Links Between 9-11 Terrorist Leader Mohammed Atta, Anthrax, bin Laden and Iraq Appear Likely

Links Between 9-11 Terrorist Leader Mohammed Atta, Anthrax, bin Laden and Iraq Appear Likely YOWUSA.COM, November 2, 2001 Colonel James B. Ervin and Marshall Masters

It seems that new questions must now be raised regarding Mohammed Atta’s connections to Osama bin Laden, Iraq and the anthrax letters, which were sent to the New York Post and NBC’s Tom Brokaw. Profilers and handwriting experts indicate that all three of the anthrax letters are the work of a single author, which many claim is the "Modus Operandi" of a domestic terrorist. As a result, speculative theories abound, and the key suspect list now includes everything from a lone Unabomber type, to some sort of a rogue P.H.D. Microbiologist. Consequently, the Anthrax attacks are being viewed as domestic terrorism. However, the fact that they targeted American news media organizations is inconsistent with patterns evidenced by domestic terrorists such as Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh and Theodore Kaczynski, the Unabomber.

The debate over who is perpetrating these attacks seems to have polarized between liberal doves and hawkish conservatives. So who is right?

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Domestic Theory Postulated by Liberal Doves

Liberal doves have dismissed the notion of a linkage between Atta, bin Laden and Iraq by discounting a recent report from Czech Interior Minister Stanislav Gross. In that report, Gross indicated that Atta did in fact establish contact with Iraqi intelligence officer Ahmad Khalil Ibrahim on June 2, 2000. Afterwards, he returned to Newark, New Jersey, the pan-regional origin point for all of the anthrax letters. In lieu of Gross’s report, they point to the position espoused by the Czech ambassador to the United Nations.

The Prague Post, November 1, 2001 Experts Downplay Atta's Prague Connection PRAGUE -- Experts are discounting as speculation media reports that terrorist Mohammed Atta received anthrax spores from Iraqi agents in Prague. "It makes good headlines," said Hynek Kmonicek, the Czech ambassador to the United Nations, "but it amounts to a lot of speculation, and possible and impossible theories being spread."

In its Oct. 14 edition, the Observer of London cited U.S. officials as saying that Atta, believed to have organized the Sept. 11 attacks on New York City and Washington, D.C., met on several occasions with Iraqi agents in Prague, who handed him small amounts of the potentially lethal bacteria. Despite the growing evidence implicating a link between Atta, bin Laden and Iraq, the liberal doves remained openly skeptical if not scornful of those who insist that the link does in fact exist and their views have been succinctly phrased by Progressive editor, Matthew Rothschild.

The Progressive, October 22, 2001 Iraq, Anthrax, and the Hawks It didn't take long for the hawks to seize on the anthrax scare as a justification for the United States to go bomb Iraq.

"By far the likeliest supplier is Saddam Hussein," The Wall Street Journal wrote in an editorial on Oct. 18. James Woolsey, former CIA director, said almost the exact same thing in the Journal's adjacent guest column. After speculating about Iran's involvement, he said: "But by far the more likely candidate for involvement with al Qaeda is Iraq."

Richard Butler, the bellicose leader of U.N. inspections in Iraq in the late 1990s, took to the op-ed page of The New York Times the same day to insinuate that Iraq was behind the attacks: "If the scientific path leads to Iraq as the supporter of the anthrax used by the terrorist mailers, no one should be surprised."

Three things need to be noted about this "Let's Go Get Iraq" chant. First, the hawks wanted to get Iraq even before any anthrax was delivered. Second, the evidence against Iraq is not overwhelming. Third, it makes no political sense for Iraq to be behind the anthrax attacks.

Mr. Rothschild’s entire position refuting the possibility of a link between Atta, bin Laden and Iraq is based on liberal assumption that Saddam Hussein would never dream of being part of a conspiracy to attack America with weapons of mass destruction. However, the fact is that Americans have died and continue to die in what is obviously a well-planned attack on our country using weapons grade Anthrax, and if a formal recognition of that fact does come to pass, it will mean a serious escalation in the war. Perhaps it is this potential escalation is why liberal doves are using supposition in lieu of facts to understand the situation.

Rather than debate why a possible Mohammed Atta connection is being officially downplayed, the time has come to examine the facts in this malevolent Atta/Al Qaeda tapestry, which seems to indicate that there is much more to this than we have previously been led to believe.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Was Atta the Perpetrator?

The most damning clue is in the notes sent with the Anthrax letters published by the FBI. Please take note of the 4 emboldened characters (TTAA) on lines 1-2-3 and 5 below. When these letters are re-arranged, they plainly spell out the name ATTA.

AP, October 27, 2001 Investigation points to single anthrax culprit WASHINGTON - Handwriting analysis and profiling are leading investigators to increasingly suspect that one person wrote the three letters contaminated with anthrax and that the person spent significant time in the United States, officials say.

The officials cautioned Friday they have not identified specific suspects and continue to consider a variety of theories, including that a deranged U.S. resident with a biochemical background, a terrorist or hate group, a foreign country or some combination carried out the attacks. Officials said, however, there has been no evidence or intelligence to connect Osama bin Laden and his al-Qaida network to the attacks and that other extremists are being considered.

It is well know that Atta spent a great deal of time in America planning his attack on 9-11, and perhaps this current Anthrax attack was simply one part of his overall plan. If so, the emboldened letters in the note could have been a calling card of sorts left as a machismo boast for his fellow terrorists.

Admittedly this aspect of the note is purely speculative on its own. But now, a new corroborating revelation comes to light and what could be discounted as speculation has now become a significant clue.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Most Definitive Clue Linking Atta

The most definitive clue (yet) to this "great anthrax mystery" may be directly linked to an FBI interview conducted with Pharmacist Gregg Chatterton, of Delray Beach Florida. It seems Mohammed Atta, and another man, who has since been identified as Marwan Al-Shehhi (Atta's nephew) visited the Huber Drug store roughly 2 weeks prior the 9-11 WTC attack. The suspected hijackers apparently purchased skin ointment and antibiotics.

The FBI has questioned a Delray Beach pharmacist who may have provided antibiotics and skin ointments to suspected hijackers Mohammed Atta and his nephew, Marwan Al-Shehhi. In the weeks before the Sept. 11 attack, Atta and another man walked into Huber Drug on Atlantic Avenue, searching the aisles with confused looks, pharmacist Gregg Chatterton said.

He remembers them clearly, he said, because most of his customers are elderly, so those men stood out. After reporters interviewed him about the demand for the antibiotic Cipro to treat anthrax infections, Chatterton said, he began to wonder if the customer with the irritated hands was one of the suspected terrorists. His mind raced: Could the man's hands have turned red after mixing a batch of anthrax and trying to decontaminate himself?

"I looked real closely, and I said, `Wow. Oh God, I recognize that guy. Then I pointed at the guy with the glasses, Al-Shehhi -- they were in here together," Chatterton said on Sunday.

Joann Chappell, the store's pharmacy technician, also recognized Atta and al-Shehhi, plus two suspects, brothers Waleed M. al-Shehri and Wail al-Shehri.

She recalled the brothers walking up and down the aisles and stopping to talk. Chattersons' oddly detailed account of this encounter points toward a decontamination effort by Atta and Al-Shehhi. Further, the corroborating testimony of pharmacy technician Joann Chappell essentially dismisses the notion that Chatterson may have made a mistake in identifying the suspects.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Why Hawks See A Link Between Atta, bin Laden and Iraq

The event that has really got the “Hawks” worried is the Prague connection. Aside from being a beautiful city, Prague is also a key operating area for terrorists, state sponsors of terrorism and the Russian Mafia. This is why the confirmation of Atta’s visit to Prague is causing such concern.

-- A Czech minister has confirmed that the suspected leader of the suicide hijackers met an Iraqi intelligence agent in the Czech capital.

Interior minister Stanislav Gross said the meeting between Mohammed Atta and Ahmad Khalil Ibrahim Samir Al-Ani took place in April just before the Iraqi was expelled for conduct incompatible with his diplomatic status.

Intelligence sources told CNN about the meeting in the days following the September 11 terror attacks in New York and Washington, but this is the first official confirmation by Czech officials.

Prague was rendezvous for Iraqis, terror suspect For a diplomat, Ahmad Khalil Ibrahim Samir al-Ani acted pretty strangely.

The second secretary at Iraq's Embassy in Prague, Ani never attended diplomatic functions. He was known for harassing, and threatening Iraqi exiles and for meeting with Islamic extremists. He was also suspected of planning a terrorist attack against a US-funded radio station here.

The Czechs kicked him out last spring, but not before Ani met at least once with an architecture student named Mohammed Atta, the man now believed to be at the controls of the first jet to slam into the World Trade Center on Sept. 11.

The Czech counterintelligence agency warned in a report this week that terrorists may have established a covert infrastructure in the country that dates back to Communist Czechoslovakia's ties to Iraq and Afghanistan.

In his analysis (shown above), Progressive editor, Matthew Rothschild states, “It didn't take long for the hawks to seize on the anthrax scare as a justification for the United States to go bomb Iraq.” Why does he see things this way? Simple, Matthew Rothschild is obviously confident that Saddam Hussein shares his view of the world – reason enough!

On the other side of the political spectrum from Progressive editor, Matthew Rothschild is Laurie Mylroie, a well-regarded voice in the conservative community. So who is Laurie Mylroie?

Laurie Mylroie is the publisher of Iraq News and an adjunct fellow at the American Enterprise Institute. Most recently, Mylroie published Study of Revenge: Saddam Hussein's Unfinished War Against America and co-wrote Saddam Hussein and the Crisis in the Gulf with Judith Miller. Mylroie received her Ph.D. from Harvard University, where she served as an assistant professor of political science before taking an assistant professorship in the Strategy Department at the U.S. Naval War College. She subsequently served on the staff of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy and as an adviser to President Bill Clinton on Iraq in his 1992 presidential campaign. If history is an indicator, Saddam is involved in this present Anthrax up to his nose according to Mylroie.

Conventional Washington wisdom said Saddam was too boxed in by sanctions to hit back. Instead, he called on Arabs outside Iraq to strike US interests in the region. That, according to a new book by Laurie Mylroie, a specialist on Iraq, fits Saddam's pattern of revenge since the 1991 Gulf War: masterminding terrorism through Arab fundamentalists who are left holding the bag.

Mylroie argues in "Study of Revenge: Saddam Hussein's Unfinished War Against America" that the Clinton administration erred by prosecuting such individuals in Justice Department-led criminal trials, rather than conducting national security investigations that would have singled out Saddam.

Coauthor of the 1991 national bestseller "Saddam Hussein and the Crisis in the Gulf," Mylroie sees Saddam's fingerprints on four terrorist attacks: the 1993 World Trade Center bombing; the 1995 bombing of the US training mission for Saudi troops in Riyadh; the 1996 attack against the US base in al-Khobar, Saudi Arabia; and the 1998 bombings of US embassies in Tanzania and Kenya.

In a recent interview on Jerusalem Post Radio, Mylroie stated her firm belief that Saddam Hussein is supporting this current attack on America, and that Israel is not adequately prepared for a chemical or biological attack.

She is also concerned that if Iraq is attacked by America and England, Saddam could retaliate by launching SCUD missiles at Israel armed with VX nerve agent warheads.

VX is a nerve agent and it penetrates the skin and disrupts the transmission of nerve impulses in the muscles around the lungs as well as the respiratory part of the central nervous system. Victims of this experience begin coughing, followed by increased perspiration, vomiting and finally death by suffocation.

Baghdad has consistently denied the "weaponisation" of VX by deploying it in missile warheads; but in 1995 it acknowledged having the precursors to make 4 tons of the chemical.

Called the “most horrible weapons in the world” by the American government because when in liquid form, a drop of VX the size of a pinhead is all that is needed to kill and not only is it lethal to the touch, it does not dissipate. This means that any area that has been attacked by VX must be completely evacuated.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- We Can No Longer Afford Political Buffoonery

Before 9-11, we endured the political jibes of people like Progressive editor, Matthew Rothschild about the threat of biochemical attacks by state sponsored terrorists seemed to make sense. Then, our world changed and people like Rothschild look like myopic and naïve ostriches, with their heads in the sand. Can we really afford their brand of arrogant, political buffoonery or is it time to listen more closely to those with a firm understanding of the dangers we now face?

The political convictions of terrorism experts like Laurie Mylroie are irrelevant, because deadly bioterror weapons are truly democratic. They’ll kill everyone just the same – Democrats, Republicans, Greens, Libertarians and Socialists alike. This is why the time has come for us to get our heads out of the sand and our politics out of the debate.

Some experts are saying that the words "Allah is Great" are meant to lead investigators astray by making it look as though Muslims are involved, even though they aren't. The experts say that Muslims would not have drawn attention to themselves and their deed by including these words.

I think those experts are wrong. The Muslims seem to find it superstitiously necessary to call on Allah at the time they are attacking someone. I think they would have made sure to include these words so that they would be read at the time the letter was opened and "the attack" actually took place.

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