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.