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Al Queda and Saddam links before 9-11

It funny according to the Clinton admin and the 'mainstream media'. there was a working relationship between Al Queda and Saddam. The Clinton administration explictly refrenced Iraq in their 1998 indictment of OBL.

How's actually lying and spinning and flip flopping. Ol Fritz Hollings (d-SC) even scolded the Bush administration on 9-12-2001 for not seeing that Iraqi newspapers had predicted the Al Queda attacks on the Pentagon NYC and the WH (Flingt 93) a year in advance. Interesting how the dems and the media has tried to flush all this down the memory hole.

First up The 11/5/1998 indictment of OBL that linked Al Queda to Iraq via the NYT archive:

Quote:

Federal prosecutors had brought conspiracy and murder charges against other Al-Qaeda members in September and October. As of the November 4 indictment, five Al-Qaeda members had been indicted in the U.S. on charges of murder and conspiracy in the embassy bombings, and four others had been charged with conspiracy. Four of the nine were in custody in New York. One suspect was to be extradited from Germany, and one from Britain. Three were fugitives. Bin Laden was thought to be hiding in Afghanistan. (See p. 666A1; 1993, p. 743B2)

Mary Jo White, the U.S. attorney for the Southern Distict of New York, at a November 4 news conference said that bin Laden was charged with "plotting and carrying out the most heinous acts of international terrorism and murder."

Accused of Terrorism Campaign-- The November 4 indictment charged bin Laden with leading an extensive terrorist conspiracy that started in 1989. Bin Laden allegedly worked in collusion with governments--including those of Sudan, Iraq and Iran--as well as with terrorist groups, to construct weapons and carry out attacks on American military installations.

The indictment also alleged that Al-Qaeda had tried to obtain nuclear and chemical weapons; supported extremists in more than 20 countries; trained Somalis who killed 18 American soldiers in Mogadishu in 1993 and carried out the two U.S. embassy bombings in Africa.

Next up the London Guardian a left wing newspaper:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/alqaida/st...798270,00.html

Quote:

At the head of the group was a man by the name of Farouk Hijazi, President Saddam Hussein's new ambassador to Turkey and one of Iraq's most senior intelligence officers. He had been sent on one of the most important assignments of his career - to recruit Osama bin Laden.

Of interest to me is that Mr Hijazi was mentioned in one of the captured ISS documents that have been decried by the lefties on this board

Thus the world's most notorious pariah state, armed with its half-built hoard of chemical, biological and nuclear weapons, tried to embrace the planet's most prolific terrorist. It was the stuff of the West's millennial nightmares, but United States intelligence officials are positive that the meeting took place, although they admit that they have no idea what happened.

This was not the first time that President Saddam had offered Mr Bin Laden a partnership. At least one approach is believed to have been made during the Saudi dissident's sojourn in Sudan from 1990 to 1996. On that occasion, the guerrilla leader turned the emissaries away, out of a pious man's contempt for President Saddam's secular Ba'athist regime.

But this time round Mr Bin Laden's options have been rapidly diminishing. His hosts, the hardline Taliban militia which rules Afghanistan under Islamic auspices, have vowed publicly to stand by him. But they are at the same time discussing with his worst enemies - the Saudi monarchy and the American government - his eventual departure from Afghan soil.

Mr Bin Laden must surely have felt the noose begin to bite when he heard the news of the Taliban's meeting this week with a US assistant secretary of state, Karl Inderfurth, in Islamabad.

But the most wanted man in the West may be at his most dangerous when cornered. And the increased pressure makes the prospect of a Saddam Hussein-Osama bin Laden alliance, once an improbable marriage of opposites, seem a more credible threat.

next from the noted outpost of the vast right wing conspiracy CNN:

Quote:

Iraqi President Saddam Hussein has offered asylum to bin Laden, who openly supports Iraq against the Western powers.

Despite repeated demands from Washington, the Taliban refused to hand over bin Laden after the August 7 bombings of the U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania, demanding proof of his involvement in terrorist activities.

However, in recent weeks, both the United States and Britain have renewed their pressure on the Taliban to expel bin Laden.

From Shelia Mc Vicar (sorry original link to MP3 no linger works:

Quote:

Sheila MacVicar, ABC News, January 14, 1999

'". . . [Mamdouh Mahmud] Salim, alleged to be a key military advisor and believed to be privy to bin Laden's most secret projects, is also apprehended. The US government alleges that he was under secret orders to procure enriched uranium for the purpose of developing nuclear weapons.

These are allegations bin Laden does not now deny. "It would be a sin for Muslims not to try to possess the weapons that would prevent the infidels from inflicting harm on Muslims, but how we could use these weapons if we possessed them is up to us.

With an American price on his head, there weren't many places bin Laden could go, unless he teamed up with another international pariah, one also with an interest in weapons of mass destruction. Osama believes in the 'enemy of my enemy is my friend, and someone I should cooperate with.' That is certainly the current case with Iraq. Saddam Hussein has a long history of harboring terrorists: Carlos the Jackal, Abu Nida, Abu Abbas. The most notorious terrorist of their era all found shelter and support at one time in Baghdad.

Intelligence sources say bin Laden's long relationship with the Iraqis began as he helped Sudan's fundamentalist government in their efforts to acquire weapons of mass destruction. Three weeks after the bombing, on August 31st, bin Laden reaches out to his friends in Iraq and Sudan. Iraq's vice president arrives in Khartoon to show his support for the Sudanese after the US attack. ABC News has learned that during these meetings, senior Sudanese officials, acting on behalf of bin Laden, asked if Saddam Hussein would grant him asylum.

Iraq was indeed interested. ABC News has learned that in December, an Iraqi intelligence chief, named Farouk Hijazi, now Iraq's ambassador to Turkey, made a secret trip to Afghanistan to meet with bin Laden. Three intelligence agencies tell ABC News they cannot be certain what was discussed, but almost certainly, they say, bin Laden has been told he would be welcome in Baghdad.''

so according to ABC and the Clinton admin, OBL was trying to help Iraq acuire uranium for WMD....

Due to the length the post will be in 2 parts.

Re: Al Queda and Saddam links before 9-11

Rest of the post..

Another article from your fave Laurie from 1999 on OBL, Saddam and WMD, uses references 60 min report LOL:

Quote:

A series of articles followed in the international, particularly
Arabic, press about links between Iraq and bin Ladin. Some party/ies
wanted to put the story out, it seems. Some information in the articles
is known and reliable, like the role of Hassan Turabi, head of Sudan's
Islamic movement, in putting Osama bin Ladin in contact with Iraqi
intelligence, during bin Ladin's residence in Khartoum. But other
information would not likely be known to outsiders and seems invented.

That said, on Dec 28, the Italian paper, Corriere della Sera, reported
"Saddam Husayn and Osama Bin Ladin have sealed a pact. Faruq Hijazi,
the former director of the Iraqi secret services and now the country's
ambassador to Turkey, held a secret meeting with the extremist leader on
21 December. . . . Hijazi reiterated Iraq's amenability to offering
shelter to Osama and to his mujahedin, 'You will always be a welcome
guest. . . We cannot forget our debt of gratitude. This was a reference
to the establishment last February of the 'International Islamic Front
against the Crusaders and the Jews,' announced by Osama in the midst of
one of the periodic crises between Iraq and the United Nations. . . The
same ritual was reenacted during the most recent crisis. The day after
the air strikes, Osama called an international news conference and
issued a new statement, including threats that neither Washington nor
London are taking lightly. . . . "

On Jan 1, the Paris-based, Al Watan Al Arabi, reported that in late
Oct, 98, an Iraqi and Sudanese visited bin Ladin in Afghanistan.
"Informed intelligence sources . . . were convinced that it was part of
a new plan for cooperation and coordination, or more accurately a
renewed one, between Iraq, bin Ladin and Sudan. Information available
to these sources confirmed that bin-Ladin began to establish close ties
with Iraq at least five years ago, specifically when the leader of
Muslim extremists chose to reside in Sudan with the blessing and
protection of Dr. Hassan al-Turabi, leader of the National Islamic
Movement. These sources asserted that they received in the past few
years confirmed and detailed information that cooperation between bin
Ladin and Iraq entered 'an important and grave stage' through their
cooperation in the field of producing chemical and biological weapons.
"Al Watan al-Arabi's information indicated that several western
diplomatic and security sources, including European ones, which have
good relations with Sudan, warned in secret reports they sent at the end
of last year that Iraq, Sudan, and bin Ladin were cooperating and
coordinating in the field of chemical weapons. These reports said that
several chemical factories were built in Sudan. They were financed by
bin Ladin and supervised by Iraqi experts and technicians following a
deal between Baghdad, Khartoum, and bin-Ladin. . . .
"Informed sources asserted that the meeting was extremely serious.
The two sides laid down the details of the biggest act of cooperation
and coordination between the extremist Islamic organizations and Baghdad
for confronting the United States, the common enemy. This information
indicated that the meeting focused on the ways with which Iraq could
help the germ and chemical weapons laboratories.
A second meeting was held later in which "Bin Ladin stressed to the
Iraqi envoys that he could reach areas, which the Iraqi intelligence
could not reach. He referred to the spread of his cells in the Arab
countries and the world and focused on his ability to penetrate Arab and
Islamic countries through fundamentalist groups."

On Jan 10, the Saudi-financed, London-based, weekly, Al-Majallah,
reported that in Oct 98, an Iraqi intelligence official met with the
Taliban leader, Mullah Omar, Osama bin Ladin, and Dr. Ayman al-Zawahiri,
leader of Egypt's Jihad movement. In Dec, according to Al-Majllah, the
Iraqi embassy in Islamabad held a series of meetings with "leaders of a
number of Pakistani fundamentalist movements and elements from the
Taleban, with the knowledge of Pakistani military intelligence . . . On
21 December a high-ranking Iraqi diplomat normally based in Turkey
visited Taleban leader Mullah Omar's residence in Kandahar, then headed
for Khowat where he met with bin Ladin and al-Zawahiri. . . . [He]
affirmed to his Afghan and Arab audience Iraq's willingness to provide
financial, logistic, political and informational support for the Taleban
and the Afghan Arabs."

The next is from the congressional record and a speech given by 'Fritz' Hollins where points out a newspaper article that he felt showed that Saddam had knowledge of the 9-11 attack. Hopefully we can agree that Hollins isn't a dittohead.

http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-...5&position=all

[/quote]Here is a news story from July 21,
2001, before 9/11 of last year, in the
Iraqi news. The name of that particular
newspaper is Al-Nasiriya.
Quoting from it:
Bin Ladin has become a puzzle and a proof
also, of the inability of the American federalism
and the CIA to uncover the man and
uncover his nest. The most advanced organizations
of the world cannot find the man and
continues to go in cycles in illusion and presuppositions.
It refers to an exercise called ‘‘How
Do You Bomb the White House.’’ They
were planning it.
Let me read this to all the colleagues
here:
The phenomenon of Bin Ladin is a healthy
phenomenon in the Arab spirit. It is a decision
and a determination that the stolen
Arab self has come to realize after it got
bored with promises of its rulers; After it
disgusted itself from their abomination and
their corruption, the man had to carry the
book of God . . . and write on some white
paper ‘‘If you are unable to drive off the Marines
from the Kaaba, I will do so.’’ It seems
that they will be going away because the
revolutionary Bin Ladin is insisting very
convincingly that he will strike America on
the arm that is already hurting.
In other words, the World Trade Towers.
Here, over a year ahead of time in
the open press in Iraq, they are writing
that this man is planning not only to
bomb the White House, but where they
are already hurting, the World Trade
Towers.
I ask unanimous consent to print
this article in the RECORD.
There being no objection, the[/quote]

Finally a link to Front Page mag which has linked a bunch of other mainstream media reports, here is the link:http://www.frontpagemag.com/Articles...le.asp?ID=8887

Too much to quote here but I couldn't resist thsi one from NPR

Quote:

SHUSTER: Iraq's contacts with bin Laden go back some years, to at least 1994, when, according to one U.S. government source, Hijazi met him when bin Laden lived in Sudan. According to Cannistraro, Iraq invited bin Laden to live in Baghdad to be nearer to potential targets of terrorist attack in Saudi Arabia and Kuwait. There is a wide gap between bin Laden's fundamentalism and Saddam Hussein's secular dictatorship. But some experts believe bin Laden might be tempted to live in Iraq because of his reported desire to obtain chemical or biological weapons. CIA director George Tenet referred to that in recent testimony....

Unless the Clinton WH is guilty of massive lying the connection between Al Queda and Iraq was widely known. The dispatching of Zarqwai to Oraq to work on Chems and develop the Al Queda base there makes perfect sense.

Re: Al Queda and Saddam links before 9-11

I will read your thread!
After hundreds of billions of dollars and thousands of lives spent on the war in iraq , what powell and rice said on video in feb and july in 2001 remain true today. here's the video and the document.

http://www.thememoryhole.org/war/powell-rice-wmd.wmv

http://www.thememoryhole.org/war/powell-cairo.htm

Re: Al Queda and Saddam links before 9-11

Quote:

Originally Posted by Blue Collar

Thank you.

Re: Al Queda and Saddam links before 9-11

Well given the lack of response I can conclude we all agree that Al Queda and Saddam were working together and that The Clinton administration as Well as the Bush Administration felt Saddam had/were persuing WMD and was planning on getting them in the hands of terrorist.

Boy that was easy.

Re: Al Queda and Saddam links before 9-11

Quote:

Originally Posted by patsfan13

You are desperate, man.

The reason for the lack of response is that you have zero credibility. :D

.

Re: Al Queda and Saddam links before 9-11

Quote:

Originally Posted by mikey

You are desperate, man.

The reason for the lack of response is that you have zero credibility. :D

.

Another post from Mikey with Zeroi content. The facts stand unchallenged.:bricks:

Re: Al Queda and Saddam links before 9-11

Quote:

Originally Posted by patsfan13

Erm, you didn't look at those videos, did you?

As I understand it, everyone has acknowledged that Saddam WANTED to recruit Bin Laden. As I also understand it, he turned down the offers. Was Saddam bad? Definitely and I am glad to see the back of him. What worries me (and should worry everyone of all political persuasions) is that WMDs were never found, when everyone insisted that they existed. Either a lot of people were wrong or some people lied and everyone else went along with them. Neither option is overly palatable, given the cost of the war and the lives lost.
I also have strong issues with the occupation strategy, the way that terrorists were allowed to enter Iraq and the naive sense that we would be welcome as liberators. It is disturbing that we (UK and the US) actually believed that, myself included.
Saddam probably did have some links to terrorism but going into Iraq was never going to catch Bin Ladin.

Re: Al Queda and Saddam links before 9-11

Quote:

Originally Posted by gomezcat

The contempanerous news reports cited in this thread and captured documents (which I have posted in other threads, indicate they were actively working together.

How would your approach to the occupation differed?

I would say that in any war I have ever studied there are numerous error and blunders, if there weren't that would be suprising.

Re: Al Queda and Saddam links before 9-11

This is nothing new. There's no question that in a country the size of Iraq, Al Qaeda had some low level contacts; there's no dispute that Saddam and OBL explored working together (but both had reasons for not doing so); there's no doubt that Iraqi dissident groups produced questionable claims regarding Al Qaeda and Saddam; there's no question that Republicans and Democrats used propaganda to force Saddam to comply with sanctions; there's no evidence that Saddam provided Al Qaeda with WMDs or even material support; there's no question that Congress investigated the relationship between Iraq and Al Qaeda and found it insignificant. Of course, you can take the scraps of news you find and piece together a new story. In fact, I suppose I could gather information about the flight schools, Bush's relationship with the Saudis, Bush's decision to let the bin Ladens flee the U.S. immeidiately after 9/11, and make the case that there was a relationship between Bush and Al Qaeda. In fact, add to that Reagan's support for the Taliban, and I could argue that Reagan and Bush were behind 9/11. Of course, I don't believe that, but one can take shards of evidence and piece together a story that suits their political perspective as you keep doing.