Saddam and Osama-together at last - PhillyBlog

zogby blob · #1 (**permalink**) 11-21-2003, 10:47 AM

Ties between Saddam and Osama have been made as early as 1991. The Weekly Standard has the memo detailing the whole case. Read it all here.
http://www.weeklystandard.com/Conten...3/378fmxyz.asp

Quote:

OSAMA BIN LADEN and Saddam Hussein had an operational relationship from the early 1990s to 2003 that involved training in explosives and weapons of mass destruction, logistical support for terrorist attacks, al Qaeda training camps and safe haven in Iraq, and Iraqi financial support for al Qaeda--perhaps even for Mohamed Atta--according to a top secret U.S. government memorandum obtained by THE WEEKLY STANDARD.

Quote:

The relationship began shortly before the first Gulf War. According to reporting in the memo, bin Laden sent "emissaries to Jordan in 1990 to meet with Iraqi government officials." At some unspecified point in 1991, according to a CIA analysis, "Iraq sought Sudan's assistance to establish links to al Qaeda." The outreach went in both directions. According to 1993 CIA reporting cited in the memo, "bin Laden wanted to expand his organization's capabilities through ties with Iraq."

The primary go-between throughout these early stages was Sudanese strongman Hassan al-Turabi, a leader of the al Qaeda-affiliated National Islamic Front. Numerous sources have confirmed this. One defector reported that "al-Turabi was instrumental in arranging the Iraqi-al Qaeda relationship. The defector said Iraq sought al Qaeda influence through its connections with Afghanistan, to facilitate the transshipment of proscribed weapons and equipment to Iraq. In return, Iraq provided al Qaeda with training and instructors."

One such confirmation came in a postwar interview with one of Saddam Hussein's henchmen. As the memo details:

Quote:

4. According to a May 2003 debriefing of a senior Iraqi intelligence officer, Iraqi intelligence established a highly secretive relationship with Egyptian Islamic Jihad, and later with al Qaeda. The first meeting in 1992 between the Iraqi Intelligence Service (IIS) and al Qaeda was brokered by al-Turabi. Former IIS deputy director Faruq Hijazi and senior al Qaeda leader [Ayman al] Zawahiri were at the meeting--the first of several between 1992 and 1995 in Sudan. Additional meetings between Iraqi intelligence and al Qaeda were held in Pakistan. Members of al Qaeda would sometimes visit Baghdad where they would meet the Iraqi intelligence chief in a safe house. The report claimed that Saddam insisted the relationship with al Qaeda be kept secret. After 9-11, the source said Saddam made a personnel change in the IIS for fear the relationship would come under scrutiny from foreign probes.

So, why is the national media not picking this up? What are your thoughts on this?

eldondre · #2 (**permalink**) 11-21-2003, 12:01 PM

b/c prior to the gulf war, both were our guys. without some serious revisionist history, it woudl be hard to turn that into a big deal.
2)there is littel proof of recent connections. the two shared little in common except hatred of the US. both of which felt betrayed by.

zogby blob · #3 (**permalink**) 12-19-2003, 12:42 PM

Quote:

The answer to that last question is simple: lots. The CIA has confirmed, in interviews with detainees and informants it finds highly credible, that al Qaeda's Number 2, Ayman al-Zawahiri, met with Iraqi intelligence in Baghdad in 1992 and 1998. More disturbing, according to an administration official familiar with briefings the CIA has given President Bush, the Agency has "irrefutable evidence" that the Iraqi regime paid Zawahiri $300,000 in 1998, around the time his Islamic Jihad was merging with al Qaeda. "It's a lock," says this source. Other administration officials are a bit more circumspect, noting that the intelligence may have come from a single source. Still, four sources spread across the national security hierarchy have confirmed the payment.

http://www.weeklystandard.com/conten...3/033jgqyi.asp
You're not refuting ony of this. Saddam had ties to Osama. Period. Why is not an issue. He funded terrorism. Therefore, the Iraq war was a continuation of the war on terrorism and just.

eldondre · #4 (**permalink**) 12-19-2003, 12:51 PM

i think my reply was meant for another thread. if it's so sure why isn't Bush pushing this? doe she not care whether or not his reasons for war are correct? many of them weren't, why not show what has been? perhaps this info isn't as sure as the Weekly Standard portrays (not that that would be unsual).

zogby blob · #5 (**permalink**) 12-19-2003, 01:05 PM

Or, Maybe Bush is waiting for the Dems to put their feet further in their mouths before coming forward with the info. Or maybe he is waiting for further confermation, because last time he said anything from one source, he was called a lier. Choose your reason. Either way, I think there was a tie. And think the war was part of the war on terrorism. I think we still have much to do. I think I'm personally safer today than I was 2 years ago. And the majority of the country agrees with me.

joey0 · #6 (**permalink**) 07-15-2005, 09:37 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by zogby blob

I think I'm personally safer today than I was 2 years ago. And the majority of the country agrees with me.

To rehash an old thread, 2 years since this post... and do we really feel safer now?

IMO (and I'm sure I'm restating past arguments), this war has done nothing but make more terrorists.

Oladybug · #7 (**permalink**) 07-16-2005, 11:30 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by zogby blob

I think I'm personally safer today than I was 2 years ago. And the majority of the country agrees with me.

Oh, really? Do you have anything to back that up, or is that just your own personal view?

If it's true that the majority agrees with you that we're safer, then count me in the minority.

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