Posted on 10/15/2006 3:00:46 PM PDT by april15Bendovr
Sunday October 15, 2006
'Missing' Saddam-Osama link could lie here
By IE
Indian Express
A mystery in the US-declared war on terrorism is unfolding in a warren of mountain caves in northeastern Iraq known as Little Tora Bora, home to a core group of Al Qaeda fighters and a small army of local allies.
The mystery is personified by an enigmatic Iraqi based in the remote mountains who has US intelligence asking: Who exactly is Abu Wael? The answer could be pivotal in determining whether Iraqi President Saddam Hussein really has connections to Osama bin Laden.
So far, the evidence is both intriguing and contradictory. Bush backs voluntary small-pox shots for soldiers, medics
One body of evidence points to Abu Wael as a senior Iraqi intelligence officer and as Saddam's secret liaison with Al Qaeda and its Iraqi affiliate, Ansar al-Islam, or Supporters of Islam that would make him the long-sought connection between Iraq and Al Qaeda.
But other evidence suggests that Abu Wael is a senior official in Ansar who deeply opposes Saddam. The intelligence behind both claims comes largely from prisoners held at an unassuming compound in this bustling Kurdish city about an hour from Little Tora Bora. In recent months, the Kurds have allied with the US and have taken dozens of prisoners who provided the information to US intelligence.
Shortly before 9/11, a group of Al Qaeda fighters left Afghanistan, and travelled smugglers' routes through Iran into northern Iraq's Kurdistan. Within two weeks of the attacks, Ansar extremists attacked security forces of the pro-US Kurdish government .
In its Little Tora Bora redoubt, Ansar also tested primitive chemical weapons, including a cyanide gas, on farm animals this year. Fighting broke out last Wednesday when Ansar guerrillas launched a surprise attack on Kurdish security forces, reportedly killing dozens.
Qassem Hussein Mohammed, 36, Ansar's second-in-command who bears a slight resemblance to the Iraqi president claims to be an Iraqi intelligence agent captured by the Kurds in January. According to Mohammed, Abu Wael was a major in the Iraqi army who joined Saddam's top intelligence unit after finishing law school. (LATWP)
Bump!
The problem is the administration refuses to make the case.
What do you think?
What would the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence do with this info?
I am not sure. It's common knowledge that Ansar al-islami was part of Al Qaida, the question is are they linked to Saddam.
I only glanced at this but looks like they're still trying to unravel the puzzle regarding ansar al-islam in northern Iraq...an al-qaeda affiliate but what was or wasn't the connection to Saddam? They've already said there were contacts and connections, but what they will not yet say is that there was any kind of operational relationship.
bump
Lets consult jveritas and see if he has any info on this guy?
That is, contacts and connections between Saddam's Iraq and al-Qaeda but not evidence of an operational relationship. I wasn't saying they've claimed contacts and connections between Saddam and ansar. I really think they're trying to unravel it, and it's tough. (But what do I know? LOL)
Ask for Sandy Berger's assistance.
I believe their probably was an operational link between Al-Mukhabarat and Al Qaida.
"Bush backs voluntary small-pox shots for soldiers, medics"
Hidden code?
ping for later
The name Abu Wael is familiar to me..
And??
That was where I, too, ran amuck.
I then picked up a picture of a man known as Abu Wael that I had acquired from Kurdish intelligence. In the course of my research, several sources had claimed that Abu Wael was on Saddam's payroll and was also an al Qaeda operative, but few had any facts to back up their claim. For example, one Arabic daily, al-Sharq al-Awsat, stated flatly before the Iraq war, "all information indicates [that Abu Wael] was the link between al Qaeda and the Iraqi regime" but neglected to provide any such information. Agence France-Presse after the war cited a Kurdish security chief's description of Abu Wael as a "key link to Saddam's former Baath regime" and an "intelligence agent for the ousted president originally from Baghdad." Again, nothing was provided to substantiate this claim.
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