Iraq had ties to "secondary players"

[PSU84]

'HOSPICE FOR RETIRED TERRORISTS'

Saddam's regime tied to secondary players
Experts say Iraq did not have connections with ambitious groups such as al-Qaida but backed several others

BY KEN FIREMAN, WASHINGTON BUREAU
Newsday June 20, 2004

WASHINGTON - Saddam Hussein's regime did have ties to terrorists - but those who got his support were either secondary players with narrow agendas or former A-list members well past their prime - not groups with global ambitions. That is the conclusion of several experts on terrorism in the Middle East, one of whom said Friday that Hussein was running a "hospice for retired terrorists" and had nothing to offer a sophisticated network such as al-Qaida in any case.

"They didn't need help from Iraq, which was at best a third-rate intelligence service, a gang that couldn't shoot straight," said Peter Bergen, a scholar at Johns Hopkins' School of Advanced International Studies. "The Iraqis killed Iraqi dissidents overseas. That's all they did. They were good at that. That's it." Ironically, a similar conclusion was reached by the U.S. State Department in annual reports on terrorism issued in the years before the Bush administration decided to wage war against Hussein in 2003.

<snip>

The prewar State Department reports on global terrorism, however, contain no suggestion that Iraq was supporting groups seeking to attack the United States or preparing to do so itself. "The regime has not attempted an anti-Western terrorist attack since its failed plot to assassinate former President Bush in 1993 in Kuwait," the 2000 report said.

Copyright © 2004, Newsday, Inc.

http://www.newsday.com/news/nationworld/world/ny-woterr203859624jun20,0,58781.story?coll=ny-worldnews-headlines

[clydefrand]

1. Why do you think Cheney

won't reveal his inside info to the 9/11 commission that he and the chimp have about terriorists' ties between Hussein and bin Laden? Nonexistent???

[Trajan]

4. so .....

You believe that Cheney and Bush HAVE 'secret evidence' that proves a strong relationship between Al Qaeda and Saddam Hussein ? ...

[Media_Lies_Daily]

9. If you're saying the info they have is nonexistent, you would be correct.

[struggle4progress]

11. Because people will laugh at him when he reveals it.

[leftchick]

13. because he does not have any evidence...

he is a fucking liar. They all are fucking liars. Too bad the media can't bring themselves to call them fucking liars.

[markses]

2. This from people who put "retired" terrorist Otto Reich in charge of

Latin American affairs?

Comical.

[xchrom]

3. any history of the u.s. involvement

with ''retired'' terrorists?
puhleeez -- just anything to say that saddam had ''ties to terrorists'' -- how many countries don't, i wonder?

[aquart]

8. You wouldn't be saying that Saddam, being a US client....

Assisted us by taking in guys, past their usefulness, who were too toxic to place anywhere else?

[Just Me]

5. The BFEE has more direct ties to terrorism than did Saddam,...

,...hell, the Bushies have been hosting ObL's family and other Sauds for years.

[James T. Kirk]

6. Iraq hosted Abu Nidal.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abu_Nidal

He was living openly in Iraq for many years after performing terror jobs for the Iraqi government, when he should have been turned over to the victim nations for trial. He died in 2002 when he "shot himself" multiple times. They say he was probably killed by the Baathists at a time that Iraq was trying to deny involvement with terrorists.

[markses]

7. That's a pretty good reason to

Expend so much blood and treasure on this useless war...:eyes:

I believe Columbus, Georgia is still currently sheltering William Calley. Better get the 82nd Airborne right on it.

[James T. Kirk]

12. Abu Abbas was there, too.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abu_Abbas

[leftchick]

14. Pakistan had thousands more "terrists" than Iraq ever thought to shelter.

Saudi Arabia too. Why haven't we invaded and occupied those countries?

[James T. Kirk]

15. I thought that's why al Qaeda hated us.

Because we "occupied" the Arabian Peninsula.

Whatever. You're right. We haven't invaded Pakistan so therefore, Iraq never supported terrorists.
:eyes:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Two_wrongs_make_a_right_%28logical_fallacy%29

[PSU84]

10. Would John Negroponte

be considered a secondary player or an "A-list" terrorist?

[quagmire_iraq]

19. So how come Israel did not arrest Abu_Nidal?

He was in the west bank... The US let him go as well... No one even cared about him until he ended up as an old coot in Baghdad 2002. I think he even stood for some elections post against arafat.

But then again I see lots of Terror-yiests not being of much intrest to the USofA like who all tried to give osama back? Hmmm sudan? Mulla omar? Oh yea remember that one? Mulla omar tried to ship osama back to langly and clinton sent him a few cruise missiles. Omar said fuck clinton. Considering Dubai has one of the largest CIA bases in the world, How come no one wanted Osama when ever he went to the hospital there for his diabetese and blood transfusion treatment?

And how many times did PUK say they could get Zarqawi? When he had both legs...... Didnt he live in kurdistan until the last year?



In Feb. 2003, before the war, the Chicago Tribune reported that a former Zarqawi recruit arrested by Germany insisted in interrogations that Zarqawi was no fan of Osama. "He is against al-Qaida," said the prisoner.

Now rummy is saying Zarqawi and Osama were not husband and wife..
http://www.ericumansky.com/2004/06/rummys_zarqawi_.html

[Shakespeare]

16. I feel a Kevin Bacon joke coming on....

Six Degrees of Osama Bin Laden?

[Dr Fate]

17. Ah-HA! more "evidence" that Saddam is "connected" to 9-11!!!

I KNEW he did it!!!

[James T. Kirk]

20. Actually, the article does not claim that Saddam was in on 9/11.

The article describes the relationship between Iraq and terrorist groups and it describes some links to al Qaeda, but it pooh-poohs the September 11 connection.

[quagmire_iraq]

18. It's now official US admits that they, not Iraq were the terrorist threat.

Seymour Hersh debunked the Iraq tried to kill daddy myth. (sure wish I knew how to use this thing properly :) anyway the links at the end)


It's now official US admits that they, not Iraq were the terrorist threat.

It's now official, because it's in the Times.

In addition to frequent attacks on Iraq under cover of enforcing the illegal "no-fly zones," illegal covert operations in northern Iraq, and harshly punitive sanctions (made particularly deadly by the way the United States administered them), the United States also, through the CIA, sponsored terrorist attacks in Baghdad in the early 90's.

And Iraq's new Prime Minister, Iyad Allawi, was at the heart of the planning.

Now, let's get this straight. We had to attack Iraq because of the threat of terrorism. Even though the State Department's 2000 Patterns of Global Terrorism Report said very clearly, "The regime has not attempted an anti-Western terrorist attack since its failed plot to assassinate former President Bush in 1993 in Kuwait." And even though Seymour Hersh adequately debunked the U.S. case regarding the alleged assassination attempt back in 1993 itself.

And now we admit on the pages of the Paper of Record that we, not Iraq, were the terrorist threat.

Prime Minister of Terror: Who is Allawi?
http://iraqwar.mirror-world.ru/tiki-read_article.php?articleId=11142

http://www.harpers.org/CoolWar.html?pg=1
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/06/09/politics/09ALLA.html
http://www.state.gov/s/ct/rls/pgtrpt/2000/
http://www.newyorker.com/archive/content/?020930fr_archive02