Noose Tightens On IRAQ-Sept. 11 Connection

WHAT DO an Oklahoma City investigative reporter and a Philadelphia trial lawyer have in common?

It sounds like a riddle with a bad punch line, but the answer is far more somber.

In a post-9/11 version of "Six Degrees of Separation," both identified a terrorist link between Iraq and al Qaeda long before a discovery this week that supports the connection.

Jayna Davis is the reporter whose work I have twice featured on this page. She laboriously connected dots suggesting an Iraqi role in the bombing of the Murrah Federal Building. Many scoffed when Davis identified the infamous John Doe No. 2 as an Iraqi involved with Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols, the two ex-Army buddies who many of us believed had acted alone.

Recall that in the immediate aftermath of the explosion, the FBI launched an international pursuit of several Mideastern-looking males seen fleeing the Murrah building in a brown Chevy pickup immediately before the blast. Without explanation, that APB was canceled.

Davis identified a group of Iraqis living in Oklahoma City, one of whom was a perfect match for John Doe No. 2. He even sported a tattoo on his left arm that Davis said indicated he likely served in Saddam Hussein's Republican Guard (this was before the rest of us ever heard of the Republican Guard). And she had two witnesses who put the Iraqi man with McVeigh and Nichols.

Davis has not gotten the credit she deserves, but she's looking more and more prescient.

The trial lawyer is James Beasley Jr. of the Beasley Firm in Center City who was the first lawyer in this country to file a wrongful-death suit in the aftermath of 9/11.

Beasley, acting on behalf of two families of people who died at Ground Zero, initially named as defendants the usual suspects: bin Laden, al Qaeda, the Taliban, certain Afghans. But he amended his federal court case more than a year ago to include Iraq and Saddam Hussein.

What led the trial lawyer to the same conclusion as the investigative reporter? In part, what he learned about Salman Pak.

Salman Pak is the Saddam terrorist camp 15 miles southeast of Baghdad that was overrun by U.S. marines this week.

On site at Salman Pak, coalition forces discovered part of the fuselage of a commercial passenger plane. But Salman Pak is no airport. The only conceivable explanation for the presence of the airplane is to train terrorists.

Which is exactly what Beasley told a federal judge in New York City on March 3, a month before the invasion of Iraq began. And that supports Davis' view that terrorism on our shores has Iraqi origins.

Beasley told Judge Harold Baer Jr. that Salman Pak has been devoted to enabling Islamic extremists to practice the art of murdering people.

He showed in open court the satellite photo that accompanies this column as part of the presentation of evidence that Iraq played a role in 9/11. And he had a big gun from the intelligence community supporting this view, a former director of the CIA, James Woolsey.

With regard to Salman Pak, Woolsey testified that "there was training of terrorists, Islamist terrorists, from countries other than Iraq, religious fundamentalists, in how to hijack aircraft."

"When I look at that pattern, what it strongly suggests to me is that in some fashion there was a common purpose here of the Iraqi government training of terrorists and those who conducted the Sept. 11 attack...to my mind, this is too much of a coincidence."

Woolsey also testified that he believes, due in large part to a letter to Beasley from the Czech U.N. ambassador, Hynek Mmonicek, that Mohammad Atta, the ringleader of the 9/11 hijackers, had indeed visited Prague in April 2001. And during that time he met with a senior Iraqi intelligence officer named Al-Ani.

Jayna Davis has similarly linked McVeigh and Nichols to the 9/11 hijackers. She has pointed out that Terry Nichols was a man of modest means who nevertheless traveled frequently to the Philippines. Davis discovered that Nichols was in Cebu City in December 1994 at the same time as the convicted mastermind of the first World Trade Center attack - Ramzi Yousef.

The plot thickens with the testimony of Laurie Mylroie, who holds a doctorate from Harvard for work on the rivalries among Iran, Iraq and Saudi Arabia. She's also written two books on Iraq.

Mylroie told the court in Beasley's case that "Iraqi intelligence had been behind the World Trade Center bombing; that Ramzi Yousef, the mastermind of that attack, was in fact an Iraqi intelligence agent." She further said that "Iraq, I believe, did provide support and resources for the Sept. 11 attacks."

No decision has been rendered in the federal case. But you could say that the discovery by the U.S. marines who overran Salman Pak has clearly spoken.

A few quick selections from my Iraq timeline on Iraq's connections to terrorism :

* Farouk Hijazi : Hijazi was Iraq's ambassador to Turkey and is an Iraqi intelligence officer. while in Turkey he met with Osama bin Laden (Information from the Wisconian Project on Nuclear Arms Control, a Washington-based think tank. Gary Milhollin, its director and Professor Emeritus of the University of Wisconian Law School, gave evidence to US International Relations Committee on 4 Oct 2001).

* Abu Musab Zarqawi : Al Qaeda lieutenant who met with people in Baghdad in the summer after fleeing Afghanistan when the United States began strikes to dislodge the ruling Taliban and kill al Qaeda members.

* Mohammed Atta : The 911 hijackers' leader, who flew the first airplane into the World Trade Center, twice met a notorious Mukhabarat special-operations expert in Prague in the months before the attacks; and it is believed that his former roommate in Hamburg, Marwan al-Shehhi (who flew the second W.T.C. plane), and another Hamburg associate, Ziad Jarrah (the hijacker who piloted Flight 93 before it crashed into the ground in Pennsylvania), both met Mukhabarat intelligence service men in the U.A.E. - Vanity Fair magazine

* Marwan al-Shehhi : 9/11 hijacker who flew the second W.T.C. plane; former roomate of Mohammed Atta in Hamburg, Germany. Along with Ziad Jarrah, the pilot of Flight 93 which crashed in Pennsylvania, al-Shehhi met Iraqi Mukhabarat intelligence service men in the UAE. - Vanity Fair magazine

* Ziad Jarrah : The 9/11 hijacker who piloted Flight 93 before it crashed into the ground in Pennsylvania), along with Marwan al-Shehhi, who flew the second WTC plane on 9/11, met Iraqi Mukhabarat intelligence service men in the U.A.E. That amounts to strong evidence of a connection with the 19 hijackers. -Vanity Fair Magazine

* Abdul Rahman Yasin : a second-generation Iraqi immigrant now from Indiana. He was questioned at length after the bombing of the World Trade Centre in 1993, which caused extensive damage to one of the towers and killed six people. The FBI asked him about his flatmates in Jersey City, many of whom were later indicted for involvement in the bombing, about his contact with explosive chemicals and about his relationship with Ramzi Yousef, later identified and convicted as the operation's mastermind. Nevertheless Yasin was released and allowed to leave the country because the FBI thought it had no case against him. He is now in Iraq. Yasin was put on President W. Bush's 22 "most wanted" list of suspected terrorists by October 14, 2001 - "The suicide bomber and the Baghdad conspiracy," By Chris Blackhurst, Independent.co.uk , 14 October 2001

* Hamsiraji Sali : an Abu Sayyaf leader based in Basilan, Philippines.
Iraqi financial support for the extremist group, which now styles itself as the Al-Harakat-ul Al-Islamiya (Islamic Movement), started coming in when the Abu Sayyaf was able to demonstrate that it was capable of putting the Philippines in a bad light, said Hamsiraji Sali, a bandit leader based in Basilan in a 2003 phone interview. "We showed this by kidnapping more than 70 people in Tumahubong and Sinangkapan," Sali said in a phone interview. The bandit leader was referring to the mass abduction that took place on March 20, 2000 in Sumisip and Tuburan towns in which 78 schoolteachers and students, including the late Claretian missionary Fr Rhoel Gallardo, were taken hostage. Sali said the Abu Sayyaf received about 1m pesos each year from its allies and supporters in Iraq. "So we would have something to spend on chemicals for bomb-making and for the movement of our people in Mindanao," he said.
Sali said the group's firearms were being provided by some contacts in the Middle East. He said the firearms were transported to Mindanao by way of Cambodia and Vietnam. "Then somebody receives them in Malaysia and sends them to the Philippines," Sali said. Sali, who was a key leader in the Abu Sayyaf hostage-taking in Sipadan, Malaysia and the Dos Palmas resort in Palawan, said corrupt soldiers and military officials also supplied the group with firearms. "But I won't identify them because they might not sell to us again," he said. - "PHILIPPINES: ABU SAYYAF LEADER SAYS IRAQIS OFFERING FINANCIAL SUPPORT," by Guzman and TJ Burgonio, carried by Philippine newspaper Philippine Daily Inquirer web site on March 2, 2003 via BBC Monitoring International Reports

* Iraqi Consul Husham Husain : Received a call from an Abu Sayyaf member shortly after a bombing that killed three people, including an American Green Beret, in southern Zamboanga city, the Philippines, last year [October 2, 2002 karaoke bar bombing]. This was according to a Philippine intelligence report announced by Foreign Secretary Blas Ople.
The Abu Sayyaf member, who was not identified, was later arrested. Authorities offered no other details of the alleged incident. "Allegations of diplomatic involvement in terrorism constitute a grave matter anywhere in the world and should be dealt with vigilance and immediacy," presidential spokesman Ignacio Bunye said. "The investigation should leave no stone unturned, and the results must be made known to the Filipino people and the international community." - AP WorldStream via COMTEX

1974 : (ABU NIDAL WAS FOUNDED WITH IRAQI HELP) Abu Nidal Organization (ANO) was established with Iraqi help and had its main office in Baghdad until 1982. Like its Arab rivals, Iraq has often preferred to "contract out" direct actions which pose a high risk of discovery. - "Saddam's Spies," Globalscan International, LLC, 1999

1991 : (IRAQ BACKS IRANIAN MARXIST TERRORIST GROUP AGAINST SHIA AND KURDS) Mujahedin-e Khalq Organization (MEK/MKO) An Iranian Marxist-Islamic organization founded in the 1960s. MEK, both anti-Western and against Iran's clerical regime, is bankrolled by Saddam Hussein of Iraq. Activities: Murdered dozens of top-level Iranian officials since 1981. Aided Iraqi government in suppression of anti-Hussein Shia and Kurdish uprisings in 1991.

1991 : (INDONESIA, IRAQI ATTEMPT TO KILL US AMBASSADOR) Nevertheless, Iraq did come within a hair of scoring a major success against the United States in Jakarta, Indonesia in 1991. The episode is still classified, but UPI has learned that an Iraqi assassination team almost succeeded in killing the U.S. ambassador to Indonesia, John Cameron Monjo. The Iraqi agents had had done a thorough surveillance of the diplomat and his habits. They discovered that every evening at 6 p.m., he would go to a certain window with a flowerpot on the sill and drink a scotch and soda. The Iraqi team gained access to the house and put a bomb in the flowerpot. But an alert gardener spotted something odd: It was a piece of the bomb that the terrorist had left in plain sight on the window sill. The explosive device was removed and detonated, said UPI's source, a former U.S. intelligence analyst. this republication of a UPI article from Aug. 13, 2001

JANUARY 16, 1991 : (INDIA : IRAQI-BACKED TERRORISTS BOMB AMERICAN AIRLINES TRAVEL AGENCY) Iraqi terrorists or their surrogates probably were responsible for the bombing of the American Airlines Travel Agency, an Indian-owned agent of American Airlines, in New Delhi on 16 January. The blast caused extensive damage but no casualties. - "Patterns of Global Terrorism: 1991, " http://www.fas.org/irp/threat/terror_91/asia.html , Asia Overview

JANUARY 19, 1991 : (PHILIPPINES, IRAQI TERRORISTS) Philippine authorities aggressively worked against terrorists during the Persian Gulf war, particularly Iraqis who planned to conduct operations against Western targets in Manila. On 19 January, a bomb exploded close to the Thomas Jefferson Cultural Center in Manila, killing the man carrying the device -- an Iraqi national -- and seriously injuring his partner, also an Iraqi. Following the attempted bombing, the consul general of the Iraqi embassy was expelled. Manila also rejected the credentials of an arriving Iraqi diplomat and forced him to depart. Two Iraqi students were also expelled. - "Patterns of Global Terrorism: 1991, " http://www.fas.org/irp/threat/terror_91/asia.html , Asia Overview

1992 : (ZAWAHIRI MET WITH IRAQI AGENTS IN BAGHDAD OVER SEVERAL DAYS) Upon information and belief, there have been numerous meetings between IRAQI Intelligence agents and high-ranking al Qaeda terrorists to plan terror attacks. Once such meeting occurred in 1992, when Zawahiri (Egyptian Islamic Jihad leader and al Qaeda officer) met with Iraqi Intelligence agents in Baghdad, Iraq over several days. An Iraqi serving with the Taliban who fled Afghanistan in the fall of 2001, was captured in Kurdistan and has corroborated this meeting and confirmed that Iraqi contacts with al Qaeda began in 1992. - Findlaw, Ashton, et al. v. al Qaeda

APRIL 14, 1993 : (IRAQ TRIES TO ASSASSINATE FORMER US PRESIDENT H. W. BUSH IN KUWAIT) Iraqi intelligence service attempt to assassinate former US President, George Bush, during a visit to Kuwait. Two months later the US launches a cruise missile attack on the Iraqi capital Baghdad in retaliation. * Attempted assassination of former President Bush in Kuwait was the most brazen Iraqi act of terrorism in 1993. Kuwaiti officials discovered the elaborate scheme to kill former President Bush with an enormous car bomb shortly before he arrived for a visit. The group arrested for the assassination attempt was also planning a bombing campaign to destabilize Kuwait. 14 suspects--11 Iraqis and three Kuwaitis. Several of the Iraqi defendants worked for Iraqi intelligence, according to testimony in the trial. Forensic evidence also clearly linked Iraq to the abortive attack.
"More recently, when Iraqi involvement in the plotted assassination of President Bush was verified in June 1993, President Clinton ordered a Tomahawk missile strike against the facility believed to have facilitated the planning of the operation, the headquarters complex of the Iraqi Intelligence Service (IIS). This attack (while later determined to be of questionable military effectiveness) provided a significant symbol of US resolve to punish those responsible involved in terrorism directed against its citizens. http://216.239.35.100/search?q=cache:O1TlMD7FAxgC:www.terrorism.com/terrorism/force.html+iraqi+international+terrorism+incidents&hl=en&ie=UTF-8 force.html

1994 : (BIN LADEN MEETS IRAQI INTELLIGENCE AGENTS IN SUDAN) Bin Laden again met with Iraqi intelligence secret service director Faruq al-Hijazi agreed to work together on terrorist projects directed against the U.S. - Findlaw, Ashton, et al. v. al Qaeda

APRIL 13, 1994 : (IRAQI "DIPLOMATS" ASSASSINATE DISSIDENT IN LEBANON) Five individuals, including two Iraqi diplomats, were arrested for assassinating Iraqi opposition figure Shaykh Talib Ali al-Suhayl in his house near West Beirut.

1995 : (BIN LADEN MEETS IRAQI INTELLIGENCE AGENTS IN SUDAN) Bin Laden again met with Iraqi intelligence officers in 1994 and 1995 in the Sudan. At these meetings, bin-Laden and Iraqi intelligence secret service director Faruq al-Hijazi agreed to work together on terrorist projects directed against the U.S. - Findlaw, Ashton, et al. v. al Qaeda

1996 - 2001 : (BIN LADEN, TALIBAN, IRAQ MUTUAL ASSISTANCE) From 1996 until 2001, bin Laden with the financial and logistical support of Omar and others in the Taliban and Iraq and Iraqi intellignece, created, supplied and operated at least five training camps in order to create an “Islamic Foreign Legion” capable of attacking their enemies throughout the world. These camps trained men from 15 nations in guerrilla warfare, terrorist activities, rocket warfare, demolition and bombing, including the use of mines, grenades, TNT, nitroglycerine and plastic explosives. Classes were also given in “how to kill a policeman” and “traps, murder and terrorist moves.” Iraq upon information and belief, agreed to supply arms to al Qaeda and provide al Qaeda with access to and training in the use of chemical and biological weapons and agreed to instruct al Qaeda terror trainers at its Salman Pak camp in Baghdad that contained a Boeing 707 used to practice hijacking. Iraq also agreed to supply al Qaeda terrorists with new identities and passports from Yemen and the United Arab Emirates. Al Qaeda agreed to provide protection from political opponents to Iraq and Saddam Hussein, and to commit assassinations and other acts of violence to create instability in regions of Iraq, particularly Kurdistan, to assist the regime of Saddam Hussein. Al Qaeda further agreed to provide trained terrorists, assassins and martyrs to carry out terror attacks in concert with Iraq against their common enemies, including the United States. - Findlaw, Ashton, et al. v. al Qaeda

APRIL 25 - MAY 1, 1998 : (AL QAEDA'S ABU-ISLAM & QASSIM MEET WITH QUSAY HUSSEIN IN IRAQ; ALSO IRAQI AGENTS MET WITH AL QAEDA IN AFGHANISTAN) Between April 25 and May 1, 1998, two of bin Laden’s senior military commanders, Muhammad Abu-Islam and Abdullah Qassim, visited Baghdad for discussions with Saddam Hussein’s son -- Qusay Hussein -- the “czar” of Iraqi intelligence. Qusay Hussein’s participation in those meetings highlights the importance of the talks in both symbolic and practical terms. Upon information and belief, as a direct result of these meetings, Iraq again made commitments to provide training, intelligence, clandestine Saudi border crossings, financial support and weapons and explosives to al Qaeda. Iraqi intelligence officials met with bin Laden in Afghanistan several more times. A second group of bin Laden and al Qaeda operatives from Saudi Arabia were then trained by Iraqi intelligence in Iraq to smuggle weapons and explosives into Saudi Arabia and other countries, which they later accomplished in an effort to carry out future terrorist acts of violence. - Findlaw, Ashton, et al. v. al Qaeda

1998 summer : (IRAQ TRAINS AL QAEDA PERSONNEL) After the meetings in Iraq with Qusay Hussein, Saddam hussein's son, Iraqi intelligence officials met with bin Laden in Afghanistan several more times. A second group of bin Laden and al Qaeda operatives from Saudi Arabia were then trained by Iraqi intelligence in Iraq to smuggle weapons and explosives into Saudi Arabia and other countries, which they later accomplished in an effort to carry out future terrorist acts of violence.A third group of bin Laden and al Qaeda operatives received a month of sophisticated guerrilla operations training from Iraqi intelligence officials later in the Summer of 1998. - Findlaw, Ashton, et al. v. al Qaeda

JULY 1998 mid : (AL ZAWAHIRI MEETS WITH IRAQI VICE PRESIDENT RAMADAN IN IRAQ) Despite philosophical and religious differences with Saddam Hussein, bin Laden continually sought to strengthen and reinforce the support he and al Qaeda received from Iraq. In mid-July 1998, bin Laden sent Dr. Ayman al-Zawahiri, the Egyptian co-founder of al-Qaeda, to Iraq to meet with senior Iraqi officials, including Iraqi vice president Taha Yassin Ramadan. Upon information and belief, the purpose of this meeting was to discuss and plan a joint strategy for a terrorist campaign against the United States. During the July 1998 visit Zawahiri toured an Iraqi military base and nuclear and chemical weapons facility near al-Fallujah in Iraq and upon information and belief, observed training by Iraqi intelligence officials of al Qaeda operatives at the al-Nasiriyah military and chemical weapons facility in Iraq. - Findlaw, Ashton, et al. v. al Qaeda

DECEMBER 1998 : (IRAQI OFFICIAL AL-HIJAZI MEETS WITH BIN LADEN IN AFGHANISTAN) Following the December 1998 air strikes on Iraq, Saddam Hussein dispatched Faruq al-Hijazi to Kandahar, Afghanistan in order to meet with bin Laden and plot their revenge. To demonstrate Iraq’s commitment to bin Laden and al Qaeda, Hijazi presented bin Laden with a pack of blank, official Yemeni passports, supplied to Iraqi Intelligence from their Yemeni contacts. Hijazi’s visit to Kandahar was followed by a contingent of Iraqi intelligence officials who provided additional training and instruction to bin Laden and al Qaeda operatives in Afghanistan. These Iraqi officials included members of “Unit 999,” a group of elite Iraqi intelligence officials who provided advanced sabotage and infiltration training and instruction to al Qaeda operatives. At that meeting, upon information and belief, bin Laden, al Qaeda and Iraq agreed to join efforts in a detailed, coordinated plan for a protracted terrorist war against the United States. - Findlaw, Ashton, et al. v. al Qaeda

JANUARY 1999 : (IRAQI AGENT ISMAIL BECOMES LIASON BETWEEN AL QAEDA, TALIBAN & IRAQ) In January 1999, Iraq began reorganizing and mobilizing Iraqi intelligence front operations throughout Europe in support of bin Laden and al Qaeda. Haqi Ismail, believed to be a member of the Iraq's Mukhabarat Secret Service, left Iraq to train in an Afghanistan al Qaeda camp. Ismail was believed to be a liason between Iraq, the Taliban and al Qaeda and was rewarded with a position in the Taliban Foreign Ministry. - Findlaw, Ashton, et al. v. al Qaeda

JANUARY 2000 : (MALAYSIA, 911 HIJACKER AL MIDHAR, IRAQI SHAKIR) When hijacker Khalid al Midhar arrived in Malaysia in January of 2000 for a meeting of key al Qaeda operatives, he was met at the airport by an Iraqi named Ahmad Shakir, who worked part-time greeting VIPs, a job he got with the help of someone in the Iraqi Embassy. One week later, al Midhar flew to the United States, and 18 months later he was aboard the airliner that crashed into the Pentagon. He is considered one of the most important hijackers because he was in charge of the so-called muscle – the young Saudi men responsible for subduing the passengers. - "9/11 Bombshell: New Evidence Of Iraq-Al Qaeda Ties?," by David Martin, CBS News Oct. 1, 2002 David Martin

2000 spring : (911 HIJACKERS JARRAH & AL-SHEHHI MET WITH IRAQI INTELLIGENCE AGENTS) According to U.S. and foreign intelligence officials, in the spring of 2000, Iraqi intelligence agents met with September 11 th pilot hijackers Zaid Samir Jarrah and Marwan al-Shehhi in Dubai, UAE in order to advance the hijacking of U.S. aircraft to commit terrorist acts. Not long after the meeting, al-Shehhi entered the United States on May 29 and Jarrah entered on June 27, to begin preparations for attacks. - Findlaw, Ashton, et al. v. al Qaeda

2000 : (IRAQI INTELLIGENCE SERVICE INVOLVED IN INTERNATIONAL TERRORISM ; IRAQ PROVIDED SAFE HAVEN TO HIJACKERS WHO HAD TAKEN A SAUDI AIRLINER) Iraq planned and sponsored international terrorism in 2000. Although Baghdad focused on antidissident activity overseas, the regime continued to support various terrorist groups. The regime has not attempted an anti-Western terrorist attack since its failed plot to assassinate former President Bush in 1993 in Kuwait. Czech police continued to provide protection to the Prague office of the US Government-funded Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL), which produces Radio Free Iraq programs and employs expatriate journalists. The police presence was augmented in 1999, following reports that the Iraqi Intelligence Service (IIS) might retaliate against RFE/RL for broadcasts critical of the Iraqi regime. To intimidate or silence Iraqi opponents of the regime living overseas, the IIS [Iraqi Intelligence Service] reportedly opened several new stations in foreign capitals during 2000. Various opposition groups joined in warning Iraqi dissidents abroad against newly established "expatriates' associations," which, they asserted, are IIS front organizations. Opposition leaders in London contended that the IIS had dispatched women agents to infiltrate their ranks and was targeting dissidents for assassination. In Germany, an Iraqi opposition figure denounced the IIS for murdering his son, who had recently left Iraq to join him abroad. Dr. Ayad `Allawi, Secretary General of the Iraqi National Accord, an opposition group, stated that relatives of dissidents living abroad are often arrested and jailed to intimidate activists overseas. In northern Iraq, Iraqi agents reportedly killed a locally well-known religious personality who declined to echo the regime line. The regional security director in As Sulaymaniyah stated that Iraqi operatives were responsible for the car-bomb explosion that injured a score of passersby. Officials of the Iraqi Communist Party asserted that an attack on a provincial party headquarters had been thwarted when party security officers shot and wounded a terrorist employed by the IIS. The Iraqi regime rebuffed a request from Riyadh for the extradition of two Saudis who had hijacked a Saudi Arabian Airlines flight to Baghdad, but did return promptly the passengers and the aircraft. Disregarding its obligations under international law, the regime granted political asylum to the hijackers and gave them ample opportunity to ventilate in the Iraqi Government-controlled and international media their criticisms of alleged abuses by the Saudi Arabian Government, echoing an Iraqi propaganda theme. While the origins of the FAO attack and the hijacking were unclear, the Iraqi regime readily exploited these terrorist acts to further its policy objectives. Several expatriate terrorist groups continued to maintain offices in Baghdad, including the Arab Liberation Front, the inactive 15 May Organization, the Palestine Liberation Front (PLF), and the Abu Nidal organization (ANO).- terrorismfiles.org

JANUARY 2000 : (IRAQI SHAKIR IS IN MALAYSIA TERRORIST SUMMIT WITH 9/11 HIJACKERS) The CIA and FBI are very interested in Ahmed Shakir. For one thing, he comes from Iraq and thus offers a potential connection to Saddam Hussein. For another, he was spotted by Malaysian intelligence at a terrorist gathering in Kuala Lumpur in January 2000 to discuss the suicide bombing plot on the U.S. destroyer Cole. Also at that summit meeting were two of the men who later hijacked the plane that flew into the Pentagon on September 11. - "Justice Kept In the Dark " by Evan Thomas and Michael Isikoff, Newsweek - MSNBC Wednesday, December 5, 2001 via Bint Jabeil bintjabail.com U.S. officials said Shakir was present at a January 2000 al Qaeda "summit" in Malaysia that was attended by two of the 9/11 hijackers. Authorities believe the summit may have been a planning session for both the October 2000 attack on the USS Cole and 9/11. - "IRAQI A MISSING LINK," By ALY SUJO, NY POST, SEPTEMBER 30, 2002

MAY 2000 : (SCOTT RITTER MEETS IRAQI) In May 2000, appearing at a Congressional briefing, he said Saddam was incapable of ''world or regional domination'' and admitted that ''a lot of the blame for the perceptions'' to the contrary could ''be laid at my doorstep.'' That briefing proved significant, not for what Ritter said but for whom he met. Shakir al-Khafaji, a wealthy Iraqi-American businessman, was in the audience. The two men struck up a conversation. Within weeks, Ritter was telling al-Khafaji about a documentary he hoped to make, a film about Unscom that might find the audience that ''Endgame'' had missed. The two agreed to become partners in Ritter's production company, with al-Khafaji's real-estate development firm, the Falcon Management Group of Southfield, Mich., investing $400,000. While the businessman did not have any control over the editorial content, both men say, al-Khafaji would be supplying his connections as well as his money, easing Ritter's way back into Iraq. As a veteran intelligence officer, Ritter knew he ought to be wary of this deal. The F.B.I. probe had not resulted in any charges, but here he was, about to receive cash from a wealthy Iraqi with important friends in Baghdad. Ritter said he went to great lengths to check things out, though on this score he is less than convincing. Where did he get his information? ''I called a reporter who has sources in the C.I.A.'' Does he know where the $400,000 came from? ''They showed me the stocks and bonds that were being liquidated.'' Was al-Khafaji getting any quid pro quo from the Iraqi government? ''Shakir said he didn't,'' Ritter told me on one occasion. On another he said, ''That was always in the back of my mind, that the Iraqis have an interest in funding the movie.'' Before going to Baghdad, Ritter informed the F.B.I., he said. This candor was a supposed safety net. ''I raised our profile so high that the F.B.I.'s got us dead to rights. If he is getting a quid pro quo, you'd think the F.B.I. would know about it.''- "Scott Ritter's Iraq Complex: One man's continuing war with Saddam, Washington -- and himself ," by Barry Bearak, New York Times Magazine, November 24, 2002

OCTOBER 2000 : (IRAQI AGENTS VISIT AFGHANISTAN) Israeli sources claim that for the past two years Iraqi intelligence officers have been shuttling back and forth between Baghdad and Afghanistan. According to the Israelis, one of the intelligence officers, Salah Suleiman was captured last October by the Pakistanis near the border with Afghanistan. - source: Jane's

FEBRUARY 2001 : (VENEZUELA'S CHAVEZ VISITS LIBYA, IRAQ & IRAN) Chavez paid presidential state visits to Libya, Iraq and Iran in February 2001, signing cooperation agreements with Muammar Qaddafi, Saddam Hussein and Tehran's ruling mullahs. Castro visited Libya, Iran and Syria some months later. - "Terror Threat from Venezuela: Al Queda Involved," by| Martin Arostegui, Militares Democraticos, December 27, 2002 * In 2001, Chavez paid state visits to — and signed "cooperation agreements" with — Libya, Iraq, and Iran. - "Chavez Bombshell? - A defector’s testimony links the Venezuelan strongman to international terror," by Ivan G. Osorio , www.nationalreview.com , January 8, 2003

FEBRUARY 2001 : (SALEM, IRAQ, WEST BANK) But in February 2001, Saddam Hussein's pro-Iraqi "terror banker" on the West Bank, Rakad Salem, 58 - who personally met with Saddam in Baghdad - boasted he had handed out nearly $4 million- to Palestinian suicide bombers and that there was more where that came from. "Even if there were 2,000 martyrs, His Excellency would continue to pay," he said of Saddam. "At a time when the Arab states are failing to make good on their promises of assistance to us, Iraq is offering considerable moral and financial support," he added. But Salem said Iraq was praised because it is the only Arab nation that had not "abandoned the option of war" with Israel. Israeli officials said the cash payouts explain Saddam's popularity in Palestinian-controlled areas of the West Bank and Gaza.- "TERROR BANKER" by URI DAN, New York Post , October 9, 2002

FEBRUARY 25, 2001 : (SPIES, IRAQI SPY DETAINED IN GERMANY) Unnamed spy - "Germany holds Iraqi spy suspects," CNN, Reuters contributed to this report.

FEBRUARY 27, 2001 : (SPIES, SECOND IRAQI SPY DETAINED IN GERMANY) Unnamed spy. One of the Iraqis was detained on February 25 and the other on February 27. Neither have been named. - "Germany holds Iraqi spy suspects," CNN, Reuters contributed to this report.. See also (Germany Arrests Two Iraqis Suspected of Spying ) German state prosecutors said on Thursday federal police had arrested two Iraqis on suspicion of spying - Reuters, March 1, 2001

MARCH 1, 2001 : (GERMANY ORDERS IRAQI SPIES TO BE HELD) Berlin - Two Iraqi nationals have been arrested in Germany on suspicion of spying. Officials said both had been brought before a federal judge who ordered them to be held on "urgent" suspicion of spying in a number of German towns. "They are suspected of carrying out missions for an Iraqi intelligence service in a number of German towns since the beginning of 2001," a spokesman for the prosecutors said on Thursday. He would not comment on German television reports that the Iraqis had been detained in the south west town of Heidelberg, where the U.S. Army in Europe has its headquarters. The army's Fifth Corps, made up of armoured and infantry divisions, is also stationed in the town. - "Germany holds Iraqi spy suspects," CNN, Reuters contributed to this report.

JULY 21, 2001 : (IRAQ, FOREWARNING) On July 21, approximately six weeks before the September 11 th attacks, Iraqi columnist Mulhalhal reported that bin Laden was making plans to “demolish the Pentagon after he destroys the White House.” Mulhalhal’s July 21 article further informed that bin Laden would strike America “on the arm that is already hurting.” Upon information and belief, this references a second Iraqi sponsored attack on the World Trade Center. This interpretation is further bolstered by another reference to New York as “[bin Laden] will curse the memory of Frank Sinatra everytime he hears his songs.” (e.g., “New York, New York”) identifying New York, New York as a target. Mulhalhal further indicated, “The wings of a dove and the bullet are all but one and the same in the heart of a believer.” (Emphasis supplied) This appears to be a reference to the use of commercial aircraft as a weapon. The information was reported in an Iraqi newspaper who’s editor-in-chief serves as secretary to Uday Hussein’s Iraqi Syndicate of Journalists. The article expressed Iraqi admiration and support for bin Laden’s plans and its appearance in the newspaper would clearly have to be endorsed by Saddam Hussein himself. All Iraqi news media is strictly controlled and censored by the government of Saddam Hussein and is under the direct oversight of Uday Hussein. Various members of Iraqi intelligence work at and control the content of each and every newspaper published inside Iraq. The information contained in Mulhalhal’s published statements were known prior to the events of September 11 th , and that Mulhalhal has ties to Iraqi intelligence, demonstrates foreknowledge of the planned attacks by bin Laden and indicates support by Iraqi co-conspirators. - Findlaw, Ashton, et al. v. al Qaeda

OCTOBER 2001 : (IRAQI AHMAD HIKMAT SHAKIR, JORDAN) The Iraqi, Ahmad Hikmat Shakir, 37, was picked up October 2001 in Amman, and his passport showed he had recently traveled to Pakistan, Yemen and Malaysia, all key terror trouble spots. A search of one of his apartments turned up telephone records linking him to suspects in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing as well as a 1994 Philippine-based plot to blow up civilian airlines over the Pacific Ocean. - "Iraqi a Missing Link," by Aly Sujo, NY Post

NOVEMBER 2001, early : (ATTA, CZECHOSLAVAKIA, RADIO FREE EUROPE PLOT) Czech PM Milos Zeman says his country believes Atta and the Iraqis discussed a truck bomb attack on Radio Free Europe. A diplomatic source also told the Observer that Iraqi spies may have held at least two other meetings with yet more members of the 19-member hijacking team in Prague this year (2001). The Observer (London paper) also reported that Iraqi defectors claim Baghdad has been conducting terrorist training camps for years - New York Post, "2 (3) More September 11 Hijackers Tied To Iraq" November 12, 2001, by WILLIAM NEUMAN http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/587611/posts

2001 - 2002 winter : (IRAQI SUPERGUN INSTRUCTIONS FOUND IN AL QAEDA CAMPS IN AFGHANISTAN) Instruction documents on an artillery weapon known as the “Super Gun” were found in al Qaeda camps when they were captured by U.S. forces in the winter of 2001-2002. Iraq is the only state known to have purchased and assembled the super gun, a weapon so large it must be constructed in segments. It has a range of several hundred miles. - Findlaw, Ashton, et al. v. al Qaeda

2002 pre September : (IRAQ & IRAN FINANCING TERRORISM AGAINST ISRAEL : ARAFAT, PLO SELLING SMUGGLED IRAQI OIL) (CBS) Israeli intelligence officials tell Lesley Stahl they can now prove that Iraq and Iran are secretly financing and directing acts of terrorism against Israel. The proof, they say, was found in files confiscated during raids earlier this year on the headquarters of Palestinian leader Yasir Arafat and gleaned from prisoner interrogations. Stahl’s report will be broadcast on the premiere of 60 Minutes’ 35th season, Sunday, Sept. 29, at 7:30 p.m ET/PT. The documents, obtained from the Ramallah compound earlier this year, are from the Palestinian Authority’s most secret files, says Col. Miri Eisen of Israel’s Directorate of Military Intelligence. “We went into what is the equivalent of the Palestinian CIA, the Palestinian FBI, the Bureau of Education, the Treasury,” Eisen tells Stahl. “We’ve taken their database.” Israeli intelligence officials acknowledge that they have captured members of a terrorist cell who admitted during interrogation that they were trained by Iraqi officials to use weapons, including shoulder-fired missiles that could be shot at airliners. Eado Hecht, a senior intelligence official, told Stahl that the cell was operating in the area of Tel Aviv’s Ben-Gurion airport. “Ben Gurion is a civilian airport,” he said. “So, the obvious target would be a civilian airliner.” The Israelis say the cell was recruited by Abu Abbas, the notorious terrorist responsible for the 1985 hijacking of the Italian cruise ship Achille Lauro during which an American traveler was murdered. The Israelis say they also have learned that the Palestinian Authority is earning kickbacks by illegally selling smuggled Iraqi oil. Israel believes that Palestinian officials are using the kickback money to help buy weapons like those confiscated from the freighter Karine A last January, including two tons of C-4 plastic explosive. Those weapons and explosives, say the Israelis, come from Iran. Additional documents show how Iran is helping to finance terrorist organizations operating inside Israel. Some of those terrorists have been captured, say the Israelis, and they admit an Iranian connection. “We have been interrogating hundreds, thousands of Palestinians from April of this year, and talking to them," says Eisen. “We’ve found some that have been trained in Iran.” - "Israel: Terror Linked To Iran , Iraq," 60 Minutes, CBSNEWS via WorldNetDaily.com, Monday, September 30, 2002

SEPTEMBER 26, 2002 Thursday : (IRAQ, AL-QAEDA) WASHINGTON, (Reuters) - Senior al Qaeda leaders have been in Baghdad "in recent periods," U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said on Thursday. "We certainly have evidence of senior al Qaeda who have been in Baghdad in recent periods. Whether they're currently there or not one never knows, because they're moving targets," he said, of the movement blamed by Washington for the Sept. 11 attacks on America that killed around 3,000 people. "If you're asking if it (intelligence) is current -- in the last period of days or weeks -- the answer is yes," the secretary said. ((Charles Aldinger, Washington newsroom, charles.aldinger@reuters.com)

FEBRUARY 7, 2003 : (AL QAEDA CALL LINKS IRAQ TO MURDER OF AMERICAN OFFICIAL FOLEY IN JORDAN : ZARQAWI'S DEPUTY) He should have known better, but in the end he could not resist. Using a satellite phone, the senior al-Qa'ida operative excitedly called two associates and congratulated them on their cold-blooded assassination of an American diplomat. The call cost the man his liberty. It may yet cost him his life but, more importantly, it could have provided America with the "smoking gun" evidence it has long sought and which apparently links the Iraqi regime to an active al-Qa'ida cell committing terror killings and planning others across Europe and the Middle East.
The name of the man who made the telephone call as he drove through ... northern Iraq towards the borders with Syria and Turkey has not been revealed. But his alleged position in the al-Qa'ida network was made clear. Information gathered by the intelligence services of the US, Britain, Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Pakistan shows he is the deputy of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, head of an Iraqi-based al-Qa'ida cell.
Though he would not have known it at the time, the deputy's congratulatory telephone call to two men accused of murdering the US diplomat Laurence Foley last October – killed in the garden of his Amman home by a volley of eight shots – was an error of incalculable proportions. The call was intercepted by Western intelligence services, possibly America's National Security Agency (NSA) or Britain's electronic eavesdropping service at GCHQ, Cheltenham, and allowed coalition operatives to trace the man from Syria, then to Turkey.
When he arrived in Turkey, those intelligence operatives took the decision to pounce. The al-Qa'ida deputy was seized and taken to one of the interrogation centres covertly operated in the region by the US Central Intelligence Agency.
US officials quoted by The New York Times say the deputy revealed that Zarqawi was operating a cell out of Iraq, that he had been given medical assistance there and that he was planning and conducting attacks across Europe and the Middle East with up to 24 al-Qa'ida fighters. Mr Foley, 62, head of America's Agency for International Development mission, was the first of the cell's targets.
In his address to the UN Security Council on Wednesday, Colin Powell, the American Secretary of State, relied heavily on this information when he accused the Iraqi regime of having links with al-Qa'ida. "[The al-Qa'ida cell members] have been operating freely in the capital for more than eight months," he said. "Iraqi officials deny accusations of ties with al-Qa'ida. These denials are simply not credible."
General Powell said the cell also had links to the alleged ricin suspects arrested in London and Manchester. "The network is teaching its operatives how to produce ricin and other poisons ... Zarqawi and his network have plotted terrorist actions against countries including France, Britain, Spain and Italy," the Secretary of State said. - "Intercepted call linked Saddam to al-Qa'ida terror cell [CHECKMATE ALERT!!!]," By Andrew Buncombe in Washington , The Independent (UK) , 02/07/2002, Independent Digital (UK) Ltd

MARCH 28, 2003 : (AL QAEDA FIGHTING ON SIDE OF HUSSEIN IN IRAQ) Near Basra, Iraq: British military interrogators claim captured Iraqi soldiers have told them that al-Qaeda terrorists are fighting on the side of Saddam Hussein's forces against allied troops near Basra. At least a dozen members of Osama bin Laden's network are in the town of Az Zubayr where they are coordinating grenade and gun attacks on coalition positions, according to the Iraqi prisoners of war. It was believed that last night (Thursday) British forces were preparing a military strike on the base where the al-Qaeda unit was understood to be holed up. A senior British military source inside Iraq said: "The information we have received from PoWs today is that an al-Qaeda cell may be operating in Az Zubayr. There are possibly around a dozen of them and that is obviously a matter of concern to us." ... On Wednesday Donald Rumsfeld, the US defence secretary, said the coalition had solid evidence that senior al-Qaeda operatives have visited Baghdad in the past. Rumsfeld said Saddam had an "evolving" relationship with the terror network. - "Al-Qaeda fighting with Iraqis, British claim," by Gethin Chamberlain of The Scotsman, The Scotsman via SMh.com.au, 28 March 2003

APRIL 7, 2003 : (IRAQ : US MARINES FIND PLF TRAINING CAMP : HUSSEIN, ABU ABBAS) NEAR BAGHDAD, April 7 (AFP) - US Marines in Iraq have discovered bomb-making facilities at a facility described as a training camp operated by the a faction of the Palestine Liberation Front (PLF), a military spokesman said Monday. Bomb-making facilities, chemicals, mortars, gas masks and AK-47s were found inside the 20-building complex to the east of Baghdad, said Public Affairs Officer Corporal John Hoellwarth. The complex, which was the size of a battalion headquarters, featured pictures of Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, PLF faction leader Abu Abbas and the PLF's flag, Hoellwarth added. Other photos included pictures of Abu Abbas posing with a brigadier general from Saddam's Republican Guard inside the camp. Boxes of documents with PLF letterheads were also seized. Stores of fresh food including fresh tomatos and potatos were seen, indicating that the complex had recently been vacated. Followers of Abu Abbas carried the deadly attack in 1985 on the cruise ship Achille Lauro, but renounced terrorism after the 1993 Oslo peace accords between Israel and Palestinians. Abbas had been based in Tunisia but was more recently thought to be based in Baghdad. - "US marines discover "PLF faction's bomb-making facility" in Iraq," AFP via ProLog , Monday, 07-Apr-2003 9:20AM| see also US marines discover "PLF faction's bomb-making facility" in Iraq

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