Saddam's Ambassador to al Qaeda

The Weekly Standard ^ | March 1, 2004 | Jonathan Schanzer

[Chairman Fred]

To the Left, there is no such thing as "fact", there is only opinion. There is no such thing as "right", there is only power.

This will change no attitudes. But it is still reasurring to hear.

[stylin19a]

Free Republic will probably be the first and last time anybody sees this article.

[RandyRep]

Fascinating article. I googled the autohr -- he looks like an expert in this subject.

So how long will it take to hear this on the lamestream networks? Ever?

[McGavin999]

And the plot thickens.

[dalebert]

bump

[Billthedrill]

Great stuff - thanks for posting. Sure would like to put a bullet in Mr. Zarqawi.

[nutmeg]

ping!

[FBD]

fyi ping

[Mudboy Slim]

"An Iraqi prisoner details Saddam's links to Osama bin Laden's terror network. A RECENTLY INTERCEPTED MESSAGE from Iraq-based terrorist Abu Musab al Zarqawi asking the al Qaeda leadership for reinforcements reignited the debate over al Qaeda ties with Saddam Hussein's fallen Baath regime. William Safire of the New York Times called the message a "smoking gun," while the University of Michigan's Juan Cole says that Safire "offers not even one document to prove" the Saddam-al Qaeda nexus. What you are about to read bears directly on that debate. It is based on a recent interview with Abdul Rahman al-Shamari, who served in Saddam's secret police, the Mukhabarat, from 1997 to 2002, and is currently sitting in a Kurdish prison. Al-Shamari says that he worked for a man who was Saddam's envoy to al Qaeda."

This is long overdue...will the Vast, LeftWingMedyuhWhore'd report it?!

FReegards...MUD

[marron]

This is a must read.

[Shermy]

Saddam's Ambassador to al Qaeda

Doesn't every country have one? Here's a link for the American Embassy to Al Qaeda.

[marron]

Very funny, I'm laughing out loud. And only too true...

[BlackVeil]

The problem with this article is that it is totally short on meaningful details. He never really addresses the interesting questions - such as why did the Kurdish Peshmargas never confront Al-Ansar Islamia, during all their years in the "free zone."

Claims such as this, are said in a portententious tone, but are thin:

Al-Shamari stated that Abu Wael sometimes traveled to meet with these groups. All of them, he added, visited Wael in Iraq and were provided Iraqi visas. This corroborates an interview I had with a senior PUK official in April 2003, who stated that many of the Arab fighters captured or killed during the war held passports with Iraqi visas.

All foreigners in Iraq would hold passports with Iraqi visas. Without a visa one may could enter the country (during Sadaam's time, recently, with the collapse of law and order, the borders are more open). Can't he come up with something better than that? Sheesh.

He needs - not visas on their passports - but some verified link between these men, Al-Qaida, and the Iraqi government. Otherwise, they are just Arab volunteers going to Iraq to fight.

[LiteKeeper]

read later

[There's millions of'em]

bump

[Mad_Tom_Rackham]

This is good. They need reinforcements like Hitler did in Berlin in Spring, 1945. GW has been brilliant. Lure them to the battlefields in Iraq and kill every last one of them.

[AHerald]

Good post. An amazing article. Great work by Schanzer.

Like other detailed articles regarding Iraq's link to terrorism, it will most likely be ignored by the wider mainstream media, which has already concluded that there was no Iraq-Islamic terrorism connection.

[marron]

He needs - not visas on their passports - but some verified link between these men, Al-Qaida, and the Iraqi government. Otherwise, they are just Arab volunteers going to Iraq to fight.

I'll offer my view, someone can tell me if I'm off base. The key here is that they were not just Arab volunteers coming to Iraq to fight, they were Arab volunteers entering Iraq by the official port of entry and being directed up to join a Kurdish unit fighting for Saddam, rather than attaching themselves to any of a number of units around Baghdad they could have joined.

[BlackVeil]

The key here is that they were not just Arab volunteers coming to Iraq to fight, they were Arab volunteers entering Iraq by the official port of entry and being directed up to join a Kurdish unit fighting for Saddam ...

Excellent analysis. I didn't see that central point, myself, until you spelt it out.

Evidence for such an development is absent from this article. I would be interested to see such a link - al-Qaida/Saddamm/al-Ansar. Until then, I must say that al-Ansar Islamia looks like an Iranian backed show. No one mentions that possibility, but it is pretty obvious. They were on the Iran border, and fled away there once the fighting started.

The presence of the no-fly zone was a big temptation for the Iranian govt to try to expand there.