| Topic: |
Politics > Politics-USA |
| User: |
"Ken [NY" |
| Date: |
30 Aug 2004 04:00:11 PM |
| Object: |
Hayes: Clinton Administration Knew About Iraq/al Qaeda Ties |
Hayes: Clinton Administration Knew About Iraq/al Qaeda Ties
Written by Jean Shaw
Wednesday, December 24, 2003
In yet another Weekly Standard article documenting the links
between Iraq and al-Qaeda, Stephen F. Hayes turns his attention to the
Clinton administration and finds a wealth of information.
ARE AL QAEDA'S links to Saddam Hussein's Iraq just a fantasy
of the Bush administration? Hardly. The Clinton administration also
warned the American public about those ties and defended its response
to al Qaeda terror by citing an Iraqi connection.
For nearly two years, starting in 1996, the CIA monitored the
al Shifa pharmaceutical plant in Khartoum, Sudan. The plant was known
to have deep connections to Sudan's Military Industrial Corporation,
and the CIA had gathered intelligence on the budding relationship
between Iraqi chemical weapons experts and the plant's top officials.
The intelligence included information that several top chemical
weapons specialists from Iraq had attended ceremonies to celebrate the
plant's opening in 1996. And, more compelling, the National Security
Agency had intercepted telephone calls between Iraqi scientists and
the plant's general manager.
Iraq also admitted to having a $199,000 contract with al
Shifa for goods under the oil-for-food program. Those goods were
never delivered. While it's hard to know what significance, if any,
to ascribe to this information, it fits a pattern described in recent
CIA reporting on the overlap in the mid-1990s between al
Qaeda-financed groups and firms that violated U.N. sanctions on behalf
of Iraq.
The clincher, however, came later in the spring of 1998, when
the CIA secretly gathered a soil sample from 60 feet outside of the
plant's main gate. The sample showed high levels of
O-ethylmethylphosphonothioic acid, known as EMPTA, which is a key
ingredient for the deadly nerve agent VX. A senior intelligence
official who briefed reporters at the time was asked which countries
make VX using EMPTA. ''Iraq is the only country we're aware of,'' the
official said. ''There are a variety of ways of making VX, a variety
of recipes, and EMPTA is fairly unique.''
That briefing came on August 24, 1998, four days after the
Clinton administration launched cruise-missile strikes against al
Qaeda targets in Afghanistan and Sudan (Osama bin Laden's headquarters
from 1992-96), including the al Shifa plant. The missile strikes came
13 days after bombings at U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania killed
257 people--including 12 Americans--and injured nearly 5,000. Clinton
administration officials said that the attacks were in part
retaliatory and in part preemptive. U.S. intelligence agencies had
picked up ''chatter'' among bin Laden's deputies indicating that more
attacks against American interests were imminent.
The al Shifa plant in Sudan was largely destroyed after being
hit by six Tomahawk missiles. John McWethy, national security
correspondent for ABC News, reported the story on August 25, 1998:
Before the pharmaceutical plant was reduced to rubble by
American cruise missiles, the CIA was secretly gathering evidence that
ended up putting the facility on America's target list. Intelligence
sources say their agents clandestinely gathered soil samples outside
the plant and found, quote, ''strong evidence'' of a chemical compound
called EMPTA, a compound that has only one known purpose, to make VX
nerve gas.
Then, the connection:
The U.S. had been suspicious for months, partly because
of Osama bin Laden's financial ties, but also because of strong
connections to Iraq. Sources say the U.S. had intercepted phone calls
from the plant to a man in Iraq who runs that country's chemical
weapons program.
The senior intelligence officials who briefed reporters laid
out the collaboration. ''We knew there were fuzzy ties between [bin
Laden] and the plant but strong ties between him and Sudan and strong
ties between the plant and Sudan and strong ties between the plant and
Iraq.'' Although this official was careful not to oversell bin
Laden's ties to the plant, other Clinton officials told reporters that
the plant's general manager lived in a villa owned by bin Laden.
Several Clinton administration national security officials
told THE WEEKLY STANDARD last week that they stand by the
intelligence. ''The bottom line for me is that the targeting was
justified and appropriate,'' said Daniel Benjamin, director of
counterterrorism on Clinton's National Security Council, in an emailed
response to questions. ''I would be surprised if any president--with
the evidence of al Qaeda's intentions evident in Nairobi and Dar es
Salaam and the intelligence on [chemical weapons] that was at hand
from Sudan--would have made a different decision about bombing the
plant.''
The current president certainly agrees. ''I think you give
the commander in chief the benefit of the doubt,'' said George W.
Bush, governor of Texas, on August 20, 1998, the same day as the U.S.
counterstrikes. ''This is a foreign policy matter. I'm confident
he's working on the best intelligence available, and I hope it's
successful.''
Wouldn't the bombing of a plant with well-documented
connections to Iraq's chemical weapons program, undertaken in an
effort to strike back at Osama bin Laden's terrorist network, seem to
suggest the Clinton administration national security officials
believed Iraq was working with al Qaeda?
Good day. Or as John Kerry would say, bonjour.
Ken (NY)
If you can read this, thank a teacher...
and since it's in English, thank a soldier."
email:
http://www.geocities.com/bluesguy68/email.htm
spammers can send mail to
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| User: "David Galehouse" |
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| Title: Re: Hayes: Clinton Administration Knew About Iraq/al Qaeda Ties |
30 Aug 2004 06:37:27 PM |
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"Ken [NY)" <email@isBelow.Text> wrote in message
news:ee47j0lk88re7kvgcn0ck5m23j4kluutb7@4ax.com...
Hayes: Clinton Administration Knew About Iraq/al Qaeda Ties
Written by Jean Shaw
Wednesday, December 24, 2003
In yet another Weekly Standard article documenting the links
between Iraq and al-Qaeda, Stephen F. Hayes turns his attention to the
Clinton administration and finds a wealth of information.
For the real story behind the lies:
http://www.salon.com/opinion/conason/2003/11/17/leaks/
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| User: "~BUSH AWOL~" |
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| Title: Re: Hayes: Clinton Administration Knew About Iraq/al Qaeda Ties |
30 Aug 2004 07:33:38 PM |
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"Ken [NY)" <email@isBelow.Text> wrote in message
news:ee47j0lk88re7kvgcn0ck5m23j4kluutb7@4ax.com...
Hayes: Clinton Administration Knew About Iraq/al Qaeda Ties
Written by Jean Shaw
Wednesday, December 24, 2003
'Parrot' report ALERT from the Third Reich in New York.
http://snipurl.com/8r6q
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| User: "Calife" |
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| Title: Re: Hayes: Clinton Administration Knew About Iraq/al Qaeda Ties |
30 Aug 2004 05:33:52 PM |
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Ken [NY) wrote:
In yet another Weekly Standard article ...
The good thing about Ken (NY)'s posts, is that you only need to read the
first few words/phrases before you know enough and can move on to
something else!!!
Carry on, Kenny boy!!! ;-)
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| User: "David Galehouse" |
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| Title: Re: Hayes: Clinton Administration Knew About Iraq/al Qaeda Ties |
30 Aug 2004 06:38:17 PM |
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"Calife" <iznogood1@Iraqmail.com> wrote in message
news:4133aaf1$0$6267$afc38c87@news.easynet.fr...
Ken [NY) wrote:
In yet another Weekly Standard article ...
The good thing about Ken (NY)'s posts, is that you only need to read the
first few words/phrases before you know enough and can move on to
something else!!!
Carry on, Kenny boy!!! ;-)
Yep. And it's usually not necessary to read beyond the "Ken[".
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