WSJ: Saddam's Files Show 'Direct' 9/11 Link (Salman Pak)

Newsmax.com & Wall Street Journal ^ | 5/27/04 | Carl Limbacher

[sathers]

Newly uncovered files examined by US military investigators in Baghdad show what is being described as 'a direct link' between Saddam Hussein's elite Fedayeen military unit and the terrorist attacks on America September 11, 2001.

Ahmed Hikmat Shakir, who attended a 2000 Al Qaeda summit in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia where the 9/11 attacks were planned, is listed among the officers on three Fedayeen rosters reviewed by US probers, the Wall Street Journal reported Thursday.

'Our government sources, who have seen the translations of the documents, say Shakir is listed with the rank of Lt. Colonel,' the paper said.

Saddam's Fedayeen has been identified in previous reports as the group that conducted 9/11 style hijack training drills on a parked Boeing 707 airliner at the south Baghdad terrorist camp Salman Pak.

In a post obtained through Saddam's Mukahbarrat intelligence service, Shakir was stationed at the Iraqi embassy in Kuala Lumpur at the time of the 9/11 planning session.

Also in attendance, 9/11 highjackers Khalid al Midhar and Nawaz al Hamzi who piloted American Airlines Filght 77 when it crashed into the Pentagon.

Ramzi al Shibh, the operational planner of the 9/11 attacks, and Tawfiz al Atash, a high ranking Osama bin Laden lieutenant and mastermind of the USS Cole boming, were also at the meeting the Journal said.

[adhesive]

Other than the I-told-you-so factor, I'd like to know what you all think this really means. The Pakistani army has many Taliban members... I'm sure members of the ISI are AQ affiliated. Pakistan is still our super-special ally, too.

[Eva]

When you put this criticism of the failure of communication on the part of the Bush administration together with the article about the story of
Fallujah and the lack of communication there, you see a clear pattern of an inadequate PR job. My suggestion to Bush would be to send his own PR team to the mid-east and do regular press releases, including photos. The lame-stream press can use them at will, but at least would not be able to twist the truth so wantonly.

[adhesive]

Maybe they can have Karen Ryan and Alberto Garcia do those report too...

[Bobbisox]

And the Rope-a-Dope Begins. I wonder if the media will carry it? Email this article to all news outlets!

[BJClinton]

Here's the link to WSJ. You may need to register though.

And an excerpt:

Saddam's Files
New evidence of a link between Iraq and al Qaeda.

Thursday, May 27, 2004 12:01 a.m. EDT

One thing we've learned about Iraq since the fall of Saddam Hussein is that the former dictator was a diligent record keeper. Coalition forces have found--literally--millions of documents. These papers are still being sorted, translated and absorbed, but they are already turning up new facts about Saddam's links to terrorism.

We realize that even raising this subject now is politically incorrect. It is an article of faith among war opponents that there were no links whatsoever--that "secular" Saddam and fundamentalist Islamic terrorists didn't mix. But John Ashcroft's press conference yesterday reminds us that the terror threat remains, and it seems especially irresponsible for journalists not to be open to new evidence. If the CIA was wrong about WMD, couldn't it have also missed Saddam's terror links?

One striking bit of new evidence is that the name Ahmed Hikmat Shakir appears on three captured rosters of officers in Saddam Fedayeen, the elite paramilitary group run by Saddam's son Uday and entrusted with doing much of the regime's dirty work. Our government sources, who have seen translations of the documents, say Shakir is listed with the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel.

This matters because if Shakir was an officer in the Fedayeen, it would establish a direct link between Iraq and the al Qaeda operatives who planned 9/11. Shakir was present at the January 2000 al Qaeda "summit" in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, at which the 9/11 attacks were planned. The U.S. has never been sure whether he was there on behalf of the Iraqi regime or whether he was an Iraqi Islamicist who hooked up with al Qaeda on his own.

[pgkdan]

bump

[quant5]

HAHAHAHAHHAHAH. That was a good laugh - however, this was printed in the Wall St. Journal.

[DoughtyOne]

Ouch, if you're a dembocrat, this smarts!

[Ranger]

Its like we have a catch and release policy with terrorists. Philippines are great for this. First you catch them, put them in prison, let them escape, rinse and repeat.

[My2Cents]

Your suggestion is a good one, but I fear that there is no "PR team" in the Administration. The White House is in desperate need of one...a good one!

[mewzilla]

Laurie Mylroie was right.

[Peach]

Is this story starting to dribble out? And where are those freepers who constantly disrupted threads like this - the johngalters and burkeman1? Oh, that's right - they are banned.

[Peach]

Saddam/OBL links are here - dozens of articles.

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1127451/posts

[Travis McGee]

I'm sure this will lead the news on all of the networks tonight!

[MHGinTN]

From your cogent post: Although the CIA knew that al-Midhar had a multiple entry visa to the US, it did not put him on a terrorist watchlist or inform immigration authorities or the State Department. The Clinton wall built by Jamie Gorelick and Janet Reno (to protect clinton and the dnc from exposure for the criminal acceptance of campaign funds from the Red Chinese) created a red-tape gordian knot the CIA didn't want to breech because they didn't want to turn everything they knew over to a corrupt White House goon at every turn!

[My2Cents]

Peach you're a....well, you're a peach!

[CT]

And, using Free Republic's Lessons Learned about media bias, how long do you think it will take for the networks, NYT, LAT, and other liberal bastions of 'truth' to report on this?

Hint: about as long as it takes Al Gore to get his sanity back. In other words, ain't gonna happen.

[MHGinTN]

You have neglected to factor in the lies that the dnc lapdog meida will tell repeatedly to blunt the truth regarding the jet sitting at Salman Pak. Already a liberal puke has said on his 'hackball' program that Saddam has said he was training Iraqi security to take back a hijacked jet from hijackers. Of course the testimony of someone actually trained at Salman Pak (a terrorist) is of no consequence to a liberal puke who has his agenda and his talking points to push.

[what's up]

Salmon Pak has been out there for months and months. Yet the media outlets do not report it.

Similar to Abu Ghraib. The media only reported on it when it was oppotune for them...when the soldiers were about to be tried.

[Homer_J_Simpson]

how long do you think it will take for the networks, NYT, LAT, and other liberal bastions of 'truth' to report on this?

Immutable liberal universal rules:

1. There are no WMD and there is no 9/11 connection to Iraq.

2. If WMDs are found or evidence of a 9/11 connection to Iraq is discovered, refer to immutable rule no. 1.