Saddam Hussein's Philanthropy of Terror (High Bandwidth Alert

Introduction

Saddam Hussein, after being captured by

U.S. forces in Iraq on December 13, 2003

Here he is, the man they called “The Butcher of Baghdad,” Mr. Saddam Hussein, shortly after U.S. soldiers pulled him from his so-called spider hole in Iraq. How bewildered he must have felt. Not so long before, he was sitting pretty.

Hussein, while still in power

Here he was in his glory days, perhaps relishing the fact that he had invaded Kuwait, burned its oil fields in a dastardly act of eco-vandalism, killed some 5,000 of his own people with chemical weapons at Halabjah, and stuffed another 400,000 or so of his constituents into mass graves.

Did he still possess Weapons of Mass Death? Seemingly not, at least not in the quantities America and its allies expected. But wasn't there another reason America and its Coalition partners invaded Iraq? Didn't Saddam Hussein have ties to terrorism?

The notion that he did not is an article of faith among the critics of President Bush, Tony Blair and their allies. Saddam Hussein, they argue, knew little if anything about terrorism, especially al-Qaeda. Listen to a few of these more notable detractors:

“I never believed in the link between Saddam Hussein, Osama bin Laden, al-Qaeda and Islamist terrorism,” former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright flatly declared in an October 21, 2003 essay published in Australia’s Melbourne Herald Sun.¹

Former Secretary of State, Madeleine Albright >

“Iraq was not a breeding ground for terrorism. Our invasion has made it one,” Senator Ted Kennedy said October 16, 2003.² “We were told Iraq was attracting terrorists from Al Qaeda. It was not.”

< Senator Ted Kennedy (D-Massachusetts)

“As we all know by now,” Washington Post columnist Richard Cohen sniffed last May, “there was never a proven link between Saddam, al-Qaida or even the Crips.” ³

Washington Post columnist Richard Cohen >

In August 2003, former vice president Albert Gore reassuringly stated: “The evidence now shows clearly that Saddam did not want to work with Osama bin Laden at all.” ⁴

< Former vice president Albert Gore

Even those who would be President of the United States cast doubts. "Iraq was not a terrorist haven before the invasion," ⁵ Democratic candidate John Kerry told Philadelphia voters September 24. At the September 30, 2004 presidential debate, Kerry asserted, "Iraq was not even close to the center of the War on Terror before the president invaded it." ⁶

Presidential hopeful, Senator John Kerry (D-Massachusetts) >

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Actually, Saddam Hussein knew plenty about terrorism. In essence, he owned and operated a full-service general store for global terrorists, complete with cash, diplomatic aid, safe haven, training, and even medical attention. Such assistance violated United Nations Security Council Resolution 687. The results not only broke international law, but also were deadly, as this chart demonstrates:⁷

The public evidence of Saddam Hussein’s cooperation with and support for global terrorists is abundant and clear. The Baathist government’s contacts and collaboration with terrorists in general, al-Qaeda in particular, and even the September 11 conspirators should make all Americans highly grateful that President Bush led an international effort to remove Saddam Hussein from power.

Funds for Terrorists

Let’s start with money. At a minimum, we know that Saddam Hussein’s government supported terrorism by paying "bonuses" of up to $25,000 to the families of Palestinian homicide bombers. How do we know this? Tariq Aziz, Hussein's own deputy prime minister, was stunningly candid about the Baathist government’s underwriting of terrorist killings in Israel.

“President Saddam Hussein has recently told the head of the Palestinian political office, Faroq al-Kaddoumi, his decision to raise the sum granted to each family of the martyrs of the Palestinian uprising to $25,000 instead of $10,000,” Aziz, announced at a Baghdad meeting of Arab politicians and businessmen on March 11, 2002, Reuters reported the next day.⁸

Ousted Iraqi deputy prime minister Tariq Aziz >

Saddam Hussein

Aziz simply echoed the policy his boss established one week earlier. As Saddam Hussein put it on Iraqi TV on March 4, 2002:

"We are glad of the Istishhadiyyah [suicide] and heroic spirit of the Palestinian people. By Allah, what the Palestinian people does is beyond my expectations…” ⁹

Saddam Hussein’s vice president, Taha Yassin Ramadan, is the man who Israeli intelligence believes was directly involved in funneling money from Baghdad into the hands of the families of homicide bombers. Documents that the Israeli Defense Force captured in the Palestinian town of Ramallah indicate that Vice President Ramadan used the Arab Liberation Front, the Palestinian Liberation Front, and the Palestinian branch of the Iraqi Baathist party to pass these funds into the hands of terrorists’ families.

Deposed Iraqi Vice President

Taha Yassin Ramadan

Here’s the sort of thing Ramadan bought with Saddam Hussein’s money: On March 9, 2002, Fuad Isma’il Ahmad al-Hurani blew himself up in a Jerusalem restaurant called the Moment Café.

The devastation was extensive inside the eatery.

Far worse, of course, was the human toll. Eleven Israelies were murdered while 52 were wounded.

A little over three months after that carnage, Mrs. Khaldiya Isma’il Abd al-Aziz al-Hurani collected a check for $25,000 as a bonus for her son’s suicide and his homicide of nearly a dozen others. The following check was a “President Saddam Hussein’s Grant” paid via the Palestine Investment Bank. These funds were transferred on June 23, 2002.

In another case, Usama Muhammad Id Bahr and Nabil Mahmud Jamil Halbiyyah blew themselves up in Jerusalem's Zion Square on December 1, 2001. Before setting off to "martyrdom," they also left a car bomb set on a timer two blocks away. It exploded just as rescue workers and emergency personnel arrived on the scene.

Emergency personnel examine terrorist

casualties in Jerusalem's Zion Square

Here again, the physical damage was extensive, but largely reparable. Alas, the human toll was far more severe, what with 11 deaths and 188 injuries.

A secondary car bomb explodes, left behind by terrorists who

blew themselves up in Zion Square moments earlier

The deceased were all between ages 14 and 21. They were out for a night of fun after the end of Sabbath.

Victims of the December 1, 2001 Zion Square terrorist bombing

The only people who benefitted from this barbarism were the relatives of these two bombers who received President Saddam Hussein Grants here, as well.

The following document, captured by the Israeli military in Ramallah, shows a list of Iraqi-subsidized homicide bombers and their atrocities. It mentions the name of Raghib Ahmad Izat Jarradat.

On April 10, 2002, Izat Jarradat boarded a crowded bus strapped with explosives. As the bus approached the busy Yagur junction near Haifa, he blew himself up. Here is his handiwork. This vulgarity killed eight Israelis and wounded 15 others.

A demolished bus, surrounded by victims

of an April 10, 2002 terrorist blast at Yagur Junction

Not all of these victims are Israeli. American Abigail Litle, the daughter of a Baptist minister, was just 14 years old when she was killed on an Israeli bus on March 5, 2003.

Abigail Litle, terror victim

Litle is not alone in that distinction. Between the time Saddam Hussein boosted his bonus payments to the families of Palestinian terrorists and the March 20, 2003 launch of Operation Iraqi Freedom, 28 homicide bombers injured 1,209 people and killed 223 more, including at least eight Americans. These bonus checks were handed out at ceremonies where banners proclaimed the friendship of the PLO’s Yasser Arafat and Saddam Hussein.

At a ceremony celebrating suicide terror bombings, a poster honors

the relationship between Yasser Arafat (left) and Saddam Hussein (right).

Family members of homicide bombers received “certificates of merit,” such as this one handed to the relatives of a killer in Gaza on July 18, 2002.

Here it is, up close.

Certificate recognizing a suicide bomber's "martyrdom." Note the attached

"President Saddam Hussein's Grant" check in the lower right-hand corner.

These families showed their thanks for these cash infusions, even as their sons (and occasional daughters) blasted themselves to bits.

The Palestinian newspaper, Al Hayat, in December 2000 featured this letter expressing gratitude and appreciation to President Yasser Arafat and to President Saddam Hussein from the family of Imad Al-Dib Badir Al-Dayah. >

< This January 2001 letter, in the Palestinian paper, Al Quds, says: “Gratitude and appreciation to the President of Iraq and his great people from the relatives of the martyrs Amjad Hassinah and Fadi Dhabayah.” ¹⁰

Diplomatic Assistance for Terrorists

Abu Abbas, Iraqi-supported terrorist

In addition to funds, Saddam Hussein's government provided diplomatic help to Islamic extremists. This is Abu Abbas, former secretary general of the Palestine Liberation Front. He masterminded the October 7-9, 1985 hijacking of an Italian cruise ship whose name, sadly, is now synonymous with terrorism. The Achille Lauro was on a voyage across the Mediterranean when four Palestinian terrorists seized it on the high seas. They held some 400 passengers hostage for 44 hours.

The Italian cruise ship, Achille Lauro

At one point, they segregated the Jewish passengers on board. One of them was a 69-year-old New York retiree named Leon Klinghoffer. He happened to be confined to a wheelchair. Without mercy, Abu Abbas’ men shot Klinghoffer, then rolled him, wheelchair and all, into the Mediterranean.

Leon Klinghoffer (left), terror victim

The hijackers surrendered to Egyptian authorities in exchange for safe passage to Tunisia. Abu Abbas then joined them on a flight to freedom aboard an Egypt Air jet. However, four U.S. fighter planes forced the airliner to land at a NATO base in Sicily. Italian officials took the hijackers into custody. But Abbas possessed the ultimate get-out-of-jail card: An Iraqi diplomatic passport.

How do we know this?

The source for this information is not Ann Coulter or Rush Limbaugh. It is none other than this man, Bettino Craxi. At that time, he was Italy’s prime minister. As Craxi explained in an October 14, 1985 UPI story: “Abu Abbas was the holder of an Iraqi diplomatic passport…The plane was on an official mission, considered covered by diplomatic immunity and extra-territorial status in the air and on the ground.” Seeing that this terrorist traveled as a credentialed Iraqi diplomat, the Italian authorities let Abbas flee to Yugoslavia. After political parties furiously withdrew from Craxi’s coalition, the Italian government collapsed. ¹¹

Former Italian Prime Minister Bettino Craxi

The man pictured below is Hisham al Hussein, the former second secretary at Iraq’s embassy in Manila.

Deported Iraqi diplomat Hisham al Hussein

The Philippine government expelled him on February 13, 2003, just five weeks before the start of Operation Iraqi Freedom. Cell phone records indicate he had spoken with Abu Madja and Hamsiraji Sali, two leaders of Abu Sayyaf, al-Qaeda’s de facto franchise for the Philippines. The timing was particularly suspicious, as he had been in contact with the Abu Sayyaf terrorists just before and after they conducted an attack in Zamboanga City.

Abu Sayyaf’s nail-filled bomb exploded on October 2, 2002, injuring 23 individuals and killing two Filipinos and one American. That American was U.S. Special Forces Sergeant First Class Mark Wayne Jackson, age 40.

In a tragically familiar scene (above), soldiers bring home the flag-draped casket of another American terror victim. U.S. Special Forces Sergeant First Class Mark Wayne Jackson (right) was killed October 2, 2002 in a bomb attack by Abu Sayyaf, al-Qaeda's Philippine franchise.

As Dan Murphy wrote in the February 26, 2003 Christian Science Monitor, those tell-tale cell phone records bolster the televised claim by Hamsiraji Sali, a top Abu Sayyaf terrorist, that the Iraqi diplomat had offered this group of Islamo-fascists Baghdad’s help with joint missions. ¹²

Safe Haven for Terrorists

Beyond cash and diplomatic help, Saddam Hussein was the Conrad Hilton of the terrorist world. He provided a place for terrorists to kick back, relax, and reflect after killing people for a living.

After escaping Italian police in October 1985 following the Achille Lauro hijacking (thanks to his Iraqi diplomatic passport), Abu Abbas finally ended up in Baghdad in 1994, where he lived comfortably as one of Saddam Hussein’s guests. U.S. soldiers caught Abbas in Iraq in April 2003. This time, he did not get away. He died last March 9, in American custody, reportedly of natural causes.

Abu Abbas, Iraqi-supported terrorist

Abbas' Baghdad sojourn was not an isolated incident. Saddam Hussein granted avowed international terrorists refuge in Baathist Iraq. Terror mastermind Abu Nidal also enjoyed his hospitality.

Abu Nidal, Iraqi-supported terrorist

Nidal lived comfortably in Iraq between 1999 and August 2002. As the Associated Press reported on August 21, 2002, Nidal’s Beirut office said he entered Iraq “with the full knowledge and preparations of the Iraqi authorities.” ¹³ Prior to his relocation, he ran the eponymous Abu Nidal Organization — a Palestinian terror network behind attacks in 20 countries, at least 407 confirmed murders, and some 788 other terror-related injuries. Among other savage acts, Nidal’s group used guns and grenades to attack a ticket counter at Rome’s Leonardo da Vinci airport on December 27, 1985. Another cell in Austria simultaneously assaulted Vienna’s airport, killing 19 people.

Rome's Leonardo da Vinci airport littered with corpses after

a December 27, 1985 attack by the Abu Nidal Organization

Among the five Americans that Abu Nidal murdered that day was John Buonocore III, a 20-year-old Fairleigh Dickinson College student who had studied in Rome that fall semester. Buonocore was shot in the back while checking in for his flight home. He had hoped to return to Wilmington, Delaware to help his father celebrate his 50^th birthday.

John Buonocore III, terror victim

The New York Times reports that Abu Nidal's Fatah Revolutionary Council murdered the following 17 Americans, at a minimum:

Americans killed in the Abu Nidal Organization's December 27, 1985 attack on Rome's airport:

*John Buonocore III, 20, of Wilmington, Delaware

*Frederick Gage of Madison, Wisconsin

*Natasha Simpson, 11, of New York

*Don Maland of New Port Richey, Florida

*Elena Tomarello, 67, of Naples, Florida

The New York Times, December 29, 1985

American executed during ANO's 1986 hijacking of a Pan Am jet at Karachi, Pakistan's airport:

*Rajesh Kumar of Huntington Beach, California

The New York Times, September 7, 1986

Americans slaughtered in ANO's September 8, 1974 bombing of a TWA jet over the Ionian Sea en route from Israel to Greece, killing all 88 aboard:

*Eitan Bard of Tuckahoe, New York

*Seldon Bard of Tuckahoe, New York

*Ralph H. Bosh of Madison, Connecticut

*Jon L. Cheshire of Old Lyme, Connecticut

*Jeremiah Hadley of Poughkeepsie, New York

*Katherine Hadley Michel of Poughkeepsie, New York

*Frederick Hare of Bernardsville, New Jersey

*Margaret Hare of Bernardsville, New Jersey

*Don H. Holliday of Mahwah, New Jersey

*Dr. Frederick Stohlman of Newton, Massachusetts

*Mrs. Frederick Stohlman of Newton, Massachusetts

The New York Times, September 10, 1974

If there is any justice here, perhaps it is the fact that Abu Nidal died in August 2002. Saddam Hussein’s government claimed that he committed suicide by shooting himself in the head — four times.¹⁴

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So far, we have documented that Saddam Hussein harbored terrorists (many with al-Qaeda links) responsible for international mayhem and even the incidental deaths of Americans. But is there any evidence that Iraq sheltered those responsible for attacks on America?

Enter Abdul Rahman Yasin, pictured below in a U.S. State Department "Wanted" poster.

Abdul Rahman Yasin

This Indiana-born, Iraqi-reared terrorist remains wanted by the FBI for his role in the February 26, 1993 World Trade Center attack. President Bill Clinton's Justice Department indicted Yasin for mixing the chemicals in the bomb that exploded in the parking garage beneath the Twin Towers, killing six and injuring 1,042 people in New York.

An NYPD officer escorts a woman suffering from

smoke inhalation after the February 26, 1993 WTC bombing

Soon after the smoke cleared, Yasin returned to Iraq. Coalition forces have discovered documents that show he enjoyed housing and a monthly government salary.

Former ABC News correspondent Sheila MacVicar looked for Yasin, and here is what she reported on July 27, 1994: “Last week, [television program] Day One confirmed [Yasin] is in Baghdad…Just a few days ago, he was seen at [his father’s] house by ABC News. Neighbors told us Yasin comes and goes freely.” ¹⁵

Former ABC News correspondent

Sheila MacVicar

Since Iraq was liberated, Yasin remains at large.

Medical Treatment for Terrorists

Saddam Hussein’s general store for terrorists included medical care, too.

Abu Musab al Zarqawi, Iraqi-supported terrorist

This is Abu Musab al Zarqawi. After running an al-Qaeda training camp in Afghanistan, he found his way to Baathist Baghdad, where he reportedly checked into Olympic Hospital, an elite facility run by the late Uday Hussein, son of the captured tyrant. Zarqawi is believed to have received medical treatment for a leg injury sustained while dodging American GIs who toppled the Taliban. He convalesced in Baghdad for some two months. Once he was back on his foot, Zarqawi then opened an Ansar al-Islam terrorist training camp in northern Iraq. Zarqawi is thought to be behind the October 28, 2002 assassination of this man, Lawrence Foley:

U.S. diplomat Lawrence Foley, terror victim

Foley was a U.S. diplomat in Amman, Jordan who worked on international development projects. For that "transgression," he was gunned down and killed in his driveway at home.

Police crowd the blood-stained driveway

of murdered American diplomat Lawrence Foley

Training for Terrorists

According to dissidents, journalists who have visited, and even United Nations weapons inspectors, Saddam Hussein appears to have offered training to terrorists, in addition to funding, diplomatic help, safe haven and medical care.

The Associated Press reports that Coalition forces shut down at least three terrorist training camps in Iraq. The most notorious of these was the base at Salman Pak, about 15 miles southeast of Baghdad. Before the war, numerous Iraqi defectors said the camp featured a passenger jet on which terrorists sharpened their air piracy skills. This satellite photo shows an urban assault training site, a three-car train for railway-attack instruction, and a commercial airliner sitting all by itself in the middle of the desert.¹⁶

Salman Pak terrorist training camp near Baghdad

VIEW ENLARGED PHOTO

The man pictured below is Sabah Khodada, a former Iraqi army captain who once worked at Salman Pak. On October 14, 2001, Khodada granted an interview to PBS television program “Frontline,” stating, “This camp is specialized in exporting terrorism to the whole world.”

Sabah Khodada, Iraqi defector

He added: “Training includes hijacking and kidnapping of airplanes, trains, public buses, and planting explosives in cities ... how to prepare for suicidal operations.”

He continued: “We saw people getting trained to hijack airplanes...They are even trained how to use utensils for food, like forks and knives provided in the plane.” ¹⁷

Does that sound familiar?

A map of the camp that Khodada drew from memory for “Frontline” closely matches satellite photos of Salman Pak, further bolstering his credibility.

Khodada's drawing from memory of the Salman Pak terrorist training

camp (left) closely mirrors the satellite photo of the actual facility (right).

VIEW ENLARGED PHOTO

General Vincent Brooks, who briefed reporters throughout the initial phases of Operation Iraqi Freedom, had his own observations about Saddam Hussein's terrorist pedagogy. Speaking at an April 6, 2003 press conference, General Brooks said: “The nature of the work being done by some of those people that we captured, their inferences to the type of training that they received, all of these things give us the impression that there was terrorist training that was conducted at Salman Pak.” ¹⁸

U.S. Army General Vincent Brooks

An al-Qaeda Link?

So does all of this, or anything else, suggest a tie between Saddam Hussein and al-Qaeda? Some evidence is interesting but far from solid, such as this image that appeared on the front page of the March 27, 2003 New York Post showing U.S. troops at an Iraqi military base in Nasariyah. They encountered a mural that seems to celebrate the destruction of the Twin Towers.

A mural at an Iraqi military base appears to celebrate 9/11.

Recall that Abdul Rahman Yasin, one of the al-Qaeda bombers who hit the World Trade Center in 1993, fled to Iraq after that attack and lived there freely, reportedly with a government salary. That’s one clear link to al-Qaeda.

1993 WTC bomber Abdul Rahman Yasin

in a State Department "Wanted" poster

Then there is the interesting case of Ahmad Hikmat Shakir — an Iraqi VIP facilitator who worked at the international airport in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Citing "a foreign government service," page 340 of the Senate Intelligence Committee's report on pre-Iraq-War intelligence indicates that, "Shakir claimed he got this job through Ra'ad al-Mudaris, an Iraqi Embassy employee" in Malaysia. On January 5, 2000, Shakir greeted Khalid al Midhar and Nawaz al Hamzi at Kuala Lampur’s airport. He then escorted them to a local hotel where these September 11 hijackers met with 9/11 conspirators Ramzi bin al Shibh and Tawfiz al Atash. Five days later, according to The Weekly Standard’s Stephen Hayes, Shakir disappeared. ¹⁹

9/11 hijackers Nawaz al Hamzi and Khalid al Midhar

Khalid al Midhar and Nawaz al Hamzi subsequently spent the morning of September 11, 2001 flying American Airlines Flight 77 into the Pentagon, killing 184 people.

A security camera captures the impact of

American Airlines Flight 77 striking the Pentagon

Firefighters try to control the flames engulfing

the Pentagon on September 11, 2001

Shakir, the Iraqi airport greeter, was arrested in Qatar on September 17, 2001. On his person and in his apartment, authorities discovered documents connecting him to the 1993 WTC bomb plot and “Operation Bojinka,” al-Qaeda’s 1995 plan to blow up 12 jets simultaneously over the Pacific. Interestingly enough, as a May 27, 2004 Wall Street Journal editorial reported, Ahmed Hikmat Shakir's name appears on three different rosters of the late Uday Hussein's prestigious paramilitary group, the Saddam Fedayeen. A government source told the Journal that the papers identify Shakir as a lieutenant colonel in the Saddam Fedayeen. ²⁰

Below is a rare photograph of Ahmad Khalil Ibrahim Samir al-Ani. He was Consul and Second Secretary at Iraq's Czech embassy between March 1999 and April 22, 2001. He long has been suspected of meeting with September 11 ringleader Mohamed Atta, most likely on April 8, 2001. Perhaps at other times, too. While skeptics dismiss this encounter, Czech intelligence found Al-Ani's appointment calendar in Iraq's Prague embassy, presumably after Saddam Hussein's defeat. Al-Ani's diary lists an April 8, 2001, meeting with "Hamburg student." Maybe, in a massive coincidence, Al-Ani dined with a young scholar and chatted about Hegel and Nietzsche.

Former Iraqi diplomat Ahmad Khalil Ibrahim Samir al-Ani

Or perhaps Al-Ani saw a former student from Hamburg named Mohamed Atta to discuss more practical matters. The Czech government sticks to their contention that they did observe this Iraqi diplomat meeting with Mohamed Atta just five months before 9-11. As Czech U.N. Ambassador Hynek Kmonicek explained in a letter to Philadelphia attorney James Beasley, Jr.: “In this moment we can confirm, that during the next stay of Mr. Muhammad Atta in the Czech Republic, there was the contact with the official of the Iraqi intelligence, Mr. Al Ani, Ahmed Khalin Ibrahim Samir, who was on 22nd April 2001 expelled from the Czech Republic on the basis of activities which were not compatible with the diplomatic status.” ²¹ Al-Ani was kicked out of Prague for casing the headquarters of Radio Free Europe and Radio Free Iraq, presumably because he wanted to blow them up.

Czech officials insist 9/11 hijacker Mohamed Atta (above)

met with an Iraqi diplomat five months before piloting

American Airlines Flight 11 into One World Trade Center

Of course, we know what happened next. Mohamed Atta and his henchmen went to airports on the East Coast. Here he is in Portland, Maine at 5:45 a.m. on September 11, 2001.

Hijackers Mohamed Atta and Abdulaziz al Omari clear

airport security three hours before the 9/11 attack

Within just three hours, he and the other pilots were in the air, about to reshape history. He and his evil colleagues turned this lovely vista of America's premier city …

…into a towering inferno.

They stole 2,749 innocent souls from the American family and decapitated the most powerful skyline man ever built.

The New York City skyline before and after the 9/11 attack

Would This Hold Up in Court?

So would any or all of these ties between Iraq and terrorism or Iraq and al-Qaeda, in particular, withstand judicial scrutiny? That’s the question the families of two of those murdered at the World Trade Center wondered. The survivors of George Eric Smith, a 38-year-old senior business analyst with SunGard Asset Management Systems and…

9/11 victim George Eric Smith

…the family of Timothy Soulas, age 35, a foreign currency specialist with Cantor Fitzgerald, sued Baathist Iraq and the Taliban for damages connected to the murders of their loved ones.

9/11 victim Timothy Soulas

The federal trail judge was Harold Baer, Jr. a Clinton appointee. He took testimony from Clinton-designated CIA director James Woolsey and American Enterprise Institute scholar Laurie Mylroie, an adviser to the 1992 Clinton campaign. Baer learned about the Salman Pak camp, and considered other evidence of Saddam Hussein’s ties to al-Qaeda. To be fair, Baer did not hear Hussein’s side, as the Iraqi dictator did not respond to the suit. Nevertheless, Baer issued his decision.

As the May 8, 2003 New York Post and other news outlets reported, Baer ruled that Saddam Hussein’s government was complicit in the September 11 attacks and that the Baathist government owed the plaintiffs a judgment of $104 million.

As Baer stated on May 7, 2003:

“I conclude that plaintiffs have shown, albeit barely, ‘by evidence satisfactory to the court’ that Iraq provided material support to bin Laden and al Qaeda.” ²²

U.S. District Court Judge Harold Baer, Jr.

This lead to the following headline from the most unimpeachable name in news, CBS: “Court Rules: Al Qaida, Iraq Linked.”

Thus, there is abundant and undeniable evidence that Saddam Hussein provided money, diplomatic services, shelter, medical care, and training to terrorists of every stripe, including those complicit in the 1993 WTC bombing and — according to a Clinton-appointed federal judge — the September 11 attacks. The Iraqi dictator aided al-Qaeda and other global terrorists who murdered Americans, both at home and abroad.

Saddam Hussein was a living threat to American national security and the safety of the civilized world. Earth is a safer place with him now where he belonged all along:

BEHIND BARS.

— Deroy Murdock thanks Justin Berzon for his generous creative and technical contribution to this report.

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ENDNOTES:

Click here for a printable version including full Web URLs

1. Madeleine Albright, “How we tackled the wrong tiger.” Melbourne Herald Sun, October 21, 2003, page 19.

2. Anne E. Kornblut, “Kennedy to assail Bush over Iraq war.” Boston Globe, October 16, 2003. VIEW HERE

3. Richard Cohen, "Iraqi chaos product of Bush's consistency." Columbia (Missouri) Daily Tribune, May 29, 2004. VIEW HERE

4. CBS News, “Gore Takes Aim At Bush: Former Veep Addresses New York Audience.” August 7, 2003. VIEW HERE

5. John Kerry, Speech at Temple University, September 24, 2004. VIEW HERE

6. CNN.com, Key points of Thursday's debate. October 1, 2004. VIEW HERE

7. Deroy Murdock, “Saddam Hussein’s Philanthropy of Terror.” The Hudson Institute: American Outlook, Fall 2003, page 50. VIEW HERE

8. Reuters, “Hussein vows cash for martyrs.” March 12, 2002. Published in The Australian, March 13, 2002, page 9.

9. Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs, “Iraqi Support for and Encouragement of Palestinian Terrorism,” September 30, 2002. This online document provided most of the background on Baathist Iraq’s sponsorship of the anti-Israeli Intifada. VIEW HERE

10. Ibid.

11. United Press International, untitled dispatch by Rome, Italy correspondent, Paula Butturini. October 14, 1985. Cited in Paul Crespo, “Evidence Supports That Hussein Had Strong Links With Terrorists,” Miami Herald, June 1, 2004. VIEW HERE

12. Dan Murphy, “Iraq to ‘outsource’ counterattacks. Baghdad is using embassies to forge ties with extremist groups to attack US facilities, say Filipino officials.” The Christian Science Monitor, February 26, 2003. VIEW HERE

13. Sameer N. Yacoub, “Iraq claims terrorist leader committed suicide.” August 21, 2002 Associated Press dispatch published in Portsmouth Herald, Portsmouth, New Hampshire, August 22, 2002. VIEW HERE

14. Associated Press, “Palestinian officials say Abu Nidal is dead.” Posted on USAToday.com, week of August 19, 2002. VIEW HERE

15. Sheila MacVicar, “‘America’s Most Wanted’ – Fugitive Terrorists.” ABC News’ “Day One,” July 27, 1994.

16. Ravi Nessman, “Marines capture camp suspected as Iraqi training base for terrorists.” Associated Press, April 6, 2003, 4:14 p.m. EST. Posted by St. Paul Pioneer Press VIEW HERE

17. PBS Frontline, “Gunning for Saddam: Should Saddam Hussein Be America’s Next Target in the War on Terrorism?” November 8, 2001. Read interviews and other information at: VIEW HERE

18. Nessman, supra.

19. Stephen F. Hayes, “Dick Cheney Was Right: ‘We don’t know’ about Saddam and 9/11.” The Weekly Standard, October 20, 2003. VIEW HERE

20. “Saddam’s Files,” (Staff editorial), The Wall Street Journal, May 27, 2004, page A20.

21. Hynek Kmonicek, Czech Ambassador to United Nations, Letter to James Beasley, Jr. February 24, 2003. VIEW HERE

22. CBSNews.com, “Court Rules: Al Qaida, Iraq Linked,”

May 7, 2003. VIEW HERE

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