Posted on 09/25/2002 6:00:43 PM PDT by HAL9000
WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Bush's national security adviser on Wednesday accused Iraqi President Saddam Hussein's regime of sheltering members of the al-Qaida terrorist network in Baghdad and helping Osama bin Laden's operatives in developing chemical weapons.Condoleezza Rice's comments -- by far the strongest statements yet from the U.S. government alleging al-Qaida contacts with the Iraqi government -- were aired Thursday on PBS' "The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer.''
Her accusations came as the Bush administration continues to make its case to a skeptical world that Saddam should be removed from power, by force if necessary. The charges also came as the White House sought to fend off accusations from Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle that Bush was playing politics with the debate over war in Iraq.
"We clearly know that there were in the past and have been contacts between senior Iraqi officials and members of al-Qaida going back for actually quite a long time,'' Rice said. "We know too that several of the (al-Qaida) detainees, in particular some high-ranking detainees, have said that Iraq provided some training to al-Qaida in chemical weapons development.''
Previously, the widely held view has been that while Saddam and bin Laden both oppose the United States, their motivations are too different for them to work together. Saddam seeks secular power; bin Laden's drive comes from religious motivations and his opposition to the U.S. military presence in Saudi Arabia and the Arab world.
But Rice said, "There clearly are contacts between al-Qaida and Iraq that can be documented; there clearly is testimony that some of the contacts have been important contacts and that there's a relationship here.''
She suggested that details of the contacts will be released later.
Previously, U.S. intelligence officials have said that some al-Qaida members have been detected in Iraq, but that they appeared to simply be crossing the country after fleeing Afghanistan for their native countries on the Arabian peninsula or in North Africa. U.S. intelligence has also received information that some al-Qaida leaders are hiding in Iran, and the U.S. government is looking into reports that al-Qaida operatives are conducting training just over the Iranian border from Afghanistan.
Rice said that much of the information is coming from al-Qaida operatives captured since the Sept. 11 attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon. This includes several senior leaders whom the U.S. alleges organized terrorist attacks.
"No one is trying to make an argument at this point that Saddam Hussein somehow had operational control of what happened on Sept. 11, so we don't want to push this too far, but this is a story that is unfolding, and it is getting clearer, and we're learning more,'' Rice said.
"And there are some al-Qaida personnel who found refuge in Baghdad,'' Rice said.
Earlier in the day, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld made a vague reference to Iraq-al Qaida links during a NATO meeting in Warsaw, Poland, but didn't offer details.
Administration officials, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said Rice's disclosure was significant because it marked the first time that the White House claimed that al-Qaida operated in Saddam-controlled Baghdad. It was an effort to counter suggestions that al-Qaida operatives were solely in the Kurdish area of northern Iraq, which he doesn't control. The disclosure is part of an effort to strengthen the case against Saddam, the officials said.
Previously, it's been known that Ansar al-Islam, an Islamic extremist group in northern Iraq, sent about a dozen of its members to bin Laden's camps. The group is largely composed of ethnic Kurds and had experimented with biological weapons, U.S. officials have said. But any links to Saddam's government were dubious.
Bin Laden has sought chemical, biological and nuclear weapons for a decade, U.S. intelligence officials have said. His followers are believed to have experimented with rudimentary chemical and biological weapons, but they lacked the sophistication to use them in a way that would kill large numbers of people.
Saddam's military used chemical weapons against Iran in the 1980s and on rebelling Iraqi Kurds. He has also researched biological and nuclear weapons -- previously, the key complaint of the Bush administration against Saddam.
Saddam's government denies having any of these weapons.
After Sept. 11, officials in the Czech Republic said that chief hijacker Mohamed Atta had met with an Iraqi intelligence agent in Prague, which some viewed as a link between Iraq and the attacks. But U.S. officials have since said they doubt the meeting took place.
The Iraqi government has been linked to other groups labeled terrorist by the United States -- primarily those that oppose Iran and Israel.
Copyright 2002 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.
You got some preview predictions?
Why do I think this demonrat is LYING? Cause his lips were moving.
It's well-known that our intelligence agencies sometimes hold back information in such briefings depending on how much trust they have in the Congressmen sitting in on them to keep their mouth shut.
Since this is a Democrat you are talking about, one would assume that he was given an "edited" briefing. And that's what he's talking about. (And notice, he couldn't keep his mouth shut about it, as expected.)
I was just reading a history of WWII, and it said that the US and the Soviet Union worked together against Hitler. Now, this couldn't possibly be true. After all, the Soviets were communists and atheists, while the US was capitalistic and full of religious types---virtual opposites!
Mr. RUSSERT: One year ago when you were on MEET THE PRESS just five days after September 11, I asked you a specific question about Iraq and Saddam Hussein. Let’s watch:(Videotape, September 16, 2001):
Mr. RUSSERT: Do we have any evidence linking Saddam Hussein or Iraqis to this operation?
VICE PRES. CHENEY: No.
(End videotape)
Mr. RUSSERT: Has anything changed, in your mind?
VICE PRES. CHENEY: Well, I want to be very careful about how I say this. I’m not here today to make a specific allegation that Iraq was somehow responsible for 9/11. I can’t say that. On the other hand, since we did that interview, new information has come to light. And we spent time looking at that relationship between Iraq, on the one hand, and the al-Qaeda organization on the other. And there has been reporting that suggests that there have been a number of contacts over the years. We’ve seen in connection with the hijackers, of course, Mohamed Atta, who was the lead hijacker, did apparently travel to Prague on a number of occasions. And on at least one occasion, we have reporting that places him in Prague with a senior Iraqi intelligence official a few months before the attack on the World Trade Center. The debates about, you know, was he there or wasn’t he there, again, it’s the intelligence business.
Mr. RUSSERT: What does the CIA say about that and the president?
VICE PRES. CHENEY: It’s credible. But, you know, I think a way to put it would be it’s unconfirmed at this point. We’ve got...
Earlier today, on Fox News, Newt Gingrich suggested that when the time is right, the president should go to a joint session of Congress and make his case to the American people and explain exactly why we need to take military action against Iraq.
After Bush's UN speech, a "senior WH staffer" was quoted: "That was Act I of a three act play."
I'm assuming that Tony Blair's dossier served as Act II.
So, that what we're seeing now is the introductory scenes of Act III. Which, according to the source, should be a "doozy"...
Typo? Or super-secret slip letting out scripted news releases ahead of plan?? (I think I've got some cheese wrapped up in my tinfoil)
RIGHT ON, SISTA! Right on!
Now I think I understand why Daschle went off the deep end today, we will be rolling very soon. Who had October in the Sadddam death pool?
I doubt Saddam's FR fanclub is going to ever see the light....
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