"There's no link between Saddam and al Qaeda."
This is what opponents of the war said time and time again. Whywere we taking our focus off al Qaeda and invading a country whohad nothing to do with them? Well, a top-secret memo, acquired byThe Weekly Standard, a conservative weekly magazine, has recentlybeen leaked that suggests Saddam and bin Laden had a much cozierrelationship than had been previously thought.
According to the Weeky Standard story, the 16-page memo was sentby Undersecretary of Defense for Policy Douglas Feith to senatorsPat Roberts (R-Kan) and Jay Rockefeller (D-W. Va) of the SenateIntelligence Committee. In it, Feith compiles documentation fromthe CIA, National Security Agency, and Defense Intelligence Agencyto produce 50 separate points about Iraq/al Qaeda involvement.
According to the memo, the relationship began before the GulfWar. It states that bin Laden sent �"emissaries to Jordan in1990 to meet with Iraqi government officials." In 1991, the CIAreported that "Iraq sought Sudan's assistance to establish links toal Qaeda." In 1993, the CIA also reported that "bin Laden wanted toexpand his organization's capabilities through ties with Iraq."
Thus began the relationship between the two lovableinternational terrorists.
The first meeting between the Iraqi Intelligence Service (IIS)and al Qaeda was held in 1992 in Sudan. It was the first of severalin that country between 1992 and 1995. Additional meetings werealso held in Pakistan.
But I thought Saddam and bin Laden hated each other? Apparentlybin Laden didn't have as much of a problem with the "secular"Saddam as some thought.
A CIA report told of a moment in 1993, when certain elements ofthe "Islamic
Army" of bin Laden's faction said they were against Saddam'sregime. The report notes bin Laden's reaction.
"Overriding the internal factional strife that was�developing, bin Laden came to an 'understanding' with Saddam thatthe Islamic Army would no longer support anti-Saddamactivities.'"
A U.S. Justice Dept. indictment from 1998 of bin Laden for theAfrican embassy bombings says much of the same, stating that notonly would al Qaeda not work against Iraq, but that, "on particularprojects, specifically including weapons development, al Qaedawould work cooperatively with the government of Iraq."
Backing this claim up, the report mentions a meeting between theDirector of Iraqi Intelligence, Mani abd-al-Rashid al-Tikriti, andbin Laden at his farm in Sudan in July 1996. The meeting was aboutbin Laden's request for IIS technical assistance in: "a) makingletter and parcel bombs; b) making bombs which could be placed onaircraft and detonated by changes in barometric pressure; and c)making false passports."
In addition to this meeting, others took place in Sudan,Afghanistan, and Baghdad. One source reports that Ayman alZawahiri, a senior al Qaeda operative, met with the Iraqi VicePresident in 1998 to discuss establishing camps in an-Nasiriyah andthe northern Kurdish area of Iraq. A former Iraqi intelligenceofficer has reported that bin Laden himself went to Baghdad in 1998and met with Deputy Prime Minister Tariq Aziz.
It doesn't end there. During an interview with U.S. authorities,Ibn al-Shaykh al-Libi, another senior al Qaeda operative, said hewas told by an al Qaeda associate to travel to Iraq in 1998 to,"establish a relationship with Iraqi intelligence to obtain poisonsand gases training."
Several reports indicate that the relationship between Saddamand bin Laden did not end after the September 11th attacks. Some ofthese reports may explain the current level of resistance coalitiontroops are now facing in Iraq.
Sensitive reporting has indicated that close al Qaeda associateAbu Musab al Zarqawi was "setting up sleeper cells in Baghdad to beactivated in case of a U.S. occupation of the city."
What I have written here is only a brief summary of the memo'scontents, but it appears to be damning evidence of a workingrelationship between Mr. Hussein and Mr. bin Laden. Evidencesuggests that this information is only the tip of the iceberg, andmore will almost certainly come out.
It should not be totally surprising that Saddam and bin Ladenworked together; after all, they have the same enemy -- us. What issurprising is the absolute denial by some in the anti-war crowdthat such a relationship could possibly exist. They asked for alink. Here it is.
