Clinton-Era Reports Cited Saddam-bin Laden Ties

In the nearly two years since President Bush named Iraq as part of the "Axis of Evil," the American press has been working overtime denying that there was ever any link between Saddam Hussein and 9/11 mastermind Osama bin Laden. But that's not what the same news outlets were saying before the 9/11 attacks, back when Bill Clinton was president and needed justification to attack Iraq.

Just weeks after Clinton bombed the daylights out of suspected hideaways for Iraq's weapons of mass destruction, he used his January 1999 State of the Union Address to warn America about both bin Laden and Saddam, mentioning the two terror kingpins almost in the same breath. "We will defend our security wherever we are threatened - as we did this summer when we struck at Osama bin Laden's network of terror," Clinton told Congress and the nation. "The bombing our embassies in Kenya and Tanzania reminds us again of the risks faced every day by those who represent America to the world." Moments later Clinton segued into the threat posed by Saddam:

"For nearly a decade, Iraq has defied its obligations to destroy its weapons of terror and the missiles to deliver them. America will continue to contain Saddam, and we will work for the day when Iraq has a government worthy of its people." But rather than launch an all out assault on what reporters now call the "dubious" assertion that Saddam and bin Laden had made common cause, the press took Clinton's ball and ran with it.

In fact, as researched and documented this week by FrontPageMagazine.com, in 1999 the national news media was replete with reports linking the Butcher of Baghdad and the man who masterminded the killing of 3,000 Americans almost two years ago.

Here are a few highlights gathered by FrontPage from the press' Saddam-bin Laden file – stories that have since conveniently disappeared down the media's memory hole:

Iraq was considered a possible destination because bin Laden had received an invitation from Iraqi President Saddam Hussein last month. And Somalia was a third possible destination because of its anarchy and violent anti-U.S. history .... San Jose Mercury News

Feb. 14, 1999 U.S. WORRIED ABOUT IRAQI, BIN LADEN TIES TERRORIST COULD GAIN EVEN DEADLIER WEAPONS U.S. intelligence officials are worried that a burgeoning alliance between terrorist leader Osama bin Laden and Iraqi President Saddam Hussein could make the fugitive Saudi's loose-knit organization much more dangerous ... In addition, the officials said, Palestinian terrorist Abu Nidal is now in Iraq, as is a renowned Palestinian bomb designer, and both could make their expertise available to bin Laden. "It's clear the Iraqis would like to have bin Laden in Iraq," said Vincent Cannistraro, a former head of counterterrorism operations at the Central Intelligence Agency ... Saddam has even offered asylum to bin Laden, who has expressed support for Iraq.

... [in] late December, when bin Laden met a senior Iraqi intelligence official near Qandahar, Afghanistan, there has been increasing evidence that bin Laden and Iraq may have begun cooperating in planning attacks against American and British targets around the world. Bin Laden, who strikes in the name of Islam, and Saddam, one of the most secular rulers in the Arab world, have little in common except their hatred of the United States ...

More worrisome, the American officials said, are indications that there may be contacts between bin Laden's organization and Iraq's Special Security Organization (SSO), run by Saddam's son Qusay. Both the SSO and the Mukhabarat were involved in a failed 1993 plot to assassinate former President George Bush ...

"The idea that the same people who are hiding Saddam's biological weapons may be meeting with Osama bin Laden is not a happy one," said one American official.... Beacon Journal wire services

Oct. 31, 1999 BIN LADEN SPOTTED AFTER OFFER TO LEAVE DATELINE: JALALABAD, AFGHANISTAN: ... The Taliban has since made it known through official channels that the likely destination is Iraq. A Clinton administration official said bin Laden's request "falls far short" of the UN resolution that the Taliban deliver him for trial. ...

The Kansas City Star March 2, 1999 International terrorism, a conflict without boundaries By Rich Hood ... He [bin Laden] has a private fortune ranging from $250 million to $500 million and is said to be cultivating a new alliance with Iraq's Saddam Hussein, who has biological and chemical weapons bin Laden would not hesitate to use. An alliance between bin Laden and Saddam Hussein could be deadly. Both men are united in their hatred for the United States and any country friendly to the United States. ...

United Press International Nov. 3, 1999, Wednesday, BC cycle. WASHINGTON – The U.S. government has tried to prevent accused terror suspect Osama bin Laden from fleeing Afghanistan to either Iraq or Chechnya, Michael Sheehan, head of counter-terrorism at the State Department, told a Senate Foreign Relations subcommittee. ...

U.S. Newswire Dec. 23, 1999 Terrorism Expert Reveals Why Osama bin Laden has Declared War On America; Available for Comment in Light of Predicted Attacks. ... Aauthor Yossef] Bodansky also reveals the relationship between bin Laden and Saddam Hussein and how the U.S. bombing of Iraq is "strengthening the hands of militant Islamists eager to translate their rage into violence and terrorism."

National Public Radio MORNING EDITION (10:00 a.m.ET) Feb. 18, 1999 THOUGH AFGHANISTAN HAS PROVIDED OSAMA BIN LADEN WITH SANCTUARY, IT IS UNCLEAR WHERE HE IS NOW. ANCHORS: BOB EDWARDS REPORTERS: MIKE SHUSTER ... There have also been reports in recent months that bin Laden might have been considering moving his operations to Iraq. Intelligence agencies in several nations are looking into that. According to Vincent Cannistraro, a former chief of CIA counterterrorism operations, a senior Iraqi intelligence official, Farouk Hijazi(ph), sought out bin Laden in December and invited him to come to Iraq.

Mr. VINCENT CANNISTRARO (Former Chief of CIA Counterterrorism Operations): Farouk Hijazi, who was the Iraqi ambassador in Turkey ... known through sources in Afghanistan, members of Osama's entourage let it be known that the meeting had taken place.

SHUSTER: Iraq's contacts with bin Laden go back some years, to at least 1994, when, according to one U.S. government source, Hijazi met him when bin Laden lived in Sudan. According to Cannistraro, Iraq invited bin Laden to live in Baghdad to be nearer to potential targets of terrorist attack in Saudi Arabia and Kuwait. There is a wide gap between bin Laden's fundamentalism and Saddam Hussein's secular dictatorship. But some experts believe bin Laden might be tempted to live in Iraq because of his reported desire to obtain chemical or biological weapons. CIA director George Tenet referred to that in recent testimony. ... Foreign news services also carried news of the now-supressed Saddam-bin Laden connection:

Agence France-Presse Feb. 17, 1999 Saddam plans to use bin Laden against Kuwait, Saudi: opposition Iraq's President Saddam Hussein plans to use alleged terrorist Osama bin Laden's network to carry out his threats against Kuwait and Saudi Arabia, an Iraqi opposition figure charged on Wednesday. "If the ... Jaber, a member of the Supreme Council for Islamic Revolution in Iraq (SCIRI), said Iraq had "offered to shelter bin Laden under the precondition that he carry out strikes on targets in neighbouring countries."

Deutsche Presse-Agentur Feb. 17, 1999, Wednesday, BC Cycle Opposition group says bin Laden in Iraq

DATELINE: Kuwait City An Iraqi opposition group claimed in a published report Wednesday that Islamic militant Osama bin Laden is in Iraq from where he plans to launch a campaign of terrorism against Baghdad's Gulf neighbours. The claim was made by Bayan Jabor, spokesman for the Teheran-based Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq (SCIRI). Bin Laden "recently settled in Iraq at the invitation of Saddam Hussein in exchange for directing strikes against targets in neighbouring countries," Jabor told the Kuwaiti newspaper al-Rai al- Aam ... Taleban leaders in Afghanistan, where he had been living, said they lost track of him. Media reports have speculated he sought refuge in Chechnya, Somalia, Iraq, or with a non-Taliban group in Afghanistan.

Jabor, who was interviewed in Damascus, Syria, said Iraq began extending invitations to bin Laden six months ago, shortly after the United States bombed his suspected terrorist training camps in Afghanistan after linking him with the August 7 bombings of U.S. embassies in Nairobi, Kenya and in Dar-es-Salam, Tanzania.

The United States indicted Bin Laden for the embassy bombings and has offered a five million dollar reward for information leading to his capture. Bin Laden's disappearance has coincided with stepped up threats by Iraq against neighbours Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Turkey for allowing the United States and Britain to use their air bases to carry out air patrols over two "no-fly" zones over northern and southern Iraq.

Clinton bombed al Qaeda/Osama and Saddam Hussein in 1998 and the Dems and the press went for it with gusto--after Clinton refused three offers of Osama by Sudan, and fired Woolsey as DCI for insisting Ramzi Yousef of WTC I was an Iraqi agent.

WND offers these stories from its al Qaeda/Iraq archive:

WND stories on al-Qaida-Iraq link

Posted: March 19, 2003
1:00 a.m. Eastern

ALL THE FOLLOWING STORIES LINKED AT WND MASTER LINK ABOVE

Judge links Saddam to Osama bin Laden
Families of Sept. 11 victims awarded $104 million judgment against them
--WND

Saddam sought al-Qaida pact
Reports: Iraqi secret-police documents reveal bin Laden operative visited Baghdad in 1998 --WND

Dossiers link Baghdad to Islamist group
Key leader of 'holy warrior team' was with bin Laden in Sudan
--WND

Iraqi terrorist probe spreads to 11 nations
Agents in sleeper cells allegedly plotting widespread attacks against U.S. interests
--WND

Report: Al-Qaida fighting alongside Saddam's forces
British interrogators say POWs reveal members of bin Laden's group in Basra
--WND

9-11 mastermind Iraqi agent?
Author questions identity of captured al-Qaida operative
--WND

Spain links Iraq to 9-11 attacks
Madrid turns over documents to U.S., holds terrorist for trial
--WND

Poll: Most Americans believe Bush about Saddam
Study also finds majority think Saudi Arabia supports terrorism
--WND

'Smoking gun' in U.S. arsenal?
Intercepted satellite call linked Saddam to al-Qaida terror cell
--WND

Powell presents U.N. 'irrefutable' evidence
Secretary shows satellite photos of activity at chemical, biological weapons facilities
--WND

Australia confirms worst on Iraq
Prime minister says U.S. given intelligence on al-Qaida link
--WND

20 terror commandos unleashed on Europe
Al-Qaida plans attacks before U.S. invades Iraq
--WND

Iraq, al-Qaida linked by administration Fleischer hints at more coming on connection --WND Evidence against Iraq building toward war
Inspectors find chem warheads, Blix issues stern warning, ricin plotters tied to Baghdad
--WND

Ricin plotters tied to al-Qaida, Iraq
Algerian network considered No. 1 terror threat in Europe
--WND

Bush, Blair warned of bin Laden nukes
Al-Qaida purchased 20 suitcase arms from former KGB agents, says report
--WND

Iraq-al-Qaida links go back decade
CIA reports show nearly 100 examples of cooperation, says reporter
--WND

New evidence links Saddam, bin Laden
Iraqi intelligence agent liaison between Baghdad, al-Qaida?
--WND

Iraq, Arafat, bin Laden coalition formed?
Terrorism expert reports joint offensive against West planned
--WND

Does al-Qaida have 20 suitcase nukes?
Author claims bin Laden purchased them in '98 from ex-KGB agents for $30 million
--WND

U.S. captures Iraqis in Afghanistan raid
2 al-Qaida soldiers brought to Bagram base for questioning, Russian fighter also held
--WND

Pro-Saddam fighters attack Kurds
Forces linked to al-Qaida trying to stop cooperation with U.S.
--WND

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