Posted on 03/11/2002 3:13:17 PM PST by truthandlife
BRITAIN and America have compiled an intelligence-based dossier alleging that Saddam Hussein has developed increasingly close links with the al-Qa'eda terrorist group, it was disclosed yesterday.
The move marked part of an accelerating campaign on both sides of the Atlantic to prepare public opinion for a campaign to overthrow the Iraqi dictator.
The two governments will claim that Saddam has given shelter to hundreds of al-Qa'eda and Taliban fighters in northern Iraq and helped others to find refuge in Lebanon.
Firm evidence linking Saddam to Osama bin Laden's network has proved elusive since the September 11 suicide attacks. Britain has indicated that it would be willing to join an American-led campaign to topple Saddam if a September 11 link is established.
The dossier will also point to Saddam's increasing involvement in the turmoil in the Middle East, where Iraqi military intelligence officers are said to be assisting extreme Palestinian groups in terrorist attacks on Israel.
The document could be used to overcome public scepticism in Europe and the Middle East about the need for war with Saddam. It is not yet clear when the information might be released.
America has continued its military build-up in the region by moving 24 Apache attack helicopters to Kuwait.
The deployment is the latest signal that Washington feels that it may need to defend Middle Eastern allies from a pre-emptive Iraqi strike.
A plan to overthrow Saddam has not yet been agreed, but President Bush is reported to have decided that the Iraqi leader must be removed.
The New Yorker magazine suggested that he had set a deadline to planning staff of April 15, about a week after Tony Blair meets him in Texas.
In the meantime, in addition to continuing the military build-up, some senior British and American diplomats will begin a campaign to link Iraq with al-Qa'eda.
The development will dismay several Cabinet ministers, who warned Mr Blair on Thursday that America could drag Britain into a new Gulf war and urged the Prime Minister to quieten talk of military action and press for a diplomatic solution through the United Nations.
It also appears to conflict with statements by Jack Straw, the Foreign Secretary, who has consistently argued that there was no link between Saddam and al-Qa'eda before the September 11 attacks, although he did maintain this week that the Iraqi regime was rebuilding its nuclear, chemical and biological weapons programme.
The dossier against Saddam is being compiled from US spy satellites and intelligence sources, including Israeli material. These claim that large numbers of al-Qa'eda and Taliban fighters were seen in northern Iraq after fleeing Afghanistan.
It contains some surprising allegations, including the suggestion that Saddam's former arch-rival, Iran, is now helping him to re-arm.
Saddam is also said to have connived with Iran, another state described by President Bush as a member of the "axis of evil", to allow al-Qa'eda fighters to use Iraqi airspace to fly from Iran to Lebanon after the fall of the Taliban regime in Afghanistan.
As preparations continue for an attack on Iraq, Washington has been unable to discover Saddam's whereabouts.
It is suspected that, fearing a US assassination attempt at the start of the campaign, he is hiding in one of four underground bunkers built to withstand nuclear attack.
No extension for you, Saddam.
Good now there should be no excuse for England not to support US led attacks on Iraq.
Wow......I'm only a member of one of the Dumbass Agencies and we came up with the same thing a long time ago.
I'm glad the new ones are intelligent.
That is certainly what we want him to believe.
If we know where he is, we can (and should) kill him in a surprise strike. :)
The people of Iraq justifiably hate the man. If he died and his top commanders were hiding from bombs, the people of Iraq might do the rest of the job for us.
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