The Mother of All Connections (New evidence of collaboration between Saddam's Iraq and al Qaeda)

The Weekly Standard ^ | July 18, 2005 | Stephen F. Hayes & Thomas Joscelyn

[hobson]

Ping for reading tomorrow morning with coffee.

[CyberAnt]

Only if we force the issue.

Everytime you see some lamebrained reporter on TV or hear one of them on radio saying there is no connection - send them this article. I have saved it in WORD - ready to send at a moment's notice.

After you do that a few times - they actually do get the msg.

[CyberAnt]

Which proves that since 1998 - THE DEMOCRATS have known about a connection and ARE LYING THROUGH THEIR TEETH that it doesn't exist.

The more I know about these democrats the more angry I become.

[endthematrix]

[CyberAnt]

What's your concern about the source ..??

[Ultra Sonic 007]

Ping.

[TAquinas]

Its a leftist source, I hear.

[piasa]

TEN DAYS BEFORE September 11, 2001, a small group of Islamic radicals came together in the northern, Kurdish-controlled area of Iraq. They would quickly come to be known as Ansar al Islam. Their ranks swelled as hundreds of al Qaeda terrorists fled the U.S. assault on the Taliban in Afghanistan. It quickly became clear to many policymakers and intelligence analysts that the Ansar camps were fallback zones for al Qaeda.

FWIW, one of the head honchos of Ansar al Islam, Mullah Krekar, says Ansar al Islam existed at least by the end of 2000...well before September 2001. See -- "Ansar al-Islam Leader Threatens to Reveal "Evidence" that Convicts USA," Kurdistan Observer, Feb 3, 2003.

See also this item from freeper Alamo-Girl's "Downside Legacy" - this may very well be Zarqawi's ANSAR AL ISLAM:

JANUARY 22, 2000 : (THE INDIAN PAPER, THE HINDU REPORTS RADICAL SUNNI TERRORIST GROUP HAS BEEN RISING IN LEBANON NEAR THE SYRIAN BORDER; IT HAS BACKING FROM OSAMA BIN LADEN & HAS AFGHANIS AT ITS CORE) The Hindu 1/22/2000 Kesava Menon "…..If Islamic militancy in Algeria seems to be entering its terminal stage, the militancy in Lebanon appears to be entering into a new and dangerous phase….However, recently there has risen the new phenomenon of a radical Sunni group which has decided to take on the Lebanese army. Earlier this month, this group which has been training near the Syrian border ambushed a unit of the Lebanese army and 11 soldiers and 30 militants were killed in the fighting. Not many details are known about this new Sunni group but Lebanese newspapers report that it is believed to be part of a loose network of militant groups which have ``Afghanis'' at their core and draw at least a part of their funding from the al Qaeda of Saudi dissident, Osama bin Laden…. Developments in Sudan are at a shaky stage…. It is early days yet but if the Sudanese Government decides to go against the Islamists, if for no other reason than to please the U.S., it would mean that yet another Arab country has turned against the Islamists……The current head of the Islamic radical group which assassinated Anwar Sadat, former Egyptian President, is believed to be yet another militant who has taken refuge in Afghanistan. These are the underlying causes which have restrained these Arab countries from recognising the Taliban. Unofficially, all these Governments also state that they have been taking up the matter with Pakistan but it is probably the necessity of retaining the semblance of Islamic solidarity which prevents them from talking about it more openly…." --- by Kesava Menon, The Hindu, 1/22/2000 via ALAMO-GIRL'S DOWNSIDE LEGACY AT TWO DEGREES OF PRESIDENT CLINTON ; SECTION: BREACH OF TRUST; SUBSECTION: TERROR; Revised 1/8/01

[DTogo]

We have been told by Ayad Allawi, former Iraqi prime minister and a longtime CIA source, that other Iraqi Intelligence documents indicate bin Laden's top deputy was in Iraq for a jihadist conference in September 1999.

"Assuming a Gore Presidency, our next guest speaker will offer tips on how to conduct an environmentally friendly Jihad..."

[endthematrix]

Re: Osama bin Laden's "best friend?"

I did not know (or confused) that Mahmdouh Mahmud Salim = Abu Hajer al Iraqi

He is the guy who infamously beat and blinded a prison guard.

http://www.weeklystandard.com/Content/Public/Articles/000/000/003/296fmttq.asp

FR posted this back in 1993:

"A CIA report from a contact with good access, some of whose reporting has been corroborated, said that certain elements in the "Islamic Army" of bin Laden were against the secular regime of Saddam. Overriding the internal factional strife that was developing, bin Laden came to an "understanding" with Saddam that the Islamic Army would no longer support anti-Saddam activities. According to sensitive reporting released in U.S. court documents during the African Embassy trial, in 1993 bin Laden reached an "understanding" with Saddam under which he (bin Laden) forbade al Qaeda operations to be mounted against the Iraqi leader. Another facilitator of the relationship during the mid-1990s was Mahmdouh Mahmud Salim (a.k.a. Abu Hajer al-Iraqi). Abu Hajer, now in a New York prison, was described in court proceedings related to the August 1998 bombings of U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania as bin Laden's "best friend." According to CIA reporting dating back to the Clinton administration, bin Laden trusted him to serve as a liaison with Saddam's regime and tasked him with procurement of weapons of mass destruction for al Qaeda. FBI reporting in the memo reveals that Abu Hajer "visited Iraq in early 1995" and "had a good relationship with Iraqi intelligence. Sometime before mid-1995 he went on an al Qaeda mission to discuss unspecified cooperation with the Iraqi government."

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1115387/posts

[piasa]

I guess that makes Dick Cheney a leftist since he's been known to use the source.

[TAquinas]

"FR posted this back in 1993:"

Who is FR?

Also, the date I think it's wrong since the text speaks of events in 1998.

[endthematrix]

Amazing!

[piasa]

1999 : (IRAQI INTELLIGENCE OFFICER SA'ADOON MOHAMMED ABDUL LATIF aka ABU WA'IL IS IN AFGHANISTAN) Sa'adoon Mohammed Abdul Latif, or Abu-Wa'il, an Iraqi intelligence officer, first visited Afghanistan in 1999. - "U.S. negotiates trade of terror suspects," By Eli J. Lake, UNITED PRESS INTERNATIONAL via The Washington Times, May 9, 2003, http://washingtontimes.com/world/20030509-22822443.htm

[endthematrix]

FR (Free Republic) is you.

My mistake. The article was posted at FreeRepublic.com for all to see on 04/10/2004 but the article was dated 6/28/1993 by author Laurie Mylroie, who has connected the dots between Iraq and US terror.

[piasa]

1982 - 1990 : (IRAQI INTELLIGENCE OFFICER AL MAMOURI IS EMPLOYED TO FORGE LINKS BETWEEN IRAQ & FUNDAMENTALIST GROUPS IN PAKISTAN, AFGHANISTAN, THE GULF & SUDAN) Italian officials say that Mr al-Mamouri held the rank of general in the Iraqi secret service, and from 1982 to 1990 worked in the Special Operations Branch forging Baghdad’s links with Islamic fundamentalist groups in Pakistan, Afghanistan, the Gulf and Sudan. - "Hijacker 'given anthrax flask by Iraqi agent'," by DANIEL MCGRORY, The London Times, SATURDAY OCTOBER 27 2001

1998 : (IRAQI INTELLIGENCE OFFICER AL MAMOURI IS TRANSFERRED TO HIS TEACHING POST IN ITALY) He was transferred to his “teaching duties” in 1998, although all the Iraqi Embassy will say of his sudden departure [around July 2001] is that “he had money problems”. - "Hijacker 'given anthrax flask by Iraqi agent'," by DANIEL MCGRORY, The London Times, SATURDAY OCTOBER 27 2001

JULY 2001 : (ITALY : IRAQI INTELLIGENCE AGENT AL-MAMOURI DISAPPEARS FROM HIS JOB, SHORTLY AFTER HE MET 9/11 HIJACKER MOHAMMAD ATTA; BOTH HAD BEEN SEEN TOGETHER IN HAMBURG GERMANY & PRAGUE, CZECHOSLAVAKIA BEFORE) One of Saddam’s intelligence agents, Habib Faris Abdullah al-Mamouri, was sent to be the new headmaster of a school for Iraqi diplomats in Italy. The bogus headmaster has not been seen in Rome since July, shortly after he also met Atta. The pair are also said to have been together in Hamburg and Prague.
There is no proof the men were in direct contact, but as one intelligence source in Madrid said [later in the year] : “They chose a strange time and place to take a holiday.” The Rome daily Il Messaggero, quoting Western intelligence sources, said of Mr al-Mamouri that “he spent more time pursuing contacts helpful to the Iraqi regime among fundamentalist Islamic groups than he had on his supposed teaching duties”.
Italian officials say that Mr al-Mamouri held the rank of general in the Iraqi secret service, and from 1982 to 1990 worked in the Special Operations Branch forging Baghdad’s links with Islamic fundamentalist groups in Pakistan, Afghanistan, the Gulf and Sudan. He was transferred to his “teaching duties” in 1998, although all the Iraqi Embassy will say of his sudden departure is that “he had money problems”. - "Hijacker 'given anthrax flask by Iraqi agent'," by DANIEL MCGRORY, The London Times, SATURDAY OCTOBER 27 2001

[piasa]

FR is FreeRepublic.

[AmericanArchConservative]

ping!

Connections between Saddam's Iraq and Al Qaeda.

Long article, but worth reading.

A.A.C.

[FairOpinion]

And new evidence that the US Congress and Bill Clinton signed the Iraq Liberation Act, in 1998, calling for regime change in Iraq.

FLASHBACK: Clinton Signs Iraq Liberation Act, on Oct. 31, 1998, calling for regime change in Iraq

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1440028/posts

[endthematrix]

Is 'suicide bombing' acceptable as part of Jihad?

http://www.islamonline.net/livefatwa/english/Browse.asp?hGuestID=2ndign


I came upon that after defining "Istishhadiyyah" from a Saddam TV broadcast on March 4, 2002:

"We are glad of the Istishhadiyyah [suicide] and heroic spirit of the Palestinian people. By Allah, what the Palestinian people does is beyond my expectations.”