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Terrorist Behind September 11 Strike was Trained by Saddam
The Telegraph ^ | December 14, 2003 | Con Coughlin

Posted on 12/13/2003 4:24:43 PM PST by quidnunc

Iraq's coalition government claims that it has uncovered documentary proof that Mohammed Atta, the al-Qaeda mastermind of the September 11 attacks against the US, was trained in Baghdad by Abu Nidal, the notorious Palestinian terrorist.

Details of Atta's visit to the Iraqi capital in the summer of 2001, just weeks before he launched the most devastating terrorist attack in US history, are contained in a top secret memo written to Saddam Hussein, the then Iraqi president, by Tahir Jalil Habbush al-Tikriti, the former head of the Iraqi Intelligence Service.

The handwritten memo, a copy of which has been obtained exclusively by the Telegraph, is dated July 1, 2001 and provides a short resume of a three-day "work programme" Atta had undertaken at Abu Nidal's base in Baghdad.

In the memo, Habbush reports that Atta "displayed extraordinary effort" and demonstrated his ability to lead the team that would be "responsible for attacking the targets that we have agreed to destroy".

The second part of the memo, which is headed "Niger Shipment", contains a report about an unspecified shipment — believed to be uranium — that it says has been transported to Iraq via Libya and Syria.

Although Iraqi officials refused to disclose how and where they had obtained the document, Dr Ayad Allawi, a member of Iraq's ruling seven-man Presidential Committee, said the document was genuine.

"We are uncovering evidence all the time of Saddam's involvement with al-Qaeda," he said. "But this is the most compelling piece of evidence that we have found so far. It shows that not only did Saddam have contacts with al-Qaeda, he had contact with those responsible for the September 11 attacks."

-snip-

(Excerpt) Read more at telegraph.co.uk ...


TOPICS: Breaking News; News/Current Events; United Kingdom; War on Terror
KEYWORDS: 911; 911hijackers; abunidal; alani; allawi; alqaeda; alqaedaandiraq; atta; baghdad; habbush; habbushaltikriti; hussein; husseincapture; iraq; iraqalqaedalink; iraqandalqaeda; libya; mohammedatta; nidal; niger; prague; saddam; saddamhussein; sept11; stoptheexcerpts; syria; terrorism; terrorist; timeline
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To: Freedom of Speech Wins
Great speech dude! Save it for the Goreons. I'm being sarcastic about all that liberal crud I posted :P
141 posted on 12/13/2003 6:05:56 PM PST by Killborn (I'd rather have Big Bizniz than Big Guvmint.)
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To: quidnunc
Move on.........nothing here. Major news media will ignore or under report......GW still lied when he UNILATERALLY attacked a soveriegn nation. < /sarcasm >
142 posted on 12/13/2003 6:06:41 PM PST by PISANO (God Bless our Troops........They will not TIRE - They will not FALTER - They will not FAIL!!!!!)
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To: nuffsenuff
How much must it suck to have to hope that this story isn't true?

So true. And they hope for massive American casualties and failures in all the fronts in the WOT as well. Miserable losers, the lot of them.

143 posted on 12/13/2003 6:07:52 PM PST by Mr. Mojo
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To: Quilla
Where did you find that? I would like to request permission to print it in the college newspaper.
144 posted on 12/13/2003 6:07:56 PM PST by rwfromkansas ("Men stumble over the truth, but most pick themselves up as if nothing had happened." Churchill)
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To: LoudRepublicangirl
This is the only picture I could find:

Source: Star finds bin Laden-Iraq Link

145 posted on 12/13/2003 6:08:04 PM PST by Quilla
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To: Sabertooth
Sabertooth,
Thanks for posting the entire article. I have often gone to follow an old post on FR, only to find that the article being discussed no longer exists. If the source site allows it, and if the article is of any value, it's good to preserve it.
146 posted on 12/13/2003 6:08:58 PM PST by gitmo (If your parents never had children, chances are you won't either.)
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To: Angelus Errare
Atta was in Spain in the summer of 2001, was he not? What do we know about when he left for Spain, how long he was in that country, when he left it, and when he returned to the U.S.?
147 posted on 12/13/2003 6:10:40 PM PST by aristeides
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To: rwfromkansas
See my post #94, something makes me believe it is an AP photo.

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1039898/posts?page=94#94
148 posted on 12/13/2003 6:11:26 PM PST by Quilla
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To: quidnunc; Sabertooth; Alamo-Girl; onyx; SpookBrat; Republican Wildcat; Howlin; dixiechick2000; ...
Terrorist Behind September 11 Strike was Trained by Saddam

Excerpt:

Iraq's coalition government claims that it has uncovered documentary proof that Mohammed Atta, the al-Qaeda mastermind of the September 11 attacks against the US, was trained in Baghdad by Abu Nidal, the notorious Palestinian terrorist.

Details of Atta's visit to the Iraqi capital in the summer of 2001, just weeks before he launched the most devastating terrorist attack in US history, are contained in a top secret memo written to Saddam Hussein, the then Iraqi president, by Tahir Jalil Habbush al-Tikriti, the former head of the Iraqi Intelligence Service.


Please let me know if you want ON or OFF my General Interest ping list!. . .don't be shy.


149 posted on 12/13/2003 6:11:29 PM PST by MeekOneGOP (Hillary is a TRAITOR !!: http://Richard.Meek.home.comcast.net/HitlerTraitor6.JPG)
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To: quidnunc
Hoping it's not to good to be true, bump.
150 posted on 12/13/2003 6:11:50 PM PST by eddie willers
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To: RaceBannon
Thanks for the heads-up. Didn't Abu Nidal get shot in Iraq after 09/11? If so, the pieces fit.
151 posted on 12/13/2003 6:12:45 PM PST by LibKill (You are not sheeple. Refuse to be clipped.)
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To: quidnunc

Hillary to Troops: Support for War Fading
(Click here or on pic)



152 posted on 12/13/2003 6:13:09 PM PST by MeekOneGOP (Hillary is a TRAITOR !!: http://Richard.Meek.home.comcast.net/HitlerTraitor6.JPG)
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To: MainFrame65
Right, I say lets keep the info but try to back it up with undeniable proof. Maybe Atta and Nidal took some poloroids together at the local terrorist hang out with the label-this is me with Mo before he blew himself up.
153 posted on 12/13/2003 6:13:53 PM PST by LoudRepublicangirl (loudrepublicangirl)
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To: aristeides
Yes, though the Spain note made me remember that Yusuf Galan, the top deputy of Abu Dahdah (the contact between the hijackers and the al-Qaeda C-in-C Mohammed Atef in Afghanistan) was invited to the Iraqi Embassy - under his al-Qaeda codename prior to the attacks.

I'll have to check an Atta timeline to be sure, but I think that he could easily have squeezed in a couple of days to go to Iraq.
154 posted on 12/13/2003 6:14:17 PM PST by Angelus Errare
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To: quidnunc
The second part of the memo, which is headed "Niger Shipment", contains a report about an unspecified shipment — believed to be uranium — that it says has been transported to Iraq via Libya and Syria.

This is in reference to the recent yellowcake "scandal" where the Robert Novak was accused of "outing" a CIA agent because the White House was mad that her husband couldn't (wouldn't?) find a Niger-Iraq connection, right?

-PJ

155 posted on 12/13/2003 6:15:08 PM PST by Political Junkie Too (It's not safe yet to vote Democrat.)
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To: quidnunc
Thanks for the link. Here is the article, in full, from your source ...

Terrorist behind September 11 strike was trained by Saddam
By Con Coughlin
(Filed: 14/12/2003)

Iraq's coalition government claims that it has uncovered documentary proof that Mohammed Atta, the al-Qaeda mastermind of the September 11 attacks against the US, was trained in Baghdad by Abu Nidal, the notorious Palestinian terrorist.

Details of Atta's visit to the Iraqi capital in the summer of 2001, just weeks before he launched the most devastating terrorist attack in US history, are contained in a top secret memo written to Saddam Hussein, the then Iraqi president, by Tahir Jalil Habbush al-Tikriti, the former head of the Iraqi Intelligence Service.

The handwritten memo, a copy of which has been obtained exclusively by the Telegraph, is dated July 1, 2001 and provides a short resume of a three-day "work programme" Atta had undertaken at Abu Nidal's base in Baghdad.

In the memo, Habbush reports that Atta "displayed extraordinary effort" and demonstrated his ability to lead the team that would be "responsible for attacking the targets that we have agreed to destroy".

The second part of the memo, which is headed "Niger Shipment", contains a report about an unspecified shipment - believed to be uranium - that it says has been transported to Iraq via Libya and Syria.

Although Iraqi officials refused to disclose how and where they had obtained the document, Dr Ayad Allawi, a member of Iraq's ruling seven-man Presidential Committee, said the document was genuine.

"We are uncovering evidence all the time of Saddam's involvement with al-Qaeda," he said. "But this is the most compelling piece of evidence that we have found so far. It shows that not only did Saddam have contacts with al-Qaeda, he had contact with those responsible for the September 11 attacks."

Although Atta is believed to have been resident in Florida in the summer of 2001, he is known to have used more than a dozen aliases, and intelligence experts believe he could easily have slipped out of the US to visit Iraq.

Abu Nidal, who was responsible for the failed assassination of the Israeli ambassador to London in 1982, was based in Baghdad for more than two decades.


156 posted on 12/13/2003 6:17:56 PM PST by MeekOneGOP (Hillary is a TRAITOR !!: http://Richard.Meek.home.comcast.net/HitlerTraitor6.JPG)
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To: Mr. Mojo
Not to beat a dead horse but seriously... How sad must it be to go through life (at least right now) hoping that this kind of news turns out false?

I can't even fathom how that feels...

I can't even fathom how a liberals mind works so I should be surprised anyway, but...
157 posted on 12/13/2003 6:18:11 PM PST by nuffsenuff
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To: Political Junkie Too
The same CIA agent who posed for a photo spread in Vanity Fair magazine with her adoring husband who jokingly calls her Jane Bond? LOL
158 posted on 12/13/2003 6:18:46 PM PST by Quilla
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To: Quilla
I couldn't make out the line that looks like it had white out on it but I could somewhat make out the rest of it. My problem is I can read typewritten Arabic better than handwritten. When Arabs hand write they don't always put the vowel accents in and since it is not my native language I can't always make out the words.
159 posted on 12/13/2003 6:20:08 PM PST by LoudRepublicangirl (loudrepublicangirl)
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To: MeeknMing
I do have a problem with this story though...

Muhammed Atta was not the mastermind behind 9-11... he was the "squadron leader"... the mastermind was Khalid Sheikh Muhammed.

Giving Atta the credit diminishes the true impact of what catching KSM means...

160 posted on 12/13/2003 6:21:50 PM PST by nuffsenuff
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