Saddam's Dangerous Friends

The Weekly Standard ^ | 3-24-2008 | Stephen Hayes

[ikez78]

This ought to be big news. Throughout the early and mid-1990s, Saddam Hussein actively supported an influential terrorist group headed by the man who is now al Qaeda's second-in-command, according to an exhaustive study issued last week by the Pentagon. "Saddam supported groups that either associated directly with al Qaeda (such as the Egyptian Islamic Jihad, led at one time by bin Laden's deputy, Ayman al-Zawahiri) or that generally shared al Qaeda's stated goals and objectives." According to the Pentagon study, Egyptian Islamic Jihad was one of many jihadist groups that Iraq's former dictator funded, trained, equipped, and armed.

[dixiechick2000]

"The national security reporters in its Washington bureau have earned a reputation as reliable outlets for anti-Bush administration spin on intelligence. Strobel quoted a "U.S. official familiar with the report" who told him that the search of Iraqi documents yielded no evidence of a "direct operational link" between Iraq and al Qaeda. Strobel used the rest of the article to attempt to demonstrate that this undermined the Bush administration's prewar claims with regard to Iraq and terrorism"

Yes...they suck...BIG time.

Thank you for the ping, ikez.

[dixiechick2000]

Bump dat!

It gives me the shivers, though...

[ikez78]

no problem. this story is HUGE

[dixiechick2000]

Thank you so much for your reporting.

You are a great asset to this forum.

God love you....

[GodGunsGuts]

///

[Milligan]

Yasin was not in prison. It was another ruse by the Regime.

Our troops found documents in postwar Iraq that Yasin received a salary and housing right up to OIF.

Saddam offered to hand over Yasin to US authorities if they signed a document. Yasin was offered twice...1994 and before OIF. US refused to signed any documents because they included certain conditions and demands.

Be interesting what the conditions were?

[Yardstick]

What they don’t say (or perhaps realize) is that AQ in the north was fighting Kurds on behalf of SH.

This is very interesting if true. Where have you heard this?

[potlatch]

Thank you devolve

[devolve]

You always have the best graphics

[potlatch]

Thanks, I think you missed it yesterday. You taught me well!

[Eva]

If John McCain would make this report the basis of his campaign, I’d vote for him.

[Eva]

Bump. This is a really important article. I wish more people would read it.

[Marine_Uncle]

I had downloaded the document a few days back, then took the time to read through it. The L/MSM have done such a great job of dumbing down America. What small percentage of voters will ever read Hayes or Kristol's commentaries on this issue.

[ikez78]

no problem on ping and yes the media has been criminally irresponsible on this

[Eva]

bump

[gitmo]

Thanks for the ping.

[CutePuppy]

Bush administration officials, meanwhile, tell us that the Iraq war is the central front in the war on terror and that American national security depends on winning there. And yet they are too busy or too tired or too lazy to correct these fundamental misperceptions about the case for war, the most important decision of the Bush presidency.

That's been the signature MO and one of the weakest points of Bush presidency in foreign policy. The concept of "bully pulpit" has been missing in action almost since the beginning of administration...

What good is the truth if nobody knows it?

"If a tree falls in a forest and nobody hears it, does it make a sound?" ... back to the "bully pulpit" issue.

[Thrownatbirth]

Again, at precisely the same time Zawahiri was "joining with bin Laden," the spring of 1993, he was being funded by Saddam Hussein's Iraq

Zarahiri's problem was that he had an army with no guns and no money. Nice to know Saddam kept the Egyptian Islamic Jihad solvent until the fatal linkup of Zawahiri's men with bin Laden's Saudi resources. I think one can safely say that Saddam, in this respect, was somewhat instrumental in the birth of al Qaeda.

[ravingnutter]

"The administration does not want the victims of Sept. 11 interfering with its foreign policy," says Peter M. Leitner, director of the Washington Center for Peace and Justice (WCPJ). Leitner says the Bush administration may be concerned that if other victims of the Sept. 11 attacks also filed lawsuits and won civil-damage awards it would reduce Iraqi resources that the administration wants to use to rebuild the country. Leitner and others say this explains Bush's reticence at this time to report the convincing evidence linking Saddam and al-Qaeda that has been collected by U.S. investigators and private organizations seeking damages. "The [Bush] administration is intentionally changing the topic," claims Leitner, and sidestepping the issue that "Iraq has been in a proxy war against the U.S. for years and has used al-Qaeda in that war against the United States."

The Link Between Iraq and Al-Qaeda

[ravingnutter]

From my files:

Ramzi Yousef (1993 WTC) and Terry Nichols crossed paths (OKC) in the Phillipines. Khalid Sheikh Mohammed (9/11) was Yousef's uncle. It is interesting to note that Yousef entered the United States on an Iraqi passport and had been known among the New York fundamentalists as "Rashid, the Iraqi". Another name that could be thrown into the mix is Abdul Rahman Yasin, a U.S. citizen who moved to Iraq in the 1960's and returned to the U.S. in 1992. After the 1993 WTC bombing, Yasin fled to Iraq and was given monthly salary and housing by Saddam Hussein's regime.

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