Document links Saddam, bin Laden

http://tennessean.com/ ^ | GILBERT S. MERRITT

[BCrago66]

Federal appellate Judge Gilbert S. Merritt of Nashville is in Iraq as one of 13 experts selected by the U.S. Justice Department to help rebuild Iraq's judicial system.

Through an unusual set of circumstances, I have been given documentary evidence of the names and positions of the 600 closest people in Iraq to Saddam Hussein, as well as his ongoing relationship with Osama bin Laden.

[swarthyguy]

They must've had to go to extraordinary lengths to keep their BaathiJihaadi machinations hidden from the stringent counter terror efforts of the Pakistani intelligence and security services.

Funny how every aspect seems to be less than six degrees of seperation from Islamabad.

[AHerald]

instapundit rocks.....

Yes. This line from the Instapundit site caught my attention:

Those who know Judge Merritt -- a lifelong Democrat and a man of unimpeachable integrity -- will know just how significant this is.

[BCrago66]

If you look at the link itself, you see the word "archives". So could it be that this dispatch from Judge Merrott was really published back in 6/25, AND NO ONE CARED?

Or maybe Instapundit is hoaxing us, playing with us. But then how did he hijack the Tennessian.com domain name? He's not a hacker.

[DoctorMichael]

Bump.

[piasa]

Maybe for the same reason that the retraction about the story quoting the bogus CIA guy allegedly in Dick Cheney's meetings on Niger who just happened to "reinforce" the current DNC spin from Gore campain worker, the former US ambassador to Gabon and Gabon, Williams... isn't getting reported. The retraction would ruin too many liberal journalists' and DNC operative's wet dreams.

[BCrago66]

Looks like the real deal. Did some google-ing, and found another Tennessian.com page with Judge Merritt's last Iraq dispatch, and at the bottom it lists and links to all his prior dispatches:

See http://www.tennessean.com/nation-world/archives/03/06/35079430.shtml

[BCrago66]

I have no media contacts, but I sent a link to a few of the more popular bloggers.

But instapundit.com is widely read, so I expect my efforts were superfluous. This story will have a second life. The source is a respected Democratic federal judge, for crying out loud.

[finnman69]

the juicy part....

The document shows that an Iraqi intelligence officer, Abid Al-Karim Muhamed Aswod, assigned to the Iraq embassy in Pakistan, is ''responsible for the coordination of activities with the Osama bin Laden group.''

The document shows that it was written over the signature of Uday Saddam Hussein, the son of Saddam Hussein. The story of how the document came about is as follows.

Saddam gave Uday authority to control all press and media outlets in Iraq. Uday was the publisher of the Babylon Daily Political Newspaper.

On the front page of the paper's four-page edition for Nov. 14, 2002, there was a picture of Osama bin Laden speaking, next to which was a picture of Saddam and his ''Revolutionary Council,'' together with stories about Israeli tanks attacking a group of Palestinians.

On the back page was a story headlined ''List of Honor.'' In a box below the headline was ''A list of men we publish for the public.'' The lead sentence refers to a list of ''regime persons'' with their names and positions.

The list has 600 names and titles in three columns. It contains, for example, the names of the important officials who are members of Saddam's family, such as Uday, and then other high officials, including the 55 American ''deck of cards'' Iraqi officials, some of whom have been apprehended.

Halfway down the middle column is written: ''Abid Al-Karim Muhamed Aswod, intelligence officer responsible for the coordination of activities with the Osama bin Laden group at the Iraqi embassy in Pakistan.'' (For more about the list, see accompanying article on this page.)

The lawyer who brought the newspaper to me, Samir, and another lawyer with whom I have been working, Zuhair, translated the Arabic words and described what had happened in Baghdad the day it was published.

Samir bought his paper at a newsstand at around 8 a.m. Within two hours, the Iraqi intelligence officers were going by every newsstand in Baghdad and confiscating the papers. They also went to the home of every person who they were told received a paper that day and confiscated it.

The other lawyer, Zuhair, who was the counsel for the Arab League in Baghdad, did not receive delivery of his paper that day. He called his vendor, who told him that there would be no paper that day, a singular occurrence he could not explain.

For the next 10 days, the paper was not published at all. Samir's newspaper was not confiscated and he retained it because it contained this interesting ''Honor Roll of 600'' of the people closest to the regime.

The only explanation for this strange set of events, according to the Iraqi lawyers, is that Uday, an impulsive and somewhat unbalanced individual, decided to publish this honor roll at a time when the regime was under worldwide verbal attack in the press, especially by us. It would, he thought, make them more loyal and supportive of the regime.

His father was furious, knowing that it revealed information about his supporters that should remain secret.

For example, at the same time this was published, Saddam was denying that he had any relationship with Osama. Therefore Saddam had all the papers confiscated, and he ordered that publication of the paper be stopped for 10 days.

That is the story of the ''Honor Roll of 600,'' and why I believe that President Bush was right when he alleged that Saddam was in cahoots with Osama and was coordinating activities with him.

It does not prove that they engaged together in any particular act of terror against the United States.

But it seems to me to be strong proof that the two were in contact and conspiring to perform terrorist acts.

Up until this time, I have been skeptical about these claims. Now I have changed my mind. There is, however, one big problem remaining: They are both still at large and the combined forces of the free world have been unable to find them.

Until we find and capture them, they will remain a threat — Saddam with the remnants of his army and supporters in combination with the worldwide terrorist organization of Osama bin Laden.

[mewzilla]

With respect, if it's such a silly question then why didn't I see the story on FOX? They're not slavering lefties. I haven't heard or seen FOX discussing this.

[BCrago66]

Hey here's the companiab story from the Tennessian:

http://tennessean.com/nation-world/archives/03/06/34908298.shtml?Element_ID=34908298


Puzzling passage precedes list of top Iraqi officials

The newspaper list of top Iraqi officials that Judge Merritt describes in the accompanying article was also the subject of a mid-May report in the Weekly Standard, a conservative magazine. The list, published in an Iraqi newspaper before the U.S. invasion, has received little public attention elsewhere.

The magazine noted, as did Merritt, that one person on the list was characterized as being in charge of relations with Osama bin Laden at the Iraqi embassy in Pakistan. The magazine also mentioned that the list was prefaced by this puzzling passage:

''This is a list of the henchmen of the regime. Our hands will reach them sooner or later. Woe unto them.''

Since the list was published in a newspaper run by Saddam Hussein's son, it was not clear why this passage would have been allowed to appear.

Officials at the U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency and the CIA were asked by Gannett News Service for comment yesterday on the list.

Both agencies said they were aware of the list but declined to comment on its status or authenticity.

''There are innumerable lists,'' said one official at the Defense Intelligence Agency, who declined to be identified for publication. ''So you have to ask what does it mean to be on this list? It takes time to sort through all this. People give names all over the place.''

____________________________

By the way this is duplicate thread, so I'm going to follow any new developments at http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/944407/posts

[BCrago66]

Hey wait I was 1st!!

Guess I'll have to follow both threads :)

[DoctorMichael]

I'll Bump this for a buck.

[JustPiper]

Bump and they best 'layoff' George Tenet also!!!

[happygrl]

Funny how every aspect seems to be less than six degrees of seperation from Islamabad...

Yeah, with allies like that, well, you know the rest....

Thanks for the ping.

VEEEeerrryy IIINnnteresting,

[lowbridge]

bump

[Mark17]

Daschle reported to be "deeply saddened."

I don't think the liberals would believe it if we had film of Bin Laden and Saddam making terrorist plans together. They will just claim it is made up. There really isn't any sense talking to them about it.

[rwfromkansas]

bump....this guy is a DEMOCRAT FOLKS. THIS IS BIG!!!

E-mail this out to all your media outlets.

[rwfromkansas]

I am posting this to the Yahoo group young journos. Maybe somebody will pick it up.