Memo shows Iraq, Iran tried to contact bin Laden

The Washington Times ^ | September 12, 2003 | Eli J. Lake

[Miss Marple]

The Taliban claimed in a 1997 meeting with U.S. officials that it had blocked attempts by both Iraq and Iran to contact Osama bin Laden, according to a previously confidential State Department memo made public yesterday.

The memo says that the assistant secretary of state, Karl Inderfurth, was told on Dec. 7, 1997, by the Taliban's acting minister of mines and industry, Armad Jan, that his government "had stopped allowing [bin Laden] to give public interviews and had frustrated Iranian and Iraqi efforts to contact him."

[Miss Marple]

So, yet ANOTHER warning that the Clinton administration ignored.

Thanks do Doctor Zin for alerting me o this sory on the Iranian thread!

[Peach]

"We are now starting to see terrorists come into Iraq who could represent, and we are quite confident represent al Qaeda elements," Mr. Powell told Al Jazeera satellite television in an interview this week.

Wow! The left is looking more and more "out of touch" every day.

Great post.

[Miss Marple]

Amazing what things are turning up in memos that lower-level Clintonistas left lying around. They couldn't get everything to the library in Little Rock, apparently.

[grumple]

suicide=homicide bump

[Peach]

fnc TALKING ABOUT THIS NOW

[JohnHuang2]

Bingo, my friend.

[JohnHuang2]

This memo was just mentioned on Fox and Friends.

[BOBTHENAILER]

"I never saw any evidence in anything I was doing where there were any Iraqi connections,"

Standard Clintonista lame attempt at deflecting damning evidence. Next, he will state that his diary lied to him.

[Coop]

Amazing what things are turning up in memos that lower-level Clintonistas left lying around. They couldn't get everything to the library in Little Rock, apparently.

Well, when you have to choose between filing memos or destroying & pilfering office equipment/supplies, which would you choose?

[A. Pole]

"We are now starting to see terrorists come into Iraq who could represent, and we are quite confident represent al Qaeda elements," Mr. Powell told Al Jazeera satellite television in an interview this week. Wow! The left is looking more and more "out of touch" every day.

They are coming to Iraq now, because of the collapse of order.

[Samwise]

"I never saw any evidence in anything I was doing where there were any Iraqi connections," said Mr. Inderfurth, who was the Clinton administration's senior State Department official for South Asia.

It all depends on what your definition of "evidence" is.

[Miss Marple]

Darn! I was out on my morning walk! What did they say?

[Peach]

They are coming to Iraq now, because of the collapse of order.

AQ is fighting for their very survival and taking advantage of a temporary situation in Iraq. In that you care correct.

However, AQ and Iraq began working together after the first Gulf War. Hussein's sons mentioned this in their OWN STATE RUN NEWSPAPER some months before the war this year.

Additionally, there is ample evidence of OBL/AQ and Iraq working together. I have links to dozens of articles/books about this subject matter, but have come to understand there are some who do not want to believe in this linkage between the groups. Such is life.

[Peach]

FNC opened it with a comment like "And so you've heard criticism that there isn't any linkage between Iraq and AQ, hmmm? Well, listen to this."

They then proceeded to mention the things in this article and seemed to be quoting some of it.

That's all I remember - let's hope some of the other networks pick up on it. Hope springs eternal.

[Quilla]

Great post, Miss Marple. I too heard the short coverage on Fox and Friends this morning just as Peach has described it. If either former co-president had a smidgen of conscience, you'd think one of them would have mentioned this link sometime in the past two years. Apparently they could care less who is in the network of terrorists attacking our country.

[kattracks]

BTTT.

[ravingnutter]

I have links to dozens of articles/books about this subject matter, but have come to understand there are some who do not want to believe in this linkage between the groups. Such is life.

Don't ever give up trying to educate others...

While the Prague meeting has been refuted by some officials, people seem to forget that Farouk Hijazi, an Iraqi intelligence officer met with bin Laden in Kandahar in Dec 1998.

Also forgotten is that in 1998, two of bin Laden’s senior military commanders, Muhammad Abu-Islam and Abdullah Qassim, visited Baghdad for discussions with Qusay Hussein. This and info on other meetings can be found here.

Also in 1998, an Arab intelligence officer, who knows Saddam personally, predicted in Newsweek: "Very soon you will be witnessing large-scale terrorist activity run by the Iraqis." The Arab official said these terror operations would be run under "false flags" --spook-speak for front groups--including bin Laden's organization.

Then there were the predictions by an Iraqi with ties to Iraqi intelligence, Naeem Abd Mulhalhal, in Qusay's own newspaper several weeks before the attacks that stated bin Laden would “demolish the Pentagon after he destroys the White House and ”bin Laden would strike America “on the arm that is already hurting.” (referencing a second IRAQI sponsored attack on the World Trade Center). Another reference to New York was “[bin Laden] will curse the memory of Frank Sinatra everytime he hears his songs.” (e.g., “New York, New York”) which identified New York, New York as a target. Mulhalhal also stated, “The wings of a dove and the bullet are all but one and the same in the heart of a believer." which references an airplane attack.

The Arabic language daily newspaper Al-Quds Al-Arabic also cited the cooperation between Iraq, bin Laden and Al December 1998 editorial, which predicted that “President Saddam Hussein, whose country was subjected to a four day air strike, will look for support in taking revenge on the United States and Britain by cooperating with Saudi oppositionist Osama Bin-Laden, whom the United States considers to be the most wanted person in the world.” This info is in the link provided in the para above. How could these people have had foreknowledge without Iraq being involved?

And what about Ramzi Yousef (known to his associates as "Rashid the Iraqi, was convicted of the 1993 WTC bombing and entered the US on an Iraqi passport) and his uncle Khalid Shaikh Mohammed who was the paymaster for bin Laden.

There are just too many things that point to Iraqi involvement, even without the refuted evidence.

[TastyManatees]

"I'm sure some Iraqi official met with some al Qaeda somewhere, but that does not demonstrate that two are working closely together."

One wonders what would constitute sufficient proof that the Iraqis and Al Qaeda were "working closely together" for the Georgetown set. Apparently, training camps, funding, intelligence contacts, and overtures are not enough.

Tasty Manatees

[Peach]

Thank you for posting those links; I've saved them (again) in my personal favorites.

If only we could MAKE people read, we could educate millions. haha

[Grampa Dave]

I'm sure that truck loads of memos and confidential stuff that the Clintoons wanted out of circulation ended up in their LIEbrary for a few minutes.

Then they were shredded by the huge shredder the Clintoons keep around for those special moments.