UK Newspaper Says Documents Link Bin Laden to Iraq (The Telegraph Gets Another HUGE Scoop!)

Reuters ^ | April 26, 2003

[Timesink]

UK Newspaper Says Documents Link Bin Laden to Iraq

Sat April 26, 2003 05:13 PM ET

LONDON (Reuters) - Britain's Sunday Telegraph newspaper said it had discovered documents showing Iraqi intelligence hosted an envoy from Osama bin Laden in 1998 and sought to meet the alleged September 11 mastermind in person.

The finding, if verified, would appear to support Washington's assertion of links between ousted Iraqi President Saddam Hussein and bin Laden, one of the justifications for the U.S.-led war in Iraq.

The paper said the documents, which its correspondent found in the wrecked headquarters of the Iraqi Mukhabarat intelligence service, showed Iraq brought a bin Laden aide to Baghdad in early 1998 from his former base in Sudan to arrange closer ties.

Iraqi officials sought to have the envoy pass on a verbal message setting up a direct meeting with bin Laden, the paper said.

The 1998 visit described in the documents would have taken place before bin Laden became a household name in the West, when Washington blamed him for the bombings of two U.S. embassies in Africa later that year.

According to the Telegraph, bin Laden's name had been concealed in several places on the Iraqi documents with white correction fluid. Its correspondent scraped the fluid off with a razor to uncover the name.

In one document quoted by the paper an Iraqi official wrote: "We suggest permission to call the Khartoum station (Iraq's intelligence office in Sudan) to facilitate the travel arrangements for the above-mentioned person to Iraq.

"And that our body carry all the travel and hotel costs inside Iraq to gain the knowledge of the message from bin Laden and to convey to his envoy an oral message from us to bin Laden."

A handwritten note on the same page said the letter had been passed on to the deputy director general of the intelligence service, recommending that he "bring the envoy to Iraq because we may find in this envoy a way to maintain contacts with Iraq."

The documents do not make clear whether the hoped-for meeting between Iraqi officials and bin Laden took place.

Before the war, Saddam's government repeatedly denied any links with bin Laden's al Qaeda network.

[Timesink]

Telegraph article to come...

[MEG33]

Good find..

[Dog Gone]

I wish we had an American newspaper like the Telegraph.

[Tribune7]

The Wall Street Journal's editoral page is on par.

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

This is another big find, way to go!

Bush Doctrine Unfolds :

To find all articles tagged or indexed using Bush Doctrine Unfold , click below:
	click here >>>	Bush Doctrine Unfold	<<< click here
(To view all FR Bump Lists, click here)

[Dog Gone]

Yeah, except when they let Al Hunt write a column.

[Timesink]

The Telegraph's Sunday edition isn't live on their web site yet. We'll have to wait a little while for the main story.

[Arkinsaw]

Your favorite newspaper ping

[Dog]

LOL!

[LocalYokel]

According to the Telegraph, bin Laden's name had been concealed in several places on the Iraqi documents with white correction fluid. Its correspondent scraped the fluid off with a razor to uncover the name.

These guys weren't smart enough to run an Evil Empire, let alone an "intelligence" agency. "covered up with correction fluid", yeah, that'll keep it all secret! Makes me wonder if all those stolen computers will be found with white-out on the monitors.

[TXBlair]

"What did Iraq ever do to us?" asked Saranwrap.
"Iraq had absolutely nothing to do with 9/11." quoth countless others.

Hmmm...wrong A.N.S.W.E.R.

[Fresh Wind]

Of course, the Saddamophiles will claim this is another forgery, just as they have with every other incriminating document that has surfaced.

[Tribune7]

I've been seeing him less. I think Robert Bartley -- the ultimate conservative -- might have taken his place on some days.

[The Great Satan]

But how can this be? I thought Saddam was a secular dictator, and bin Laden his sworn enemy? </sarcasm>

[Dog]

ROFL!!!!!

[HoustonCurmudgeon]

I TOLD you this would happen, you owe me another beer!

[Dog Gone]

Dammit. I was hoping you were on vacation and wouldn't see this.

[Temple Owl]

Yeah, except when they let Al Hunt write a column.

Al Hunt is their substitution for comics.

[conservatism_IS_compassion]

I've been seeing [Al Hunt] less. I think Robert Bartley -- the ultimate conservative -- might have taken his place on some days.

Nah. Hunt's been on once a week, for some time. More recently Robert Bartley--editorial page editor emeritus--has had a column "Thinking Things Over" on Mondays. Hunt's column appears on Tuesday, I think . . .

[FreeReign]

But how can this be? I thought Saddam was a secular dictator, and bin Laden his sworn enemy? /sarcasm

Rather: "Mr President, Americans are very much concerned about anyone's connections to Osama Bin Laden. Do you have, have you had, any connections to al-Qaeda and Osama Bin Laden?"

Saddam: "... Iraq has never had any relationship with al-Qaeda and I think that Mr Bin Laden himself has recently, in one of his speeches, given such an answer that we have no relation with him."

Link