Iraq-al Qaeda 'link' probably unfounded
White House official suspects name mix-up
Walter Pincus, Dan Eggen, Washington Post
Tuesday, June 22, 2004
Washington -- An allegation that a high-ranking al Qaeda member was an officer in Saddam Hussein's private militia may have resulted from confusion over Iraqi names, a senior administration official said Monday.
Former Navy secretary John Lehman, a Republican member of the commission investigating the Sept. 11 attacks, said Sunday that documents found in Iraq "indicate that there is at least one officer of Saddam's Fedayeen, a lieutenant colonel, who was a very prominent member of al Qaeda." Although he said the identity "still has to be confirmed," Lehman introduced the information on NBC's "Meet the Press," countering a commission staff report that said there were contacts between Iraq and al Qaeda but no "collaborative relationship."
snip...
One of them is Ahmad Hikmat Shakir Azzawi, identified as an al Qaeda "fixer" in Malaysia. Officials say he served as an airport greeter for al Qaeda in January 2000 in Kuala Lumpur, at a gathering for members who were to be involved in the attacks on the U.S. destroyer Cole, the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.
snip...
"By most reckoning that would be someone else" other than the airport greeter, said the administration official, who would speak only anonymously because of the matter's sensitivity. He added there is continuing study of the identification but "it doesn't look like a match to most analysts."
more...
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2004/06/22/MNGK57A0F61.DTL
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