Saddam link to terror group (No connection to Terror Alert)

Saddam Hussein's regime was linked to an African Islamist terrorist group, according to intelligence papers seen by The Telegraph. The documents provide the first hard evidence of ties between Iraq and religious terrorism.

Secret dossiers detailing the group's discussions with the Iraqi Intelligence Service were found in the spies' Baghdad headquarters, among the detritus of shredding.

The papers show how Iraq's charge d'affaires in Nairobi, Fallah Hassan Al Rubdie, was in discussion with the Allied Democratic Forces, a Ugandan guerrilla group with ties to other anti-western Islamist organisations.

While the United States has long argued that Saddam's regime was aiding Islamist groups, it has struggled until now to provide compelling evidence.

In a letter to the head of the Iraqi spy agency, a senior ADF operative outlined his group's efforts to set up an "international mujahideen team".

Its mission, he said, "will be to smuggle arms on a global scale to holy warriors fighting against US, British and Israeli influences in Africa, the Middle East, Asia and the Far East".

The letter, dated April 2001, was signed: "Your Brother, Bekkah Abdul Nassir, Chief of Diplomacy ADF Forces".

Nassir offered to "vet, recruit and send youth to train for the jihad" at a centre in Baghdad, which he described as a "headquarters for international holy warrior network". It was not clear whether the centre was established.

"We should not allow the enemy to focus on Afghanistan and Iraq, but we should attack their international criminal forces inside every base," the letters said.

The ADF emerged in 1996, when it launched a rebellion against President Yoweri Museveni's government. In December 2001 the movement was placed on the US list of terrorist organisations.

Throughout its campaign the ADF has been provided with weapons and funding by the Islamist government in Sudan, one of more than half a dozen states Washington accuses of sponsoring terrorism.

The key figure behind the ADF is widely acknowledged to be a fundamentalist Islamic cleric, Sheikh Jamil Makulu.

According to the Ugandan government and western intelligence sources, Sheikh Makulu became friendly with Osama bin Laden in the early to mid-Nineties, when the al-Qa'eda chief was living in Khartoum.

The IIS's headquarters were only loosely guarded by US special forces yesterday. The Telegraph entered the building through one of the many holes left by devastating bombing.

Ugandans too?

Like these?

1996 - 2001 : (IRAQ & AL QAEDA RELATIONSHIP : MULLAH OMAR , IRAQI INTELLIGENCE AND BIN LADEN, ESTABLISH AT LEAST 5 TRAINING CAMPS IN ORDER TO CREAT "ISLAMIC FOREIGN LEGION" CAPABLE OF ATTACKING TARGETS WORLDWIDE ; CAMPS TRAINED MEN FROM 15 NATIONS) "55. From 1996 until 2001, BIN LADEN with the financial and logistical support of OMAR and others in the TALIBAN and IRAQ and IRAQI INTELLIGENCE, 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.” - findlaw

Or this one?

(IRAQ & AL QAEDA RELATIONSHIP : IRAQ & AL QAEDA : SALMAN PAK) "59. 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." - findlaw

Or these?

1998 summer : (IRAQ & AL QAEDA RELATIONSHIP : AFGHANISTAN : IRAQI OFFICIALS MEET SEVERAL TIMES WITH BIN LADEN IN AFGHANISTAN ; AL QAEDA OPERATIVES FROM SAUDI ARABIA WERE TRAINED BY IRAQI INTELLIGENCE TO SMUGGLE WEAPONS & EXPLOSIVES INTO SAUDI ARABIA AND OTHER COUNTRIES, WHICH THEY ACCOMPLISHED IN ORDER TO CARRY OUT FUTURE ATTACKS) "66. 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. "

1998 later in the summer : (IRAQ & AL QAEDA RELATIONSHIP : AL QAEDA OPERATIVES RECEIVE A MONTH OF TRAINING FROM IRAQI OFFICIALS) "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."

JULY 1998 mid month : (IRAQ & AL QAEDA RELATIONSHIP : BIN LADEN SENDS EGYPTIAN Al-ZAWAHIRI TO IRAQ TO MEET WITH SENIOR IRAQI OFFICIALS IN CLUDING VICE PRESIDENT RAMADAN ; ZAWAHIRI TOURED AN IRAQI MILITARY BASE & CHEMICAL WEAPONS FACILITY NEAR AL-FALLUJAH TO OBSERVE IRAQI TRAINING OF AL QAEDA OPERATIVES AT THE AL-NASIRIYAH FACILITY IN IRAQ) "67. 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. "
"69. 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. "

DECEMBER 1998 : (IRAQ & AL QAEDA RELATIONSHIP : AFTER OPERATION DESERT FOX, HUSSEIN DISPATCHES IRAQI INTELLIGENCE SECRET SERVICE DIRECTOR AL-HIJAZI TO AFGHANISTAN TO MEET WITH BIN LADEN : AL HIJAZI PRESENTS BIN LADEN WITH BLANK YEMENI PASSPORTS. FOLLOWING HIJAZI'S VISIT, IRAQI INTELLIGENCE OFFICIALS, INCLUDING SOME FROM "UNIT 999" PROVIDED ADDITIONAL TRAINING TO AL QAEDA OPERATIVES IN AFGHANISTAN) "79. 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. "
"81. 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. "
"82. 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."

Could be this camp, established at least by Jan 1999 :

JANUARY 1999 : (IRAQ & AL QAEDA RELATIONSHIP : AL QAEDA OPERATIVES ARE BEING TRAINED BY IRAQI OFFICERS JUST OUTSIDE OF BAGHDAD) "85. In addition to the al-Nasiriyah and Salman Pak training camps, by January 1999, BIN LADEN and AL QAEDA operatives were being trained by IRAQI INTELLIGENCE and military officers at other training camps on the outskirts of Baghdad. "

JANUARY 1999 : (IRAQ & AL QAEDA RELATIONSHIP : IRAQ REORGANIZES ITS INTELLIGENCE NETWORKSTHROUGHOUT EUROPE TO ACCOMODATE AL QAEDA; IRAQI MUKHABARAT AGENT HAQI ISMAIL LEAVES IRAQ TO TRAIN IN AFGHANISTAN AL QAEDA CAMP; ISMAIL IS BELIEVED TO BE A LIASON BETWEEN IRAQ, TALIBAN AND AL QAEDA. HE WAS GIVEN A POSITION IN THE TALIBAN FOREIGN MINISTRY) "86. 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."

FEBRUARY 5, 2003 : (IRAQ & AL QAEDA RELATIONSHIP : COLIN POWELL SPEECH BRINGS UP ZARQAWI BAGHDAD CELL AND FOLEY ASSASSINATION) "From his terrorist network in Iraq, Zarqawi can direct his network in the Middle East and beyond. We in the United States, all of us, the State Department and the Agency for International Development, we all lost a dear friend with the cold-blooded murder of Mr. Lawrence Foley in Amman, Jordan, last October. A despicable act was committed that day, the assassination of an individual whose sole mission was to assist the people of Jordan. The captured assassin says his cell received money and weapons from Zarqawi for that murder. After the attack, an associate of the assassin left Jordan to go to Iraq to obtain weapons and explosives for further operations. Iraqi officials protest that they are not aware of the whereabouts of Zarqawi or of any of his associates. Again, these protests are not credible. We know of Zarqawi's activities in Baghdad. I described them earlier. " - From General Powell's talk at the UN Security Council on the 5th of February

FEBRUARY 7, 2003 (IRAQ & AL QAEDA RELATIONSHIP : BUSH STATEMENT ON AL QAEDA BAGHDAD CELL : ZARQAWI) "We also know that Iraq is harboring a terrorist network, headed by a senior al Qaeda terrorist planner. The network runs a poison and explosive training center in northeast Iraq, and many of its leaders are known to be in Baghdad. The head of this network traveled to Baghdad for medical treatment and stayed for months. Nearly two dozen associates joined him there and have been operating in Baghdad for more than eight months.
The same terrorist network operating out of Iraq is responsible for the murder, the recent murder, of an American citizen, an American diplomat, Laurence Foley. The same network has plotted terrorism against France, Spain, Italy, Germany, the Republic of Georgia, and Russia, and was caught producing poisons in London. The danger Saddam Hussein poses reaches across the world." - From President Bush's statement today from (appropriately) the Roosevelt Room in the White House

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