Replies

Hat tip Flopping aces (much more at the link)

At 9 PM EST tonight CBS' new program "60 Minutes II" will feature a
report on Iraq's continuing nuclear threat and on inspections by the
International Atomic Energy Agency in Iraq. The Nuclear Control
Institute participated in the preparation of the report and urges all to
tune in.

The Iraqi Nat'l Assembly will conclude its two-day extraordinary
session tomorrow. The next "Iraq News" will provide an update on the
ongoing, vituperative exchanges between Iraq and other Arabs.

Meanwhile, it seemed useful to review an issue that arose following
last month's US/UK air strikes-Iraq, Osama bin Ladin, and Muslim
Fundamentalists. That question received far more attention in the
Arabic press, than it did in the US press, where Newsweek, Jan 11 [see
"Iraq News," Jan 6] seemed alone in addressing the issue.

On Dec 26, as AP reported, Al Sharq Al Awsat published an interview
with bin Ladin in which he said, "'The British and the American people
loudly declared their support for their leaders' decision to attack
Iraq. ' . . . This made it 'the duty of Muslims to confront, fight and
kill' Britons and Americans."

A series of articles followed in the international, particularly
Arabic, press about links between Iraq and bin Ladin. Some party/ies
wanted to put the story out, it seems. Some information in the articles
is known and reliable, like the role of Hassan Turabi, head of Sudan's
Islamic movement, in putting Osama bin Ladin in contact with Iraqi
intelligence, during bin Ladin's residence in Khartoum. But other
information would not likely be known to outsiders and seems invented.

That said, on Dec 28, the Italian paper, Corriere della Sera, reported
"Saddam Husayn and Osama Bin Ladin have sealed a pact. Faruq Hijazi,
the former director of the Iraqi secret services and now the country's
ambassador to Turkey, held a secret meeting with the extremist leader on
21 December. . . . Hijazi reiterated Iraq's amenability to offering
shelter to Osama and to his mujahedin, 'You will always be a welcome
guest. . . We cannot forget our debt of gratitude. This was a reference
to the establishment last February of the 'International Islamic Front
against the Crusaders and the Jews,' announced by Osama in the midst of
one of the periodic crises between Iraq and the United Nations. . . The
same ritual was reenacted during the most recent crisis. The day after
the air strikes, Osama called an international news conference and
issued a new statement, including threats that neither Washington nor
London are taking lightly. . . . "

On Jan 1, the Paris-based, Al Watan Al Arabi, reported that in late
Oct, 98, an Iraqi and Sudanese visited bin Ladin in Afghanistan.
"Informed intelligence sources . . . were convinced that it was part of
a new plan for cooperation and coordination, or more accurately a
renewed one, between Iraq, bin Ladin and Sudan. Information available
to these sources confirmed that bin-Ladin began to establish close ties
with Iraq at least five years ago, specifically when the leader of
Muslim extremists chose to reside in Sudan with the blessing and
protection of Dr. Hassan al-Turabi, leader of the National Islamic
Movement. These sources asserted that they received in the past few
years confirmed and detailed information that cooperation between bin
Ladin and Iraq entered 'an important and grave stage' through their
cooperation in the field of producing chemical and biological weapons.
"Al Watan al-Arabi's information indicated that several western
diplomatic and security sources, including European ones, which have
good relations with Sudan, warned in secret reports they sent at the end
of last year that Iraq, Sudan, and bin Ladin were cooperating and
coordinating in the field of chemical weapons. These reports said that
several chemical factories were built in Sudan. They were financed by
bin Ladin and supervised by Iraqi experts and technicians following a
deal between Baghdad, Khartoum, and bin-Ladin. . . .
"Informed sources asserted that the meeting was extremely serious.
The two sides laid down the details of the biggest act of cooperation
and coordination between the extremist Islamic organizations and Baghdad
for confronting the United States, the common enemy. This information
indicated that the meeting focused on the ways with which Iraq could
help the germ and chemical weapons laboratories.
A second meeting was held later in which "Bin Ladin stressed to the
Iraqi envoys that he could reach areas, which the Iraqi intelligence
could not reach. He referred to the spread of his cells in the Arab
countries and the world and focused on his ability to penetrate Arab and
Islamic countries through fundamentalist groups."

http://www.fas.org/irp/news/1999/01/990127-in.htm