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You probably saw/heard this exchange on Fox News yesterday re the French and ANOTHER thing they're hiding:

Why The French Are So Scared & Link To Al Qaeda/Iraq
Fox News

IJAZ: Exactly. But there is another more important and more dangerous thing that is at hand. In my judgment, tomorrow Secretary Powell is going to go in front of the United Nations and make a case.

The case that he makes forensically is fairly clear now, that is that he is going to bring in intercepts and he's going to show exactly what it is we know the Iraqis have been moving around to violate the spirit and the letter of 1441. But what he may not be able as to easily talk about is the connection between Al Qaeda and Iraq, because that is not as much of a forensic connection.

HUME: In other words, that is not the kind of thing revealed in intercepts and photographs?

IJAZ: Exactly right. Because now al Qaeda has reduced itself to carrying all if its messages and all the most dangerous things that it does by hand carriage, if you will, by hand messengers.

Now, that is where we come back to what President Bush said in October of last year when he identified a senior al Qaeda leader who had gone to Iraq, received medical treatment to have a leg amputated that was blown up in the Afghan bombing campaign and then proceeded to a northern Iraqi terrorist outfit. What we have not yet heard and this is what my sources are telling me over the past two or three days, is that that leader was in fact, transported through southern Turkey using Albanian mercenaries to transport him into...

HUME: What is his name, by the way?

IJAZ: Abu Masab al-Zawkawi. He was transported through southern Turkey into the Balkans and then ended up in Paris sometime just before Ramadan started...

HUME: Last fall?

IJAZ: ... in 2002, last fall.

Now, the thing that is the most important about this is that when they uncovered the cells in Paris two weeks ago, in the apartment where they uncovered those cells, they found traces of ricin. And those traces of ricin are linked directly to this man Zawkawi.

HUME: These are al Qaeda cells?

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MANSOOR IJAZ, FOX FOREIGN AFFAIRS ANALYST: Thank you for having me here in Washington.

HUME: What's your -- what are your sources telling you what France might be nervous about here?

IJAZ: Well, there are two separate things. One is what would be uncovered if we were going to go to war with Iraq and essentially obliterate without French help the system that Saddam has set up. And there, what you have to worry about -- let's not forget that the French provided nuclear reactors to Iraq once upon a time.

And there may be a lot more in terms of information that could be brought out about what the French help has been quietly behind the scenes to the Iraqis during the ensuing years thereafter. That is, thing that is could be technically in violation of existing United Nations resolutions.

HUME: And sanctions, right.

IJAZ: Exactly. But there is another more important and more dangerous thing that is at hand. In my judgment, tomorrow Secretary Powell is going to go in front of the United Nations and make a case.

The case that he makes forensically is fairly clear now, that is that he is going to bring in intercepts and he's going to show exactly what it is we know the Iraqis have been moving around to violate the spirit and the letter of 1441. But what he may not be able as to easily talk about is the connection between Al Qaeda and Iraq, because that is not as much of a forensic connection.

HUME: In other words, that is not the kind of thing revealed in intercepts and photographs?

IJAZ: Exactly right. Because now al Qaeda has reduced itself to carrying all if its messages and all the most dangerous things that it does by hand carriage, if you will, by hand messengers.

Now, that is where we come back to what President Bush said in October of last year when he identified a senior al Qaeda leader who had gone to Iraq, received medical treatment to have a leg amputated that was blown up in the Afghan bombing campaign and then proceeded to a northern Iraqi terrorist outfit. What we have not yet heard and this is what my sources are telling me over the past two or three days, is that that leader was in fact, transported through southern Turkey using Albanian mercenaries to transport him into...

HUME: What is his name, by the way?

IJAZ: Abu Masab al-Zawkawi. He was transported through southern Turkey into the Balkans and then ended up in Paris sometime just before Ramadan started...

HUME: Last fall?

IJAZ: ... in 2002, last fall.

Now, the thing that is the most important about this is that when they uncovered the cells in Paris two weeks ago, in the apartment where they uncovered those cells, they found traces of ricin. And those traces of ricin are linked directly to this man Zawkawi.

HUME: These are al Qaeda cells?

IJAZ: These are al Qaeda cells run by Algerian operatives, who are then responsible for going and giving it to the London cell, to the Barcelona cell, to the Milan cell.

And the point I'm trying to make to you is if the French have not publicly acknowledged that they found ricin in that apartment, that is a major breach of what this international war against terrorism is all about. Now, there can only be two reasons for that. One reason is that the French are afraid that there may be 50 other cells like this and don't want to cause a panic inside of France, which is a valid domestic reason.

But I think the more likely reason is that they are deeply concerned if they put that information out there, that then makes the case of al- Zawkawi tied to Iraq, getting recipes from making ricin from Saddam Hussein and bringing those to western Europe to commit terrorist acts.

That is where we sit with the French today, that lying and obfuscation is unacceptable. They need to be called on the mat about this and I hope the secretary will, at minimum, mention the recipe books being moved around inside of Iraq so we can clearly see what the intent of these people are through this process.

HUME: You mean the intent of al Qaeda.

IJAZ: The intent of al Qaeda working with Saddam inside of Iraq.

HUME: Now, in what sense though, would a revelation of this kind other than the fact that this information hadn't been given to western intelligence agency, if it hasn't, embarrass Franc? Very quickly.

IJAZ: It embarrasses France in a very important way. It showed that they are not -- when they had the intelligence -- and by the way, German intelligence is the one that confirmed that Zakawi had gone back to Iraq into Iran. That means the French and the Germans, the two people that are complaining the loudest are the ones with the best intelligence and not sharing it with the world. This is absolutely unacceptable.

HUME: Monsoor Ijaz, very interesting. Thank you, sir.

IJAZ: Thank you for having me.