| Topic: |
Religions > Atheism |
| User: |
"Fester" |
| Date: |
25 Jun 2004 05:46:21 PM |
| Object: |
OT: All the news that's fit to print |
Well the NYT can hardly be said to live up to their motto anymore. But
this *is* news. No, not the fact that Iraq and Al Qaeda worked together.
We all knew that. The news is that the NYT actually printed a story saying
so!
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/06/25/politics/25TERR.html?ex=1088740800&en=ffec5d72643beac1&ei=5062&partner=GOOGLE
THE INTELLIGENCE
Iraqis, Seeking Foes of Saudis, Contacted bin Laden, File Says
By THOM SHANKER
Published: June 25, 2004
ASHINGTON, June 24 - Contacts between Iraqi intelligence agents and Osama
bin Laden when he was in Sudan in the mid-1990's were part of a broad effort
by Baghdad to work with organizations opposing the Saudi ruling family,
according to a newly disclosed document obtained by the Americans in Iraq.
American officials described the document as an internal report by the Iraqi
intelligence service detailing efforts to seek cooperation with several
Saudi opposition groups, including Mr. bin Laden's organization, before Al
Qaeda had become a full-fledged terrorist organization. He was based in
Sudan from 1992 to 1996, when that country forced him to leave and he took
refuge in Afghanistan.
The document states that Iraq agreed to rebroadcast anti-Saudi propaganda,
and that a request from Mr. bin Laden to begin joint operations against
foreign forces in Saudi Arabia went unanswered. There is no further
indication of collaboration.
Last week, the independent commission investigating the Sept. 11 attacks
addressed the known contacts between Iraq and Al Qaeda, which have been
cited by the White House as evidence of a close relationship between the
two.
The commission concluded that the contacts had not demonstrated "a
collaborative relationship" between Iraq and Al Qaeda. The Bush
administration responded that there was considerable evidence of ties.
The new document, which appears to have circulated only since April, was
provided to The New York Times several weeks ago, before the commission's
report was released. Since obtaining the document, The Times has interviewed
several military, intelligence and United States government officials in
Washington and Baghdad to determine that the government considered it
authentic.
The Americans confirmed that they had obtained the document from the Iraqi
National Congress, as part of a trove that the group gathered after the fall
of Saddam Hussein's government last year. The Defense Intelligence Agency
paid the Iraqi National Congress for documents and other information until
recently, when the group and its leader, Ahmad Chalabi, fell out of favor in
Washington.
Some of the intelligence provided by the group is now wholly discredited,
although officials have called some of the documents it helped to obtain
useful.
A translation of the new Iraqi document was reviewed by a Pentagon working
group in the spring, officials said. It included senior analysts from the
military's Joint Staff, the Defense Intelligence Agency and a joint
intelligence task force that specialized in counterterrorism issues, they
said.
The task force concluded that the document "appeared authentic," and that it
"corroborates and expands on previous reporting" about contacts between
Iraqi intelligence and Mr. bin Laden in Sudan, according to the task force's
analysis.
It is not known whether some on the task force held dissenting opinions
about the document's veracity.
At the time of the contacts described in the Iraqi document, Mr. bin Laden
was little known beyond the world of national security experts. It is now
thought that his associates bombed a hotel in Yemen used by American troops
bound for Somalia in 1992. Intelligence officials also believe he played a
role in training Somali fighters who battled Army Rangers and Special
Operations forces in Mogadishu during the "Black Hawk Down" battle of 1993.
Iraq during that period was struggling with its defeat by American-led
forces in the Persian Gulf war of 1991, when American troops used Saudi
Arabia as the base for expelling Iraqi invaders from Kuwait.
The document details a time before any of the spectacular anti-American
terrorist strikes attributed to Al Qaeda: the two American Embassy bombings
in East Africa in 1998, the strike on the destroyer Cole in Yemeni waters in
2000, and the Sept. 11 attacks.
The document, which asserts that Mr. bin Laden "was approached by our side,"
states that Mr. bin Laden previously "had some reservations about being
labeled an Iraqi operative," but was now willing to meet in Sudan, and that
"presidential approval" was granted to the Iraqi security service to
proceed.
At the meeting, Mr. bin Laden requested that sermons of an anti-Saudi cleric
be rebroadcast in Iraq. That request, the document states, was approved by
Baghdad.
.
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| User: "Fred Stone" |
|
| Title: Re: OT: All the news that's fit to print |
26 Jun 2004 07:31:13 AM |
|
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"Fester" <not@home.com> wrote in
news:1X1Dc.65781$wH4.3866734@twister.southeast.rr.com:
Well the NYT can hardly be said to live up to their motto anymore.
But this *is* news. No, not the fact that Iraq and Al Qaeda worked
together. We all knew that. The news is that the NYT actually printed
a story saying so!
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/06/25/politics/25TERR.html?ex=1088740800
&en
=ffec5d72643beac1&ei=5062&partner=GOOGLE
THE INTELLIGENCE
Iraqis, Seeking Foes of Saudis, Contacted bin Laden, File Says
By THOM SHANKER
Published: June 25, 2004
ASHINGTON, June 24 - Contacts between Iraqi intelligence agents and
Osama bin Laden when he was in Sudan in the mid-1990's were part of a
broad effort by Baghdad to work with organizations opposing the Saudi
ruling family, according to a newly disclosed document obtained by the
Americans in Iraq. American officials described the document as an
internal report by the Iraqi intelligence service detailing efforts to
seek cooperation with several Saudi opposition groups, including Mr.
bin Laden's organization, before Al Qaeda had become a full-fledged
terrorist organization. He was based in Sudan from 1992 to 1996, when
that country forced him to leave and he took refuge in Afghanistan.
The document states that Iraq agreed to rebroadcast anti-Saudi
propaganda, and that a request from Mr. bin Laden to begin joint
operations against foreign forces in Saudi Arabia went unanswered.
There is no further indication of collaboration.
Even at this late date the NYT is being disingenuous. The "unanswered"
only refers to *in this one document* as does the "no further indication
of collaboration".
Last week, the independent commission investigating the Sept. 11
attacks addressed the known contacts between Iraq and Al Qaeda, which
have been cited by the White House as evidence of a close relationship
between the two.
<snip for length>
At the meeting, Mr. bin Laden requested that sermons of an anti-Saudi
cleric be rebroadcast in Iraq. That request, the document states, was
approved by Baghdad.
And THAT should put to rest the whole idea that Iraq and al Queda
couldn't cooperate because of ideological differences.
--
Fred Stone
aa# 1369
Cthulhu for President! Why vote for a lesser evil?
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