Posted on 09/29/2001 1:29:47 PM PDT by Ranger
Could Iraq be Planning a Pre-Emptive Bio/Chemical Attack on U.S. Air Force Bases Using Terrorist Surrogates?
Summary:
Within the last few weeks, particularly since the 9/11/01 attack, Iraqis have been caught spying on U.S. troop concentrations. Spies have been caught in Kuwait spying on U.S. troop deployments and in Britain trying to infiltrate air force bases used to bomb Iraqi targets. Also there is reason to believe Bin Laden or Iraqi operatives were obtaining diagrams of Turkish airfields used by U.S. forces. This overlays recent skirmishes along the Saudi border and recent arrests of Iraqi operatives in Latin America and Europe.
Also in recent weeks, reports linking Iraq to Bin Laden's terrorist cells have become increasingly evident. Some of these links relate to biological and chemical weapons as evidenced in Northern Iraq, Yemen, the Sudan and Afghanistan.
The use of terrorist operatives to initiate biological or chemical attacks on U.S. forces and its allies provides a means of striking back at the U.S., weakening its allies and freeing its stranglehold on Iraq while providing Iraq a veil of deniability. This would not defeat the U.S. but it could increase U.S. casualties, so far unobtainable by Iraq, and potentially destabilize the U.S.'s allies in the middle east; such as Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Egypt.
Bin Laden and his allies are desperately trying to make the pending conflict a crusade between the U.S. and greater Islam. Only in this manner can it hope to prevail. The U.S. appears to have decided to announce and attack its targets in a serial fashion instead. This may explain the bizarre conflict of statements coming from Washington and Israel as to Iraq's involvement in the 9/11/01 matter.
The supposition that Iraq might use Bin Laden's network to launch a pre-emptive biological or chemical weapons attack against U.S. military targets poised to strike Iraq makes logical sense if Hussein concluded that the U.S. is planning a knock-out blow against him. Such an attack would be best poised after the U.S. engages Afghanistan but before it turns its guns on Iraq.
We shall see. Perhaps I've become to cynical or paranoid. Comments are welcome.
1. Iraq and Bin Laden's group are showing intense interest in our air force bases and troop concentrations within striking distance of Iraq.
A. Iraqi spies caught in Kuwait spying on U.S. troop concentrations.
KUWAIT, Sept 29 (Reuters) - Two suspected Iraqi intelligence agents were shown on Kuwait state television on Saturday saying they had spied on military and civilian targets in Kuwait. The television broadcast the confession by the two Iraqi men whom it identified as Hussein Mehdi, 18, and Raed Khalaf 18. "The task that I was given was to survey military sites, civilian sites and the movement of the military inside Kuwait," Raed Khalaf said. "My mission was to assess the numbers of the military in Kuwait and the numbers of the military on the border," Hussein Mehdi said. The ...
KUWAIT CITY, Sept 29 (AFP) - A Kuwaiti interior ministry official confirmed Saturday that four Iraqi spies were arrested last week after allegedly being sent to "survey and locate" US forces in the emirate. The ministry's undersecretary, Lt. Gen. Nasser al-Othman, told Al-Rai Al-Aam newspaper that four Iraqi intelligence officers were arrested last week in two separate operations. The four men "confessed during interrogation that they were instructed to survey US sites and other vital installations, and were also instructed to spread rumours and provoke divisions in (Kuwaiti) society," said Othman. Iraq on Thursday denied media reports that four ...
Commentary: Per se, I'm not particularly surprised Iraq has spies on U.S. troops in Kuwait. But when viewed in conjunction with other recent activities, one begins to suspect that this is not a run of the mill activity.
B. Iraqi spies caught in U.K. at RAF base.
Seven men have been detained under the Terrorism Act 2000 after being found hidden in a vehicle at RAF Lakenheath in Suffolk. The men, six of whom are thought to be Iraqis, were concealed in a civilian lorry, which is believed to have entered the UK on Wednesday. A seventh man, thought to be German, has also been arrested. The stowaways were discovered when the lorry in which they were travelling was stopped during a routine search at the entrance to the base. Noises were heard from inside the vehicle and police were called to the base by military ...
According to ITN news from in the UK - 6 Iraqi's have been arrested outside a British, navel or air base?? They were in a lory??
C. Suspects in Detroit caught with layout of Turkish air force base used by U.S.
WASHINGTON -- Attorney General John Ashcroft said Wednesday the terrorists behind the attacks on the United States likely received support from foreign governments and that it was too early to tell if surprise arrests in Michigan were a major break in the case. Emerging from a visit at the Pentagon that was badly damaged by last week's attacks, the attorney general raised the possible involvement of foreign states. "It is pretty clear that the networks that conduct these kind of events are harbored, supported, sustained and protected by a variety of foreign governments," he said. "It is time for those ...
INVESTIGATION: Mystery Detroit contact arrested Suspect held in Iowa; he's linked to false IDs September 29, 2001 BY DAVID ZEMAN, JIM SCHAEFER AND DAVID ASHENFELTER FREE PRESS STAFF WRITERS A mystery man from Detroit who went by the name of Jalali was arrested Friday in Iowa by federal authorities probing the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. The man, whom authorities identify as Youssef Hmimssa, was caught by the U.S. Secret Service in Cedar Rapids, said a spokeswoman in the FBI's Detroit office. Extradition to Michigan will probably be sought, she said. Hmimssa has been linked to falsified immigration documents seized Sept. ...
2. Israel and Saudi Arabia expressing deep concern for chemical or biological attacks from Iraq or Bin Laden.
A. Saudi Arabian reluctance to allow use of U.S. bases on Saudi soil linked to fear of attack from Saudi Arabia.
While I can't find the links I've been looking for on this topic in Free Republic, I recall news discussions since 9/11/01 that the king and certain princes have hurried to Switzerland over concern that they might be within range of an Iraqi missile attack. This may explain the peculiar go/no-go reports in the last week over whether the Saudi's would allow the U.S. to use the command and control center recently constructed in Saudi Arabia for retaliation for the 9/11/01 attack. Also of note has been the strange yes/no reports from Washington as to Iraqi's involvement in the WTC attack.
B. Israel is on high state of alert for bio/chemical attack from Iraq.
There is no need to use dubious sources like Debka to articulate Israel's fear of Iraqi bio and chemical missile attacks from Iraq. The Washington Times and the N.Y. Times make this case in a more credible manner.
Also in recent weeks, there has been discussion within Israel about publicly declaring its nuclear capability. I see no purpose in this declaration unless it is meant as a deterrent to possible attack from weapons of mass destruction.
September 25, 2001 Israel braces for chemical attack from Iraq By Abraham Rabinovich THE WASHINGTON TIMES JERUSALEM — The long lines that have formed outside gas-mask distribution centers in Israel over the past few days reflect a widespread feeling that while the U.S. retaliation for the Sept. 11 attacks may begin in Afghanistan, it will eventually reach Iraq. &#... that indeed happens, the expectation is that Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein may, if threatened, attempt to take Israel with him b
FREEPERS - A MUST READ...Iraqi President Saddam Hussein's son-in-law began a crash military program intended to give Iraq the ability to wipe out Israel's population with germ weapons, an Iraqi general told inspectors. MiG fighters, each carrying 250 gallons of microbes, were to be flown by remote control to release anthrax over Israel. One pilotless plane was flight-tested with simulated germs just before the war began, but the attack was never attempted......(Why do you need a pilotless plane if you have individuals ready to give their life on the plane. This article is a must read.) ========== On a January ...
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (AP) - Scientists and doctors in Pakistan are preparing contingency plans to respond to the threat of biological and other unconventional weapons that could emerge as a result of the crisis in Afghanistan, officials said Saturday. As part of the plans, hospital authorities are arranging for extra beds and medicines and are training doctors and paramedical staff in ways to cope in case terrorists unleash such weapons in Pakistan in response to an expected U.S. attack on neighboring Afghanistan. ``We have made all arrangements to handle the situation that could arise after a U.S. attack'' on Afghanistan, ...
3. Iraq is believed to have cross-trained Bin Laden terrorists in use of biological and chemical weapons.
ISTANBUL, Sept 25 (Reuters) - An Iraqi Kurdish group said on Tuesday it had been involved in heavy fighting in northern Iraq with enemies it described as Islamists with links to Afghanistan. The perceived threat from Islamist groups in northern Iraq has helped promote a process of reconciliation between the two main Kurdish groups running the enclave, which broke away from Iraqi government control after the 1991 Gulf War. Both groups, once bitter rivals, describe the Islamist forces as "terrorists" and have vowed to cooperate against them. Further details of the "Islamist" groups were not available. The United States,
As intelligence services try to prove who was behind the New York and Washington attacks, the evidence is mounting that a secret pact was forged between Osama bin Laden, Iraq and Sudan to wage a terrorist war against the US. The pact, forged in 1998, led to Iraqi experts helping to build a chemical weapons factory especially for bin Laden's terrorists in Sudan and bin Laden and Saddam Hussein's Iraq co-operating to build several others. In a paper for the US Congress's Task Force on Terrorism and Unconventional Warfare, its chairman Yossef Bodansky said the chemical weapons factory, in Soba, ...
This is an older article I never posted here in Free Republic that seems, well, prescient right now. Fears Iraq trying to sell biological weapons to terror groups By Sharon Sadeh, Ha'aretz Correspondent 09/09/2001 Senior British security officials fear that Iraqi spies, posing as asylum seekers, are arriving in Britain in an effort to smuggle in chemical and biological weapons intended for terrorist organizations, the British weekly Sunday Express reported Sunday. British customs officials have asked the MI5 security service to assist them in tracking refugees and political asylum seekers suspected of being impostors. Britain fears that Iraq is ...
Bin Laden met Iraqi agent WASHINGTON -- (AP) -- A 1998 meeting between Osama bin Laden and a senior Iraqi intelligence officer in Afghanistan is coming under renewed scrutiny as U.S. officials search for clues of a state sponsor of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. Farouk Hijazi, an Iraqi intelligence officer who is Iraq's ambassador to Turkey, met with bin Laden in Kandahar, a region in southeastern Afghanistan where bin Laden is known to have training camps, a U.S. official said, speaking on the condition of anonymity. It is not known what was discussed at the December 1998 meeting. ...
WASHINGTON (AP) - A 1998 meeting between Osama bin Laden and a senior Iraqi intelligence officer in Afghanistan is coming under new scrutiny as U.S. officials search for clues of a state sponsor of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. Farouk Hijazi, an Iraqi intelligence officer who is Iraq's ambassador to Turkey, met with bin Laden in Kandahar, a region in southeastern Afghanistan where bin Laden is known to have training camps, a U.S. official said Wednesday, speaking on condition of anonymity. It is not known what was discussed at the December 1998 meeting. Vice President Dick Cheney said Sunday there ...
AS THE UNITED STATES prepares to fight Osama bin Laden, the enemy in this new war against terrorism is disturbingly ill-defined. Above all, a critical question has not been addressed: Was bin Laden alone responsible for the carnage that occurred on Sept. 11, or was he working with an enemy state, namely Iraq? As Rafael Eitan, former head of Israel's Mossad, stated, ''I have no doubt whatsoever that the mastermind of this atrocity is none other than the Iraqi dictator.'' Former CIA director Jim Woolsey has also fingered Iraq, and senior officials in the Pentagon agree. Yet the Bush administration ...
THE VISIBLE HAND The Iraqi Connection President Bush must win the war his father started. OpinionJournal Wall Street Journal Online BY RICHARD MINITER Monday, September 24, 2001 12:01 a.m. EDT In President Bush's soaring, Reaganesque speech Thursday night, two words were missing: Saddam Hussein. Is America's Gulf War foe behind the attacks? Secretary of State Colin Powell and other Bush administration officials say there is "no evidence" of that. Yet veteran State Department watchers say that "evidence" is a kind of Foggy Bottom shorthand for absolute proof--the kind that lawyers would need to convict the Iraqi dictator in court. ...
The Sudan-Iraq-Afghanistan Alliance: and the Russian connectionAmerica's enemies unveiled The terrible events of last week were anticipated by the work of security expert Yossef Bodansky. Readers are advised to study Bodansky's book, Bin Laden: The Man Who Declared War on America. Using Bodansky's basic outline, recent news stories, the excellent research of John K. Cooley's Unholy Wars and Samir al-Khalil's Republic of Fear, I attempt to describe the forces at work behind the destruction of the World Trade Center. In October, 1998, Sudan's Islamist ideologue, Sheikh Hassan al-Turabi, sent a delegation of terrorist commanders to Saddam Hussein in ...
Osama bin Laden was in contact with Iraqi government agents from his base in Afghanistan in the days leading up to the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, according to U.S. intelligence officials. Officials also told The Washington Times there are indications bin Laden, the leading suspect in the deadly attacks, is preparing to flee Afghanistan and set up operations in the African nation of Somalia. Bin Laden's contacts with the Iraqi government were detected before the attacks, said officials who spoke on the condition of anonymity. "This is the basis for signs of state sponsorship," said one official. Attorney General John ...
Not for commercial use. Solely to be used for the educational purposes of research and open discussion. WAR ON TERROR: LINKS TO IRAQ: IS SADDAM TO BLAME?; IRAQI DICTATOR 'HAD THE MOTIVE AND THE MEANS' Nathan Yates The Mirror NEWS; Pg. 6,7 September 20, 2001, Thursday AMERICA is investigating a possible link between Saddam Hussein and the suicide attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. "If Mylroie and Fox are right, then it was Iraq that went after the World Trade Center last time, which makes it much more plausible that Iraq has done so again." The Iraqi ...
4. One possible conclusion is that Iraq or Bin Laden toge,ther or separately, intend to mount a pre-emptive chemical or biological attack on U.S. troop concentrations used to strike at Iraq?
A. Iraq demands halt to U.S. and U.K. over flights and Re-Thinking of U.S. foreign policy.
Iraq demands halt to US-British sorties Syria Times (Damascus) Posted Thursday September 27, 2001 - 10:40:31 AM EDT BAGHDAD - Iraq called yesterday on UN Secretary General Kofi Annan to intervene to stop American and British air sorties over the two No-Fly Zones in North and South Iraq and the attacks launched by these planes. In a message he addressed to Annan, Iraqi Foreign Minister Naje Sabri urged the latter to demand the governments of the countries that take part in the sorties to stop these acts because they constitute a violation of Iraq's sovereignty and threaten the international security. ...
The United States is in "international isolation" and Americans "feel insecure," because the U.S. has "caused insecurity to many peoples around the world," according to a high Iraqi official. Americans "have used the law of force in dealing with the world for the last 50 years," according to the Iraqi Foreign Minister Naji Sabri, and the U.S. needs "honest advice" so that America can "think over what happened" on Sept. 11 and engage in a "profound reassessment" of U.S. foreign policy. The remarks were monitored from a shortwave transmission from the World Service of the British Broadcasting Corporation. While Sabri ...
B. Iraq on highest state of alert.
SADDAM HUSSEIN put his troops on their highest military alert since the Gulf war two weeks before the suicide attacks on America in the strongest indication yet that the Iraqi dictator knew an atrocity was planned. Alert G: Iraqi forces are expecting a 'massive attack' Since the attacks, The Telegraph has learnt that the Iraqi leader had been providing al-Qaeda, Osama bin Laden's terrorist network, with funding, logistical back-up and advanced weapons training. His operations reached a "frantic pace" in the past few months, according to Western intelligence officials. Saddam has remained out of the public eye in ...
After Afghanistan, could Iraq be next?
News/Current Events News
Source: AFP
Published: 9/29/01
One comment.
WASHINGTON, Sept 29 (AFP) - The concentration of US forces around Afghanistan, particularly in the Gulf region, in response to the recent terror attacks on American soil, is reviving a debate here on whether to oust Saddam Hussein's regime in Iraq. The Iraqi leader, whose forces were booted out of Kuwait in 1991 by an international coalition led by former president George Bush, the father of the current US president, continues to hang on to power, fueling mounting frustration among US leaders who maintain large military forces around Iraq. Although Washington admits it had so far no formal proof of ...
Commentary: It's a leap to say that Iraq, via a Bin Lade surrogate, might use biological or chemical weapons against U.S. troop concentrations. On the other hand, the linkage between Bin Laden's terrorist attack that killed 6500 Americans is increasingly clear as is the fact that he has provided biological and chemical weapons training and resources to the Bin Laden group. Given the inherent limitations of distributing biological and chemical weapons, targeting troop concentrations makes sense. Also the use of suicide terrorists provides both deniability and a convenient delivery vehicle. On balance, the possibility of a terrorist bio/chemical attack on U.S. air force personnel located at bases which historical strike at Iraq becomes a plausible possibility. And the burning question remains, why try to penetrate the U.S. Air Force Base in England and why now?
Short answer - NO! They know, like they did during the Gulf War, that we would retaliate with nuclear weapons!
No... I don't think so.
Yet.
What if he has already decided that we are going to kill him this time? In that scenario he has very little to loose.
I hope so too. But given that they were caught flat footed in NYC and the Pentagon, I'm not real impressed with their coordination. U.K. arrest of Iraqis might be an indication that things have improved. In other words the element of surprise is gone.
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