New evidence of Saddam link to 9-11: records indicate Atta meeting with Iraqi official in Prague

WorldNetDaily.com ^ | Friday, May 7, 2004

[JohnHuang2]

New evidence about a meeting in Prague between September 11 plot leader Mohamed Atta and Iraqi intelligence officer Ahmad Khalil Ibrahim Samir al-Ani has been uncovered, reports Geostrategy-Direct, the global intelligence news service.

Investigative journalist Edward J. Epstein has uncovered Czech government visa records indicating al-Ani was posted to the Iraqi embassy in Prague between March 1999 and April 21, 2001, and was involved in handling Iraqi agents.

A search of the Iraq Embassy in Prague after the fall of Baghdad to coalition forces revealed al-Ani had scheduled a meeting for April 8, 2001, with a Hamburg student, according to an appointment calendar obtained by Czech intelligence.

Al-Ani then was placed under surveillance as he met with a young Arab-speaking man in Prague April 8.

After seeing Atta's photograph after Sept. 11, the Czech counterintelligence watcher identified the man he had seen meeting al-Ani as Atta. Al-Ani was expelled from Prague within two weeks.

According to Epstein, al-Ani denied he met Atta and repeated the denial after being detained by U.S. forces in July.

The CIA has been unable to confirm the Prague meeting between al-Ani and Atta. If confirmed, the meeting would indicate a role by Saddam Hussein's intelligence service in some level of support for the Sept.11 plot.

The current official U.S. intelligence conclusion is that Saddam's regime was not involved in supporting the Sept. 11 attacks.

According to Epstein, Spanish intelligence has uncovered information indicating Algerians Khaled Madani and Moussa Laouar supplied Atta and another al-Qaida member, Ramzi bin al-Shibh, with false passports.

Epstein's information supports other journalists who have uncovered a connection between Iraq and al-Qaida, including Jayna Davis, author of "The Third Terrorist: The Middle Eastern Connection to the Oklahoma City Bombing."

In her book, Davis suggests the September 11 attacks possibly could have been prevented if evidence of an Iraqi and al-Qaida link to the OKC bombing had been pursued.

Davis writes that in November 1997, Hussain Hashem Al-Hussaini – a former Iraqi Republican Guardsman whom multiple eyewitnesses identified as McVeigh's elusive accomplice, John Doe 2 – confided to his psychiatrist that he was anxious about his airport job because "if something were to happen there, I (Al-Hussaini) would be a suspect." At the time, Al-Hussaini was employed at Boston Logan International Airport, where two of the four 9-11 suicide hijackings originated.

She also reveals court records that suggest one of bombers Timothy McVeigh's and Terry Nichols's accused Middle Eastern handlers had foreknowledge of the 9-11 plot.

In addition, Davis discusses information she first uncovered eight years ago – that Nichols learned the macabre genius of terrorist bomb making under the training of Philippines-based al-Qaida explosives expert Ramzi Yousef, the convicted mastermind of the 1993 World Trade Center bombing.

[TrebleRebel]

This looks like a follow up to the Epstein article discussed a few backs back on FR:

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1123185/posts

It certainly remains intriguing that Atta withdrew $8,000 just before the purported trip, then had a large sum wired to his account just after the purported meeting.

He had a similar large sum wired just after his CONFIRMED trip to Prague in 2000.

These money transfers did not happen frequently. Judge for yourself is this is just all coincidence.

[OldFriend]

We KNEW!

[endthematrix]

Am I not getting this? Is the new evidence the appointment calendar meeting? We are to make ties with Atta to this "Hamburg student?" Then WND gives us the bait and switch to Davis and Oklahoma. How 'bout something more concrete before accusations of 9/11 ties.

[BenLurkin]

bttt

[JohnHuang2]

Thanks for the link.

[MHGinTN]

Tonight on Hatebush, Senator Imhoff held up and read from a document found in Iraq that is an Iraqi letter from 1991 stating one of their friends was Osama bin Laden. Chris Matthews nearly peed on himself when Imhoff held it up to cameras since Matthews had started to try and impugn the good Senator!

[JohnHuang2]

hehe, good move by the fine Senator from Oklahoma, and G'evening to you, my friend.

[MHGinTN]

A Minnie Pearl 'Howdee' to you too JH2! I've got to get some sleep ... manana

[JohnHuang2]

G'nite, friend; sleep well and God bless.

[pawdoggie]

I think that the reason that "the government" is/has been so dismissive of the Atta Czech trip/Iraqi contact story is that some agents in the FBI/CIA had a "watch" on Atta and blew it. It would be embarrassing and painful to acknowledge that Atta escaped their surveillance. In being so incredibly stubborn on this issue (i.e. in not acknowledging the possibility that Atta had an Iraqi connection), the FBI and CIA are helping to undercut the Bush Administration's claims of links between Saddam and international terrorism.

[PhilDragoo]

There is no link between September 11 and Iraq

Tenet should have had a Texas boot up his ass September 12

[CyberAnt]

We knew after the fact .. the ledger was found in Iraq.

[JohnHuang2]

CIA/FBI engaging in big time CYA. Notice they haven't found the anthrax mailer.

[SAMWolf]

Tennet should have been fired day one of the Bush Administration.

[endthematrix]

Imagine though, Samir al-Ani who has been captured in Iraq and probably one of those "mistreated" prisoners, confessed to an Iraq 9/11 plot. Many Americans would change there tune being against the war. The Iraq war and to a lesser degree the "interrogation" becomes justified.

[MeekOneGOP]

[ovrtaxt]

OKC-911 CONNECTION ALERT. Please let me know by freepmail if you want to be taken off this list. Thanks.

[F-117A]

Bump!

[ovrtaxt]

Tennet should have been fired day one of the Bush Administration.

Yet another executive decision I couldn't fathom.

[NCjim]

Mark for later...

[OldFriend]

Oh this has been reported for years.

The left strenuously denying the meeting always made me so suspicious.

May I repeat......we KNEW the meeting took place.

We KNEW Iraq was involved with al qaeda.

We NEVER doubted it for a moment.

We also know that Iraq tried to buy yellow cake from Niger.

Wilson KNOWS too. Traitor that he is.

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

Thanks, now we need a connection to this:

Oregon Man Arrested in Spain Bombings Probe

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

Nice picture!

[Mr.Atos]

Bumping!

[Shermy]

Bump.

[Fedora]

Thanks! BTW I seem to remember that Czech intelligence initially reported this and then later denied it--anyone seen an explanation on what caused their flip-flop? I thought I saw something attributing that to French pressure but I'm not sure if I'm remembering that right; hopefully someone else may have the details.

[Alamo-Girl]

Thanks for the ping!

[Alamo-Girl]

Thank you so much for the ping!

[jnarcus]

Czech intelligence never denied this. They have always maintained it happened. It was the US and other security agencies ( including the French) who saud ut didn't happen

[Fedora]

Thanks--I need to get my memory straight on the details of that. Here's some threads I found in my archives which have some details:

QUAGMIRE OF SPIN: SADDAM’S LINKS TO AL QAEDA

2000-2001: The often-refuted meetings in Prague in June 2000 and in April of 2001 between 9-11 hijack captain Mohammed Atta and Iraqi “diplomat” Ahmed Khalil Ibrahim Samir al-Ani, did indeed take place. The August 2, 2002 edition of the Los Angeles Times quotes an unnamed high official in the Bush Administration as saying that evidence of the Prague meetings “holds up.” A Czech intelligence agent has stated publicly that he witnessed and reported al-Samir and Atta hugging goodbye in the airport following the 2001 meeting.

No matter what the MMC repeatedly says, since Czech interior minister Stanislas Gross made it official on October 26, 2001 and was later corroborated by prime minister Milos Zeman, the only wavering on the matter has come from Vaslav Havel after intense pressure from the Media Left in Europe (and possibly a tad from the White House). All Havel finally said was that the meeting “MAY” not have happened. Naturally the MMC has taken this one inconclusive statement as conclusive evidence that the meeting never happened, conveniently ignoring far weightier evidence to the contrary.

Some in the media also cite CIA sources that say there is no record of Atta leaving the country during April 2001, and that he may have rented a car in Florida at that time. First, this completely ignores the June 2000 meeting, which the CIA itself has confirmed publicly. Second, it conveniently ignores that Atta routinely traveled on false passports and that his operatives may have purposely rented a car with his ID to establish an alibi presence in Florida, when he was indeed in Czechoslovakia.

The Czechs, it should be noted, spurred by the last Atta meeting with al-Ani, expelled the Iraqi agent not long after he saw Atta off at the airport. The reason was his suspected involvement in a plot to bomb Radio Free Europe. Radio Free Europe is an icon and entity of the United States of America.

CASE CLOSED (Osama-Saddam Link Proved in Intel Cmte Brief)

And then there is the alleged contact between lead 9/11 hijacker Mohamed Atta and an Iraqi intelligence officer in Prague. The reporting on those links suggests not one meeting, but as many as four. What's more, the memo reveals potential financing of Atta's activities by Iraqi intelligence.

The Czech counterintelligence service reported that the Sept. 11 hijacker [Mohamed] Atta met with the former Iraqi intelligence chief in Prague, [Ahmed Khalil Ibrahim Samir] al Ani, on several occasions. During one of these meetings, al Ani ordered the IIS finance officer to issue Atta funds from IIS financial holdings in the Prague office.

And the commentary:

CIA can confirm two Atta visits to Prague--in Dec. 1994 and in June 2000; data surrounding the other two--on 26 Oct 1999 and 9 April 2001--is complicated and sometimes contradictory and CIA and FBI cannot confirm Atta met with the IIS. Czech Interior Minister Stanislav Gross continues to stand by his information.

It's not just Gross who stands by the information. Five high-ranking members of the Czech government have publicly confirmed meetings between Atta and al Ani.

Abu Nidal, September 11 and Saddam: The terrorist network may be closer knit than we think

Then there were the visits to Prague by Atta. On two separate occasions, Atta--not a man given to the earthly pleasures of sightseeing--traveled to Prague to meet Khalil Ibrahim Samir al-Ani, an Iraqi agent later expelled from the Czech Republic as a spy. Since the information surfaced last fall, there have been numerous efforts to bury the story--the most tangible evidence linking Sept. 11 to Baghdad. The Czech government, however, had little reason to question its own intelligence on the Atta trips and stood by the story. Last month, a high-ranking White House official confirmed the meeting.

[Prince Charles]

Very interesting. Bttt.

[okie01]

"BTW I seem to remember that Czech intelligence initially reported this and then later denied it--anyone seen an explanation on what caused their flip-flop?"

The Czechs didn't flip-flop. But that didn't stop the NYTimes from claiming that they did.

Reporting from "reliable sources inside the intelligence community", the Times said that Vaclav Havel had called President Bush and assured him that the Czech intelligence services had "no credible evidence" that al-Ani had ever met with Atta in Prague, as was claimed.

Two days later, they Times was forced to print a retraction. The Czech Ambassador instructed them that Havel had done no such thing.

[Fedora]

Thanks for correcting the details on Havel's position! So the alleged flip-flop was a fabrication of the NYT--that figures. Do you happen to know which reporter wrote that article for the Times, or have a link to the article?

[okie01]

"So the alleged flip-flop was a fabrication of the NYT--that figures. Do you happen to know which reporter wrote that article for the Times, or have a link to the article?"

Don't have a link, though Shermy might have one. I believe Isikoff also reported this...perhaps from the same source.

I would not be surprised if the source was our old friend, Richard Clarke...

[Tennessean4Bush]

ROTFLMAO!

[Shermy]

maybe here

Domestic Anthrax Theories and Early Media Reports

[Fedora]

I'm looking to see what I have on that--here's one early article from the NYT I found:

PATRICK E. TYLER with JOHN TAGLIABUE, "Czechs Confirm Iraqi Agent Met With Terror Ringleader", New York Times, Saturday, October 27, 2001

I also found this from another source:

Kate Swoger, "Intelligence chief casts doubt on Atta meeting", Prague Post, 07/15/2002

[okie01]

Seems to me that somebody in the federal government is actively interested in burying any Iraq-terrorism connection -- whether associated with 9/11, Oklahoma City or al-Qaeda.

Obviously, that somebody also has strong connections with the media.

What isn't so clear is the motivation. Offhand, I can think of three possibilities.

1. Bureaucracy: an attempt to cover-up one's own (or one's own agency's) mistaken assessments.

2. Politics: an attempt to undermine what would constitute clear public justification for the Iraq war.

3. Treason: a mole who was on Saddam's payroll. Or al-Qaeda's...

The temptation is to believe the former. But the possibility (and danger) of the latter can't be ignored.

That the middle one is even plausible says volumes...

[VOA]

bump

[potlatch]

Thanks for the ping, ovrtaxt!!

[Fedora]

I agree. My own suspicion is it may partly reflect an attempt to cover up blowback associated with Oklahoma City; in addition to the more obvious factor of the liberal media's desire to avoid linking 9/11 to Iraq.

[ladyinred]

This kind of thing has been out there for a long time, but anyone who mentioned it was called a tin foiler.

[ovrtaxt]

You're quite welcome. And in the spirit of the current time in which we find ourselves, I would just like to issue my apology for the ping, if perhaps it caused any undue inconvenience or distress. Especially if you're Arabic. I understand that nothing is more humiliating to an Arab than getting pinged when no ping is truly wanted. So I'm truly sorry.

[potlatch]

You nut!! LOL, you scared my little dog silly with that!!

[ovrtaxt]

I'm sorry. Truly.

[potlatch]

You truly are...!! Here's one for you;
http://www.lebonze.co.uk/stuff/move.htm
Don't get too rattled, LOL.

[ovrtaxt]

Somebody has too much time on their hands.

[ovrtaxt]

Okay, how do I get my window back in the right spot!?!

[potlatch]

Okay, how do I get my window back in the right spot!?!

You gotta 'PING' it!!!