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-

[Killborn]

OH MAN! How could I EVER forget that! them mean ole Christians still trying to convert us with their dumb "nativity" scene.

[VeritatisSplendor]

Too good to be true indeed. The tipoff that this is a fake is that the SAME memo vindicating the Atta-Iraq link also vindicates the Niger-Uranium link. Too improbable.

[VRWC_minion]

Isn't the name Atta Mohammed on the order of John Smith ?

[cmsgop]

That's your best work yet!

[Victoria Delsoul]

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.

This is powerful evidence, which won't make the liberals happy. I wonder what their next line is.

[chudogg]

This would also credit the ATTA/Samir al Ani meeting in Prague, and the report that IRAQ funneled hundreds of thousands of dollars to ATTA.

Samir al Ani is captured and held by the coalition, we need to get that guy talking!

[Killborn]

Yes. Censorship in its purest form.

[Pubbie]

Howard - We all know that Saddam had nothing to do with 911 - this whole war was a fraud, a part of Cheney's NeoConservative Power Vortex.

Dean has the GOP on the ropes - Iraq is a quagmire and an $87 Billion mess!

[Prodigal Son]

Last 2 paragraphs of article:

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.

[blackie]

FYI ~ Lady.

[MEG33]

I think I worry about people getting their hopes up and I become the wet blanket?!...;)

[Angelus Errare]

Uber-ping!

I'm pretty sure that the known Atta chronology allows us to factor out 3 days in the summer of 2001 where he could have gone into Iraq. Al-Qaeda involvement in any shipment Niger is otherwise well within their grasp, that's right near the Algerian border where Abderrazak al-Para (the guy who kidnapped all of those European tourists a while back) is based and Mokhtar Belmokhtar runs the GSPC government-in-exile out of Niger.

They need to verify this, though, and soon.

[Paul Atreides]

Howard Dean as Auric Brownthumb.

[Paul Atreides]

Nah. I'm just saying that it isn't impossible.

[ozzymandus]

This will never be reported in the US "news media".

[TASMANIANRED]

Sorry Fintan, don't know how to morph the pic in here.
Your cosmetic work makes Hitlery look much better than usual. She wishes she had a bustline like that.

[BurtS188]

Senator Clinton just called. She wants to know how long the Telegraph knew about this, why she wasn't notified and is breathing in a collapsed regime bad for your lungs? Rudy Guliani allegedly knows and didn't tell her.

[Qwinn]

It stinks of smoking gun to me. I fired off an email to Drudge about it, let's see if he think it's credible enough to link to.

Qwinn

[Viking2002]

The Final Nail. You may now lower the conspiracy theory coffin.

Let's see Dr. Demento spin this one.

[MEG33]

I'm already here.I do know the Telegraph has gotten some great stories and documents out of Iraq.I remember Mad Ivan was always posting good articles.