Posted on 04/26/2003 9:41:31 AM PDT by BallandPowder
WASHINGTON -- A longtime Iraqi spy official, suspected of involvement in a plot to assassinate former President Bush and of having links to al-Qaida, was delivered to the Iraqi border by Syrian authorities Friday, U.S. officials said.
Farouk Hijazi was taken into custody near the Syrian border, U.S. officials said, indicating new cooperation from a government that had been accused of harboring members of Saddam Hussein's deposed regime.
Hijazi most recently served as Iraq's ambassador to Tunisia and was formerly ambassador to Turkey. But he is of particular interest to the CIA and the Pentagon because he was "a lifelong member of the Iraqi Intelligence Service," known as Mukhabarat, a U.S. official said.
"He is significant," Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said. "We think he could be interesting."
Hijazi is thought to have extensive knowledge of Iraqi operations and plots dating back decades. He occupied the No. 3 position in Hussein's spy apparatus in the early 1990s when Iraq tried to assassinate former President Bush in Kuwait.
Former CIA Director James Woolsey said that Hijazi's capture was "the biggest catch so far" for U.S. forces and that Hijazi is a key link between Hussein and terrorist organizations, including al-Qaida.
"This man was involved, we know, with a number of contacts with al-Qaida," Woolsey told CNN.
But U.S. officials were more measured in their appraisals and expressed some skepticism about reports that Hijazi had once met with al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden.
Unconfirmed media reports have indicated that Hijazi was Hussein's liaison to anti-Western terrorist organizations and that he met with bin Laden between 1996 and 1998.
"We've seen the reports," one official said. "We don't know how true they are. It certainly presents an avenue of questioning."
He said U.S. intelligence analysts are divided over whether Hijazi would have met bin Laden given that the radical Islamic terror chieftain had publicly denounced Hussein's secular regime.
Officials said it is more likely that Hijazi would be able to provide information on the attempted assassination of the first President Bush in 1993.
"We think that's highly probable given the job that he had at the time," the U.S. official said. "We believe he was either witting or responsible." At the time of the assassination attempt, Hijazi was responsible for overseeing covert operations overseas for Hussein.
Details on Hijazi's capture were sketchy Friday, but U.S. officials said he was delivered to the Iraqi border by the Syrian government.
The administration official said the Syrians had held Hijazi for a week and questioned him extensively.
"They put him out on the Iraq side of the border," the administration official said. "The Syrians put him into our hands. We knew when he was going to cross. We knew he was going to be there."
The official indicated that there was no direct communication between the United States and Syria on the matter but that there were indirect signals, perhaps conveyed through a third party friendly to both sides, such as Jordan.
The word on Hijazi's capture came the day after the surrender of Tariq Aziz, Hussein's deputy prime minister.
Before he resurfaced, Aziz negotiated through an intermediary to surrender to Diane Sawyer of ABC News. Apparently hoping that television coverage would assure him a last chance to make his case, Aziz had sought an interview with Sawyer, the co-host of Good Morning America.
(Excerpt) Read more at sun-sentinel.com ...
Excellent backround information and another Iraqi spy bites the dust....
I'll surrender to Laurie Dhue any time, anywhere.
I'll bring the handcuffs.
Sunday Morning Spy BUMP!
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