

You'da man!!!


20 posted on 04/10/2006 3:23:44 PM PDT by Dog (We have had a date with destiny and Iran for 27 years---appealof2)
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