Terrorist Behind September 11 Strike was Trained by Saddam

The Telegraph ^ | December 14, 2003 | Con Coughlin

[quidnunc]

Iraq's coalition government claims that it has uncovered documentary proof that Mohammed Atta, the al-Qaeda mastermind of the September 11 attacks against the US, was trained in Baghdad by Abu Nidal, the notorious Palestinian terrorist.

Details of Atta's visit to the Iraqi capital in the summer of 2001, just weeks before he launched the most devastating terrorist attack in US history, are contained in a top secret memo written to Saddam Hussein, the then Iraqi president, by Tahir Jalil Habbush al-Tikriti, the former head of the Iraqi Intelligence Service.

The handwritten memo, a copy of which has been obtained exclusively by the Telegraph, is dated July 1, 2001 and provides a short resume of a three-day "work programme" Atta had undertaken at Abu Nidal's base in Baghdad.

In the memo, Habbush reports that Atta "displayed extraordinary effort" and demonstrated his ability to lead the team that would be "responsible for attacking the targets that we have agreed to destroy".

The second part of the memo, which is headed "Niger Shipment", contains a report about an unspecified shipment — believed to be uranium — that it says has been transported to Iraq via Libya and Syria.

Although Iraqi officials refused to disclose how and where they had obtained the document, Dr Ayad Allawi, a member of Iraq's ruling seven-man Presidential Committee, said the document was genuine.

"We are uncovering evidence all the time of Saddam's involvement with al-Qaeda," he said. "But this is the most compelling piece of evidence that we have found so far. It shows that not only did Saddam have contacts with al-Qaeda, he had contact with those responsible for the September 11 attacks."

-snip-

[Joy Angela]

re: Terrorist Behind September 11 Strike was Trained by Saddam, ...

"Good news! National Review's The Corner has now linked to the Telegraph article."

---

Hillary must be having a hissy-fit!

Oh, to see her head spin!

[Gracey]

Never been a doubt in my mind that Iraq was involved,

Agree. Don't even need this proof. I also believe Saddam was involved with the Oklahoma City bombing, our embassies, and Cole. He's been paying off the Al Qaida to do his dirty work..... and IMO, it's all payback to the USA for us going into Kuwait. He's one of the most revengeful leaders this world has ever had.

Hope to meet up with you and the other FResno FReepers again next year. Thanks for all your kindnesses... You're a very fine group of folk.

[ladyinred]

You are welcome anytime Gracey, we loved having you with us!

[FairOpinion]

There is also another article at the UK Telegraph about this, also written by Con Coughlin, with more details.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2003/12/14/wterr114.xml&sSheet=/news/2003/12/14/ixnewstop.html

Does this link Saddam to 9/11?
(Filed: 14/12/2003)


A document discovered by Iraq's interim government details a meeting between the man behind the September 11 attacks and Abu Nidal, the Palestinian terrorist, at his Baghdad training camp. Con Coughlin reports.


For anyone attempting to find evidence to justify the war in Iraq, the discovery of a document that directly links Mohammed Atta, the al-Qaeda mastermind of the September 11 attacks, with the Baghdad training camp of Abu Nidal, the infamous Palestinian terrorist, appears almost too good to be true.

Ever since four hijacked civilian jets devastated the United States' eastern seaboard on September 11, 2001, there have been any number of reports circulating Western intelligence agencies suggesting that Saddam Hussein's Iraq had close links to al-Qaeda.

Most of the claims relate to meetings between al-Qaeda and Iraqi intelligence to discuss co-operation on matters such as funding, training and equipment.

Prior to the discovery of the document published today by the Telegraph, the most controversial report related to the suggestion that Atta had met Ahmed Khalil Ibrahim Samir al-Ani, a senior Iraqi intelligence officer, in Prague in April 2001.

But while both President Bush and Tony Blair have dropped numerous hints that they believe there was a significant level of co-operation between Saddam and al-Qaeda, their respective intelligence agencies have actively sought to downplay the significance of the relationship, especially the suggestion that Saddam was in any way involved in the September 11 attacks.

To this end America's Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), with the backing of Britain's MI6, have poured scorn on Atta's Prague meeting.

However, the tantalising detail provided in the intelligence document uncovered by Iraq's interim government suggests that Atta's involvement with Iraqi intelligence may well have been far deeper than has hitherto been acknowledged.

Written in the neat, precise hand of Tahir Jalil Habbush al-Tikriti, the former head of the Iraqi Intelligence Service (IIS) and one of the few named in the US government's pack of cards of most-wanted Iraqis not to have been apprehended, the personal memo to Saddam is signed by Habbush in distinctive green ink.

Headed simply "Intelligence Items", and dated July 1, 2001, it is addressed: "To the President of the Ba'ath Revolution Party and President of the Republic, may God protect you."

The first paragraph states that "Mohammed Atta, an Egyptian national, came with Abu Ammer (an Arabic nom-de-guerre - his real identity is unknown) and we hosted him in Abu Nidal's house at al-Dora under our direct supervision.

"We arranged a work programme for him for three days with a team dedicated to working with him . . . He displayed extraordinary effort and showed a firm commitment to lead the team which will be responsible for attacking the targets that we have agreed to destroy."

There is nothing in the document that provides any clue to the identity of the "targets", although Iraqi officials say it is a coded reference to the September 11 attacks.

The second item contains a report of how Iraqi intelligence, helped by "a small team from the al-Qaeda organisation", arranged for an (unspecified) shipment from Niger to reach Baghdad by way of Libya and Syria.

Iraqi officials believe this is a reference to the controversial shipments of uranium ore Iraq acquired from Niger to aid Saddam in his efforts to develop an atom bomb, although there is no explicit reference in the document to this.

Habbush writes that the successful completion of the shipment was "the fruit of your excellent secret meeting with Bashir al-Asad (the Syrian president) on the Iraqi-Syrian border", and concludes: "May God protect you and save you to all Arab nations."

While it is almost impossible to ascertain whether or not the document is legitimate or a clever fake, Iraqi officials working for the interim government are convinced of its authenticity, even though they decline to reveal where and how they obtained it. "It is not important how we found it," said a senior Iraqi security official. "The important thing is that we did find it and the information it contains."

A leading member of Iraq's governing council, who asked not to be named, said he was convinced of the document's authenticity.

"There are people who are working with us who used to work with Habbush who are convinced that it is his handwriting and signature. We are uncovering evidence all the time of Saddam's dealings with al-Qaeda, and this document shows the extent of the old regime's involvement with the international terrorist network."

This is the second document published by this newspaper that appears to highlight Saddam's links with al-Qaeda. Earlier this year the Telegraph published details of another Iraqi intelligence document that indicated Saddam's regime was attempting to set up a meeting with Osama bin Laden, the al-Qaeda leader, who was then based in Sudan.

Intelligence experts point out that a memo such as that written by Habbush would of necessity be vague and short. "Trained intelligence officers hate putting anything down in writing," said one former CIA officer. "You never know where it might turn up."

Certainly the memo's detail concerning Mohammed Atta and Abu Nidal fits in with the known movements of the two terrorists in the summer of 2001. Abu Nidal, the renegade Palestinian terrorist responsible for a wave of outrages in the 1980s, such as the 1985 bomb attacks on Rome and Vienna airports, was based in Baghdad, under Saddam's personal protection, for most of his career.

Having briefly relocated to Libya, Abu Nidal returned to Baghdad at some point in early 2001. At the time it was assumed that Saddam had lured the Palestinian terrorist back to help the Iraqi leader plan a number of terrorist attacks aimed at destabilising American plans to remove him.

In particular, Saddam wanted Abu Nidal to revive his network of "sleeper cells" in Europe and the Middle East to carry out a new wave of attacks. During 2001 Abu Nidal lived in a number of houses in the Baghdad area, including a spacious home in the al-Dora district where he is reported to have met Atta.

The relationship between Abu Nidal and Saddam, however, quickly turned sour, mainly because - as the Telegraph reported at the time - the ageing Palestinian leader was reluctant to accede to Saddam's request to train al-Qaeda fighters in sophisticated terrorist techniques.

Abu Nidal was murdered in August 2001, although the Iraqis tried to claim that he had committed suicide. Habbush appeared at a hastily arranged press conference in Baghdad in an attempt to persuade the sceptical Arab media that Abu Nidal had taken his own life after Iraqi investigators had uncovered a plot to assassinate Saddam.

Although Western intelligence agencies have attempted to trace Atta's movements in the months preceding September 11, there remain several periods during which his precise whereabouts are unknown. Having moved to Florida from Hamburg in 2000, Atta is known to have made at least two trips from the US to Europe in 2001.

In early January he flew to Madrid for a few days. His next confirmed trip was to Zurich in early July. In between, American investigators have concluded from a detailed examination of Atta's credit cards and phone records, that he spent most of the spring and early summer of 2001 in Florida, interspersed by occasional domestic trips. The only confirmed sighting of Atta during this period, however, was on April 26 when he was pulled over for a traffic violation in Florida.

This traffic offence, taken with other evidence collated by FBI agents, is one of the reasons that CIA officials have discounted the report that Atta met an Iraqi intelligence officer in Prague earlier in the month (the Czech authorities claim Atta was in Prague on April 8). Yesterday the New York Times reported that Ani, who was taken into US custody last July, had told American interrogators that he had not met Atta in Prague.

"The Prague meeting does not appear very convincing," said Lorenzo Vidino, a terrorism analyst at The Investigative Project, a non-profit organisation that investigates international terrorism, in Washington. "But even if that meeting did not take place you have to remember that Atta used a large number of aliases when he travelled. It is not inconceivable that Atta slipped out of the US undetected sometime in the first half of 2001."

The US Congressional report into the September 11 attacks states that Atta used 16 to 17 known aliases, although American intelligence experts concede that there may have been others.

It is entirely conceivable, then, that Atta secretly made his way to Baghdad to undertake training with Abu Nidal a few months before the September 11 attacks. But as long as Saddam and his senior intelligence operatives remain at large, it is impossible to assess just how much they knew about, and were involved in, the planning and execution of the September 11 atrocities.

•Con Coughlin is the author of Saddam: The Secret Life (Macmillan)

[PeoplesRepublicOfWashington]

That may explain why they killed Abu Nedal.

Exactly. The mystery of why Abu committed Islamocide by emptying a couple of clips into his head is now, I believe, solved.

[FairOpinion]

In the meantime, the SFChronicle reports that the Iraqi intel officer denies meeing with Atta -- and of course he wouldn't lie, right? :/

Note the article doesn't report at all on the latest discovery.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2003/12/13/MNG573MOJQ1.DTL

Iraqi denies he met with Atta, leader in 9/11 plot

Washington -- A former Iraqi intelligence officer who was said to have met with the suspected leader of the Sept. 11 attacks has told U.S. interrogators the meeting never happened, according to U.S. officials familiar with classified intelligence reports on the matter.

Ahmad Khalil Ibrahim Samir al-Ani, the former intelligence officer, was taken into custody by U.S. forces in July. Under questioning, he has said that he did not meet with Mohamed Atta in Prague, Czech Republic, according to the officials, who have reviewed classified debriefing reports based on the interrogations.

U.S. officials caution that Ani may have been lying to his interrogators, but the only other person reported to have attended the meeting was Atta, who died in the crash of his hijacked plane into the World Trade Center.

[dvwjr]

You are forgetting that Gore conceded the election, and that the Florida Supreme Court which protested it had a 5-4 decision in which the Chief Justice said they were out of control, a decision which the Supreme Court came in and squashed.

They were out of control, but a 5-4 decision? Neat trick, since there are only 7 members to the Supreme Court of Florida...

Source: Election 2000 Update, Friday, December 8

dvwjr

[Joy Angela]

Links to other articles!

Memo: 9-11 chief trained by Saddam
Document says Atta in Baghdad under Abu Nidal's tutelage just before attacks

http://www.wnd.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=36124

***

9/11 Bombshell: Mohamed Atta Trained in Baghdad

http://www.newsmax.com/archives/ic/2003/12/13/234527.shtml

[Numbers Guy]

Abu Nidal was murdered in August 2001

One correction. Nidal suffered Arkancide in August 2002, not August 2001.

[Angelus Errare]

The article fails to note that if al-Ani DID admit to meeting with Atta, he would name himself as a co-conspirator in the 9/11 attacks and probably end up getting the chair after we'd cleaned his clock for every spare piece of intel on the operation. As long as he keeps denying it, he probably hopes he can get off with a slap on the wrist and fade into the background as fast as possible.

In other news, Herman Goering denied participation in the Holocaust ...

[Jeff Chandler]

I can't wait for ABCCBSNBCCNN to broadcast this information. I'll just have to read it in the NYTimesWashingtonPostLATimesNewsweekTime.

[FairOpinion]

Article :"Abu Nidal was murdered in August 2001"

NG:"One correction. Nidal suffered Arkancide in August 2002, not August 2001."

===

You are absolutely right -- now that you mention it, I remember reading about it and it was way after the 9-11-01 attacks.

Baghdad confirms Abu Nidal's suicide, details today
Iraq-Palestine, Politics, 8/21/2002

http://www.arabicnews.com/ansub/Daily/Day/020821/2002082112.html


====
Abu Nidal 'suicide' mystery deepens

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2002/08/21/wnidal21.xml


"A third version, by the London-based Arabic newspaper Al-Sharq al-Awsat, said Iraqi intelligence agents shot him dead with four bullets on Friday, wounding two of his bodyguards at the same time.

Abu Nidal, a Palestinian whose real name was Sabri al-Banna, was the most feared international terrorist of the 1970s and '80s when he launched attacks against Jewish and Arab targets.

Possibly the Iraqis removed him because he knew too many past secrets of state funding of international terrorism."

[Jeff Chandler]

My teenage daughter won't let me watch Aaron Brown. She says he creeps her out. She said the same thing about the Ginny Jennings character on the Beverly Hillbillies. Turns out that her instincts are good. Ginny Jennings was played by Sheila James. Ew-yuck!

[FairOpinion]

I just noticed something in the article I posted in post 324, which has more info:

"Iraqi officials believe this is a reference to the controversial shipments of uranium ore Iraq acquired from Niger to aid Saddam in his efforts to develop an atom bomb, although there is no explicit reference in the document to this.

Habbush writes that the successful completion of the shipment was "the fruit of your excellent secret meeting with Bashir al-Asad (the Syrian president) on the Iraqi-Syrian border", and concludes: "May God protect you and save you to all Arab nations."

===

Sounds like we just found our good reason to invade Syria...
And it's high time, too.

[alnick]

That grinding noise you here is Pelosi Galore's teeth.

Pelosi Galore. Bwahahahahaha!

[Mo1]

Habbush writes that the successful completion of the shipment was "the fruit of your excellent secret meeting with Bashir al-Asad (the Syrian president) on the Iraqi-Syrian border", and concludes: "May God protect you and save you to all Arab nations."

Seems that the Syrian president has some explaining to do

[lainde]

I'm shocked...Who wouldda thunk it?

[tinacart]

You've heard the saying "if it doesn't fit, you must acquit..." Well, my mother came up with this one "liars get pliars..." Do you really expect us to buy this ludicrous story? (sarcasm off - save the pliars for our enemies, within and without!)

[Political Junkie Too]

BUT WHERE ARE THE WMD'S? THIS MEANS NOTHING WITHOUT WMD'S! (The Rats are getting more shrill and more desperate.)

Of course, the WMDs mean nothing if Hussein was involved in 9/11.

-PJ

[Qwinn]

"You've heard the saying "if it doesn't fit, you must acquit..."

Ugh. You had to say it. You know what drives me up the wall about that phrase? I don't know if OJ was guilty, I don't really -care-. But 300 million Americans watched him put on a glove that fit -perfectly- on his hand, but because he was shaking his head and grimacing after he put it on, 300 million Americans said "Well, uuuuhhhh, duh, yeah, guess we have to acquit now". The freaking glove fit perfectly! It went all the way down! His fingers went all the way into the tip of every finger of the glove! I swear to you, find a clip of the scene from that case where he puts that glove on, don't look at the way he's grimacing and acting like it doesn't work for him, and I -challenge- you to tell me the damn thing -didn't- fit! Oh, was it a little -tight-? Gee, I'm sure someone who had just killed two people would have rejected the first pair of gloves he came across as not giving that all-natural comfort.

Sorry. HAD to get that rant out of my system. I really couldn't care less if OJ was guilty or not, but watching 300 million Americans watch him put that glove on and doublethink themselves into believing that it didn't fit AS THEIR OWN EYES PROVED THAT IT DID was absolutely stupefying.

Qwinn