Why The French Are So Scared & Link To Al Qaeda/Iraq

MANSOOR IJAZ, FOX FOREIGN AFFAIRS ANALYST: Thank you for having me here in Washington.

HUME: What's your -- what are your sources telling you what France might be nervous about here?

IJAZ: Well, there are two separate things. One is what would be uncovered if we were going to go to war with Iraq and essentially obliterate without French help the system that Saddam has set up. And there, what you have to worry about -- let's not forget that the French provided nuclear reactors to Iraq once upon a time.

And there may be a lot more in terms of information that could be brought out about what the French help has been quietly behind the scenes to the Iraqis during the ensuing years thereafter. That is, thing that is could be technically in violation of existing United Nations resolutions.

HUME: And sanctions, right.

IJAZ: Exactly. But there is another more important and more dangerous thing that is at hand. In my judgment, tomorrow Secretary Powell is going to go in front of the United Nations and make a case.

The case that he makes forensically is fairly clear now, that is that he is going to bring in intercepts and he's going to show exactly what it is we know the Iraqis have been moving around to violate the spirit and the letter of 1441. But what he may not be able as to easily talk about is the connection between Al Qaeda and Iraq, because that is not as much of a forensic connection.

HUME: In other words, that is not the kind of thing revealed in intercepts and photographs?

IJAZ: Exactly right. Because now al Qaeda has reduced itself to carrying all if its messages and all the most dangerous things that it does by hand carriage, if you will, by hand messengers.

Now, that is where we come back to what President Bush said in October of last year when he identified a senior al Qaeda leader who had gone to Iraq, received medical treatment to have a leg amputated that was blown up in the Afghan bombing campaign and then proceeded to a northern Iraqi terrorist outfit. What we have not yet heard and this is what my sources are telling me over the past two or three days, is that that leader was in fact, transported through southern Turkey using Albanian mercenaries to transport him into...

HUME: What is his name, by the way?

IJAZ: Abu Masab al-Zawkawi. He was transported through southern Turkey into the Balkans and then ended up in Paris sometime just before Ramadan started...

HUME: Last fall?

IJAZ: ... in 2002, last fall.

Now, the thing that is the most important about this is that when they uncovered the cells in Paris two weeks ago, in the apartment where they uncovered those cells, they found traces of ricin. And those traces of ricin are linked directly to this man Zawkawi.

HUME: These are al Qaeda cells?

IJAZ: These are al Qaeda cells run by Algerian operatives, who are then responsible for going and giving it to the London cell, to the Barcelona cell, to the Milan cell.

And the point I'm trying to make to you is if the French have not publicly acknowledged that they found ricin in that apartment, that is a major breach of what this international war against terrorism is all about. Now, there can only be two reasons for that. One reason is that the French are afraid that there may be 50 other cells like this and don't want to cause a panic inside of France, which is a valid domestic reason.

But I think the more likely reason is that they are deeply concerned if they put that information out there, that then makes the case of al- Zawkawi tied to Iraq, getting recipes from making ricin from Saddam Hussein and bringing those to western Europe to commit terrorist acts.

That is where we sit with the French today, that lying and obfuscation is unacceptable. They need to be called on the mat about this and I hope the secretary will, at minimum, mention the recipe books being moved around inside of Iraq so we can clearly see what the intent of these people are through this process.

HUME: You mean the intent of al Qaeda.

IJAZ: The intent of al Qaeda working with Saddam inside of Iraq.

HUME: Now, in what sense though, would a revelation of this kind other than the fact that this information hadn't been given to western intelligence agency, if it hasn't, embarrass Franc? Very quickly.

IJAZ: It embarrasses France in a very important way. It showed that they are not -- when they had the intelligence -- and by the way, German intelligence is the one that confirmed that Zakawi had gone back to Iraq into Iran. That means the French and the Germans, the two people that are complaining the loudest are the ones with the best intelligence and not sharing it with the world. This is absolutely unacceptable.

HUME: Monsoor Ijaz, very interesting. Thank you, sir.

IJAZ: Thank you for having me.

amazing.

good post...

I heard part of this interview. Ijaz is very credible.

Interesting stuff. Just who is this Ijaz guy and where is he from? He's an analyst for whom? Just curious.

Yes, he was on again this morning and repeated this story again. It was so complicated that I had to find a transcript to properly post it. It's quite amazing and he has a lot of contacts that really know what is going on in the underworld of terrorists.

Holy smokes, Glenn Beck was talking about this last week! Before Powell went to the UN ! Where did Glenn Beck get his info from?

Very interesting post.

If there's anything in it, the French are incredibly stupid. Bush is a gentleman, and doesn't make a practice of embarrassing his friends. He was not vindictive in pursuing clinton after he left office. He would have had no reason to embarrass the French if they had only shown some cooperation.

So the French cooperated with Saddam. Well, in earlier years the CIA cooperated with bin Ladin and the Taliban. What counts is what people are doing after 9/11. If the French cooperated with us now, no one would have made all that much of their earlier misbehavior.

I can't help thinking that the French and the Germans are in some kind of strange self-destructive mode. As the old saying goes, "Those whom the gods would destroy, they first drive mad."

Here is his bio.

Ijaz is founder and chairman of The Crescent Partnerships, a series of New York-based private equity partnerships focused exclusively on the development of national security technologies. The firm’s partners include retired Air Force Lt. Gen. James Abrahamson, former director of President Reagan’s Strategic Defense Initiative and Turkey’s Global Group. Former CIA Director James Woolsey serves as vice chairman of Crescent’s Board of Governors.

As a private American citizen, Ijaz negotiated Sudan’s counterterrorism offer to the Clinton administration in April 1997 and proposed the framework for a cease-fire of hostilities in Kashmir between Indian security forces and Muslim separatists in August 2000.

Ijaz is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and has been featured twice in BARRON’s Currency Roundtable discussions. He has contributed to the editorial pages of the Financial Times, The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post, Newsweek and International Herald Tribune on matters related to nuclear proliferation, terrorism, politics and the Islamic world.

Ijaz received his Bachelor’s degree magna cum laude in Physics from the University of Virginia and received his Master of Science degree in Mechanical Engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology

I'm so glad this was posted; I heard this before my company came today and was hoping to find it on the web to share with friends. Dang the French anyway. Bunch of weenies.

Was this interview a day before Powell went to the U.N.? Also, I thought the ricin the French found was made public.

Pretty decent credentials, I'd say. Thanks for the info.

Yes that was the day before and he re-stated it again today. Also the Ricin story that we heard about was in London.

��5{�� type of stuff is well known amongst the people who travel the diplomatic circuit.

Rumsfeld was over there popping them on the noggins for being so, well, French about the whole damn thing

The truth is the French and the krauts are overrun with Islamists and while they may actually be on our side (at least I like to think in my black little heart they are), they won't have alot of wiggle room until a few million of the bad guys are lining up for (and disappointed there's a shortage of) virgins

This paragraph reminded me of the Clinton failure to nab bin laden.

***As a private American citizen, Ijaz negotiated Sudan’s counterterrorism offer to the Clinton administration in April 1997 and proposed the framework for a cease-fire of hostilities in Kashmir between Indian security forces and Muslim separatists in August 2000.***

Here is the Clinton fiasco.......

The Sudan story also shows that politics can override and policymakers ignore good intelligence. By 1996, Khartoum's enthusiasm for an ideological Islamic state had waned. Pragmatists were prevailing over ideologues. In February 1996, as The Washington Post has reported, Khartoum tried to cooperate on counter-terrorism. Sudan's minister of state for defense (now its U.N. ambassador), Maj. Gen. Elfatih Erwa, secretly visited the United States to propose a trade -- bin Laden's extradition to Saudi Arabia in return for an easing of political and economic sanctions. Riyadh refused.

Three months later, after offering to hand bin Laden over to U.S. authorities, Sudan expelled him, as Deputy National Security Adviser Samuel R. "Sandy" Berger had urged. In July, Sudan gave U.S. authorities permission to photograph two terror camps. Washington failed to follow up. In August, Turabi sent an "olive branch" letter to President Clinton through Ijaz. There was no reply.

In October, Gutbi Al-Mahdi, Sudan's newly appointed, Western-educated intelligence chief, showed sensitive intelligence on terrorists tracked through Khartoum to one of us, Ijaz, to pass on to the Clinton administration. By election day 1996, top Clinton aides, including Berger, knew what information was available from Khartoum and of its potential value to identify, monitor and ultimately dismantle terrorist cells around the world. Yet they did nothing about it.

Here is the rest of the story if anyone is interested.

http://www.benadorassociates.com/article/43

Ping! Pa Ping! Well....well....well...

The French have never been on our side unless they want something from us.

Do you remember when Reagan bombed Libya? France would not let out bombers fly over their airspace!!

France would not let out bombers fly over their airspace!!

Hey! They were making souffles that day!

You forgot to mention that a lot of the "Algerian" terrorist bombings in Southern France really slowed way down after the "gipper" showed Momar he would/could get his! But Mitterand did'nt even say thank you for that. Rude a.. French...Thats Gratitude for ya!(again!)