Terrorist Behind September 11 Strike was Trained by Saddam

The Telegraph ^ | December 14, 2003 | Con Coughlin

[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-

[jwalsh07]

Al-Qaeda's leadership "viewed the Iraqis, particularly the military and security services, as corrupt, irreligious and hypocritical in that they succumb to Western vices while concurrently remaining at war with the US," the report says, summarizing Zubaydah's statements.

This statement is till as false as it was when you posted it on its own thread.

Ansar al Islam is Al Qaeda. Ansar al Islam has operated in Iraq for quite soem time now ith Husseins knowledge, approval and aid.

That the document spoken about here on this thread is just a little too pat with the mention of Niger and Uraninum does not change the fact that SH was knee deep in terrorism. The secular, jihdaist twin shall never meet terrorist thing is claptrap.

[Qwinn]

Ah. Alright, fine, make that distinction if you like, but personally I think you're silly if you think something like this could've gone on in Iraq without Saddam's knowledge, approval and funding.

Qwinn

[armymarinemom]

How much you wanna bet that the stock came DIRECTLY from Baghdad?

Wouldn't surprise me a bit. The strain that Iraq had is the same as the US but the protein coat is nothing like we had over here.

[Ciexyz]

We always knew but we didn't have the proof.

[txhurl]

Tinfoil on - that security guard who shot himself a couple weeks ago at the UN. Then the UN says oh YES most definitely Saddam had WMD going on. These background strange happenings are usually foreshadowing something.

I just don't know if the dot-connection is going to come out blazing the week of the primaries or the last of Oct '04.

[mrobison]

It's all Bush's fault.

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

This is a biggie!

[DouglasKC]

This shouldn't be a surprise to anyone except those that would believe George Bush would lie about his reason for going to war against Iraq.

Bump...

[Imperialist]

"trained by Iraqi Intelligence"

Who was the Boss? Saddam.

[nuffsenuff]

Good point.

[Tennessean4Bush]

Just got here. Is this really true? Anyone else reporting this right now. If this holds up, this is huge for both Bush and Blair.

[nuffsenuff]

I've only seen it on here... So really the Telegraph and now WorldnetDaily.

No idea if its true... good points on both sides on this thread though.

[Qwinn]

Blogsforbush has posted it too.

http://www.blogsforbush.com

Qwinn

[elhombrelibre]

It's on www.lucianne.com too.

[PoisedWoman]

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.

Didn't Bush & Co state that US forces have "miles" of documents to sift through in Iraq? Could be this letter was found in that trove.

[eeriegeno]

Names of people or groups mentioned on this thread:

al-Qaeda

Mohammed Atta

Saddam Hussein

Tahir Jalil Habbush al-Tikriti

Abu Nidal

Ahmed Khalil Ibrahim Samir al-Ani

Abu Ammer

Bashir al-Asad

Taliban

Mokhtar Belmokhtar

Mohammed Saeed al-Sahhaf

Mukhabarat

Farouk Hijazi

Sabri al-Banna

Yusuf Galan

Abu Dahdah

Khalid Sheikh Muhammed

Al-Haznawi

Aziz

Abu Zubaydah

DAN RATHER

Anyone else see a pattern here?

I vote for creation of the Arabian Ocean.....

[deport]

What do you think?

---

I think I'll wait and look for more info to emerge....

[txhurl]

Dan Rather's great-uncle was the first guy busted in Houston in 1908 for drug-smuggling under the Harrison act. Really, look it up.

[Tribune7]

ping

[Peach]

I just read that article and was coming here to post the same; coincidence?