| Topic: |
Science > Prophecies-Of-Nostradamus |
| User: |
"Marvin The Paranoid Android" |
| Date: |
04 Oct 2004 06:12:09 PM |
| Object: |
Rumsfeld: No 'Hard Evidence' of Iraq-Al Qaeda Link |
Here's one for Jean ... time to cash-in Rummie eh Jean?? The terrorist *****
licking anti-semite traitor doesn't even realize that Al Qaeda was operating
in Iraq and was in cahoots wtih Saddam and that the WMD's are in Syria or
buried in the Iraqi desert .... this guys as rotten as Dr. Kay!!!
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=politicsNews&storyID=6409869
Rumsfeld: No 'Hard Evidence' of Iraq-Al Qaeda Link
Mon Oct 4, 2004 06:06 PM ET
By Will Dunham
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said on Monday he
knew of no "strong, hard evidence" linking Saddam Hussein's Iraq and al
Qaeda, despite describing extensive contacts between the two before the Iraq
invasion.
Rumsfeld, during a question-and-answer session before the Council on Foreign
Relations in New York, was asked to explain the connection between Saddam
and Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda network, blamed for the Sept. 11, 2001,
attacks on America.
"I have seen the answer to that question migrate in the intelligence
community over a period of a year in the most amazing way. Second, there are
differences in the intelligence community as to what the relationship was,"
Rumsfeld said.
"To my knowledge, I have not seen any strong, hard evidence that links the
two," Rumsfeld added.
"I just read an intelligence report recently about one person who's
connected to al Qaeda who was in and out of Iraq. And it is the most
tortured description of why he might have had a relationship and why he
might not have had a relationship. It may have been something that was not
representative of a hard linkage."
U.S.-led forces invaded Iraq in March 2003 and toppled Saddam and his
government in a war whose main justification offered by the United States
was the threat posed by Iraq's weapons of mass destruction. No such weapons
have been discovered.
But the relationship between Saddam's government and al Qaeda also figured
in the U.S. case for war.
A small Pentagon intelligence-analysis office found what it considered
evidence of Iraq-al Qaeda ties. Rumsfeld was one of the Bush administration
officials publicly describing this link. On Sept. 26, 2002, Rumsfeld told
reporters at the Pentagon of evidence of contacts and cooperation.
'CREDIBLE INFORMATION'
"We have what we consider to be very reliable reporting of senior level
contacts going back a decade, and of possible chemical and biological agent
training. And when I say contacts, I mean between Iraq and al Qaeda,"
Rumsfeld said at the time.
"We have what we believe to be credible information that Iraq and al Qaeda
have discussed safe-haven opportunities in Iraq, reciprocal nonaggression
discussions. We have what we consider to be credible evidence that al Qaeda
leaders have sought contacts in Iraq who could help them acquire ... weapons
of mass destruction capabilities," Rumsfeld added at the time.
The bipartisan 9/11 commission that studied the 2001 attacks concluded this
July there was no evidence of a "collaborative operational relationship"
between Iraq and al Qaeda or an Iraqi role in attacking the United States.
During a question-and-answer session at the Council on Foreign Relations on
Monday, Rumsfeld also was asked what was the "number-one reason for the
war."
Rumsfeld said President Bush made the judgment that Saddam "ran a vicious
regime that had used weapons of mass destruction on its own people, as well
as its neighbors, and that it was important to set that right by removing
that regime before they, in fact, did gather weapons of mass destruction,
either themselves or transferring them to terrorist networks."
Before the war, U.S. officials spoke of Iraq already possessing weapons of
mass destruction, not a potential for gathering them.
"It turns out that we have not found weapons of mass destruction," Rumsfeld
said.
"And why the intelligence proved wrong, I'm not in a position to say. I
simply don't know. But the world is a lot better off with Saddam Hussein in
jail than they were with him in power," Rumsfeld added.
(Additional reporting by Carolyn Koo)
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| User: "Jean Guernon" |
|
| Title: Rummy hadn't seen that... Re: Rumsfeld: No 'Hard Evidence' of Iraq-AlQaeda Link |
05 Oct 2004 10:53:17 AM |
|
|
Marvin The Paranoid Android a écrit:
Here's one for Jean ... time to cash-in Rummie eh Jean?? The terrorist *****
licking anti-semite traitor doesn't even realize that Al Qaeda was operating
in Iraq and was in cahoots wtih Saddam and that the WMD's are in Syria or
buried in the Iraqi desert .... this guys as rotten as Dr. Kay!!!
Bah Rummy only says he hasn't seen it.
Look at what he hasn't seen:
http://www.cnsnews.com//ViewSpecialReports.asp?Page=\SpecialReports\archive\200410\SPE20041004a.html
Exclusive: Saddam Possessed WMD, Had Extensive Terror Ties
By Scott Wheeler
CNSNews.com Staff Writer
October 04, 2004
(CNSNews.com) - Iraqi intelligence documents, confiscated by U.S. forces
and obtained by CNSNews.com, show numerous efforts by Saddam Hussein's
regime to work with some of the world's most notorious terror
organizations, including al Qaeda, to target Americans. They demonstrate
that Saddam's government possessed mustard gas and anthrax, both
considered weapons of mass destruction, in the summer of 2000, during
the period in which United Nations weapons inspectors were not present
in Iraq. And the papers show that Iraq trained dozens of terrorists
inside its borders.
One of the Iraqi memos contains an order from Saddam for his
intelligence service to support terrorist attacks against Americans in
Somalia. The memo was written nine months before U.S. Army Rangers were
ambushed in Mogadishu by forces loyal to a warlord with alleged ties to
al Qaeda.
Other memos provide a list of terrorist groups with whom Iraq had
relationships and considered available for terror operations against the
United States.
Among the organizations mentioned are those affiliated with Abu Musab
al-Zarqawi and Ayman al-Zawahiri, two of the world's most wanted
terrorists. Zarqawi is believed responsible for the kidnapping and
beheading of several American civilians in Iraq and claimed
responsibility for a series of deadly bombings in Iraq Sept. 30.
Al-Zawahiri is the top lieutenant of al Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden,
allegedly helped plan the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist strikes on the U.S.,
and is believed to be the voice on an audio tape broadcast by Al-Jazeera
television Oct. 1, calling for attacks on U.S. and British interests
everywhere.
The source of the documents
A senior government official who is not a political appointee provided
CNSNews.com with copies of the 42 pages of Iraqi Intelligence Service
documents. The originals, some of which were hand-written and others
typed, are in Arabic. CNSNews.com had the papers translated into English
by two individuals separately and independent of each other.
There are no hand-writing samples to which the documents can be compared
for forensic analysis and authentication. However, three other experts -
a former weapons inspector with the United Nations Special Commission
(UNSCOM), a retired CIA counter-terrorism official with vast experience
dealing with Iraq, and a former advisor to then-presidential candidate
Bill Clinton on Iraq - were asked to analyze the documents. All said
they comport with the format, style and content of other Iraqi documents
from that era known to be genuine.
Laurie Mylroie, who authored the book, "Study of Revenge: Saddam
Hussein's Unfinished War against America," and advised Clinton on Iraq
during the 1992 presidential campaign, told CNSNews.com that the papers
represent "the most complete set of documents relating Iraq to
terrorism, including Islamic terrorism" against the U.S.
Mylroie has long maintained that Iraq was a state sponsor of terrorism
against the United States. The documents obtained by CNSNews.com , she
said, include "correspondence back and forth between Saddam's office and
Iraqi Mukhabarat (intelligence agency). They make sense. This is what
one would think Saddam was doing at the time."
Bruce Tefft, a retired CIA official who specialized in counter-terrorism
and had extensive experience dealing with Iraq, said that "based on
available, unclassified and open source information, the details in
these documents are accurate ..."
The former UNSCOM inspector zeroed in on the signatures on the documents
and "the names of some of the people who sign off on these things.
"This is fairly typical of that time era. [The Iraqis] were meticulous
record keepers," added the former U.N. official, who spoke with
CNSNews.com on the condition of anonymity.
The senior government official, who furnished the documents to
CNSNews.com, said the papers answer "whether or not Iraq was a state
sponsor of Islamic terrorism against the United States. It also answers
whether or not Iraq had an ongoing biological warfare project continuing
through the period when the UNSCOM inspections ended."
Presidential campaign focused on Iraq
The presidential campaign is currently dominated by debate over whether
Saddam procured weapons of mass destruction and/or whether his
government sponsored terrorism aimed at Americans before the U.S.
invaded Iraq last year. Democratic nominee Sen. John Kerry has
repeatedly rejected that possibility and criticized President Bush for
needlessly invading Iraq.
"[Bush's] two main rationales - weapons of mass destruction and the al
Qaeda/September 11 (2001) connection - have been proved false ... by the
president's own weapons inspectors ... and by the 9/11 Commission,"
Kerry told an audience at New York University on Sept. 20.
The Senate Intelligence Committee's probe of the 9/11 intelligence
failures also could not produce any definitive links between Saddam's
government and 9/11. And United Nations as well as U.S. weapons
inspectors in Iraq have been unable to find the biological and chemical
weapons Saddam was suspected of possessing.
But the documents obtained by CNSNews.com shed new light on the controversy.
They detail the Iraqi regime's purchase of five kilograms of mustard gas
on Aug. 21, 2000 and three vials of malignant pustule, another term for
anthrax, on Sept. 6, 2000. The purchase order for the mustard gas
includes gas masks, filters and rubber gloves. The order for the anthrax
includes sterilization and decontamination equipment. (See Saddam's
Possession of Mustard Gas)
The documents show that Iraqi intelligence received the mustard gas and
anthrax from "Saddam's company," which Tefft said was probably a
reference to Saddam General Establishment, "a complex of factories
involved with, amongst other things, precision optics, missile, and
artillery fabrication."
"Sa'ad's general company" is listed on the Iraqi documents as the
supplier of the sterilization and decontamination equipment that
accompanied the anthrax vials. Tefft believes this is a reference to the
Salah Al-Din State Establishment, also involved in missile construction.
(See Saddam's Possession of Anthrax)
The Jaber Ibn Hayan General Company is listed as the supplier of the
safety equipment that accompanied the mustard gas order. Tefft described
the company as "a 'turn-key' project built by Romania, designed to
produce protective CW (conventional warfare) and BW (biological warfare)
equipment (gas masks and protective clothing)."
"Iraq had an ongoing biological warfare project continuing through the
period when the UNSCOM inspections ended," the senior government
official and source of the documents said. "This should cause us to
redouble our efforts to find the Iraqi weapons of mass destruction
programs."
'Hunt the Americans'
The first of the 42 pages of Iraqi documents is dated Jan. 18, 1993,
approximately two years after American troops defeated Saddam's army in
the first Persian Gulf War. The memo includes Saddam's directive that
"the party should move to hunt the Americans who are on Arabian land,
especially in Somalia, by using Arabian elements ..."
On Oct. 3, 1993, less than nine months after that Iraqi memo was
written, American soldiers were ambushed in Mogadishu, Somalia by forces
loyal to Somali warlord Mohammed Farah Aidid, an alleged associate of
Osama bin Laden. Eighteen Americans were killed and 84 wounded during a
17-hour firefight that followed the ambush in which Aidid's followers
used civilians as decoys. (See Saddam's Connections to al Qaeda)
An 11-page Iraqi memo, dated Jan. 25, 1993, lists Palestinian, Sudanese
and Asian terrorist organizations and the relationships Iraq had with
each of them. Of particular importance, Tefft said, are the
relationships Iraq had already developed or was in the process of
developing with groups and individuals affiliated with al Qaeda, such as
Abu Musab al-Zarqawi and Ayman al-Zawahiri. The U.S. currently is
offering rewards of up to $25 million for each man's capture.
The documents describe Al-Jehad wa'l Tajdeed as "a secret Palestinian
organization" founded after the first Persian Gulf War that "believes in
armed struggle against U.S. and western interests." The leaders of the
group, according to the Iraqi memo, were stationed in Jordan in 1993,
and when one of those leaders visited Iraq in November 1992, he "showed
the readiness of his organization to execute operations against U.S.
interests at any time." (See More Saddam Connections to al Qaeda)
Tefft believes the Tajdeed group likely included al-Zarqawi, whom Teft
described as "our current terrorist nemesis" in Iraq, "a Palestinian on
a Jordanian passport who was with al Qaeda and bin Laden in Afghanistan
prior to this period (1993)."
Tajdeed, which means Islamic Renewal, currently "has a website that
posts Zarqawi's speeches, messages, claims of assassinations and
beheading videos," Tefft told CNSNews.com. "The apparent linkages are
too close to be accidental" and might "be one of the first operational
contacts between an al Qaeda group and Iraq," he added.
Tefft said the documents, all of which the Iraqi Intelligence Service
labeled "Top secret, personal and urgent" show several links between
Saddam's government and terror groups dedicated not only to targeting
America but also U.S. allies like Egypt and Israel.
The same 11-page memo refers to the "re-opening of the relationship"
with Al-Jehad al-Islamy, which is described as "the most violent in
Egypt," responsible for the 1981 assassination of Egyptian President
Anwar Sadat. The documents go on to describe a Dec. 14, 1990 meeting
between Iraqi intelligence officials and a representative of Al-Jehad
al-Islamy, that ended in an agreement "to move against [the] Egyptian
regime by doing martyr operations on conditions that we should secure
the finance, training and equipments." (See More Saddam Connections to
al Qaeda)
Al-Zawahiri was one of the leaders of Jehad al-Islamy, which is also
known as the Egyptian Islamic Group, and participated in the
assassination of Sadat, Tefft said. "Iraq's contact with the Egyptian
Islamic Group is another operational contact between Iraq and al Qaeda,"
he added.
One of the Asian groups listed on the Iraqi intelligence memo is J.U.I.,
also known as the Islamic Clerks Society. The group is currently led by
Mawlana Fadhel al-Rahman, whom Tefft said is "an al Qaeda member and
co-signed Osama bin Laden's 1998 fatwa (religious ruling) to kill
Americans." The Iraqi memo from 1993 states that J.U.I.'s secretary
general "has a good relationship with our system since 1981 and he is
ready for any mission." Tefft said the memo shows "another direct Iraq
link to an al Qaeda group."
Iraq had also maintained a relationship with the Afghani Islamist party
since 1989, according to the memo. The "relationship was improved and
became directly between the leader, Hekmatyar and Iraq," it states,
referring to Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, an Afghani warlord who fought against
the Soviet Union and current al Qaeda ally, according to Tefft.
Last year, American authorities in Afghanistan ranked Hekmatyar third on
their most wanted list, behind only bin Laden and former Taliban leader
Mullah Omar. Hekmatyar represents "another Iraqi link to an al Qaeda
group," Tefft said. (See More Saddam Connections to al Qaeda)
The Iraqi intelligence documents also refer to terrorist groups
previously believed to have had links with Saddam Hussein. They include
the Palestine Liberation Front, a group dedicated to attacking Israel,
and according to the Iraqi memo, one with "an office in Baghdad."
The Abu Nidal group, suspected by the CIA of having acted as surrogates
for Iraqi terrorist attacks, is also mentioned.
"The movement believes in political violence and assassinations," the
1993 Iraqi memo states in reference to the Abu Nidal organization. "We
have relationships with them since 1973. Currently, they have a
representative in the country. Monthly helps are given to them -- 20
thousand dinars - in addition to other supports," the memo explains.
(See Saddam's Connections to Palestinian Terror Groups)
Iraq not only built and maintained relationships with terrorist groups,
the documents show it appears to have trained terrorists as well.
Ninety-two individuals from various Middle Eastern countries are listed
on the papers.
Many are described as having "finished the course at M14," a reference
to an Iraqi intelligence agency, and to having "participated in Umm
El-Ma'arek," the Iraqi response to the U.S. invasion in 1991. The author
of the list notes that approximately half of the individuals "all got
trained inside the 'martyr act camp' that belonged to our directorate."
The former UNSCOM weapons inspector who was asked to analyze the
documents believes it's clear that the Iraqis "were training people
there in assassination and suicide bombing techniques ... including
non-Iraqis."
Bush administration likely unaware of documents' existence
The senior government official and source of the Iraqi intelligence
memos, explained that the reason the documents have not been made public
before now is that the government has "thousands and thousands of
documents waiting to be translated.
"It is unlikely they even know this exists," the source added.
The government official also explained that the motivation for leaking
the documents, "is strictly national security and helping with the war
on terrorism by focusing this country's attention on facts and away from
political posturing.
"This is too important to let it get caught up in the political
process," the source told CNSNews.com.
To protect against the Iraqi intelligence documents being altered or
misrepresented elsewhere on the Internet, CNSNews.com has decided to
publish
http://www.cnsnews.com//ViewNation.asp?Page=\Nation\archive\200410\NAT20041004b.html
only the first of the 42 pages
http://www.cnsnews.com/specialreports/2004/iraq.asp in Arabic, along
with the English translation. Portions of some of the other memos in
translated form are also being published to accompany this report.
Credentialed journalists and counter-terrorism experts seeking to view
the 42 pages of Arabic documents or to challenge their authenticity may
make arrangements to do so at CNSNews.com headquarters in Alexandria, Va.
.
|
|
|
| User: "tw" |
|
| Title: Re: Rummy hadn't seen that... Re: Rumsfeld: No 'Hard Evidence' of Iraq-Al Qaeda Link |
06 Oct 2004 03:28:38 AM |
|
|
"Jean Guernon" <jguernon@globetrotter.net> wrote in message
news:Nrz8d.24445$223.23119@edtnps89...
Marvin The Paranoid Android a écrit:
Here's one for Jean ... time to cash-in Rummie eh Jean?? The terrorist
*****
licking anti-semite traitor doesn't even realize that Al Qaeda was
operating
in Iraq and was in cahoots wtih Saddam and that the WMD's are in Syria
or
buried in the Iraqi desert .... this guys as rotten as Dr. Kay!!!
Bah Rummy only says he hasn't seen it.
BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA you're such a fucking fool. So some CNS scribbler has
access to more secret documents than Rumsfeld, eh?
Look at what he hasn't seen:
http://www.cnsnews.com//ViewSpecialReports.asp?Page=\SpecialReports\archive\
200410\SPE20041004a.html
Exclusive: Saddam Possessed WMD, Had Extensive Terror Ties
By Scott Wheeler
CNSNews.com Staff Writer
October 04, 2004
(CNSNews.com) - Iraqi intelligence documents, confiscated by U.S. forces
and obtained by CNSNews.com, show numerous efforts by Saddam Hussein's
regime to work with some of the world's most notorious terror
organizations, including al Qaeda, to target Americans. They demonstrate
that Saddam's government possessed mustard gas and anthrax, both
considered weapons of mass destruction, in the summer of 2000, during
the period in which United Nations weapons inspectors were not present
in Iraq. And the papers show that Iraq trained dozens of terrorists
inside its borders.
One of the Iraqi memos contains an order from Saddam for his
intelligence service to support terrorist attacks against Americans in
Somalia. The memo was written nine months before U.S. Army Rangers were
ambushed in Mogadishu by forces loyal to a warlord with alleged ties to
al Qaeda.
Other memos provide a list of terrorist groups with whom Iraq had
relationships and considered available for terror operations against the
United States.
Among the organizations mentioned are those affiliated with Abu Musab
al-Zarqawi and Ayman al-Zawahiri, two of the world's most wanted
terrorists. Zarqawi is believed responsible for the kidnapping and
beheading of several American civilians in Iraq and claimed
responsibility for a series of deadly bombings in Iraq Sept. 30.
Al-Zawahiri is the top lieutenant of al Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden,
allegedly helped plan the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist strikes on the U.S.,
and is believed to be the voice on an audio tape broadcast by Al-Jazeera
television Oct. 1, calling for attacks on U.S. and British interests
everywhere.
The source of the documents
A senior government official who is not a political appointee provided
CNSNews.com with copies of the 42 pages of Iraqi Intelligence Service
documents. The originals, some of which were hand-written and others
typed, are in Arabic. CNSNews.com had the papers translated into English
by two individuals separately and independent of each other.
There are no hand-writing samples to which the documents can be compared
for forensic analysis and authentication. However, three other experts -
a former weapons inspector with the United Nations Special Commission
(UNSCOM), a retired CIA counter-terrorism official with vast experience
dealing with Iraq, and a former advisor to then-presidential candidate
Bill Clinton on Iraq - were asked to analyze the documents. All said
they comport with the format, style and content of other Iraqi documents
from that era known to be genuine.
Laurie Mylroie, who authored the book, "Study of Revenge: Saddam
Hussein's Unfinished War against America," and advised Clinton on Iraq
during the 1992 presidential campaign, told CNSNews.com that the papers
represent "the most complete set of documents relating Iraq to
terrorism, including Islamic terrorism" against the U.S.
Mylroie has long maintained that Iraq was a state sponsor of terrorism
against the United States. The documents obtained by CNSNews.com , she
said, include "correspondence back and forth between Saddam's office and
Iraqi Mukhabarat (intelligence agency). They make sense. This is what
one would think Saddam was doing at the time."
Bruce Tefft, a retired CIA official who specialized in counter-terrorism
and had extensive experience dealing with Iraq, said that "based on
available, unclassified and open source information, the details in
these documents are accurate ..."
The former UNSCOM inspector zeroed in on the signatures on the documents
and "the names of some of the people who sign off on these things.
"This is fairly typical of that time era. [The Iraqis] were meticulous
record keepers," added the former U.N. official, who spoke with
CNSNews.com on the condition of anonymity.
The senior government official, who furnished the documents to
CNSNews.com, said the papers answer "whether or not Iraq was a state
sponsor of Islamic terrorism against the United States. It also answers
whether or not Iraq had an ongoing biological warfare project continuing
through the period when the UNSCOM inspections ended."
Presidential campaign focused on Iraq
The presidential campaign is currently dominated by debate over whether
Saddam procured weapons of mass destruction and/or whether his
government sponsored terrorism aimed at Americans before the U.S.
invaded Iraq last year. Democratic nominee Sen. John Kerry has
repeatedly rejected that possibility and criticized President Bush for
needlessly invading Iraq.
"[Bush's] two main rationales - weapons of mass destruction and the al
Qaeda/September 11 (2001) connection - have been proved false ... by the
president's own weapons inspectors ... and by the 9/11 Commission,"
Kerry told an audience at New York University on Sept. 20.
The Senate Intelligence Committee's probe of the 9/11 intelligence
failures also could not produce any definitive links between Saddam's
government and 9/11. And United Nations as well as U.S. weapons
inspectors in Iraq have been unable to find the biological and chemical
weapons Saddam was suspected of possessing.
But the documents obtained by CNSNews.com shed new light on the
controversy.
They detail the Iraqi regime's purchase of five kilograms of mustard gas
on Aug. 21, 2000 and three vials of malignant pustule, another term for
anthrax, on Sept. 6, 2000. The purchase order for the mustard gas
includes gas masks, filters and rubber gloves. The order for the anthrax
includes sterilization and decontamination equipment. (See Saddam's
Possession of Mustard Gas)
The documents show that Iraqi intelligence received the mustard gas and
anthrax from "Saddam's company," which Tefft said was probably a
reference to Saddam General Establishment, "a complex of factories
involved with, amongst other things, precision optics, missile, and
artillery fabrication."
"Sa'ad's general company" is listed on the Iraqi documents as the
supplier of the sterilization and decontamination equipment that
accompanied the anthrax vials. Tefft believes this is a reference to the
Salah Al-Din State Establishment, also involved in missile construction.
(See Saddam's Possession of Anthrax)
The Jaber Ibn Hayan General Company is listed as the supplier of the
safety equipment that accompanied the mustard gas order. Tefft described
the company as "a 'turn-key' project built by Romania, designed to
produce protective CW (conventional warfare) and BW (biological warfare)
equipment (gas masks and protective clothing)."
"Iraq had an ongoing biological warfare project continuing through the
period when the UNSCOM inspections ended," the senior government
official and source of the documents said. "This should cause us to
redouble our efforts to find the Iraqi weapons of mass destruction
programs."
'Hunt the Americans'
The first of the 42 pages of Iraqi documents is dated Jan. 18, 1993,
approximately two years after American troops defeated Saddam's army in
the first Persian Gulf War. The memo includes Saddam's directive that
"the party should move to hunt the Americans who are on Arabian land,
especially in Somalia, by using Arabian elements ..."
On Oct. 3, 1993, less than nine months after that Iraqi memo was
written, American soldiers were ambushed in Mogadishu, Somalia by forces
loyal to Somali warlord Mohammed Farah Aidid, an alleged associate of
Osama bin Laden. Eighteen Americans were killed and 84 wounded during a
17-hour firefight that followed the ambush in which Aidid's followers
used civilians as decoys. (See Saddam's Connections to al Qaeda)
An 11-page Iraqi memo, dated Jan. 25, 1993, lists Palestinian, Sudanese
and Asian terrorist organizations and the relationships Iraq had with
each of them. Of particular importance, Tefft said, are the
relationships Iraq had already developed or was in the process of
developing with groups and individuals affiliated with al Qaeda, such as
Abu Musab al-Zarqawi and Ayman al-Zawahiri. The U.S. currently is
offering rewards of up to $25 million for each man's capture.
The documents describe Al-Jehad wa'l Tajdeed as "a secret Palestinian
organization" founded after the first Persian Gulf War that "believes in
armed struggle against U.S. and western interests." The leaders of the
group, according to the Iraqi memo, were stationed in Jordan in 1993,
and when one of those leaders visited Iraq in November 1992, he "showed
the readiness of his organization to execute operations against U.S.
interests at any time." (See More Saddam Connections to al Qaeda)
Tefft believes the Tajdeed group likely included al-Zarqawi, whom Teft
described as "our current terrorist nemesis" in Iraq, "a Palestinian on
a Jordanian passport who was with al Qaeda and bin Laden in Afghanistan
prior to this period (1993)."
Tajdeed, which means Islamic Renewal, currently "has a website that
posts Zarqawi's speeches, messages, claims of assassinations and
beheading videos," Tefft told CNSNews.com. "The apparent linkages are
too close to be accidental" and might "be one of the first operational
contacts between an al Qaeda group and Iraq," he added.
Tefft said the documents, all of which the Iraqi Intelligence Service
labeled "Top secret, personal and urgent" show several links between
Saddam's government and terror groups dedicated not only to targeting
America but also U.S. allies like Egypt and Israel.
The same 11-page memo refers to the "re-opening of the relationship"
with Al-Jehad al-Islamy, which is described as "the most violent in
Egypt," responsible for the 1981 assassination of Egyptian President
Anwar Sadat. The documents go on to describe a Dec. 14, 1990 meeting
between Iraqi intelligence officials and a representative of Al-Jehad
al-Islamy, that ended in an agreement "to move against [the] Egyptian
regime by doing martyr operations on conditions that we should secure
the finance, training and equipments." (See More Saddam Connections to
al Qaeda)
Al-Zawahiri was one of the leaders of Jehad al-Islamy, which is also
known as the Egyptian Islamic Group, and participated in the
assassination of Sadat, Tefft said. "Iraq's contact with the Egyptian
Islamic Group is another operational contact between Iraq and al Qaeda,"
he added.
One of the Asian groups listed on the Iraqi intelligence memo is J.U.I.,
also known as the Islamic Clerks Society. The group is currently led by
Mawlana Fadhel al-Rahman, whom Tefft said is "an al Qaeda member and
co-signed Osama bin Laden's 1998 fatwa (religious ruling) to kill
Americans." The Iraqi memo from 1993 states that J.U.I.'s secretary
general "has a good relationship with our system since 1981 and he is
ready for any mission." Tefft said the memo shows "another direct Iraq
link to an al Qaeda group."
Iraq had also maintained a relationship with the Afghani Islamist party
since 1989, according to the memo. The "relationship was improved and
became directly between the leader, Hekmatyar and Iraq," it states,
referring to Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, an Afghani warlord who fought against
the Soviet Union and current al Qaeda ally, according to Tefft.
Last year, American authorities in Afghanistan ranked Hekmatyar third on
their most wanted list, behind only bin Laden and former Taliban leader
Mullah Omar. Hekmatyar represents "another Iraqi link to an al Qaeda
group," Tefft said. (See More Saddam Connections to al Qaeda)
The Iraqi intelligence documents also refer to terrorist groups
previously believed to have had links with Saddam Hussein. They include
the Palestine Liberation Front, a group dedicated to attacking Israel,
and according to the Iraqi memo, one with "an office in Baghdad."
The Abu Nidal group, suspected by the CIA of having acted as surrogates
for Iraqi terrorist attacks, is also mentioned.
"The movement believes in political violence and assassinations," the
1993 Iraqi memo states in reference to the Abu Nidal organization. "We
have relationships with them since 1973. Currently, they have a
representative in the country. Monthly helps are given to them -- 20
thousand dinars - in addition to other supports," the memo explains.
(See Saddam's Connections to Palestinian Terror Groups)
Iraq not only built and maintained relationships with terrorist groups,
the documents show it appears to have trained terrorists as well.
Ninety-two individuals from various Middle Eastern countries are listed
on the papers.
Many are described as having "finished the course at M14," a reference
to an Iraqi intelligence agency, and to having "participated in Umm
El-Ma'arek," the Iraqi response to the U.S. invasion in 1991. The author
of the list notes that approximately half of the individuals "all got
trained inside the 'martyr act camp' that belonged to our directorate."
The former UNSCOM weapons inspector who was asked to analyze the
documents believes it's clear that the Iraqis "were training people
there in assassination and suicide bombing techniques ... including
non-Iraqis."
Bush administration likely unaware of documents' existence
The senior government official and source of the Iraqi intelligence
memos, explained that the reason the documents have not been made public
before now is that the government has "thousands and thousands of
documents waiting to be translated.
"It is unlikely they even know this exists," the source added.
The government official also explained that the motivation for leaking
the documents, "is strictly national security and helping with the war
on terrorism by focusing this country's attention on facts and away from
political posturing.
"This is too important to let it get caught up in the political
process," the source told CNSNews.com.
To protect against the Iraqi intelligence documents being altered or
misrepresented elsewhere on the Internet, CNSNews.com has decided to
publish
http://www.cnsnews.com//ViewNation.asp?Page=\Nation\archive\200410\NAT200410
04b.html
only the first of the 42 pages
http://www.cnsnews.com/specialreports/2004/iraq.asp in Arabic, along
with the English translation. Portions of some of the other memos in
translated form are also being published to accompany this report.
Credentialed journalists and counter-terrorism experts seeking to view
the 42 pages of Arabic documents or to challenge their authenticity may
make arrangements to do so at CNSNews.com headquarters in Alexandria, Va.
.
|
|
|
|
| User: "Marvin The Paranoid Android" |
|
| Title: Re: Rummy hadn't seen that... Re: Rumsfeld: No 'Hard Evidence' of Iraq-Al Qaeda Link |
05 Oct 2004 01:57:05 PM |
|
|
Here's a couple of other headlines from your 'source' ... :-D
Citizens Group Warns of Muslim 'Radicalization' in Boston
Conservative Group Forms 'George Soros Truth Squad'
Commentary: Foreign Election Monitors Driven by Leftist Political Agenda
Christian Zionists Face Dilemma in Supporting Israel
George Soros' Atheism Fuels Conservative Rage
And on it goes ...
At this point, Googling only gives your highly credible site as the only
source of this info.
Keep trying ... :-D
"Jean Guernon" <jguernon@globetrotter.net> wrote in message
news:Nrz8d.24445$223.23119@edtnps89...
Marvin The Paranoid Android a écrit:
Here's one for Jean ... time to cash-in Rummie eh Jean?? The terrorist
*****
licking anti-semite traitor doesn't even realize that Al Qaeda was
operating
in Iraq and was in cahoots wtih Saddam and that the WMD's are in Syria
or
buried in the Iraqi desert .... this guys as rotten as Dr. Kay!!!
Bah Rummy only says he hasn't seen it.
Look at what he hasn't seen:
http://www.cnsnews.com//ViewSpecialReports.asp?Page=\SpecialReports\archive\200410\SPE20041004a.html
Exclusive: Saddam Possessed WMD, Had Extensive Terror Ties
By Scott Wheeler
CNSNews.com Staff Writer
October 04, 2004
(CNSNews.com) - Iraqi intelligence documents, confiscated by U.S. forces
and obtained by CNSNews.com, show numerous efforts by Saddam Hussein's
regime to work with some of the world's most notorious terror
organizations, including al Qaeda, to target Americans. They demonstrate
that Saddam's government possessed mustard gas and anthrax, both
considered weapons of mass destruction, in the summer of 2000, during
the period in which United Nations weapons inspectors were not present
in Iraq. And the papers show that Iraq trained dozens of terrorists
inside its borders.
One of the Iraqi memos contains an order from Saddam for his
intelligence service to support terrorist attacks against Americans in
Somalia. The memo was written nine months before U.S. Army Rangers were
ambushed in Mogadishu by forces loyal to a warlord with alleged ties to
al Qaeda.
Other memos provide a list of terrorist groups with whom Iraq had
relationships and considered available for terror operations against the
United States.
Among the organizations mentioned are those affiliated with Abu Musab
al-Zarqawi and Ayman al-Zawahiri, two of the world's most wanted
terrorists. Zarqawi is believed responsible for the kidnapping and
beheading of several American civilians in Iraq and claimed
responsibility for a series of deadly bombings in Iraq Sept. 30.
Al-Zawahiri is the top lieutenant of al Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden,
allegedly helped plan the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist strikes on the U.S.,
and is believed to be the voice on an audio tape broadcast by Al-Jazeera
television Oct. 1, calling for attacks on U.S. and British interests
everywhere.
The source of the documents
A senior government official who is not a political appointee provided
CNSNews.com with copies of the 42 pages of Iraqi Intelligence Service
documents. The originals, some of which were hand-written and others
typed, are in Arabic. CNSNews.com had the papers translated into English
by two individuals separately and independent of each other.
There are no hand-writing samples to which the documents can be compared
for forensic analysis and authentication. However, three other experts -
a former weapons inspector with the United Nations Special Commission
(UNSCOM), a retired CIA counter-terrorism official with vast experience
dealing with Iraq, and a former advisor to then-presidential candidate
Bill Clinton on Iraq - were asked to analyze the documents. All said
they comport with the format, style and content of other Iraqi documents
from that era known to be genuine.
Laurie Mylroie, who authored the book, "Study of Revenge: Saddam
Hussein's Unfinished War against America," and advised Clinton on Iraq
during the 1992 presidential campaign, told CNSNews.com that the papers
represent "the most complete set of documents relating Iraq to
terrorism, including Islamic terrorism" against the U.S.
Mylroie has long maintained that Iraq was a state sponsor of terrorism
against the United States. The documents obtained by CNSNews.com , she
said, include "correspondence back and forth between Saddam's office and
Iraqi Mukhabarat (intelligence agency). They make sense. This is what
one would think Saddam was doing at the time."
Bruce Tefft, a retired CIA official who specialized in counter-terrorism
and had extensive experience dealing with Iraq, said that "based on
available, unclassified and open source information, the details in
these documents are accurate ..."
The former UNSCOM inspector zeroed in on the signatures on the documents
and "the names of some of the people who sign off on these things.
"This is fairly typical of that time era. [The Iraqis] were meticulous
record keepers," added the former U.N. official, who spoke with
CNSNews.com on the condition of anonymity.
The senior government official, who furnished the documents to
CNSNews.com, said the papers answer "whether or not Iraq was a state
sponsor of Islamic terrorism against the United States. It also answers
whether or not Iraq had an ongoing biological warfare project continuing
through the period when the UNSCOM inspections ended."
Presidential campaign focused on Iraq
The presidential campaign is currently dominated by debate over whether
Saddam procured weapons of mass destruction and/or whether his
government sponsored terrorism aimed at Americans before the U.S.
invaded Iraq last year. Democratic nominee Sen. John Kerry has
repeatedly rejected that possibility and criticized President Bush for
needlessly invading Iraq.
"[Bush's] two main rationales - weapons of mass destruction and the al
Qaeda/September 11 (2001) connection - have been proved false ... by the
president's own weapons inspectors ... and by the 9/11 Commission,"
Kerry told an audience at New York University on Sept. 20.
The Senate Intelligence Committee's probe of the 9/11 intelligence
failures also could not produce any definitive links between Saddam's
government and 9/11. And United Nations as well as U.S. weapons
inspectors in Iraq have been unable to find the biological and chemical
weapons Saddam was suspected of possessing.
But the documents obtained by CNSNews.com shed new light on the
controversy.
They detail the Iraqi regime's purchase of five kilograms of mustard gas
on Aug. 21, 2000 and three vials of malignant pustule, another term for
anthrax, on Sept. 6, 2000. The purchase order for the mustard gas
includes gas masks, filters and rubber gloves. The order for the anthrax
includes sterilization and decontamination equipment. (See Saddam's
Possession of Mustard Gas)
The documents show that Iraqi intelligence received the mustard gas and
anthrax from "Saddam's company," which Tefft said was probably a
reference to Saddam General Establishment, "a complex of factories
involved with, amongst other things, precision optics, missile, and
artillery fabrication."
"Sa'ad's general company" is listed on the Iraqi documents as the
supplier of the sterilization and decontamination equipment that
accompanied the anthrax vials. Tefft believes this is a reference to the
Salah Al-Din State Establishment, also involved in missile construction.
(See Saddam's Possession of Anthrax)
The Jaber Ibn Hayan General Company is listed as the supplier of the
safety equipment that accompanied the mustard gas order. Tefft described
the company as "a 'turn-key' project built by Romania, designed to
produce protective CW (conventional warfare) and BW (biological warfare)
equipment (gas masks and protective clothing)."
"Iraq had an ongoing biological warfare project continuing through the
period when the UNSCOM inspections ended," the senior government
official and source of the documents said. "This should cause us to
redouble our efforts to find the Iraqi weapons of mass destruction
programs."
'Hunt the Americans'
The first of the 42 pages of Iraqi documents is dated Jan. 18, 1993,
approximately two years after American troops defeated Saddam's army in
the first Persian Gulf War. The memo includes Saddam's directive that
"the party should move to hunt the Americans who are on Arabian land,
especially in Somalia, by using Arabian elements ..."
On Oct. 3, 1993, less than nine months after that Iraqi memo was
written, American soldiers were ambushed in Mogadishu, Somalia by forces
loyal to Somali warlord Mohammed Farah Aidid, an alleged associate of
Osama bin Laden. Eighteen Americans were killed and 84 wounded during a
17-hour firefight that followed the ambush in which Aidid's followers
used civilians as decoys. (See Saddam's Connections to al Qaeda)
An 11-page Iraqi memo, dated Jan. 25, 1993, lists Palestinian, Sudanese
and Asian terrorist organizations and the relationships Iraq had with
each of them. Of particular importance, Tefft said, are the
relationships Iraq had already developed or was in the process of
developing with groups and individuals affiliated with al Qaeda, such as
Abu Musab al-Zarqawi and Ayman al-Zawahiri. The U.S. currently is
offering rewards of up to $25 million for each man's capture.
The documents describe Al-Jehad wa'l Tajdeed as "a secret Palestinian
organization" founded after the first Persian Gulf War that "believes in
armed struggle against U.S. and western interests." The leaders of the
group, according to the Iraqi memo, were stationed in Jordan in 1993,
and when one of those leaders visited Iraq in November 1992, he "showed
the readiness of his organization to execute operations against U.S.
interests at any time." (See More Saddam Connections to al Qaeda)
Tefft believes the Tajdeed group likely included al-Zarqawi, whom Teft
described as "our current terrorist nemesis" in Iraq, "a Palestinian on
a Jordanian passport who was with al Qaeda and bin Laden in Afghanistan
prior to this period (1993)."
Tajdeed, which means Islamic Renewal, currently "has a website that
posts Zarqawi's speeches, messages, claims of assassinations and
beheading videos," Tefft told CNSNews.com. "The apparent linkages are
too close to be accidental" and might "be one of the first operational
contacts between an al Qaeda group and Iraq," he added.
Tefft said the documents, all of which the Iraqi Intelligence Service
labeled "Top secret, personal and urgent" show several links between
Saddam's government and terror groups dedicated not only to targeting
America but also U.S. allies like Egypt and Israel.
The same 11-page memo refers to the "re-opening of the relationship"
with Al-Jehad al-Islamy, which is described as "the most violent in
Egypt," responsible for the 1981 assassination of Egyptian President
Anwar Sadat. The documents go on to describe a Dec. 14, 1990 meeting
between Iraqi intelligence officials and a representative of Al-Jehad
al-Islamy, that ended in an agreement "to move against [the] Egyptian
regime by doing martyr operations on conditions that we should secure
the finance, training and equipments." (See More Saddam Connections to
al Qaeda)
Al-Zawahiri was one of the leaders of Jehad al-Islamy, which is also
known as the Egyptian Islamic Group, and participated in the
assassination of Sadat, Tefft said. "Iraq's contact with the Egyptian
Islamic Group is another operational contact between Iraq and al Qaeda,"
he added.
One of the Asian groups listed on the Iraqi intelligence memo is J.U.I.,
also known as the Islamic Clerks Society. The group is currently led by
Mawlana Fadhel al-Rahman, whom Tefft said is "an al Qaeda member and
co-signed Osama bin Laden's 1998 fatwa (religious ruling) to kill
Americans." The Iraqi memo from 1993 states that J.U.I.'s secretary
general "has a good relationship with our system since 1981 and he is
ready for any mission." Tefft said the memo shows "another direct Iraq
link to an al Qaeda group."
Iraq had also maintained a relationship with the Afghani Islamist party
since 1989, according to the memo. The "relationship was improved and
became directly between the leader, Hekmatyar and Iraq," it states,
referring to Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, an Afghani warlord who fought against
the Soviet Union and current al Qaeda ally, according to Tefft.
Last year, American authorities in Afghanistan ranked Hekmatyar third on
their most wanted list, behind only bin Laden and former Taliban leader
Mullah Omar. Hekmatyar represents "another Iraqi link to an al Qaeda
group," Tefft said. (See More Saddam Connections to al Qaeda)
The Iraqi intelligence documents also refer to terrorist groups
previously believed to have had links with Saddam Hussein. They include
the Palestine Liberation Front, a group dedicated to attacking Israel,
and according to the Iraqi memo, one with "an office in Baghdad."
The Abu Nidal group, suspected by the CIA of having acted as surrogates
for Iraqi terrorist attacks, is also mentioned.
"The movement believes in political violence and assassinations," the
1993 Iraqi memo states in reference to the Abu Nidal organization. "We
have relationships with them since 1973. Currently, they have a
representative in the country. Monthly helps are given to them -- 20
thousand dinars - in addition to other supports," the memo explains.
(See Saddam's Connections to Palestinian Terror Groups)
Iraq not only built and maintained relationships with terrorist groups,
the documents show it appears to have trained terrorists as well.
Ninety-two individuals from various Middle Eastern countries are listed
on the papers.
Many are described as having "finished the course at M14," a reference
to an Iraqi intelligence agency, and to having "participated in Umm
El-Ma'arek," the Iraqi response to the U.S. invasion in 1991. The author
of the list notes that approximately half of the individuals "all got
trained inside the 'martyr act camp' that belonged to our directorate."
The former UNSCOM weapons inspector who was asked to analyze the
documents believes it's clear that the Iraqis "were training people
there in assassination and suicide bombing techniques ... including
non-Iraqis."
Bush administration likely unaware of documents' existence
The senior government official and source of the Iraqi intelligence
memos, explained that the reason the documents have not been made public
before now is that the government has "thousands and thousands of
documents waiting to be translated.
"It is unlikely they even know this exists," the source added.
The government official also explained that the motivation for leaking
the documents, "is strictly national security and helping with the war
on terrorism by focusing this country's attention on facts and away from
political posturing.
"This is too important to let it get caught up in the political
process," the source told CNSNews.com.
To protect against the Iraqi intelligence documents being altered or
misrepresented elsewhere on the Internet, CNSNews.com has decided to
publish
http://www.cnsnews.com//ViewNation.asp?Page=\Nation\archive\200410\NAT20041004b.html
only the first of the 42 pages
http://www.cnsnews.com/specialreports/2004/iraq.asp in Arabic, along
with the English translation. Portions of some of the other memos in
translated form are also being published to accompany this report.
Credentialed journalists and counter-terrorism experts seeking to view
the 42 pages of Arabic documents or to challenge their authenticity may
make arrangements to do so at CNSNews.com headquarters in Alexandria, Va.
---
Outgoing mail is certified Virus Free.
Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com).
Version: 6.0.771 / Virus Database: 518 - Release Date: 9/28/04
.
|
|
|
| User: "Jean Guernon" |
|
| Title: Re: Rummy hadn't seen that... Re: Rumsfeld: No 'Hard Evidence' ofIraq-Al Qaeda Link |
05 Oct 2004 05:52:21 PM |
|
|
Bah nothing in what you said has anything wrong.
Time will tell if it becomes accepted public facts won't it.
J.
Marvin The Paranoid Android a écrit:
Here's a couple of other headlines from your 'source' ... :-D
Citizens Group Warns of Muslim 'Radicalization' in Boston
Conservative Group Forms 'George Soros Truth Squad'
Commentary: Foreign Election Monitors Driven by Leftist Political Agenda
Christian Zionists Face Dilemma in Supporting Israel
George Soros' Atheism Fuels Conservative Rage
And on it goes ...
At this point, Googling only gives your highly credible site as the only
source of this info.
Keep trying ... :-D
"Jean Guernon" <jguernon@globetrotter.net> wrote in message
news:Nrz8d.24445$223.23119@edtnps89...
Marvin The Paranoid Android a écrit:
Here's one for Jean ... time to cash-in Rummie eh Jean?? The terrorist
*****
licking anti-semite traitor doesn't even realize that Al Qaeda was
operating
in Iraq and was in cahoots wtih Saddam and that the WMD's are in Syria
or
buried in the Iraqi desert .... this guys as rotten as Dr. Kay!!!
Bah Rummy only says he hasn't seen it.
Look at what he hasn't seen:
http://www.cnsnews.com//ViewSpecialReports.asp?Page=\SpecialReports\archive\200410\SPE20041004a.html
Exclusive: Saddam Possessed WMD, Had Extensive Terror Ties
By Scott Wheeler
CNSNews.com Staff Writer
October 04, 2004
(CNSNews.com) - Iraqi intelligence documents, confiscated by U.S. forces
and obtained by CNSNews.com, show numerous efforts by Saddam Hussein's
regime to work with some of the world's most notorious terror
organizations, including al Qaeda, to target Americans. They demonstrate
that Saddam's government possessed mustard gas and anthrax, both
considered weapons of mass destruction, in the summer of 2000, during
the period in which United Nations weapons inspectors were not present
in Iraq. And the papers show that Iraq trained dozens of terrorists
inside its borders.
One of the Iraqi memos contains an order from Saddam for his
intelligence service to support terrorist attacks against Americans in
Somalia. The memo was written nine months before U.S. Army Rangers were
ambushed in Mogadishu by forces loyal to a warlord with alleged ties to
al Qaeda.
Other memos provide a list of terrorist groups with whom Iraq had
relationships and considered available for terror operations against the
United States.
Among the organizations mentioned are those affiliated with Abu Musab
al-Zarqawi and Ayman al-Zawahiri, two of the world's most wanted
terrorists. Zarqawi is believed responsible for the kidnapping and
beheading of several American civilians in Iraq and claimed
responsibility for a series of deadly bombings in Iraq Sept. 30.
Al-Zawahiri is the top lieutenant of al Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden,
allegedly helped plan the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist strikes on the U.S.,
and is believed to be the voice on an audio tape broadcast by Al-Jazeera
television Oct. 1, calling for attacks on U.S. and British interests
everywhere.
The source of the documents
A senior government official who is not a political appointee provided
CNSNews.com with copies of the 42 pages of Iraqi Intelligence Service
documents. The originals, some of which were hand-written and others
typed, are in Arabic. CNSNews.com had the papers translated into English
by two individuals separately and independent of each other.
There are no hand-writing samples to which the documents can be compared
for forensic analysis and authentication. However, three other experts -
a former weapons inspector with the United Nations Special Commission
(UNSCOM), a retired CIA counter-terrorism official with vast experience
dealing with Iraq, and a former advisor to then-presidential candidate
Bill Clinton on Iraq - were asked to analyze the documents. All said
they comport with the format, style and content of other Iraqi documents
from that era known to be genuine.
Laurie Mylroie, who authored the book, "Study of Revenge: Saddam
Hussein's Unfinished War against America," and advised Clinton on Iraq
during the 1992 presidential campaign, told CNSNews.com that the papers
represent "the most complete set of documents relating Iraq to
terrorism, including Islamic terrorism" against the U.S.
Mylroie has long maintained that Iraq was a state sponsor of terrorism
against the United States. The documents obtained by CNSNews.com , she
said, include "correspondence back and forth between Saddam's office and
Iraqi Mukhabarat (intelligence agency). They make sense. This is what
one would think Saddam was doing at the time."
Bruce Tefft, a retired CIA official who specialized in counter-terrorism
and had extensive experience dealing with Iraq, said that "based on
available, unclassified and open source information, the details in
these documents are accurate ..."
The former UNSCOM inspector zeroed in on the signatures on the documents
and "the names of some of the people who sign off on these things.
"This is fairly typical of that time era. [The Iraqis] were meticulous
record keepers," added the former U.N. official, who spoke with
CNSNews.com on the condition of anonymity.
The senior government official, who furnished the documents to
CNSNews.com, said the papers answer "whether or not Iraq was a state
sponsor of Islamic terrorism against the United States. It also answers
whether or not Iraq had an ongoing biological warfare project continuing
through the period when the UNSCOM inspections ended."
Presidential campaign focused on Iraq
The presidential campaign is currently dominated by debate over whether
Saddam procured weapons of mass destruction and/or whether his
government sponsored terrorism aimed at Americans before the U.S.
invaded Iraq last year. Democratic nominee Sen. John Kerry has
repeatedly rejected that possibility and criticized President Bush for
needlessly invading Iraq.
"[Bush's] two main rationales - weapons of mass destruction and the al
Qaeda/September 11 (2001) connection - have been proved false ... by the
president's own weapons inspectors ... and by the 9/11 Commission,"
Kerry told an audience at New York University on Sept. 20.
The Senate Intelligence Committee's probe of the 9/11 intelligence
failures also could not produce any definitive links between Saddam's
government and 9/11. And United Nations as well as U.S. weapons
inspectors in Iraq have been unable to find the biological and chemical
weapons Saddam was suspected of possessing.
But the documents obtained by CNSNews.com shed new light on the
controversy.
They detail the Iraqi regime's purchase of five kilograms of mustard gas
on Aug. 21, 2000 and three vials of malignant pustule, another term for
anthrax, on Sept. 6, 2000. The purchase order for the mustard gas
includes gas masks, filters and rubber gloves. The order for the anthrax
includes sterilization and decontamination equipment. (See Saddam's
Possession of Mustard Gas)
The documents show that Iraqi intelligence received the mustard gas and
anthrax from "Saddam's company," which Tefft said was probably a
reference to Saddam General Establishment, "a complex of factories
involved with, amongst other things, precision optics, missile, and
artillery fabrication."
"Sa'ad's general company" is listed on the Iraqi documents as the
supplier of the sterilization and decontamination equipment that
accompanied the anthrax vials. Tefft believes this is a reference to the
Salah Al-Din State Establishment, also involved in missile construction.
(See Saddam's Possession of Anthrax)
The Jaber Ibn Hayan General Company is listed as the supplier of the
safety equipment that accompanied the mustard gas order. Tefft described
the company as "a 'turn-key' project built by Romania, designed to
produce protective CW (conventional warfare) and BW (biological warfare)
equipment (gas masks and protective clothing)."
"Iraq had an ongoing biological warfare project continuing through the
period when the UNSCOM inspections ended," the senior government
official and source of the documents said. "This should cause us to
redouble our efforts to find the Iraqi weapons of mass destruction
programs."
'Hunt the Americans'
The first of the 42 pages of Iraqi documents is dated Jan. 18, 1993,
approximately two years after American troops defeated Saddam's army in
the first Persian Gulf War. The memo includes Saddam's directive that
"the party should move to hunt the Americans who are on Arabian land,
especially in Somalia, by using Arabian elements ..."
On Oct. 3, 1993, less than nine months after that Iraqi memo was
written, American soldiers were ambushed in Mogadishu, Somalia by forces
loyal to Somali warlord Mohammed Farah Aidid, an alleged associate of
Osama bin Laden. Eighteen Americans were killed and 84 wounded during a
17-hour firefight that followed the ambush in which Aidid's followers
used civilians as decoys. (See Saddam's Connections to al Qaeda)
An 11-page Iraqi memo, dated Jan. 25, 1993, lists Palestinian, Sudanese
and Asian terrorist organizations and the relationships Iraq had with
each of them. Of particular importance, Tefft said, are the
relationships Iraq had already developed or was in the process of
developing with groups and individuals affiliated with al Qaeda, such as
Abu Musab al-Zarqawi and Ayman al-Zawahiri. The U.S. currently is
offering rewards of up to $25 million for each man's capture.
The documents describe Al-Jehad wa'l Tajdeed as "a secret Palestinian
organization" founded after the first Persian Gulf War that "believes in
armed struggle against U.S. and western interests." The leaders of the
group, according to the Iraqi memo, were stationed in Jordan in 1993,
and when one of those leaders visited Iraq in November 1992, he "showed
the readiness of his organization to execute operations against U.S.
interests at any time." (See More Saddam Connections to al Qaeda)
Tefft believes the Tajdeed group likely included al-Zarqawi, whom Teft
described as "our current terrorist nemesis" in Iraq, "a Palestinian on
a Jordanian passport who was with al Qaeda and bin Laden in Afghanistan
prior to this period (1993)."
Tajdeed, which means Islamic Renewal, currently "has a website that
posts Zarqawi's speeches, messages, claims of assassinations and
beheading videos," Tefft told CNSNews.com. "The apparent linkages are
too close to be accidental" and might "be one of the first operational
contacts between an al Qaeda group and Iraq," he added.
Tefft said the documents, all of which the Iraqi Intelligence Service
labeled "Top secret, personal and urgent" show several links between
Saddam's government and terror groups dedicated not only to targeting
America but also U.S. allies like Egypt and Israel.
The same 11-page memo refers to the "re-opening of the relationship"
with Al-Jehad al-Islamy, which is described as "the most violent in
Egypt," responsible for the 1981 assassination of Egyptian President
Anwar Sadat. The documents go on to describe a Dec. 14, 1990 meeting
between Iraqi intelligence officials and a representative of Al-Jehad
al-Islamy, that ended in an agreement "to move against [the] Egyptian
regime by doing martyr operations on conditions that we should secure
the finance, training and equipments." (See More Saddam Connections to
al Qaeda)
Al-Zawahiri was one of the leaders of Jehad al-Islamy, which is also
known as the Egyptian Islamic Group, and participated in the
assassination of Sadat, Tefft said. "Iraq's contact with the Egyptian
Islamic Group is another operational contact between Iraq and al Qaeda,"
he added.
One of the Asian groups listed on the Iraqi intelligence memo is J.U.I.,
also known as the Islamic Clerks Society. The group is currently led by
Mawlana Fadhel al-Rahman, whom Tefft said is "an al Qaeda member and
co-signed Osama bin Laden's 1998 fatwa (religious ruling) to kill
Americans." The Iraqi memo from 1993 states that J.U.I.'s secretary
general "has a good relationship with our system since 1981 and he is
ready for any mission." Tefft said the memo shows "another direct Iraq
link to an al Qaeda group."
Iraq had also maintained a relationship with the Afghani Islamist party
since 1989, according to the memo. The "relationship was improved and
became directly between the leader, Hekmatyar and Iraq," it states,
referring to Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, an Afghani warlord who fought against
the Soviet Union and current al Qaeda ally, according to Tefft.
Last year, American authorities in Afghanistan ranked Hekmatyar third on
their most wanted list, behind only bin Laden and former Taliban leader
Mullah Omar. Hekmatyar represents "another Iraqi link to an al Qaeda
group," Tefft said. (See More Saddam Connections to al Qaeda)
The Iraqi intelligence documents also refer to terrorist groups
previously believed to have had links with Saddam Hussein. They include
the Palestine Liberation Front, a group dedicated to attacking Israel,
and according to the Iraqi memo, one with "an office in Baghdad."
The Abu Nidal group, suspected by the CIA of having acted as surrogates
for Iraqi terrorist attacks, is also mentioned.
"The movement believes in political violence and assassinations," the
1993 Iraqi memo states in reference to the Abu Nidal organization. "We
have relationships with them since 1973. Currently, they have a
representative in the country. Monthly helps are given to them -- 20
thousand dinars - in addition to other supports," the memo explains.
(See Saddam's Connections to Palestinian Terror Groups)
Iraq not only built and maintained relationships with terrorist groups,
the documents show it appears to have trained terrorists as well.
Ninety-two individuals from various Middle Eastern countries are listed
on the papers.
Many are described as having "finished the course at M14," a reference
to an Iraqi intelligence agency, and to having "participated in Umm
El-Ma'arek," the Iraqi response to the U.S. invasion in 1991. The author
of the list notes that approximately half of the individuals "all got
trained inside the 'martyr act camp' that belonged to our directorate."
The former UNSCOM weapons inspector who was asked to analyze the
documents believes it's clear that the Iraqis "were training people
there in assassination and suicide bombing techniques ... including
non-Iraqis."
Bush administration likely unaware of documents' existence
The senior government official and source of the Iraqi intelligence
memos, explained that the reason the documents have not been made public
before now is that the government has "thousands and thousands of
documents waiting to be translated.
"It is unlikely they even know this exists," the source added.
The government official also explained that the motivation for leaking
the documents, "is strictly national security and helping with the war
on terrorism by focusing this country's attention on facts and away from
political posturing.
"This is too important to let it get caught up in the political
process," the source told CNSNews.com.
To protect against the Iraqi intelligence documents being altered or
misrepresented elsewhere on the Internet, CNSNews.com has decided to
publish
http://www.cnsnews.com//ViewNation.asp?Page=\Nation\archive\200410\NAT20041004b.html
only the first of the 42 pages
http://www.cnsnews.com/specialreports/2004/iraq.asp in Arabic, along
with the English translation. Portions of some of the other memos in
translated form are also being published to accompany this report.
Credentialed journalists and counter-terrorism experts seeking to view
the 42 pages of Arabic documents or to challenge their authenticity may
make arrangements to do so at CNSNews.com headquarters in Alexandria, Va.
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