Iraq: Former PM Reveals Secret Service Data on Birth of Al-Qaeda in Iraq (Great News)

AKI ^

[jmc1969]

Baghdad, 23 May - The number two of the al-Qaeda network, Ayman al-Zawahiri, visited Iraq under a false name in September 1999 to take part in the ninth Popular Islamic Congress, former Iraqi premier Iyad Allawi has revealed to pan-Arab daily al-Hayat. In an interview, Allawi made public information discovered by the Iraqi secret service in the archives of the Saddam Hussein regime, which sheds light on the relationship between Saddam Hussein and the Islamic terrorist network. He also said that both al-Zawahiri and Jordanian militant al-Zarqawi probably entered Iraq in the same period.

"Al-Zawahiri was summoned by Izza Ibrahim Al-Douri – then deputy head of the council of the leadership of the revolution - to take part in the congress, along with some 150 other Islamic figures from 50 Muslim countries," Allawi said.

According to Allawi, important information has been gathered regarding the presence of another key terrorist figure operating in Iraq - the Jordanian militant Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.

Allawi's remarks come after statements to al-Hayat by King Abdallah II of Jordan over Saddam's refusal to hand over al-Zarqawi to the authorities in Amman.

On this question Allawi said: ''The words of the Jordanian King are correct and important. We have proof of al-Zawahiri's visit to Iraq, but we do not have the precise date or information on al-Zarqawi's entry

In Allawi's view, Saddam's government "sponsored" the birth of al-Qaeda in Iraq, coordinating with other terrorist groups, both Arab and Muslim. "The Iraqi secret services had links to these groups through a person called Faruq Hajizi, later named Iraq's ambassador to Turkey and arrested after the fall of Saddam's regime as he tried to re-enter Iraq. Iraqi secret agents helped terrorists enter the country and directed them to the Ansar al-Islam camps in the Halbija area," he said.

[piasa]

APRIL 1993 : (ASSASSINATION ATTEMPT ON FORMER PRESIDENT BUSH MAY HAVE BEEN ORGANIZED BY IRAQI FAROUK HIJAZI) [Iraqi ambassador/ Mukhabarat Intelligence service director of internal affairs Farouk Hijazi] Hijazi... was the man the Washington believes organized the April 1993 assassination attempt on President Bush's father during a visit to Kuwait. - "COWED SYRIA YIELDS SADDAM'S SPY BOSS," by NILES LATHEM, New York Post, 4/26/03

[piasa]

DECEMBER 21, 1998 : (IRAQI FAROUK HIJAZI & BIN LADEN TARGET LIST MADE) "Terrorist cells belonging to the network organized by Osama bin Laden...are ready go into action in the countries of the Persian Gulf and Europe...The list of targets is ready. It was agreed in Kandahar 21 December by Osama himself and Farouk Hijazi... The new recruits, together with the veterans of the wars in Afghanistan and Bosnia, form the secret army that is expected to use its weapons against all those who oppose the rais of Baghdad. In order to make them even more dangerous, traditional training has been supplemented with training in the use of chemical weapons, toxins and viruses."  [Corriere della Sera, February 1, 1999 (Italia)] see http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/743697/posts?page=51#51

APRIL 2001 : (PRAGUE, CZECHOSLAVAKIA : FUTURE 9/11 HIJACKER ATTA REPORTEDLY MET WITH IRAQI DIPLOMAT/MUKHABARAT OPERATIVE FAROUK HIJAZI) Newsweek magazine also reported Hijazi met with Mohammed Atta - the suspected organizer of the Sept. 11 terror attacks who died on one of the hijacked planes - in Prague in April 2001. But other sources have cast doubt on that report. - "COWED SYRIA YIELDS SADDAM'S SPY BOSS," by NILES LATHEM, New York Post, 4/26/03

SEPTEMBER 2001 : (IRAQI AMBASSADOR TO TURKEY, FAROUK HIJAZI, DISAPPEARS FROM HIS EMBASSY ) Mr Hijazi also disappeared from his embassy last month after the first reports of his meetings with al-Qaeda ...- "Hijacker 'given anthrax flask by Iraqi agent'," by DANIEL MCGRORY, The London Times, SATURDAY OCTOBER 27 2001, Additional reporting by Roger Boyes in Berlin; Richard Owen in Rome and Andrew Finkel in Istanbul

OCTOBER 2001 late : (IRAQI AMBASSADOR TO TURKEY, FAROUK HIJAZI, IS BELIEVED TO HAVE RETURNED TO TURKEY, BUT THERE ARE NO AIRPORT RECORDS OF HIS RETURN AND THE IRAQI EMBASSY CLAIMS HE IS "RESTING") Mr Hijazi also disappeared from his embassy last month after the first reports of his meetings with al-Qaeda, and he is believed to have slipped back into Ankara [Turkey] earlier this week. The Foreign Ministry in Turkey says it has not been told that the Ambassador had returned, although the Iraqi Embassy says that he is “resting”. What puzzles Turkish officials is that there are no airport records of his return. - "Hijacker 'given anthrax flask by Iraqi agent'," by DANIEL MCGRORY, The London Times, SATURDAY OCTOBER 27 2001, Additional reporting by Roger Boyes in Berlin; Richard Owen in Rome and Andrew Finkel in Istanbul

2003 : (IRAQI MUKHABARET OFFICER/FORMER AMBASSADOR TO TURKEY & TUNISIA FAROUK HIJAZI FLEES TO SYRIA AFTER THE FALL OF BAGHDAD TO US/UK LED COALITION FORCES) The United States had evidence that Hijazi was among the regime figures who had fled to Syria in the aftermath of the fall of Baghdad, and his continued presence in that country was high on the list of complaints the Bush administration had made against the Syrian government for its backstage role in helping Saddam.
Hijazi, who most recently served as Iraq's ambassador to Tunisia, was the man the Washington believes organized the April 1993 assassination attempt on President Bush's father during a visit to Kuwait. - "COWED SYRIA YIELDS SADDAM'S SPY BOSS," by NILES LATHEM, New York Post, 4/26/03

[Excuse_My_Bellicosity]

al-Qaeda was never in Iraq, CNN said so.

[MeekOneGOP]

Former PM Reveals Secret Service Data
on Birth of Al-Qaeda in Iraq (Great News)

Excerpt:

Baghdad, 23 May - The number two of the al-Qaeda network, Ayman al-Zawahiri, visited Iraq under a false name in September 1999 to take part in the ninth Popular Islamic Congress, former Iraqi premier Iyad Allawi has revealed to pan-Arab daily al-Hayat. In an interview, Allawi made public information discovered by the Iraqi secret service in the archives of the Saddam Hussein regime, which sheds light on the relationship between Saddam Hussein and the Islamic terrorist network. He also said that both al-Zawahiri and Jordanian militant al-Zarqawi probably entered Iraq in the same period.

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

[EBH]

Ping!

You might find this interesting...

[AFPhys]

Yes, it does all fit together. AlQ worked with Saddumb, and gotanthrax from there, and who knows what else.

It is a good thing President Bush didn't allow this relationship to mature any further.
`

[Coop]

Good work on tracking this across all the sources. Bookmarking for future troll visits. :-) Thanks

[Preachin']

They'll bring Dan Rather out of "retirement" to tell this story. Uh..... /sarcasm

[bvw]

Please post this at the Pentagon Gym. Thanks.

[OldFriend]

Dr. Dean knows better!

[Alia]

I think, too, this might just be the last straw on other articles which corroborates Saddam's complicity in the AQ network -- which too date have been ignored and shot down under this or that "socialist" ruse. May those other articles arise via the newer, free press! (And thanks for the ping, BTW).

[FreedomPoster]

>>Yes, we should email news agencies with this and with what Jordan's king said about Zarqawi.

Let's cross post that story, here.

Jordan king: Iraq refused to deport Zarqawi
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1406445/posts

[FreedomPoster]

The real question here, is How credible is Allawi?

[pissant]

I tell ya Suzi, if Allawi had even passed gas that remotely sounded as if Al Quaeda was NOT in Iraq prior to the war, it would have been size 30 font blaring headlines in every paper across this country today.

I DESPISE THE TRAITOROUS MSM

[pissant]

I won't.

[Alamo-Girl]

Thanks for the ping!

[robomurph]

"COWED SYRIA YIELDS SADDAM'S SPY BOSS," by NILES LATHEM, New York Post, 4/26/03 Free Republic thread

The original NY Post article is archived and I am having trouble finding it.

[pieces of time]

How can this be? My senators, Mikulski and Sarbanes have assured me that there were NO terrorists in Iraq prior to our invasion. Does this mean that I can't trust what the Dems are saying? They got the word straight from that noble and honest enterprise the UN. Didn't the wisdom emanating from 9/11 Commission tell us the same?(sarcasm ON)
Thanks for the ping!

[Fishtalk]

I've been beating that drum for 3 years.

You need to keep beating the drum, Peach, for no matter what is found and revealed, the liberals keep spouting about no weapons of mass destruction, no relation to Al queda, not a threat.

When we all know that Saddam, with the help of almost the entire world, was a menace to America plain and simple.

This revelation will mean nothing to the liars.