Here are a couple more items of interest:
IPR Strategic Business Information DatabaseHijazi was quickly withdrawn as the Iraqi ambassador to Turkey and is presently in Tunisia.
October 22, 2001 INC SAYS IRAQI AMBASSADOR LINKED TO WTC ATTACK TACTIC. :An official at the Iraqi National Congress (INC) in Washington said the tactic for the attacks on the WTC and the Pentagon was hatched by Faruq Hijazi, currently Iraq's ambassador to Turkey and a former brigadier general in the General Intelligence Directorate, and its current Brigadier General Habib Ma'muri, according to an article in the "Jerusalem Post" of 14 October. Ma'muri was in charge of special operations from 1982-1990, and at the same time Hijazi lectured on espionage, assassination, and hijacking following the Gulf War. The INC official said that "the plan of controlling a civilian airplane with full fuel tanks, using teams of five and items that can be easily carried aboard a plane, such as knives, and then using the plane as a guided missile was hatched by Ma'muri and Hijazi at Salman Pak some time before 1995." The "Jerusalem Post" adds that "Newsweek" magazine says that Hijazi met suspected hijacker Muhammad Atta in Prague last April. Hijazi last gained wide press attention when he visited with Osama bin Laden in Afghanistan in 1998. (David Nissman)
Here's another little item:
A high-ranking defector who served for 16 years in an Iraqi intelligence agency said on 2 November that the Baghdad regime has controlled and funded Osama bin Laden's Al-Qaeda network since 1998. He was briefing members of the Iraq National Congress (INC) in London, according to Melbourne's "The Sunday Herald Sun" on 4 November. He claimed that the funding for Al-Qaeda came from illegal oil exports channeled through Dubai in the Persian Gulf. An INC activist said "he has first-hand information about the link between Saddam and bin Laden because he also worked as a money-launderer and sanctions- buster for the Iraqi leader." The defector's name was withheld for the sake of his personal security, but London-based sources say he has been living "in one of the Scandinavian countries." An INC activist continued to say "this is the third time a reliable Iraqi informant has come forward with disclosures about how Iraq has been in control of Al-Qaeda for the last three years." AFP reported on 3 November that "La Reppublica" of Italy had also reported on the defector's testimony before the INC. Here, the former officer is identified as "A.S." Among his claims is that Iraq had sent a ton of anthrax to bin Laden. He also said that members of bin Laden's terror network have been trained in Salman Pak in Iraq. (David Nissman)
dripping information here, boss. don't be surprised to see these two items included in Dubya's speech justifying the attack. (maybe he'll save OKC & HAH as his hole card?)