An exhaustive review of more than 600,000 Iraqi documents that were captured after the 2003 U.S. invasion has found no evidence that Saddam Hussein's regime had any operational links with Osama bin Laden's al Qaida terrorist network.
The Pentagon-sponsored study, scheduled for release later this week, did confirm that Saddam's regime provided some support to other terrorist groups, particularly in the Middle East, U.S. officials told McClatchy. However, his security services were directed primarily against Iraqi exiles, Shiite Muslims, Kurds and others he considered enemies of his regime.
The new study of the Iraqi regime's archives found no documents indicating a "direct operational link" between Hussein's Iraq and al Qaida before the invasion, according to a U.S. official familiar with the report. He and others spoke to McClatchy on condition of anonymity because the study isn't due to be shared with Congress and released before Wednesday.
One problem: Strobel misrepresented what is actually in the report.
At Hot Air, Ed Morrissey has been going through the report. The report shows Saddam supported and communicated with The Army of Muhammed, an al Qaeda subsidiary operating out of Bahrain. The group was confirmed to be loyal to Bin Laden. Morrissey says the Iraqis listed the aims of this group as "attacking Jewish and American interests anywhere in the world, attacking American embassies, disrupting American oil supplies and tankers, and attacking the American military bases in the Middle East."
.
Ed also notes Saddam supported a second Al Qaeda subsidiary, Egypt’s Islamic Jihad. A prominent member of Islamic Jihad: Ayman al-Zawahiri, who eventually became Bin Laden's chief deputy.
Stephen F. Hayes has more here. Gateway Pundit has more, including photos and translated documents, here. Translated by Omar at Iraq The Model, this document shows Saddam knew Al Qaeda and the Taliban had conducted a visit to Iraq, and, that Bin Laden was planning attacks inside the US. This document shows Osama Bin Laden met with the Iraqi government in 1995, and the Iraqi government hoped to stay in contact with Bin Laden after his expulsion from Sudan.
.
Eli Lake at the New York Sun, who has actually read the report, has written an article on the findings. The title of his article tells you something: "Report Details Saddam's Terrorist Ties".
.
Bloggers are pointing out the reporters and news outlets in the mainstream media who misled the public. PowerLine singles out Warren Strobel (plus the New York Times blog and the ABC blog) for egregious misrepresentation.
Strobel's spin is exposed from the very beginning of the report. So you can see for yourself, here is the summary from the actual report:
Captured Iraqi documents have uncovered evidence that links the regime of Saddam Hussein to regional and global terrorism, including a variety of revolutionary, liberation, nationalist and Islamic terrorist organizations. While these documents do not reveal direct coordination and assistance between the Saddam regime and the al Qaeda network, they do indicate that Saddam was willing to use, albeit cautiously, operatives affiliated with al Qaeda as long as Saddam could have these terrorist-operatives monitored closely. Because Saddam's security organizations and Osama bin Laden's terrorist network operated with similar aims (at least in the short term), considerable overlap was inevitable when monitoring, contacting, financing, and training the same outside groups. This created both the appearance of and, in some way, a "de facto" link between the organizations. At times, these organizations would work together in pursuit of shared goals but still maintain their autonomy and independence because of innate caution and mutual distrust. Though the execution of Iraqi terror plots was not always successful, evidence shows that Saddam’s use of terrorist tactics and his support for terrorist groups remained strong up until the collapse of the regime.It's apology time for Strobel and McClatchy.
Related:
