Intelligence Report Links Saddam, Usama

[rhino91063]

From faux news

Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein (search) gave terror lord Usama bin Laden's thugs financial and logistical support, offering Al Qaeda (search) money, training and haven for more than a decade, it was reported yesterday.








Their deadly collaboration — which may have included the bombing of the USS Cole (search) and the 9/11 attacks — is revealed in a 16-page memo to the Senate Intelligence Committee (search) that cites reports from a variety of domestic and foreign spy agencies compiled by multiple sources, The Weekly Standard (search) reports.

Read the Weekly Standard article.

Saddam's willingness to help bin Laden plot against Americans began in 1990, shortly before the first Gulf War, and continued through last March, the eve of the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq, says the Oct. 27 memo sent by Undersecretary of Defense for Policy Douglas Feith.

Two men were involved with the collaboration almost from its start.

Mamdouh Mahmud Salim — who's described as the terror lord's "best friend" — was involved in planning the bombings of the U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania in 1998.

Another terrorist, Hassan al-Turabi, was said by an Iraqi defector to be "instrumental" in the relationship.

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," a top-level Iraqi defector has told U.S. intelligence.

The bombshell report says bin Laden visited Baghdad in January 1998 and met with Iraqi Deputy Prime Minister Tariq Aziz.

"The goal of the visit was to arrange for coordination between Iraq and bin Laden and establish camps in Nasiriyah and Iraqi Kurdistan," the memo says.
<SNIP>

Volcano Jen you got it wrong Faux news is reporting this memoe from none Neocon liar and ISraeli agent Doug Feith.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,103163,00.html

[rhino91063]

1. A little report on the known neocon liar Doug Feith

Paul Wolfowitz and Douglas Feith twisted CIA data in order to justify a war against Iraq
by JASON LEOPOLD, counterpunch.org Sunday July 20, 2003 at 03:40 AM


...an ad-hoc committee called the Office of Special Plans, set up Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz, Assistant Secretary of Defense for Policy Douglas Feith and other high-profile hawks rewrote the intelligence information on Iraq that the CIA gathered and gave it to White House officials to help Bush build a case for war, according to three Senators on the intelligence committee.

Tenet: Wolfowitz Did It
The Yellowcake Blame Game
By JASON LEOPOLD

When George Tenet, the director of the CIA, testified before the Senate Intelligence Committee last week about dubious intelligence data on the Iraqi threat that made it into President Bush's State of the Union address in January, he said an ad-hoc committee called the Office of Special Plans, set up Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz, Assistant Secretary of Defense for Policy Douglas Feith and other high-profile hawks rewrote the intelligence information on Iraq that the CIA gathered and gave it to White House officials to help Bush build a case for war, according to three Senators on the intelligence committee.

Tenet told the Intelligence Committee that his own spies at the CIA determined that much of the intelligence information they collected on Iraq could not prove that the country was an imminent threat nor could they find any concrete evidence that Iraq was stockpiling a cache of chemical and biological weapons. But the Office of Special Plans, using Iraqi defectors from the Iraqi National Congress as their main source, rewrote some of the CIA's intelligence to say, undeniably, that Iraq was hiding some of the world's most lethal weapons. Once the intelligence was rewritten, it was delivered to the office of National Security Adviser Condoleeza Rice, where it found its way into various public speeches given by Vice President Dick Cheney, Deputy Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Bush, the Senators said.

Moreover, these Senators allege that the office of the Vice President and the National Security Council were fully aware that the intelligence Wolfowitz's committee collected may not have been reliable. The Senators said they are discussing privately whether to ask Wolfowitz to testify before a Senate hearing in the near future to determine how large of a role his Special Plans committee played in providing the President with intelligence data on Iraq and whether that information was reliable or beefed up to help build a case for war.
<SNIP>
http://www.indybay.org/news/2003/07/1629064.php

[leftchick]

2. it is Feith Based Intelligence!!!!

so it isn't worth shit!!!

[rhino91063]

3. Doug Feith Israeli Agent

Here is a just a small taste of what this evil little man is all about.

http://middleeastinfo.org/article701.html


<SNIP>
Despite his apparent obsession with the Arab-Israel conflict, Feith has written about a number of other Middle East-related topics. In all cases, inspired by the same pro-Israel, anti-Arab Manichean worldview.

He has written condemning U.S. politicians for estranging themselves from Israel in order to accommodate Arab oil states. He has associated himself with a controversial strategy paper that suggested, among other options, that the U.S. might lead a Kuwait-style invasion and war of liberation to oust Syria from Lebanon. And he has been one of Washington’s strongest advocates supporting the Iraq Liberation Act.

As disturbing as Feith’s views may be, his political associations cause even greater concern. In recent years, Feith has frequently been featured in the activities of the Zionist Organization of America (ZOA). Known for its virulent anti-Arab incitement, the ZOA regularly attacks all Arab American political activity and demonizes politicians who hire Arab Americans or even associate with community organizations. The ZOA also frequently attacks American Jews whom they feel are not in line with their extremist pro-Likud philosophy.

In just the past few years, Feith was the Guest of Honor at ZOA’s 100th Anniversary Gala Banquet. He served as Master of Ceremony at two other major ZOA functions and has been a frequent participant at ZOA sponsored policy briefings on Capitol Hill supporting that organization’s anti-Palestinian legislative initiatives.

Feith’s law practice in Washington sheds further light on the one-sided nature of his work. His small law firm has one international affiliate, in Israel. Over two-thirds of all their reported casework involves representing Israeli interests. And, in light of Feith’s new appointment, one of these cases deserves some attention. As described on the firm’s website, Feith "represented a leading Israeli armaments manufacturer in establishing joint ventures with leading U.S. aerospace manufacturers for manufacture and sale of missile systems, to the U.S. Department of Defense and worldwide."

Feith has long been a strong advocate for Israeli military technology. In a 1992 article, he wrote that the U.S. should deepen its military cooperation with Israel noting that, "Israel has a number of unique military technologies that it behooves the U.S. armed forces to acquire, such as unmanned aircraft and air-to ground missiles. With shrinking U.S. defense budgets, it is less expensive for the Defense Department to acquire these technologies from the Israelis than to pay to have them reinvented."

He also observed in the same piece that, "It is in the interest of the U.S. and Israel to remove needless impediments to technological cooperation between them. Technologies in the hands of responsible, friendly countries facing military threats, countries like Israel, serve to deter aggression, enhance regional stability and perhaps also promote peace thereby."

<SNIP>

[pepsi]

4. More

Three weeks ago "Frontline" aired an interview with Chalabi. The journalist questioned him regarding his claims to Wolfowitz that Saddam and Osama were connected. Chalabi said that.."this is absolutely true...I have documents". The journalist said, "You mean if I asked you, you could provide documents that prove the connection"? Chalabi said.."well, I don't have them with me right now, but I have them". At the journalists urging, Chalabi agreed to return with the documents. Of course, Chalabi never returned.

This "leaked" memo has Chalabi written all over it. The "raw" intelligence that Fox is touting is wrong, not "raw".

Pepsi

[annxburns]

6. HELLO ....

.... the important thing about this story is not whether it is true or not. (How the hell would we know?) The importnant thing about this story is that it shows the administration is at war with itself, confused and adrift.

Cheney implies a 9/11 link to Saddam
Bush and Condi sheepishly say it is not true
Now they have someone in the defense department saying Uh-uhh, it is SO true ....

What the hell is going on? We should not pick sides while the administration is in a circular firing squad. Let's just point out that they are in one and call for a RELEASE OF ALL THE DOCUMENT TO THE 9/11 COMMISSION AND THE IRAQ CONGRESSIONAL PANEL, and maybe it is time to call an outside independent investigation.

What a MESS .... pass the popcorn

[HereSince1628]

22. There is nothing about this on J Rockerfellers website

Anyone know if he has made a comment?

Also anyone know if Graham has made a comment?

I agree that the confusion this raises is very obvious...the sort of thing that Daschle should be on like stink on a skunk.

[VolcanoJen]

5. Fox News could learn a little about research and reporting from Will Pitt.

Will again debunks this story, in this GD thread:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=104&topic_id=716103

From his thread:

The CIA was especially wary of Chalabi, whom they regarded as a con man (Chalabi has been convicted of bank fraud in Jordan; he denies the charges). But rather than accept the CIA’s doubts, top officials in the Bush Defense Department set up their own team of intelligence analysts, a small but powerful shop now called the Office of Special Plans—and, half-jokingly, by its members, “the Cabal.”

The Cabal was eager to find a link between Saddam and Al Qaeda, especially proof that Saddam played a role in the 9-11 attacks. The hard-liners at Defense seized on a report that Muhammad Atta, the chief hijacker, met in Prague in early April 2001 with an Iraqi intelligence official. Only one problem with that story, the FBI pointed out. Atta was traveling at the time between Florida and Virginia Beach, Va. (The bureau had his rental car and hotel receipts.)

[TahitiNut]

7. Link to the original Weekly Standard (blecchh!) article ...

Case Closed

From the November 24, 2003 issue: The U.S. government's secret memo detailing cooperation between Saddam Hussein and Osama bin Laden.
by Stephen F. Hayes
11/24/2003, Volume 009, Issue 11

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.

The memo, dated October 27, 2003, was sent from Undersecretary of Defense for Policy Douglas J. Feith to Senators Pat Roberts and Jay Rockefeller, the chairman and vice chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee. It was written in response to a request from the committee as part of its investigation into prewar intelligence claims made by the administration. Intelligence reporting included in the 16-page memo comes from a variety of domestic and foreign agencies, including the FBI, the Defense Intelligence Agency, the Central Intelligence Agency, and the National Security Agency. Much of the evidence is detailed, conclusive, and corroborated by multiple sources. Some of it is new information obtained in custodial interviews with high-level al Qaeda terrorists and Iraqi officials, and some of it is more than a decade old. The picture that emerges is one of a history of collaboration between two of America's most determined and dangerous enemies.
<snip>

---

This has the reeking stench of disinformation, imho.

[Name removed]

8. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[rhino91063]

10. There was a mistake

At how far this lie had spread. Orginally it seemed confined to newsmax and other KNOWN propaganda sites. Now it is being broadcast by Faux news and the NY Post.

[VolcanoJen]

13. We don't usually allow Newsmax stories.

The original thread by trapper914 was locked, as we often do with Newsmax stories. You can still view it, here:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=102&topic_id=221178&mesg_id=221178

However, as the story has now been picked up by the mainstream media (Fox News, via the NY Post, via the Weekly Standard), we've decided to allow this thread to stay open.

I'd still caution everyone to take the news with a grain of salt, and be sure to read Will Pitt's debunking of the Hussein agents/Atta meeting in this GD thread:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=104&topic_id=716103&mesg_id=716103

Thanks,
VolcanoJen
DU Moderator

[rhino91063]

9. Hardly what I would call a news site

From the same "news" site that this crap came from.

Loving the Bush Haters
Is it wrong to take pleasure in the madness George W. Bush induces in
his critics? Nope.
by Noemie Emery
11/07/2003 12:00:00 AM


I LOVE GEORGE W. BUSH. I worship the man. I wake up every morning
glad he is president. When annoyed by small things--traffic, the
weather, an overcharge--I say to myself, "President Bush," and at
once feel better. I like his worldview. I like his dogs and his wife
and his mother. I think he looks cool in his shorts and his t-shirts.
But it isn't these things that make my heart flutter: It's that he
drives the people I hate the most nuts.

[HereSince1628]

11. What to make of this?

Even the president has stated as late as last month that there was not a link between Iraq and bin Laden...

Why did the Senate intelligence committee release the document?

Is this an attempt to make Feith the scapegoat for the bad intelligence that set the nation to war?

[rhino91063]

12. Very possible

Could Mr Feith, who this memo is being attributed to, is being set up to be the bush thug's fall guy?

http://www.tompaine.com/feature2.cfm/ID/9390

"What's gonna happen with Feith"?

That, in a nutshell, is the question of the month for the Washington cogniscenti who are trying to figure out whether a major shift in the Bush administration's unilateralist and ultra-hawkish foreign policy is or is not underway.

The reference is to Douglas Feith, the administration's rather obscure but nonetheless strategically placed undersecretary of defense for policy, who reports directly to the deputy secretary, Paul Wolfowitz, and Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld.

If the administration is looking for a scapegoat for the situation it faces in Iraq, Feith is the most likely candidate both because of his relative obscurity compared to other administration hawks and the fact that, of virtually all of them, his ideas—particularly on the Middle East—may be the most radical.

A protegé of Richard Perle, the former chairman of Rumsfeld's Defense Policy Board (DPB) who stands at the center of the neo-conservative foreign-policy network in Washington, Feith has long opposed territorial compromise by Israel. He was an outspoken foe of the Oslo process and even the Camp David peace agreement mediated by former President Jimmy Carter between Egypt and Israel. His former law partner, L. Marc Zell, is a spokesman for the Jewish settlers' movement in the occupied West Bank.

But, more to the point, virtually everything that has gone wrong in Iraq—especially those matters that Congress is either investigating or is poised to investigate—is linked directly to his office. "All roads lead to Feith," noted one knowledgeable administration official this week.

<SNIP>

[HereSince1628]

15. I'd love to see Team B discredited (again,more) but

I hope they shoot higher than Feith.

I have a need to see the Cabal stripped of its leadership.

[calimary]

16. Shit. And I just spoke to my son's sixth grade class explaining how

Saddam had nothing to do with 9/11 and mentioning that bush himself had admitted this just a few weeks ago.

Holy Mother of Pearl. I need chocolate...

Was this previously debunked? Or is this another slap in the face to us good guys that's gonna get the bad guys re-selected?

Just sometimes I wish this would all go away. How depressing!!!!

[leftchick]

14. omg....faux is ALL over this......

I watched several minutes at the top of the hour (now I need a shower!) and this is their LEAD story for cripes sakes... :puke:

[Bok_Tukalo]

17. Terror Lord?

I've died and gone to a Harry Potter novel.

[Postman]

18. Makes no sense. Iraq was buffer against Islamic-fundies in Iran...

during 80's and Osama volunteered to oust Saddam from Kuwait in 1990-91 but was rebuffed by the Saudi Royal Family.

Smells like more of the same BS "intelligence" they gave us before the invasion of Iraq.

[rhino91063]

19. Yes it does make no sense

However, bush needs something to justify this quadmire. So have one of his ministers of propaganda "leak" a completely false memo. This guy feith is a sleezy as they get.

[Snellius]

20. Atrios has a point-by-point commentary on Feith's memo

Shorter Feith Memo
http://atrios.blogspot.com/

[mbperrin]

25. I am sincerely hoping that Mr. Feith

gets absolutely everything he deserves for the life he's led.

[loudnclear]

21. How much are they paying Aziz for his 'cooperation?'

This is probably the same 'intelligence' source that gave us the Niger memo. Boy, are these folks desparate or what? This is so transparent as to be almost laughable. The heat is on Sharon in Isarel, the heat is on Bush and Blair from all over the world. They must come up with something.

[Minstrel Boy]

23. There's better intelligence tying both Saddam and al Qaeda to

the United States of >REDACTED<.

[loudnclear]

24. With most Americans brain-dead, FOX will repeat a lie long enough

for it to be belived by the masses. But as the President and his administration shills have said...it doesn't really matter HOW we or WHY we got into this mess in Iraq; we are there now, so what are we going to do? We cannot fail! (That's the line that the neocons repeat at every turn so use it on them. Is there was a link between Saddam and Osama, so what. We are there now. There were no WMDs so deal with it.)

[snippy]

26. Then why did the Bush administration chose to lie?

The Bush administration chose to lie consciously, constantly and consistently about the reasons for invading Iraq. Why lie if this is true?

[wtmusic]

27. 'Copter down, more mass graves found

'Copter down, Osama link found
(Repeat)