[CobaltBlue]

For those who want to believe that somehow, a meeting between Mohammed Atta and a member of Iraqi intelligence proves that Saddam was behind 9/11, the level of evidence is irrelevant.

Let's assume for the sake of the argument that there was, indeed, one meeting. Let's say the men met, had tea, talked about what they had in common.

To extrapolate from this meeting that Saddam was the mastermind behind 9/11 is ludicrous. Just plain ludicrous.

[Dr. Frank fan]

For those who want to believe that somehow, a meeting between Mohammed Atta and a member of Iraqi intelligence proves that Saddam was behind 9/11

Straw man. I don't "want" to believe, nor do I even think the meeting "proves" Saddam was "behind" 9/11. It represents a link between his regime, and 9/11. There are lots of ways in which Saddam's intelligence service could have been linked to 9/11 without having been "behind" it. Frankly all things considered at this point, if I had to guess, I'd say I don't think Saddam Hussein was "behind" 9/11, but I do think he was linked to it, by virtue of using AQ as a proxy army and funding/aiding their projects. In other words, "linked".

To imply that Saddam had to have been "behind" 9/11 before Americans have the right to care, raises the bar awfully high and I reject that.

One thing people often need to be reminded of is that 9/11 was not the only attack on our soil in 2001, there was also the anthrax. That Atta was given anthrax by Iraq (the weaponized variety sent to Daschle), either at the Prague meeting or just promised delivery at that meeting, is another reasonable inference to be drawn from the fact set (and another reason to be interested in the Atta-Prague meeting). That doesn't require Saddam to have been "behind" 9/11 either. But does that mean we shouldn't care?

Let's assume for the sake of the argument that there was, indeed, one meeting. Let's say the men met, had tea, talked about what they had in common.

Which was what, pray tell?

To extrapolate from this meeting that Saddam was the mastermind behind 9/11 is ludicrous. Just plain ludicrous.

Yes I reckon it is. It's also a BIG FAT STRAW MAN.

I am not saying that such a meeting proves that Saddam was "the mastermind behind 9/11". Just that he was "linked" to it, get it? Good grief.

I'm not even sure that Osama Bin Laden was "the mastermind behind 9/11" in the sense of being heavily involved in its conception, planning, and timing; that was "Khalid Sheikh Mohammed"; Osama knew *something* was in the works (indeed probably said to KSM "go do some big attack"), may have selected WTC as the target, but not necessarily known much about the attack's nature or planned timing in any detail. So does Osama get a clean bill of health too then, because he wasn't "the mastermind behind" 9/11?

This raises the bar to an absurd level.

[KingofQue]

I don't believe he masterminded it. I believe they had a hand in it. How I don't know. Maybe money, maybe forged documents, safe houses, etc. It would seem on the surface, if Atta met al-ani that there is a connection of some kind.
Maybe they were discussing what muslim charity they were going to donate to. Why would alqaeda want to be in contact with Iraqi Intelligence? Why did Saddam turn to Islam when previously he was secular? Saddam miscalculated, he thought the Russians, French, Germans could keep the US off his back. They tried. He bought them. The same thing with the Palestinians, $25,000 for each suicide bomber. If that isn't supporting terror what is?
And forget about the law. Any target is fair game in war. If our military or CIA or any other security service finds out about combatants the can be engaged. Out of uniform, what uniform? They become spies or terrorists and the legal ramifications change completely.

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

Report Details Saddam's Support for Terrorists Who Killed Americans

The above link is the FreeRepublic discussion thread.

The actual article is :

"Saddam Hussein’s Philanthropy of Terror"

It is a pdf document with substantial footnotes and put together by Dewey Murdock of the Hudson Institute.