Posted on 12/04/2004 12:02:04 PM PST by kattracks
In what may be the most shocking news to emerge from the already stunning Oil for Food scandal, investigators say that Saddam Hussein bankrolled key al Qaida players in the late 1990s - a period of time when the terror group was planning the 9/11 attacks and the Iraqi dictator was ripping off billions from the U.N. program.
"Saddam had given $300,000 in cash to Ayman Al Zawahiri, Osama bin Laden's number two man, in the spring of 1998," the Weekly Standard's Stephen Hayes told WABC Radio's Monica Crowley."It's likely that Saddam was giving some of his [Oil for Food] money to al Qaida."
In an eerie coincidence, an October 2001 estimate by the Justice Department put the entire cost of the 9/11 operation at $300,000.
While the inception of Iraq's financial relationship with al Qaida pre-dated the 1996 Oil for Food program, the U.N. jackpot enabled Saddam to become much more generous towards his terrorist allies in the years before 9/11.
Hayes said the total amount of Iraqi cash funneled into al Qaida reached into the "millions."
"Saddam had pretty strong ties to bin Laden when bin Laden was in Sudan," he said, based on what a former CIA counterrorism official had told him.
"He talked about this system of Saddam funneling money, usually cash payments, to a variety of al Qaida-linked Islamic terrorist groups," the Standard reporter said.
Freelance reporter Claudia Rosett, who singlehandedly broke the Oil for Food story last year, first broached the possibility of a U.N. connection to the 9/11 attacks in the Weekly Standard last August:
"By 1996, remember, bin Laden had been run out of Sudan, and seems to have been out of money. He needed a fresh bundle to rent Afghanistan from the Taliban, train recruits, expand al Qaida's global network, and launch what eventually became the 9/11 attacks.
"Meanwhile," Rosett continued, "over in Iraq about that same time, Saddam Hussein, after a lean stretch under United Nations sanctions, had just cut his Oil-for-Food deal with the U.N., and soon began exploiting that program to embezzle billions meant for relief."
Rosett noted that just prior to Saddam's $300,000 payment to Al Zawahiri in 1998, bin Laden issued a fatwa against the U.S. that included references to "the Americans' continuing aggression against the Iraqi people" as well as "the great devastation inflicted on the Iraqi people by the crusader-Zionist alliance."
Evidence means nothing to a CommieRAT.
The only thing important to them is the destruction of America.
And weren't we all accused of being stupid because some folks believed there was a connection between Iraq and 9/11?
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Well...maybe we were not really smart to figure it out, maybe we were just prophetic.
*wink wink*
Ping for important developing news
How does Hayes know this? Unnamed sources mean no sources.
This explains a lot doesn't it? Like, the UNs obvious attempt to thwart Bush's re-election, and Annan's desperate attempts to block Volker's access to some of the records he needs in order to gain a thorough insight into the Oil for Food scandal. No wonder they were scared to death of the possibility of a 2nd Bush administration and a solid Republican majority in the House and Senate. Annan knew durn good and well exactly where that money was going and what it was going to be used for. And then the Demcorats get so hot under the collar when their "patriotism" is questioned? Give me a break.
Every time some dem whines, "There is no connection between Iraq/Saddam and OBL/terrorism," he's not attacking Bush's rationale for freeing Iraq, he's protecting Willie. That is why it is so important to match lieberry donations, Willie's pardons, Oil-forFood "beneficiaries", oil voucher recipients and, just for the heck of it, Rose Law firm clients to highlight all the connections!
Dan Rather didn't say it, so I don't believe it (A little "twilght zone" music, maestro)
Perhaps people will begin to realize that the UN has been completely corrupted, is full of Islamic dictators who wish to use the UN's idea of one world government, a new world religion currently disguised as the "earth Charter" which has been sealed in the new "ark" and Gaia (mother earth is God) as a springboard to establish the new islamic world wide Caliphate. The attack on Christ world wide is sponsored by the UN, and just who gives such wonderful support towards the destruction of Christianity here in the USA? Lefties! Totalitarian rule is after all, the one thing Islam and the left have in common.
THAT IS GOOD :}}}} THANK YOU
It almost comes down to this: The established fattened bureacracy that makes money while people die (like the billionare arafat) and their little sucklings in the media elite and academic uppity snobs all are pissed off that there is a new sheriff in town that is putting an end to their charade party.
I think President Bush knows a heck of a lot more than he is able to say. He knows these people are a mess and where they are heading. But, dammit, he is a man of God and he is going to raise all the ships in the harbor whether they like it or not.
It would be interesting to see what would have happened in our history if God had not blessed us with strong leaders when we needed them most. Perhaps, "interesting" is a poor choice of word.
I believe in President Bush for his courage to stand up against this establisment; this vulgar orgy of "leaders" pleasuring themselves in the worlds riches while the common man dies. And, yeah, it takes Faith to stand up to it.
I thought so from the beginning. You'd have to be an apologist for terrorism to not think so.
No amount of proof will ever sway the leftists from their anti everything Bush position.
Let's just pray hard for W's saftey, and that he does continue to be guided by his faith.
An Iraqi national attended at least one pre planning 9/11 meeting with AQ.
Saddam knew 9/11 was coming and where we were going to be hit.
Even the Clinton Justice Department was able to obtain an indictment against OBL which cited the terrorist's ties to Iraq.
A federal judge has granted two 9/11 families a multi-million dollar judgement - against Iraq.
During the 90's, the mainstream press wrote about the world's alarm at the growing relationship between Saddam and Osama bin Laden. Old Media thinks we can't look these things up.
Hundreds of articles and links in this thread.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1224050/posts
Thanks- I'm cautiously optomistic- it looks like the tipping point has been reached in the MSM, and they are starting to compete with each other for stories. Once that happens, their prejudice in favor of the UN will vanish. I hope.
That's why they make things disappear into the achieve black hole. But someone somewhere has it cached.
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