"Together we must also confront the new hazards of chemical
and biological weapons, and the outlaw states, terrorists and
organized criminals seeking to acquire them. Saddam Hussein has
spent the better part of this decade, and much of his nation's
wealth, not on providing for the Iraqi people, but on developing
nuclear, chemical and biological weapons and the missiles to
deliver them."
President Clinton, Jan. 27, 1998.
"Iraq is a long way from [here], but what happens there
matters a great deal here. For the risks that the leaders of a
rogue state will use nuclear, chemical or biological weapons
against us or our allies is the greatest security threat we
face."
Madeleine Albright, Feb 18, 1998.
"He will use those weapons of mass destruction again, as he
has ten times since 1983."
Sandy Berger, Clinton National Security Adviser, Feb, 18,
1998.
"[W]e urge you, after consulting with Congress, and
consistent with the U.S. Constitution and laws, to take
necessary actions (including, if appropriate, air and missile
strikes on suspect Iraqi sites) to respond effectively to the
threat posed by Iraq's refusal to end its weapons of mass
destruction programs."
Letter to President Clinton, signed by Sens. Carl Levin,
Tom Daschle, John Kerry, and others Oct. 9, 1998.
"As a member of the House Intelligence Committee, I am keenly
aware that the proliferation of chemical and biological weapons
is an issue of grave importance to all nations. Saddam Hussein
has been engaged in the development of weapons of mass
destruction technology which is a threat to countries in the
region and he has made a mockery of the weapons inspection
process."
Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D, CA), Dec. 16, 1998.
"Hussein has ... chosen to spend his money on building
weapons of mass destruction and palaces for his cronies."
Madeleine Albright, Clinton Secretary of State, Nov. 10,
1999.
"This December will mark three years since United Nations
inspectors last visited Iraq. There is no doubt that since that
time, Saddam Hussein has reinvigorated his weapons programs.
Reports indicate that biological, chemical and nuclear programs
continue apace and may be back to pre-Gulf War status. In
addition, Saddam continues to refine delivery systems and is
doubtless using the cover of a licit missile program to develop
longer-range missiles that will threaten the United States and
our allies."
Letter to President Bush, Signed by Sen. Bob Graham (D,
FL,) and others, Dec, 5, 2001.
"We begin with the common belief that Saddam Hussein is a
tyrant and a threat to the peace and stability of the region. He
has ignored the mandate of the United Nations and is building
weapons of mass destruction and the means of delivering them."
Sen. Carl Levin (D, MI), Sept. 19, 2002.
"We know that he has stored away secret supplies of
biological and chemical weapons throughout his country."
Al Gore, Sept. 23, 2002.
"Iraq's search for weapons of mass destruction has proven
impossible to deter and we should assume that it will continue
for as long as Saddam is in power."
Al Gore, Sept. 23, 2002.
"We have known for many years that Saddam Hussein is seeking
and developing weapons of mass destruction."
Sen. Ted Kennedy (D, MA), Sept. 27, 2002.
"The last UN weapons inspectors left Iraq in October 1998. We
are confident that Saddam Hussein retains some stockpiles of
chemical and biological weapons, and that he has since embarked
on a crash course to build up his chemical and biological
warfare capabilities. Intelligence reports indicate that he is
seeking nuclear weapons..."
Sen. Robert Byrd (D, WV), Oct. 3, 2002.
"I will be voting to give the President of the United States
the authority to use force — if necessary — to disarm Saddam
Hussein because I believe that a deadly arsenal of weapons of
mass destruction in his hands is a real and grave threat to our
security."
Sen. John F. Kerry (D, MA), Oct. 9, 2002.
"There is unmistakable evidence that Saddam Hussein is
working aggressively to develop nuclear weapons and will likely
have nuclear weapons within the next five years .... We also
should remember we have always underestimated the progress
Saddam has made in development of weapons of mass destruction."
Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D, WV), Oct 10, 2002.
"He has systematically violated, over the course of the past
11 years, every significant UN resolution that has demanded that
he disarm and destroy his chemical and biological weapons, and
any nuclear capacity. This he has refused to do."
Rep. Henry Waxman (D, CA), Oct. 10, 2002.
"In the four years since the inspectors left, intelligence
reports show that Saddam Hussein has worked to rebuild his
chemical and biological weapons stock, his missile delivery
capability, and his nuclear program. He has also given aid,
comfort, and sanctuary to terrorists, including al Qaeda
members. It is clear, however, that if left unchecked, Saddam
Hussein will continue to increase his capacity to wage
biological and chemical warfare, and will keep trying to develop
nuclear weapons."
Sen. Hillary Clinton (D, NY), Oct. 10, 2002.
"We are in possession of what I think to be compelling
evidence that Saddam Hussein has, and has had for a number of
years, a developing capacity for the production and storage of
weapons of mass destruction.
Sen. Bob Graham (D, FL), Dec. 8, 2002.
"Without question, we need to disarm Saddam Hussein. He is a
brutal, murderous dictator, leading an oppressive regime .... He
presents a particularly grievous threat because he is so
consistently prone to miscalculation ... And now he is
miscalculating America's response to his continued deceit and
his consistent grasp for weapons of mass destruction .... So the
threat of Saddam Hussein with weapons of mass destruction is
real ...."
Sen. John F. Kerry (D, MA), Jan. 23. 2003.
Watch this
for
pre-war quotes by several Democrats.
Watch thisfor
pre-war quotes by John Kerry.
Iraq and a History of Terrorism
On December 3, 1976, the New
York Times
reported that radical Palestinians have gathered in
Iraq to mount a terrorist campaign against "moderate" Arab
governments. The group referred to in the article was known as
Black June and they were led by the terrorist Abu Nidal. On
August 5, 1978, the New York Times
reported that this Palestinian group was linked to
Iraq's intelligence service. Abu Nidal was a ruthless terrorist
who planned the 1973 assault on an American passenger plane in
Rome that resulted in 34 deaths and the 1974 bombing of TWA 841
which resulted in 88 deaths.
On April 24, 1977, the
Palestine Liberation Front (PLF) was reorganized under the
leadership of the terrorist Abu Abbas. According to an October
13, 1985
article in the New York Times, the group was
organized with money and help from the Iraqi government.
In December 1977, Carlos the
Jackal (a.k.a. Ilich Ramirez Sanchez) a "terrorist for hire" met
with Saddam Hussein. Carlos was openly supported by the Iraqi
government.
On July 15, 1978, the LA Times
reported that the Palestine Liberation Organization
(PLO) had formally asked the government of Iraq to hand over the
terrorist Abu Nidal "so he would get what he deserves." The
article reported Iraq had given support to Abu Nidal and even
provided him with his own radio station which he called "the
voice of the Palestinian revolution." Among other things, the
radio station had launched virulent attacks on two Palestinian
leaders shortly before they were assassinated earlier that year.
In 1979, Congress passed
legislation (Export Administration Act of 1979) which required
the executive branch to create and maintain a list of countries
deemed to have repeatedly provided support for acts of
international terrorism. In December 1979, the Carter
Administration declared four countries as state sponsors of
terrorism including: Iraq, Libya, Syria, and Southern Yemen.
On August 30, 1980, the New
York Times reported in an
article titled "U.S. Forbids Sale of Jetliners to
Iraq" that the Carter Administration decided to block the sale
of five Boeing jets due to Iraq's involvement in recent
terrorist activities. The article reported that, within the
previous few months, Iraqi diplomats were involved in attempted
bomb attacks in Vienna and West Berlin.
On November 9, 1982, the Los
Angeles Times reported in an
article titled "Top Arab Terrorist Back in Baghdad"
that Abu Nidal had recently moved back to Iraq after being
expelled from the country four years earlier. His presence in
Iraq was confirmed by President Saddam Hussein.
Abu Abbas was the mastermind of
the October 1985 Achille Lauro cruise ship hijacking. Leon
Klinghoffer, a 69-year-old Manhattan retiree, was rolled by
Abbas's men, wheelchair and all, into the Mediterranean. After
holding some 400 passengers hostage for 44 hours, the hijackers
surrendered to Egyptian authorities in exchange for safe passage
to Tunisia aboard an Egypt Air jet. The airliner, however, was
forced by U.S. fighter planes to land at a NATO base in Sicily.
Italian officials took the hijackers into custody but Abu Abbas
possessed a get-out-of-jail card: an Iraqi diplomatic passport.
Seeing that this terrorist traveled as a credentialed Iraqi
diplomat, the Italian authorities let Abbas flee to Yugoslavia.
On January 21, 1986 the
Associated Press
reported the May 15 Organization is an Iraqi-based
terrorist group headed by a Palestinian who goes by the name of
Abu Ibrahim. The article quoted an Israeli military officer who
said the group "specializes in blowing up planes in the air.
They operate with the active support of Iraqi intelligence." The
May 15 Organization was responsible for five attacks on American
and Israeli airliners between 1982 and 1983 including the August
11, 1982 bombing of
Pan Am flight 830 over Honolulu which killed one
teenager and injured 15 other passengers. Members of the group
are also suspected in the April 2, 1986 bombing of
TWA flight 840 which killed four Americans near
Athens.
On May 13, 1986, the New York
Times
reported that the French Interior Ministry had
received confessions for three terrorist bombings including the
Marks & Spencer department stores in Paris and London. According
to reports, the terrorist in custody had received his orders
from a "contact in Baghdad." That contact was Abu Ibrahim, the
leader of a radical Palestinian organization called the "Arab
Organization of May 15." This group, which received Iraqi
government support, was known for its use of sophisticated
explosive devices in the form of plastic explosives and suitcase
bombs.
On March 20, 1990, four months
prior to the invasion of Kuwait, the Chicago Tribune
asked, "Why is Bush gentle with the Butcher of
Baghdad?" The newspaper was upset a British journalist had been
recently hanged in Iraq as a spy. Saddam had also declared a
school holiday to swell the crowds ordered to demonstrate in
front of the British embassy. The Iraqi propaganda minister
declared, "Mrs. Thatcher wanted him alive, we gave her the
body."
On March 31, 1990, months prior
to Iraq's invasion of Kuwait, The Post-Standard (Syracuse, NY)
reported that five people were indicted for illegally
exporting nuclear warhead triggering devices to Iraq. The
article reported, "Hussein is one of the world's foremost
sponsors of terrorism. Numbered among his clients are a varied
assortment of highjackers, bombers and kidnappers around the
world."
During the first Gulf War, on
February 4, 1991, the Washington Times wrote an
article titled, "Terrorist Camps Deserted in Iraq."
The article reported that several terrorist camps inside Iraq
were abandoned shortly after the start of the allied bombing
campaign. One camp in the western desert was operated by the
terrorist Abu Nidal for weapons and explosives training. A
terrorist camp near Bagdad was operated by Abu Ibrahim, leader
of the Arab Organization May 15. And another terrorist camp near
Bagdad was occupied by terrorists of unknown affiliation. Later,
after the war, the Washington Times wrote another
article dated November 24, 1992 reporting that
terrorists were once again training at a camp near Bagdad in
violation of the cease-fire terms that ended the Gulf War.
On February 4, 1992, The
Canadian Press
reported, "A Palestinian ex-businessman said Tuesday
he was sent on a bombing mission to Europe in 1982 by an
Iraqi-based guerrilla group whose leader had close connections
with the Baghdad government. Adnan Awad told a U.S. Senate
hearing he took a sophisticated briefcase bomb to Switzerland
where he was to blow up either an Israeli or an American
installation but could not bring himself to do it." Awad said
the leader of the group, Abu Ibrahim, had an "open and clear"
relationship with the Iraqi government and enjoyed special
privileges "like any big officer in Iraq."
On June 6, 1992, the Associated
Press
reported that, "U.S. officials knew Palestinian
terrorists were finding a safe haven in Baghdad, but for eight
years the Reagan and Bush administrations rejected congressional
attempts to punish Iraq, newly declassified documents show." A
July 1, 1986 memo to then-Secretary of State George Shultz said,
"The Iraqis initially endeavored to preserve their terrorist
assets, resorting to subterfuge to divert attention from their
continued support for terrorist groups." The memo was
declassified by the State Department at the request of Rep. Sam
Gejdenson, D-Conn.
During the 1992 presidential
campaign, Al Gore criticized the first Bush administration for
its "blatant
disregard" of Iraq's ties to terrorism. On September 29,
1992 Al Gore said, "The Reagan-Bush administration was also
prepared to overlook the fact that the terrorists who
masterminded the attack on the Achille Lauro and the savage
murder of American Leon Klinghoffer, fled with Iraqi assistance.
Nor did it seem to matter that the team of terrorists who set
out to blow up the Rome airport came directly from Baghdad with
suitcase bombs." Al Gore went on to say, "There might have been
a moment's pause for reflection when Iraqi aircraft
intentionally attacked the USS Stark in May of 1987 killing 37
sailors, but the administration smoothed it over very fast."
Former President George H. W.
Bush visited Kuwait between April 14 and April 16, 1993, to
commemorate the allied victory in the Persian Gulf War. In
late-April 1993, the United States learned that terrorists had
attempted to assassinate Bush during his visit to Kuwait and
evidence indicated that the Iraqi Intelligence Service (IIS) was
behind the assassination attempt. The Kuwaiti authorities
arrested 17 persons suspected in the plot to kill Bush using
explosives hidden in a Toyota Landcruiser. On June 26, 1993, the
United States launched a cruise missile attack against a
building housing the Iraqi Intelligence Service in Baghdad in
retaliation for the assassination attempt on former President
Bush.
On June 27, 1994 ABC News
reported that Abdul Rahman Yasin (indicted for his
role in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing) was known to be
living in Iraq. A reporter working for ABC News and Newsweek
spotted Abdul Yasin at his father's house in Baghdad. Newsweek
reported that, according to neighbors, Yasin was
"working for the Iraqi government." At the time, the U.S.
government was offering a $2 million reward for information
leading to his capture. Yasin was never brought to justice and
still remains at large today. The reward for his capture has
since increased to $5 million.
On October 12, 1994, the Los
Angeles Times
reported that the Pentagon had placed 155,000
additional ground troops on alert in response to the recent
build-up of Iraqi forces near the Kuwait border. These soldiers
were in addition to the 36,000 already being sent to the Persian
Gulf. "For the next several hours, we're going to watch and see
what Iraq is going to do," one official said. "Meanwhile, we are
getting ourselves prepared in case the worst comes to pass."
On September 4, 1996, Newsday
reported the United States had launched cruise
missile strikes against Saddam Hussein to make him "pay a price"
for unleashing his army against the northern Kurds. Over a two
day period the United States launched a total of 44 cruise
missiles into Iraq. President Clinton said, "Our objectives are
limited but clear: To make Saddam pay a price for the latest act
of brutality, reducing his ability to threaten his neighbors and
America's interests."
On September 12, 1996, National
Public Radio
interviewed a former CIA chief of counter-terrorism
who said Iraq might have been a state sponsor behind the 1993
World Trade Center bombing. NPR pointed out that Ramzi Ahmed
Yousef came to the United States with an Iraqi passport and also
reported that indicted co-conspirator Abdul Rahman Yasin was
currently living in Baghdad.
On March 2, 1998, U.S. News &
World Report wrote that Saddam Hussein had dispatched some 30
terrorist teams around the world to strike U.S. interests prior
to the first Gulf War. Disaster was averted, the article
reported, by a combination of U.S. intelligence and Iraqi
incompetence. Iraq had shipped automatic weapons and explosives
to embassies overseas but most of the Iraqi agents were
amateurish and easily detected. Two men who did get through
accidentally blew themselves up in the Philippines before they
could bomb a U.S. cultural center in Manila.
On January 27, 1999 an
article in the New York Times titled "A Much-Shunned
Terrorist Is Said to Find Haven in Iraq" stated that "Abu Nidal,
one of the world's most infamous terrorists, moved to Baghdad
late last year and obtained the protection of President Saddam
Hussein, according to intelligence reports received by United
States and Middle Eastern government officials." The article
quoted a counterterrorism expert who said that, regarding Abu
Nidal, "Osama bin Laden is a student by comparison."
On January 12, 2001 The Miami
Herald
reported that the Navy changed the status of Lt.
Commander Michael Scott Speicher from killed in action to
missing. Speicher was listed as the first casualty of the Gulf
War when his F/A-18 Hornet was shot down on January 17, 1991.
This change in status also made him the last to be still
unaccounted for. President Clinton said information about the
case "makes us believe that at least he survived his crash...
and that he might be alive." Clinton said U.S. officials have
begun trying to determine whether Speicher is alive, and "if he
is, where he is and how we can get him out."
After the Gulf War in 1991,
no-fly zones were established in northern and southern Iraq to
protect the Iraqi Kurds and Shiites from Saddam's forces. The
U.S. military enforced these no-fly zones up until the second
Iraq war in March 2003. Iraq considered this an affront to its
sovereignty and in December 1998 began shooting at American
aircraft patrolling these zones. On March 28, 2001, General
Tommy Franks
reported to the House Armed Services Committee that
during the prior year alone, coalition forces had flown nearly
10,000 sorties inside Iraqi airspace and those aircraft were
engaged by surface-to-air missiles or anti-aircraft fire more
than 500 times. Franks reported that during the prior year,
naval forces had intercepted 610 ships while enforcing U.N.
sanctions designed to limit Saddam Hussein's ability to smuggle
oil out of Iraq. On any given day, U.S. Central Command operated
in the region with some 30 naval vessels, 175-200 military
aircraft, and between 18,000 and 25,000 Soldiers, Sailors,
Airmen, Coast Guardsmen, and Marines.
On October 14, 2001, a former
Iraqi army captain named Sabah Khodada granted an
interview to the PBS television program "Frontline"
in which he talked about a terrorist training camp in Iraq
called Salman Pak. During this interview Khodada stated, "This
camp is specialized in exporting terrorism to the whole world."
Saddam Hussein paid $25,000
bonuses to the families of Palestinian homicide bombers.
"President Saddam Hussein has recently told the head of the
Palestinian political office, Faroq al-Kaddoumi, his decision to
raise the sum granted to each family of the martyrs of the
Palestinian uprising to $25,000 instead of $10,000," Iraq's
deputy prime minister Tariq Aziz declared on March 11, 2002.
Mahmoud Besharat, who dispensed these funds across the West
Bank, gratefully said: "You would have to ask President Saddam
why he is being so generous. But he is a revolutionary and he
wants this distinguished struggle, the intifada, to continue."
Before the rise of Usama bin
Laden, Abu Nidal was widely regarded as the world's most
ruthless terrorist. The Associated Press reported on August 22,
2002 that Nidal entered Iraq during the late 1990's "with the
full knowledge and preparations of the Iraqi authorities." He
lived there until August, 2002 when he died of between one and
four gunshot wounds. It is believed by many that Abu Nidal was
killed on the orders of Saddam Hussein although the Iraqi
government claimed that Nidal had committed suicide.
On February 13, 2003, the
Philippine government
expelled Iraqi diplomat Hisham al Hussein, the second
secretary at Iraq's Manila embassy. Cell phone records indicated
that the Iraqi diplomat had spoken with Abu Madja and Hamsiraji
Sali, leaders of Abu Sayyaf, just before and just after this
Al-Qaeda allied Islamic militant group conducted an attack in
Zamboanga City. Abu Sayyaf's nail filled bomb exploded on
October 2, 2002, injuring 23 individuals and killing two
Filipinos plus killing U.S. Special Forces Sergeant First Class
Mark Wayne Jackson, age 40.
After the fall of Saddam's
government, coalition forces
found and destroyed a terrorist training camp located
near Baghdad called Salman Pak. This terrorist training camp
featured an airplane fuselage where Iraqi defectors had earlier
reported foreign terrorists were being trained in hijacking
aircraft.
On April 7, 2003, Agence France
Presse
reported that US Marines discovered a terrorist
training camp operated by the Palestine Liberation Front (PLF).
The complex featured bomb-making facilities and pictures of
Iraqi President Saddam Hussein and PLF faction leader Abu Abbas.
Other pictures included the terrorist leader Abu Abbas posing
with a Republican Guard brigadier general inside the camp.
On April 14, 2003, Abu Abbas
was captured by U.S. Special Forces during a raid near Baghdad.
Abbas had lived in Baghdad since 1994, where he was living under
protection of Iraqi President Saddam Hussein.
Khala Khadr al-Salahat, accused
of designing the bomb that destroyed Pan Am flight 103 over
Lockerbie, Scotland in December 1988 (259 killed on board, 11
dead on the ground), also lived in Iraq. He surrendered to U.S.
Marines in Baghdad on April 18, 2003.
On September 18, 2003, USA
Today ran an article with the headline "U.S. says Iraq sheltered
suspect in '93 WTC attack." The article reported that U.S.
authorities have evidence Saddam Hussein's regime gave money and
housing to Abdul Rahman Yasin, a suspect in the World Trade
Center bombing in 1993. Military, intelligence and law
enforcement officials reported finding a large cache of
Arabic-language documents in Tikrit, Saddam's political
stronghold. Some analysts have concluded that the documents show
Saddam's government provided monthly payments and a home for
Yasin.
Russian President Vladimir
Putin said on June 18, 2004, "I can confirm that after the
events of September 11, 2001, and up to the military operation
in Iraq, Russian special services and Russian intelligence
several times received ... information that official organs of
Saddam's regime were preparing terrorist acts on the territory
of the United States and beyond its borders, at U.S. military
and civilian locations."
Connections between Iraq and Al-Qaeda
On August 20, 1998, President
Bill Clinton ordered a cruise missile attack against a chemical
weapons factory in Sudan. The cruise missile strike was in
retaliation for the August 7, 1998 truck bomb attacks on U.S.
embassies in Tanzania and Kenya which killed more than 200
people and wounded more than 5,000 others. The chemical weapons
factory in Sudan was funded, in part, by Osama bin Laden who the
U.S. believed responsible for the embassy bombings. Richard
Clarke, a national security advisor to President Clinton, told
the Washington Post in a January 23, 1999
article that the U.S. government was "sure" that
Iraqi nerve gas experts had produced a powdered substance at
that plant for use in making VX nerve gas.
On August 25, 1998 the Fort
Worth Star-telegram
reported a link between Iraq and the Sudanese
chemical weapons factory destroyed by the United States in a
cruise missile attack. The chemical weapons factory was hit
because of links to Osama bin Laden who the U.S. believed
responsible for the recent embassy bombings. A senior
intelligence official said one of the leaders of Iraq's chemical
weapons program, Emad al-Ani, had close ties with senior
Sudanese officials at the factory. The intelligence official
also said a number of Iraqi scientists working with al-Ani
attended the grand opening of the factory two years earlier.
Emad Husayn Abdullah al-Ani
surrendered to U.S. military forces on April 18,
2003.
On November 5, 1998 a Federal
grand jury in Manhattan returned a 238-count indictment charging
Osama bin Laden in the bombings of two United States Embassies
in Africa and with conspiring to commit other acts of terrorism
against Americans abroad. The grand jury indictment also charged
that Al-Qaeda had reached an arrangement with President Saddam
Hussein's government in Iraq whereby the group said that it
would not work against Iraq, and that the two parties agreed to
cooperate in the development of weapons.
On January 11, 1999, Newsweek
magazine ran the headline "Saddam + Bin Laden?" The sub-headline
declared, "It would be a marriage made in hell. And America's
two enemies are courting." The article points out that Saddam
has a long history of
supporting terrorism. The article also mentions that,
in the prior week, several surface-to-air missiles were fired at
U.S. and British planes patrolling the no-fly zones and that
Saddam is now fighting for his life now that the United States
has made his removal from office a national objective.
On January 14, 1999, ABC News
reported, "Saddam Hussein has a long history of
harboring terrorists. Carlos the Jackal, Abu Nidal, Abu Abbas,
the most notorious terrorists of their era, all found shelter
and support at one time in Baghdad. Intelligence sources say bin
Laden's long relationship with the Iraqis began as he helped
Sudan's fundamentalist government in their efforts to acquire
weapons of mass destruction."
On February 13, 1999, CNN
reported, "Osama bin Laden, the Saudi millionaire accused by the
United States of plotting bomb attacks on two U.S. embassies in
Africa, has left Afghanistan, Afghan sources said Saturday. Bin
Laden's whereabouts were not known....." The article reports,
"Iraqi President Saddam Hussein has offered
asylum to bin Laden....."
On February 18, 1999, National
Public Radio (NPR) reported, "There have also been reports in
recent months that bin Laden might have been considering moving
his operations to Iraq. Intelligence agencies in several nations
are looking into that. According to Vincent Cannistraro, a
former chief of CIA counterterrorism operations, a senior Iraqi
intelligence official, Farouk Hijazi, sought out bin Laden in
December and
invited him to come to Iraq." NPR reported that
Iraq's contacts with bin Laden go back some years, to at least
1994, when Farouk Hijazi met with bin Laden when he lived in
Sudan.
On February 14, 1999, an
article appeared in the San Jose Mercury News claiming that U.S.
intelligence officials are worried about an alliance between
Osama bin Laden and Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein. The article
states that bin Laden had met with a senior Iraqi intelligence
official near Qandahar, Afghanistan in late December 1998 and
that "there has been
increasing evidence that bin Laden and Iraq may have
begun cooperating in planning attacks against American and
British targets around the world." According to this article,
Saddam has offered asylum to bin Laden in Iraq. The article said
that in addition to Abu Nidal, another Palestinian terrorist by
the name of Mohammed Amri (a.k.a. Abu Ibrahim) is also believed
to be in Iraq.
On February 28, 1999, an
article was written in The Kansas City Star which said, "He [bin
Laden] has a private fortune ranging from $250 million to $500
million and is said to be cultivating a new
alliance with Iraq's Saddam Hussein, who has
biological and chemical weapons bin Laden would not hesitate to
use. An alliance between bin Laden and Saddam Hussein could be
deadly. Both men are united in their hatred for the United
States....."
On December 28, 1999, an
article appeared in The Herald (Glasgow, Scotland) titled, "Iraq
tempts bin Laden to attack West." The article starts, "The
world's most wanted man, Osama bin Laden, has been offered
sanctuary in Iraq....." The article quotes a U.S.
counter-terrorism source who said, "Now we are also facing the
prospect of an unholy alliance between bin Laden and Saddam. The
implications are terrifying."
On April 8, 2001, an informant
for Czech counter-intelligence observed an Iraqi intelligence
official named al-Ani meeting with an Arab man in his 20s at a
restaurant outside Prague. Following the 9/11 attacks, the Czech
informant who observed the meeting saw Mohammed Atta’s picture
in the papers and identified Mohammed Atta as the man who met
with the Iraqi intelligence official.
Able Danger, a
highly-classified U.S. Army intelligence program under the
command of the U.S. Army Special Operations Command, supports
information from the Czech Republic’s intelligence service that
Mohammed Atta meet with the Iraqi ambassador at the Prague
airport on April 9, 2001.
On July 21, 2001 [less than two
months prior to 911] the Iraqi state-controlled newspaper
"Al-Nasiriya"
predicted that bin Laden would attack the U.S. "with
the seriousness of the Bedouin of the desert about the way he
will try to bomb the Pentagon after he destroys the White
House." The same state-approved column also insisted that bin
Laden "will strike America on the arm that is already hurting,"
and that the U.S. "will curse the memory of Frank Sinatra every
time he hears his songs" - an apparent reference to the Sinatra
classic, "New York, New York."
After the 9/11 attacks, Saddam
became the only world leader to offer praise for bin Laden, even
as other terrorist leaders, like Yassir Arafat, went out of
their way to make a show of sympathy to the U.S. by donating
blood to 9/11 victims on camera. Saddam later
pays tribute to 9/11 by having a mural painted
depicting the World Trade Center attack at an Iraqi military
base in Nasariyah.
On March 15, 2002 the Christian
Science Monitor reported that a Taliban-style group known as
Ansar al-Islam was threatening stability in the Kurdish northern
region of Iraq. Prior to the start of the Iraq War in 2003,
Colin Powell addressed the United Nations and pointed out that
both Saddam Hussein and al-Qaida had links with the Ansar
al-Islam terrorist group. Saddam had provided arms and funding
for this terrorist group waging a jihadist war against the
Kurds. One month prior to the formation of Ansar al-Islam,
leaders from several Kurdish Islamist factions had visited the
al-Qaida leadership in Afghanistan. Ansar al-Islam announced
their formation on September 1, 2001 just days prior to the
September 11 attacks in the United States.
Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, a
director of an al Qaeda training base in Afghanistan, fled to
Iraq after being injured as the Taliban fell (prior to the
U.S./Iraq war). He received medical care and convalesced for two
months in Baghdad. He then opened a terrorist training camp in
northern Iraq and arranged the October 2002 assassination of
U.S. diplomat Lawrence Foley in Amman, Jordan.
CIA director George Tenet
(appointed by President Bill Clinton July 11, 1997) wrote in a
letter to Senator Bob Graham dated October 7, 2002.
"We have solid reporting of senior level contact between Iraq
and al Qaeda going back a decade. Credible information exists
that Iraq and al Qaeda have discussed safe haven and reciprocal
nonaggression. . . . We have credible reporting that al Qaeda
leaders sought contacts in Iraq who could help them acquire WMD
capabilities."
On October 16, 2002, the
Authorization for Use of Military Force Against Iraq Resolution
of 2002 was signed into law. The
authorization (Public law 107-243) had passed the
House by a vote of 296-133, and the Senate by a vote of 77-23.
This resolution stated, "Whereas members of al Qaida, an
organization bearing responsibility for attacks on the United
States, its citizens, and interests, including the attacks that
occurred on September 11, 2001, are known to be in Iraq;" and
"Whereas Iraq continues to aid and harbor other international
terrorist organizations, including organizations that threaten
the lives and safety of United States citizens."
Babil, an official newspaper of
Saddam Hussein's government, run by his oldest son Uday,
published information that appeared to confirm U.S.
allegations of the links between the Iraqi regime and al Qaeda.
In its November 16, 2002 edition, Babil identified one
Abd-al-Karim Muhammad Aswad as an "intelligence officer,"
describing him as the "official in charge of regime's contacts
with Osama bin Laden's group and currently the regime's
representative in Pakistan."
On April 25, 2003 CNN
reported that Farouk Hijazi had been captured by U.S.
forces. Farouk Hijazi was a former intelligence official who may
have plotted the attempted assassination of George H. W. Bush in
1993. He was also a contact between Saddam Hussein's regime and
Osama bin Laden. Farouk met with bin Laden in Afghanistan in
1998 and is also believed to have met with bin Laden in Sudan in
the early 1990's.
While sifting through the Iraqi
Intelligence Service's [Mukhabarat] bombed ruins on April 26,
2003 the Toronto Star's Mitch Potter, the London Daily
Telegraph's Inigo Gilmore and their translator discovered a memo
in the intelligence service's accounting department. Dated
February 19, 1998 and marked "Top Secret and Urgent," it said
the agency would pay "all the travel and hotel expenses inside
Iraq to gain the knowledge of the message from bin Laden and to
convey to his envoy an oral message from us to bin Laden, the
Saudi opposition leader, about the future of our relationship
with him, and to achieve a direct meeting with him."
On May 7, 2003, a federal judge
in New York awarded damages against the government of Iraq after
ruling that the families of two victims of the Sept. 11, 2001,
suicide hijackings had shown that Iraq had provided material
support to Osama bin Laden and al-Qaida. Judge Harold Baer ruled
that the two families were entitled to $104 million compensation
from Iraq, bin Laden, al-Qaida, the Taliban movement and their
government of Afghanistan. "Plaintiffs have shown, albeit
barely, 'by evidence satisfactory to the court' that Iraq
provided material support to bin Laden and al-Qaida."
On September 13, 2006, a deputy
prime minister of Iraq by the name of Barham Salih gave a
speech in which he said, "The alliance between the
Baathists and jihadists which sustains Al Qaeda in Iraq is not
new, contrary to what you may have been told." He went on to
say, "I know this at first hand. Some of my friends were
murdered by jihadists, by Al Qaeda-affiliated operatives who had
been sheltered and assisted by Saddam's regime."
Iraq and Weapons of Mass Destruction
In the 1970s, Iraq was
unsuccessful in negotiations with France to purchase a plutonium
production reactor similar to the one used in France's nuclear
weapons program. With French assistance, Iraq then built the
Osiraq 40 megawatt light-water nuclear reactor near Baghdad.
When Israeli intelligence confirmed Iraq's intention to produce
weapons at Osiraq, the Israeli government decided to attack.
According to some estimates, Iraq in 1981 was still as much as
five to ten years away from the ability to build a nuclear
weapon. Others estimated, at that time, Iraq might get its first
such weapon within a year or two. On June 7, 1981 Iraqi defenses
were caught by surprise and the reactor at Osiraq was destroyed.
It is estimated that the
Iran/Iraq war cost the two sides a million casualties. Iraq used
chemical weapons in that war extensively from 1984. Some twenty
thousand Iranians were killed by mustard gas, and the nerve
agents tabun and sarin. This marked the first time a country had
been named for violating the 1925 Geneva Convention banning the
use of chemical weapons.
On March 16, 1988, the Iraqi
Air Force appeared over the city of Halabja. At the time, the
city was home to roughly eighty thousand Kurds. The attack on
Halabja was the most notorious and the single deadliest gas
attack against the Kurds killing 5,000 civilians and injuring
10,000 more. But, it was just one of some forty chemical
assaults staged by Iraq against the Kurdish people.
On April 3, 1990, four months
prior to the invasion of Kuwait, the Los Angeles Times
reported, "Iraqi President Saddam Hussein declared
Monday that his military machine has nerve gas and the means to
deliver it, threatening to destroy 'half of Israel' if it
attacks Iraqi targets." The LA Times also reported that, the
week prior, five Iraqi agents were arrested in London attempting
to smuggle nuclear triggering devices to Baghdad.
After invading Kuwait, Iraq
attempted to accelerate its program to develop a nuclear weapon
by using radioactive fuel from the Osiraq reactor. It made a
crash effort in September, 1990 to recover enriched fuel from
this supposedly safe-guarded reactor, with the goal of produced
a nuclear weapon by April, 1991. The program was only halted
after Coalition air raid destroyed key facilities on January 17,
1991.
After the first Gulf War, on
April 3, 1991, the U.N. adapted ceasefire resolution
687. As part of this agreement, Iraq was required to
destroy, under international supervision, all chemical and
biological weapons and stocks of agents and all related
development, research, and manufacturing facilities. In the
following years, however, Iraq would not cooperate with
inspectors. At the end of the second Gulf War, U.S. forces found
over 500 chemical weapons proving that Iraq never destroyed
their WMD in violation of this ceasefire agreement.
On January 18, 1993 the Seattle
Post-intelligencer
reported that the United States launched a cruise
missile attack delivering "the political and diplomatic point"
that Iraq must comply with United Nations resolutions. "In a
dramatic crescendo for President Bush's final weekend in office,
U.S. forces shot down a MiG-23 warplane and struck an Iraqi air
defense installation. Hours later, U.S. warships launched about
40 Tomahawks into the night skies near Iraq's capital," they
reported. A White House Spokesman said a nuclear fabrications
plant was targeted in response to a series of weekend military
provocations by Iraq.
On September, 15 1996 the
Washington Post
reported the CIA had spent $100 million, or an
average of $20 million a year, in efforts to topple Saddam
Hussein since the Gulf War. The Post reported that, "Although no
U.S. order was given to any Iraqi dissident to kill Saddam, the
CIA provided funds to groups that it knew were attempting to do
so." When the covert program was expanded early in the year, the
agency was authorized by the White House to support acts of
sabotage inside Iraq that would create an image of a country
descending into chaos. Several Iraqi dissidents claimed a
military rebellion failed to materialize because Washington
withheld a promised aerial bombardment of Iraqi military
positions, but the Clinton administration dismissed the claim
that aerial support was promised.
On November 20, 1997 the New
York Times
reported that no arms inspections had taken place in
Iraq since October 29 when Baghdad threatened to expel Americans
on the monitoring teams. The Times also reported that the head
of the United Nations inspection team recently went to the
Security Council with photographs and documents demonstrating
that Iraq continued to pose a threat in almost every area of
weapons development. The photographs showed a convoy of trucks
entering and leaving a factory after inspectors indicated it was
a site they wished to visit. As an example of how Iraq changed
its accounting, a chemical weapons expert said that in 1995 Iraq
admitted to having made 160 kilograms of VX nerve agent. Then
Iraq altered its figures to 240 kilograms, then to 1,250
kilograms. By June 1996, the Iraqis acknowledged they produced
at least 3.9 tons of VX.
On November 23, 1997 CBS News
"60 Minutes" ran an
interview with Iraqi defector and former chief of
military intelligence Wafiq al-Sammarrai. During this interview,
Sammarrai said that Iraq had an active biological weapons
program. He said the U.N. weapons inspectors were being deceived
and that they would never be allowed inside the Presidential
Palace because of documents kept there. Wafiq Sammarrai also
said that Saddam Hussein had considered carrying out a
biological weapons attack against the United States using
anthrax.
On January 28, 1998 the Senate
passed Concurrent
Resolution 71 "condemning Iraq's threat to
international peace and security." Among the co-sponsors of this
bill were Tom Daschle, John Kerry, Bob Graham, Patrick Moynihan,
Robert Byrd, Patrick Leahy, and Christopher Dodd. This
resolution "urges the President to take all necessary and
appropriate actions to respond to the threat posed by Iraq's
refusal to end its weapons of mass destruction programs." In
defense of President Clinton's inclination to use military force
in Iraq, Daschle said this resolution would "send as clear a
message as possible that we are going to force, one way or
another, diplomatically or militarily, Iraq to comply with
international law."
On February 10, 1998, Yossef
Bodansky, director of the U.S. House of Representatives Task
Force on Terrorism and Unconventional Warfare, published a
task force report compiled from information obtained
from Arab opposition movements as well as from British, German
and Israeli intelligence sources. The report said that Iraq had
weapons of mass destruction at that time including anthrax,
nerve gas, and mustard gas. It also claimed that some Iraqi
nuclear materials were being held in Algeria. Yossef Bodansky
said a chemical weapons factory was being built at that time,
with the help of Iraqi experts, south-west of Sudan's capital
Khartoum for Islamic terrorists associated with Osama bin Laden.
This 1998 report concludes, "And so, the US is planning an
instant-gratification bombing campaign that would neither
destroy Iraq's WMD operational capabilities nor touch its main
WMD production lines in Libya and Sudan."
By late February 1998, U.S.
forces in the gulf region had reached more than 40,000 and were
reinforced with British and other allied contingents. The U.S.
military build-up was due to Iraq's obstruction of U.N. (UNSCOM)
weapons inspections. On February 18, 1998 President Bill Clinton
said, "If we fail to respond today, Saddam and all those who
would follow in his footsteps will be emboldened tomorrow." Five
days later, however, Kofi Annan struck a deal with the Iraqi
dictator that once again allowed U.N. inspectors permission to
inspect. As the crisis receded, U.S. forces were drawn back down
to their pre-1997 levels. Ten months after Saddam accepted
Annan's offer, Saddam kicked U.N. weapons inspectors out of Iraq
for good.
On May 1, 1998, President
Clinton signed Public Law 105-174, which made $5,000,000
available for assistance to the Iraqi democratic opposition for
such activities as organization, training, communication and
dissemination of information, developing and implementing
agreements among opposition groups, compiling information to
support the indictment of Iraqi officials for war crimes, and
for related purposes.
On August 20, 1998, President
Bill Clinton ordered a cruise missile attack against a chemical
weapons factory in Sudan. The chemical weapons factory the U.S.
hit was funded, in part, by Osama bin Laden who the U.S.
believed responsible for the U.S. embassy bombings in Tanzania
and Kenya. Thomas Pickering, Under Secretary of State for
Political Affairs,
told reporters, "We see evidence that we think is
quite clear on contacts between Sudan and Iraq. In fact, El
Shifa officials, early in the company's history, we believe were
in touch with Iraqi individuals associated with Iraq's VX
program."
The
Iraq Liberation Act of 1998 (passed by the House and
Senate and signed into law by President Bill Clinton on October
31, 1998) stated "It should be the policy of the United States
to support efforts to remove the regime headed by Saddam Hussein
from power in Iraq and to promote the emergence of a democratic
government to replace that regime." This legislation also
allocated $97,000,000 to aid Iraqi democratic opposition
organizations.
On December 17, 1998 The
Washington Post
reported, "The opening U.S. attack against Iraq
yesterday involved more than 200 cruise missiles launched from
ships in the Persian Gulf and scores of bombs dropped from
aircraft flying from the carrier USS Enterprise against targets
across the country, defense officials said. With the strikes
planned to last at least three days and possibly longer,
officials said U.S. and British warplanes stationed in Persian
Gulf states and B-52 bombers operating out of the Indian Ocean
island of Diego Garcia would join the effort, which aims to
pummel a broad range of targets critical to Iraq's weapons
manufacturing and President Saddam Hussein's hold on power."
In an August 3, 1999
interview, Richard Butler, former chief weapons
inspector for UNSCOM, said that Saddam Hussein had an
"addiction" for weapons of mass destruction.
On November 25, 2001 The
Washington Post wrote an
article with details regarding Iraq's germ warfare
program. According to the article, U.N. weapons inspectors got
their first glimpse of Iraq's biological weapons program during
an August 1991 inspection of Salman Pak, one of Iraq's premier
biological weapons facilities. Iraqi documents later obtained by
the United Nations indicated that Baghdad subsequently filled
more than 50 bombs and missile warheads with a liquid form of
anthrax. The Washington Post also reported that Iraq
acknowledged producing at least 19,000 liters of botulinum
toxin, using more than half to fill at least 116 bombs and
missile warheads.
On September 24, 2002, the
British government released a
report titled "Iraq's Weapons of Mass Destruction:
The Assessment of the British Government." It was the judgment
of the British government that Iraq had: continued to produce
chemical and biological agents; tried covertly to acquire
technology and materials which could be used in the production
of nuclear weapons; sought significant quantities of
uranium from Africa; and had learnt lessons from
previous UN weapons inspections and had already begun to conceal
sensitive equipment and documentation in advance of the return
of inspectors. In his January 28, 2003 State of the Union
address, George Bush said, "The British government has learned
that Saddam Hussein recently sought significant quantities of
uranium from Africa." This quote would later be referred to as
his "famous 16 words."
During the 9/11 hearings,
former Clinton Defense Secretary William Cohen
testified that the manager of a chemical weapons
plant in Sudan (which was funded by Osama bin Laden and later
destroyed by U.S. cruise missiles on Aug. 20, 1998) met in
Baghdad with an Iraqi nerve gas expert.
On May 17, 2004, the U.S.
military said a roadside bomb containing sarin nerve agent had
recently exploded near a U.S. military convoy. The discovery of
nerve gas was followed by a second revelation from the military
that another shell, equipped with mustard gas, had been found
two weeks earlier.
On January 25, 2006, Former
Iraqi General Georges Sada gave an interview to FOX News
regarding Iraq's missing WMD's. Sada, a top military advisor and
the number two man in the air force, claims that Iraq's chemical
weapons were moved to Syria prior to the war. Georges Sada is
the author of the book called, "Saddam's Secrets: How an Iraqi
General Defied and Survived Saddam Hussein."
WMD found in Iraq. On June 21, 2006, Senator Rick
Santorum (R, PA) called press conference and stated, "We have
found weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, chemical weapons."
Reading from a declassified report Santorum said, "Since 2003,
coalition forces have recovered approximately 500 weapons
munitions which contain degraded mustard or sarin nerve agent.
Despite many efforts to locate and destroy Iraq's pre-Gulf War
chemical munitions, filled and unfilled pre-Gulf War chemical
munitions are assessed to still exist."
The Saddam-al Qaeda link