Replies

* Sudan : Under Turabi's leadership, Sudan offered residency to any Arab or Muslim. This policy allowed bin Laden to take up residence in Khartoum, along with Imad Mughniyah, the man believed to be responsible for the 1983 suicide bombing in Beirut that killed 241 U.S. Marines, and Ilich Ramirez Sanchez, the Venezuelan drug lord known as "Carlos the Jackal," who converted to Islam and pledged allegiance to bin Laden. ------------http://www.sudantribune.com/article.php3?id_article=9398

Who is Turabi?

* Hassan al-Turabi aka Hassan al Tourabi: Sudanese strongmana, leader of the al Qaeda-affiliated National Islamic Front.*
* The first meeting in 1992 between the Iraqi Intelligence Service (IIS) and al Qaeda was brokered by [Sudanese strongman Hassan] al-Turabi. Former IIS deputy director Faruq Hijazi and senior al Qaeda leader [Ayman al] Zawahiri were at the meeting--the first of several between 1992 and 1995 in Sudan. - Source : May 2003 debriefing of a senior Iraqi intelligence officer - "Case Closed: The U.S. government's secret memo detailing cooperation between Saddam Hussein and Osama bin Laden," by Stephen F. Hayes, Weekly Standard , November 24, 2003 issue, Volume 009, Issue 11

1989 : (SUDAN : THE NATIONAL ISLAMIC FRONT aka NIF, LED BY HASSAN TURABI [aka AL TURABI , AL TOURABI], SEIZES POWER IN A COUP) Khartoum was an important center of Islamic political activity. Sudan's National Islamic Front, led by the fiery, Sorbonne-educated Hassan Turabi, seized power in a 1989 coup. ----- "Kerry’s new Snr Advisor for National Security rejected Sudan's 1998 offer to share info on al-Qaeda," Benador Associates ^ | June 30, 2002

1990 - mid March 2003 : (IRAQ AL QAEDA/AL QAEDA IRAQ CONTACTS BEGIN; BIN LADEN SENDS EMISSARIES TO JORDAN TO MEET WITH IRAQI GOVERNMENT OFFICIALS) According to the memo--which lays out the intelligence in 50 numbered points--Iraq-al Qaeda contacts began in 1990 and continued through mid-March 2003, days before the Iraq War began. Most of the numbered passages contain straight, fact-based intelligence reporting, which some cases includes an evaluation of the credibility of the source. This reporting is often followed by commentary and analysis. ..
The relationship began shortly before the first Gulf War. According to reporting in the memo, bin Laden sent "emissaries to Jordan in 1990 to meet with Iraqi government officials."
The primary go-between throughout these early stages was Sudanese strongman Hassan al-Turabi, a leader of the al Qaeda-affiliated National Islamic Front. Numerous sources have confirmed this. One defector reported that "al-Turabi was instrumental in arranging the Iraqi-al Qaeda relationship. The defector said Iraq sought al Qaeda influence through its connections with Afghanistan, to facilitate the transshipment of proscribed weapons and equipment to Iraq. In return, Iraq provided al Qaeda with training and instructors."
One such confirmation came in a postwar interview with one of Saddam Hussein's henchmen. As the memo details:

4. According to a May 2003 debriefing of a senior Iraqi intelligence officer, Iraqi intelligence established a highly secretive relationship with Egyptian Islamic Jihad, and later with al Qaeda. The first meeting in 1992 between the Iraqi Intelligence Service (IIS) and al Qaeda was brokered by [* leader of Sudan's al Qaeda affiliated National Islamic Front, Hassan] al-Turabi. Former IIS deputy director Faruq Hijazi and senior al Qaeda leader [Ayman al] Zawahiri were at the meeting--the first of several between 1992 and 1995 in Sudan. Additional meetings between Iraqi intelligence and al Qaeda were held in Pakistan. Members of al Qaeda would sometimes visit Baghdad where they would meet the Iraqi intelligence chief [Mani abd-al-Rashid al-Tikriti] in a safe house. The report claimed that [Iraqi leader] Saddam [Hussein] insisted the relationship with al Qaeda be kept secret. After 9-11, the source said Saddam made a personnel change in the IIS for fear the relationship would come under scrutiny from foreign probes.
------- "The U.S. government's secret memo detailing cooperation between Saddam Hussein and Osama bin Laden. ," by Stephen F. Hayes, 11/24/2003, the Weekly Standard, Volume 009, Issue 11

1993 fall : (IRAQIS LIVING AND OPERATING IN SUDAN BY THIS TIME) With the UN inspections continuing, Baghdad committed itself to bolstering the regime in Khartoum -- a key storage site for Iraq's strategic systems. By the Fall of 1993, a large number of Iraqis moved into the area of the Red Sea mountain range -- in Madabay in Khawr Ashraf, Port Sudan, in the region of Dalawat on the Red Sea near Hala'ib, and the city of Tawker in region of Karnakanat. The Iraqis brought into these installations high-tech equipment and computers, missiles, defense systems, anti-aircraft systems and radar systems.By late 1993, the regions surrounding these installations were experiencing strict security measures and 24-hour armed patrols roam around it. In some areas, such as in the Port Sudan area, shepherds and nomads were completely removed from security zones with a 60 km circumference. - Yossef Bodansky, "The Iraqi WMD Challenge - Myths and Reality," TASK FORCE ON TERRORISM & UNCONVENTIONAL WARFARE, U.S. House of Representatives, Washington, D.C. 20515 , February 10, 1998

1995 fall : (CIA REPORTS THAT IRANIAN OPERATIVES IN SUDAN WERE CONSPIRING TO ATTACK US OFFICIALS) A few months later [after the attept to assassinate Egyptian leader Hosni Mubarak], the CIA reported indications that Iranian operatives in Sudan were conspiring to attack U.S. officials, although nothing came of that threat. ------ "Decision to Strike Factory in Sudan Based Partly on Surmise," By TIM WEINER and JAMES RISEN, N Y TIMES, September 21, 1998
[* My note: James Risen was the reporter to whom CIA official Mary O. McCarthy was leaking in 2005/6]

OCTOBER 1995 : (IRANIAN & IRAQI ENGINEERS REPORTED IN SUDAN UPGRADING AIRFIELD FOR MISSILE STORAGE) In October 1995, Iranian and Iraqi engineers, including some missile experts, were said to be upgrading an old airfield in East Sudan for the arrival and storage of additional strategic weapons from Iraq. - "WMD AROUND THE WORLD : SUDAN," http://www.fas.org/nuke/guide/sudan/missile/ , March 23, 2000
***
In October 1995, Iranian and Iraqi engineers, including some missile experts, were upgrading an old airfield in East Sudan for the arrival and storage of additional strategic weapons from Iraq. The majority of the Iraqi SCUD-type missiles were stored in a well protected and well concealed site within the Port Sudan military compound in late 1997/early 1998. - Yossef Bodansky, "The Iraqi WMD Challenge - Myths and Reality," TASK FORCE ON TERRORISM & UNCONVENTIONAL WARFARE, U.S. House of Representatives, Washington, D.C. 20515 , February 10, 1998

1995 late : (SUDAN USE OF MUSTARD GAS AGAINST SPLA) Soon after production started in Wau, the Sudanese Armed Forces used Mustard Gas canisters against the Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA) on at least two occasions in late 1995: The first was at Nimule and the second was at Kuya -- both sites are near Juba, Sudan's southern capital then was defended by tens of thousand of government troops against a tightening siege by the SPLA forces. Since late 1995, there have been several reports alleging the use of chemical weapons in southern Sudan, and with varying degrees of independent corroboration and specificity of technical details. - Yossef Bodansky, "The Iraqi WMD Challenge - Myths and Reality," TASK FORCE ON TERRORISM & UNCONVENTIONAL WARFARE, U.S. House of Representatives, Washington, D.C. 20515 , February 10, 1998

NOVEMBER 1997 mid : (SUDAN THREATENS CHEMICAL WEAPONS STRIKES AGAINST UGANDA FOR UGANDA'S SUPPORT OF CHRISTIAN "REBELS") Khartoum's self-confidence in its growing chemical warfare capabilities came to light in mid November 1997. Sudan formally threatened Uganda with strikes with chemical weapons if it continued to support the Christian Black rebels. This warning came despite Kampala's previous denials of cooperation with the sudanese rebels and Khartoum's adamant denials of CW capabilities or use. - Yossef Bodansky, "The Iraqi WMD Challenge - Myths and Reality," TASK FORCE ON TERRORISM & UNCONVENTIONAL WARFARE, U.S. House of Representatives, Washington, D.C. 20515 , February 10, 1998

FEBRUARY 26, 2001 : (SUDAN : HASSAN AL-TOURABI IMPRISONED---See IRAQ AL QAEDA/AL QAEDA IRAQ) 26 February: Detained Sudanese leader, Hassan al-Tourabi, is being held in solitary confinement in a rat-infested prison cell with no access to newspapers or writing material, his wife said in recent remarks published today. «He will not answer ant of their (interrogators’) questions...he asked me for papers and pens», she said. Al-Tourabi’s Popular National Congress has reiterated its commitment to the Memorandum of Understanding it signed last week with the SPLA. - Sudan. Al-Tourabi in prison — (CNN, 27 February 2001)