How convenient...

J.A. Terranson measl at mfn.org
Sat Apr 26 18:34:39 PDT 2003


http://www.cnn.com/2003/WORLD/meast/04/26/sprj.irq.britain.iraq.ap/index.html

Report: Iraq-al Qaeda link found

LONDON (AP) -- Documents discovered in the bombed out headquarters of Iraq's
intelligence service provide evidence of a direct link between Saddam
Hussein's regime and Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda terrorist network, a
newspaper reported Sunday. 

Papers found Saturday by journalists working for the Sunday Telegraph reveal
that an al Qaeda envoy met with officials in Baghdad in March 1998, the
newspaper reported. 

The paper quoted an unidentified Western intelligence official as saying the
find was "sensational." 

The paper said the documents show that the purpose of the meeting was to
establish a relationship between Baghdad and al Qaeda based on their mutual
hatred of the United States and Saudi Arabia. 

The meeting went so well that it was extended by a week and ended with
arrangements being discussed for bin Laden to visit Baghdad, the newspaper
said. 

Journalists found a three-page file on bin Laden inside a folder lying in the
rubble of one of the rooms of the intelligence headquarters, the paper said. 

"Iraqi agents at some point clumsily attempted to mask out all references to
bin Laden, using white correcting fluid," the newspaper reported. "After
carefully removing the dried fluid, however, the name is clearly legible
three times in the documents." 

One of the pages, dated February 19, was marked "top secret and urgent" and
referred to plans for the trip from Sudan of the unnamed envoy, who is
described in the file as a trusted confidant of bin Laden's, the paper said. 

The document, signed, "MDA," which the newspaper said is a code name believed
to belong to the director of one of the Iraqi intelligence sections, said the
Iraqis sought to pay for the envoy's costs while in 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 message to bin Laden "would relate to the future of our relationship with
him, bin Laden, and to achieve a direct meeting with him," the newspaper
quoted the document as saying. 

The other documents confirm that the envoy traveled from Khartoum in Sudan to
Baghdad in March 1998 and that he stayed at the al-Mansour Melia hotel. 

The documents do not mention whether any meeting took place between bin Laden
and Iraqi officials, the newspaper said. 

Separately, The Sunday Times reported that its own journalists had found
documents in the Iraqi foreign ministry that indicate that France gave Saddam
Hussein's regime regular reports on its dealings with American officials. 

The newspaper said the documents reveal that Paris shared with Baghdad the
contents of private transatlantic meetings and diplomatic traffic from
Washington. 

One document, dated September 25, 2001, from Iraqi foreign minister Naji
Sabri to Saddam's palace, was based on a briefing from the French ambassador
in Baghdad and covered talks between presidents Jacques Chirac and George
W. Bush. 





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