Posted on 09/19/2006 10:34:28 AM PDT by excludethis
SHEILA MACVICAR: (voice-over) Saddam Hussein has a long history of harboring terrorists. Carlos the Jackal, Abu Nidal, Abu Abbas, the most notorious terrorists of their era, all found shelter and support at one time in Baghdad. Intelligence sources say bin Laden's long relationship with the Iraqis began as he helped Sudan's fundamentalist government in their efforts to acquire weapons of mass destruction.
Three weeks after the bombing, on August 31, bin Laden reaches out to his friends in Iraq and Sudan. Iraq's vice president arrives in Khartoum to show his support for the Sudanese after the U.S. attack. ABC News has learned that during these meetings, senior Sudanese officials acting on behalf of bin Laden ask if Saddam Hussein would grant him asylum.
(on camera) Iraq was, indeed, interested. ABC News has learned that in December, an Iraqi intelligence chief, named Farouk Hijazi, how Iraq's ambassador to Turkey, made a secret trip to Afghanistan to meet with bin Laden. Three intelligence agencies tell ABC News they cannot be certain what was discussed, but almost certainly, they say, bin Laden has been told he would be welcome in Baghdad.
(voice-over) And intelligence sources say they can only speculate on the purpose of an alliance. What could bin Laden offer Saddam Hussein? Only days after he meets Iraqi officials, bin Laden tells ABC News that his network is wide, and there are people prepared to commit terror in his name who he does not even control.
I thought I was in an alternate universe for the few seconds until I saw that this was from 1999!
Freeper Keeper!
Clinton Indictment Cited Iraq-bin Laden Link
Though Democrats and most reporters insist there's no operational link between al-Qaida and Iraq, the Clinton Justice Department specifically cited such an alliance when it indicted the 9/11 mastermind six years ago, Weekly Standard reporter Stephen Hayes said Sunday.
"The Clinton administration, in a sealed indictment of Osama bin Laden in the spring of 1998, included very prominently, in the fourth paragraph, a discussion of this agreement," Hayes told WABC Radio's Monica Crowley.
"They called it an understanding between Iraq and al-Qaida, whereby al-Qaida agreed not to agitate against the Iraqi regime," Hayes said. "In exchange the Iraqi regime agreed to supply assistance on weapons development."
Since the outbreak of the Iraq war, numerous Clinton administration officials have argued there was no link between Iraq and al-Qaida.
But in his book "The Connection," Hayes details the portion of the Clinton administration's bin Laden indictment that contradicts those claims, then notes:
"The fact remains that six senior Clinton administration national security officials are on the record defending [the Aug. 20, 1998 strike against Sudan], citing an Iraqi connection."
Its like this stuff doesnt even exist anymore that they even reported it.
They didn't. It's all a figment of your imagination. Just ask Madaline Not-too-bright and Comrade Clintoon and his trainer Hitlery.
Senate: "ABC-TV is a pack of liars."
What was the REAL purpose of the 1993 WTC bombing? Isn't it obvious that only Saddam Hussein had a real motive to directly attack the U.S. in 1993? And that he gave safe haven to those involved in the plot who got away? Why would he have done this?
What is the REAL reason why America has not been attacked since 9/11? Is it because Saddam Hussein is deposed and behind bars?
Do we really need to fear Osama anymore, and did we ever really need to fear him? Is there a reason why the Bush administration doesn't seem to really care about catching or killing him anymore? Do they know something we don't? Was he just Saddam's puppet all along?
Inquiring minds want to know!!
big self-ping. nice find and love how you pointed out their hypocrisy.
As Sudan TV, Aug 31, reported, Iraqi Vice President, Taha Yasin Ramadan toured the bombed factory and said, "The important thing is that we . . . know, and our people know, the intention of the American administration, which is spurred on by Zionists and serves Zionist aims, and what it is seeking by hitting specified areas and specific regions . . . It is up to us to make our people understand, and make them aware, and prepare for other similar situations so that we can choose the best means to confront this great injustice being directed by the United States at the world today."
National Public Radio
ANALYSIS: THOUGH AFGHANISTAN HAS PROVIDED OSAMA BIN LADEN WITH SANCTUARY, IT IS UNCLEAR WHERE HE IS NOW
February 18, 1999 from MORNING EDITION
BOB EDWARDS, host: It appears that Osama bin Laden has abandoned his base in southern Afghanistan. Bin Laden is the Saudi millionaire the US holds responsible for bombing US embassies in Africa last summer. The attacks left hundreds dead. The US indicted bin Laden in connection with the bombings and is offering a $5 million reward for his capture. Afghanistan has provided him with sanctuary, but it's not clear where he is now. NPR's Mike Shuster reports.
MIKE SHUSTER reporting:
After the American missile attack last August on Osama bin Laden's base in Afghanistan, the US put intense diplomatic pressure on Afghanistan to expel him. Washington warned the Taliban militia in control of most of Afghanistan that it could expect further missile attacks if bin Laden did not leave the country. The most recent warning came two weeks ago, when assistant Secretary of State Karl Inderfurth met with a Taliban leader in Pakistan. The pressure may have worked. This week, the Taliban first announced they were restricting bin Laden's communications and contacts with the outside world. Then two days ago, word came from the Taliban that bin Laden was gone. Yesterday, Inderfurth called in a New York-based Taliban representative to ask where bin Laden is, according to State Department spokesman James Foley.
Mr. JAMES FOLEY (State Department Spokesman): His whereabouts have been shrouded in some mystery and confusion over the last days and we're looking to see if the Taliban can shed some light on his whereabouts. We do not have information that he's not in Afghanistan.
SHUSTER: Speculation about his whereabouts is plentiful. One Arabic-language newspaper reported that bin Laden had simply changed his base within Afghanistan. A report on the Internet put bin Laden in Chechnya, in the Russian Caucusus. Authorities there say it's not true. There have also been reports in recent months that bin Laden might have been considering moving his operations to Iraq. Intelligence agencies in several nations are looking into that. According to Vincent Cannistraro, a former chief of CIA counterterrorism operations, a senior Iraqi intelligence official, Farouk Hijazi(ph), sought out bin Laden in December and invited him to come to Iraq.
Mr. VINCENT CANNISTRARO (Former Chief of CIA Counterterrorism Operations): Farouk Hijazi, who was the Iraqi ambassador in Turkey, went to Afghanistan in December with the knowledge of the Taliban and met with Osama bin Laden. It's known through a variety of intelligence reports that the US has, but it's also known through sources in Afghanistan, members of Osama's entourage let it be known that the meeting had taken place.
SHUSTER: Iraq's contacts with bin Laden go back some years, to at least 1994, when, according to one US government source, Hijazi met him when bin Laden lived in Sudan. According to Cannistraro, Iraq invited bin Laden to live in Baghdad to be nearer to potential targets of terrorist attack in Saudi Arabia and Kuwait. There is a wide gap between bin Laden's fundamentalism and Saddam Hussein's secular dictatorship. But some experts believe bin Laden might be tempted to live in Iraq because of his reported desire to obtain chemical or biological weapons. CIA director George Tenet referred to that in recent testimony before the Senate Armed Services Committee when he said bin Laden was planning additional attacks on American targets.
Mr. GEORGE TENET (Director, CIA): One of my greatest concerns, Mr. Chairman, is the serious prospect that bin Laden or another terrorist might use chemical or biological weapons. Bin Laden's organization is just one of a dozen terrorist groups that have expressed an interest in or have sought chemical, biological, radiological or nuclear agents. Bin Laden, for example, has called on the acquisition of these weapons as, quote, "a religious duty" and noted that, quote, "How we use them is up to us."
SHUSTER: Pressure on Afghanistan to oust bin Laden has also come from Saudi Arabia, which is one of the world's few governments to have supported the Taliban militia. Last year, the Saudis withdrew their financial support and closed a Taliban office in Riyadh. The Saudis were displeased with the Taliban support for bin Laden, who seeks the overthrow of the Saudi royal regime and the expulsion of American troops from Saudi Arabia.
Vincent Cannistraro says late last year, there was also an attempt to kill bin Laden in Afghanistan. He was poisoned.
Mr. CANNISTRARO: American intelligence sources continue to say that he's gravely ill but without specifying the nature of the injury. But it is clear that he's a lot weaker and a lot more feeble than he used to be.
SHUSTER: Given all this, it just might be possible that the Taliban have made the decision to expel bin Laden out of fear of American attacks and in the hope they might gain international recognition for their government in Afghanistan if they do. Mike Shuster, NPR News, New York.
EDWARDS: The time is 19 minutes past the hour.
Great find! I need to send these to my Mother-in-Law who spouts the left's talking points and the PBS specials about the 9/11 Commission and their "findings" (apparently found in Sandy Berger's pants, because they match nothing of the historical account). I try to tell her that before President Bush, it was a general consensus that Saddam and Osama were likely in cahoots. She doesn't "remember" that at all and goes on to say, "Well the PBS show said..."
I love her, I do, but sometimes I want to slap her upside her head.
If this was reported by ABC in 1999, why do I find this all over the net?
"Senate report finds no Hussein-Al Qaeda ties" (dated 9/8/2006)
Google search "Iraq Al Qaeda link" and you will get news story after news story like this.
Is the Senate on crack?
Yes they are, Forward this link to everyone you know so they wil realize this as well!!!
I'm telling you, Fox as a news organization is pretty bad. ABC has way more invested and more boots on the ground, and all they have to do is offer a product that conservatives can buy.
Fox came along and simply offered SOMETHING/ANYTHING to conservatives and they are number one.
Keep it up!!!!!
Long live the Resistance!!!!
Well, much to my suprise, ABC New Message board on Iraq took my post off again!
This time it happened in 3 minutes. The first time it took 4 hours.
I am going to give it a 3rd shot.
As John McClain said in DieHard:
"Just a fly in the ointment Hans..."
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