Saddam’s Terror Ties (Three years later, same story)

National Review Online ^ | October 31, 2003 | Deroy Murdock

[bpjam]

As President Bush more robustly promotes his Iraq policy, he should confront directly those who dismiss Saddam Hussein's ties to terrorism and, thus, belittle a key rationale for Operation Iraqi Freedom. Bush's critics employ a flimsy argument that nonetheless enjoys growing appeal among a largely hostile press corps. Since Hussein did not order the September 11 attacks — the fuzzy logic goes — he has no ties to terrorists, especially al Qaeda. Therefore, the Iraq war was bogus, and Bush should be defeated.

snip....

Bush and his national-security team should repeatedly devote entire speeches and publications — complete with documents, names, and visuals, including photographs of terrorists and their innocent victims — to remind Americans and the world that Baathist Iraq was a general store for terrorists, complete with cash, training, lodging, and even medical attention.

[bpjam]

We have gone nearly three years and the democrats and their MSM lackeys are still stuck on stupid. They are literally saying the exact same thing over and over and over and over and ignoring the same facts which NRO and others have been tossing in their faces (repeatedly).

And they can't figure out why they haven't won any elections without the word 'Clinton' on the ballot. And Bush and the WH still hasn't figured out that they need to maintain the campaign to put the facts out there to keep the wolves at bay.

[Albertafriend]

This is exactly the kind of article I've been waiting for. And you're right--it's high time to get this information out!

[My2Cents]

It is a fact that Saddam gave sanctuary to international terrorists. It is also a fact that al Qaeda under the direction of Musab al-Zarqawi was already operating and planning terrorist strikes from within Saddam's Iraq, just prior to the Coalition invasion. Zarqawi was based in Afghanistan until the US toppled the Taliban. Zarqawi moved to Iraq, and operated freely. With al Qaeda forced to flee Afghanistan, Iraq was becoming the sanctuary for al Qaeda. The under-reported chemical weapons attack in Jordan, which was foiled in April 2004, was sponsored by al Qaeda in Iraq. It was intended to kill upwards to 80,000 people. Funding and expertise for the attack came from al Qaeda. It doesn't take much imagination to figure out where the chemical weapon came from. This incident alone proves Saddam's links to not just terrorism, but to al Qaeda, and his willingness to provide al Qaeda with WMDs.

The Bush Administration has done a horrible job making information like this known.

[My2Cents]

I've posted the details here.

[Brad from Tennessee]

Over time, historians and scholars with more objectivity than prevails in our polarized times, will study this evidence and much more and come to the same conclusions Bush, Blair, most of the U.S. Congress and many foreign heads of state came to by 2003. Bill Clinton's administration, in its last months, had reluctantly concluded that Iraq was the most dangerous and unpredictable state in the Middle East and regime change was the only option. When Bush came into office the plans for the invasion of Iraq were already on the shelf.

[Dahoser]

Five simple connections between Saddam and terrorism:

1. Saddam was giving $25,000 to the families of Palestinian suicide bombers.
2. Palestinian terrorist Ahmed Walid Raguib al-Bazon was taken out in the first night of bombing Iraq.
3. Salman Pak
4. Abu Nidal
5. Abu Abbas

Doesn't take much to say those five things.

[nutmeg]

ping!

Please FReepmail me if you want on or off my ‘miscellaneous’ ping list.

[stockstrader]

True. But as a previous post stated, the President has done a HORRIBLE job of highlighting the many and huge accomplishments his administration can take credit for.

Hopefully, the President will stay on the offensive and remind everyone what has been accomplished--because so far, the democrats have won the PR battle.

[Dahoser]

It is a continuing frustration with this President and the Republicans in general how they don't seem to understand that they have to get the message out there and keep it out there.

[Dajjal]

"Bush lied" bump

[piasa]

Saddam Hussein's intermediary between his intelligence service and al Qaeda was, as we know, the Sudanese National Islamic Front leader Hassan Turabi :

1992 - 1995 : (SUDAN : SERIES OF MEETINGS BETWEEN THE IRAQI INTELLIGENCE SERVICE AND AL QAEDA; OTHER MEETINGS WERE IN PAKISTAN AND IRAQ; IN IRAQ MEMBERS OF AL QAEDA WOULD SOMETIMES MEET IRAQI INTELLIGENCE CHIEF MANI ABD AL RASHID AL TIKRITI IN A SAFE HOUSE ---See also IRAQ AL QAEDA/AL QAEDA IRAQ, NATIONAL ISLAMIC FRONT, HASSAN AL TURABI aka TURABI) 4. According to a May 2003 debriefing of a senior Iraqi intelligence officer, Iraqi intelligence established a highly secretive relationship with Egyptian Islamic Jihad, and later with al Qaeda.
The first meeting in 1992 between the Iraqi Intelligence Service (IIS) and al Qaeda was brokered by al-Turabi.
[* My note: leader of Sudan's al Qaeda affiliated National Islamic Front, Hassan al-Turabi ]
Former IIS deputy director Faruq Hijazi and senior al Qaeda leader [Ayman al] Zawahiri were at the meeting--the first of several between 1992 and 1995 in Sudan. Additional meetings between Iraqi intelligence and al Qaeda were held in Pakistan.
Members of al Qaeda would sometimes visit Baghdad where they would meet the Iraqi intelligence chief [Mani abd-al-Rashid al-Tikriti] in a safe house. The report claimed that [Iraqi leader] Saddam [Hussein] insisted the relationship with al Qaeda be kept secret. After 9-11 [2001], the source said Saddam made a personnel change in the IIS for fear the relationship would come under scrutiny from foreign probes.
------- "The U.S. government's secret memo detailing cooperation between Saddam Hussein and Osama bin Laden. ," by Stephen F. Hayes, 11/24/2003, the Weekly Standard, Volume 009, Issue 11

1995 : (THE ISLAMIC COMMITTEE FOR PALESTINE, aka ISLAMIC CONCERN PROJECT aka ICP IS FORMED; IT HOSTS AS SPEAKERS SCH NOTABLES AS ABDEL AZIZ OFDEH THE FOUNDER OF PALESTINIAN ISLAMIC JIHAD, SHEIKH ABDELRAHMAN OF 1993 WTC BOMBING FAME, HAMAS OFFICIAL SAKR, AND SUDANESE STRONGMAN [AND IRAQ/AL QAEDA INTERMEDIARY] HASSAN AL TURABI --- See ICP FOUNDER SAMI AL ARIAN- also see TARIQ HAMDI aka TARIK HAMDI, and FORMER CLEVELAND OHIO IMAM FAWAZ MOHAMMED DAMRAH) [Sami] Al-Arian's close ties to both PIJ and Hamas go back to at least 1995. Al-Arian used a group he founded, the Islamic Committee for Palestine, to plead for funds for PIJ and Hamas.
Conferences organized by ICP featured Islamic Jihad founder Abdel Aziz-Odeh, Sheik Omar Abdel Rahman (spiritual leader of the 1993 World Trade Center bombers), leading Hamas official Mohammed Sakr and high-ranking Sudanese terrorist Hassan Turabi, a close ally of Osama bin Laden. --------- Democrats' imam was character witness to terror supporter , WorldNetDaily.com ^ | Thursday, July 29, 2004

[piasa]

And Sami al Arian is the famous guy in Tampa, Florida who has ben such a pain in the butt all these years, involved with CAIR, WISE, the AMC, etc. His kid worked for congressman Bonior. Sami al Arian's tied to Abdelrahman Alamoudi the guy who got caught taking Libyan cash to Syria for an assassination plot, who is in turn a relative of the Alamoudi who owns Rock creek corp where the dorky former Ambassador to Gabon Joe Wilson, [hubby of superdooperdoublesecretCIAspy Valerie Plame] worked as a consultant.

I'd think this is too goofy for even a soap opera if it wasn't for real.

[bpjam]

I am constantly stuned that nobody in the media of even the GOP seems to know who Abu Nidal and Abu Abbas where and how incredibly damning evidence it is to have them both found in Iraq. Two of the three biggest terrorists ever (Carlos was the other) prior to OBL are in one place - other than Beirut. If somebody has to question Saddams support of terrorists, they simply have no understanding of terrorism.

[Dahoser]

I'm with you. Why this administration can't make the same simple and straightforward case that Saddam was involved in terrorism, a case made by me, you and countless others here in posting after posting, is beyond comprehension.

Oddly enough, an urban myth gets circulated that the terrorist Ollie North mentioned in his 1987 Iran-Contra testimony was Osama Bin Laden and everyone is all atwitter. It actually turns out to be Abu Nidal, but because it isn't Bin Laden, it gets ignored.

Hellooooo? White House? Would you mind taking advantage of a perfect setup to connect the dots for people: a post-9/11 urban myth about the the most notorious terrorist of our time, Osama Bin Laden, being mentioned in 1987 testimony about terrorism, testimony which actually mentioned two terrorists found in pre-invasion Iraq over 15 years after the testimony!

Abu Nidal and Abu Abbas being there is enough to prove the connection between Saddam and terrorism. Better yet, it's over 15 years later so not only do you get to prove the connection, but you also get to prove how long it can take to catch a single terrorist. And an urban myth that continues to circulate mentions these names which makes it easy to use to get people's attention:

You know Helen/Katie/Chrissie/Jean Francois/Nancy, we have an urban myth going around about Ollie North warning us in 1987 testimony of Osama Bin Laden. Well the reality is that he was talking about Abu Nidal and Abu Abbas, and we found them in pre-invasion Iraq. That isn't a myth, that's a fact. And that fact is just part of the connection between Saddam and terrorism. And it also points out how long it can take to catch a single terrorist."

How hard is this?

[bpjam]

It literally makes me scream at my 65 inch High Def TV on a regular basis. And openly mock liberals I hear talking in restaurants or in public libraries when they make statements about 'no terrorists' or 'no WMD' in Iraq.

I think I understand Bush pretty well (better than virtually anybody in the MSM for sure) but I can't understand why he wouldn't just hammer these forehand winners down the line and bust the MSM everytime they bring up the words Iraq, terrorists or WMD. Tony Snow has done more in the press room but it still doesn't permeate because it isn't televised much.