Need help on 991/Hussein Connection to respond to a freeper

[linazelle]

The guy claims that Mohamed Atta and Iraqi embassy intelligence officer, Ahmad Khalil Ibrahim Samir Al-Ani were identified by Czheckian intelligence as meeting in Prague.







According to the dirtbag who keeps insisting on a connection between 911 and Hussein, Czhech intelligence backs up the claim. However, they don't know what the meeting was about.

Anybody have any info or leads on this so I can lay this issue to rest?

[dionysus]

1. i don't have a link for you

but this has been thoroughly debunked. Try snopes.com or google for some more info.

[dionysus]

6. here we go

http://www.computerbytesman.com/911/praguefaq.htm

Q:Why is Mohammed Atta's alleged visit in the Spring of 2001 to Prague considered so important?

A:If this meeting did occur, then it would be a strong indication of possible Iraqi government involvment in the 9/11 attacks, especially considering that Mohammed Atta would have had to make a special trip from the United States to Prague to attend this meeting. <1> This meeting would have also been Mohammed Atta's second visit to Prague in less than a year. <13>


Q:Why is the meeting between Mohammed Atta and Mr. Al-Ani in dispute?

A:The meeting is in dispute because the CIA and FBI do not believe that Mohammed Atta ever left the United States during April 2001. <8>


Q:What evidence does the Czech Government have that Mohammed Atta was in Prague on April 8, 2001?

A:The Czech government is unwilling to release any details about the information that they have about the disputed meeting other then to say Mr. Al-Ani was being observed by the BIS, the Czech intelligence service, because he was suspected of being a spy. The Czech government position has been made public by Hynek Kmonicek, a former deputy foreign minister, and interior minister Stanislav Gross. <1>


Q:What evidence does the U.S. government have that Mohammed Atta was in the United States on April 8, 2001?

A:The US governement has no record of Mohammed Atta leaving and re-entering the US in April 2001. They also were unable to locate a plane ticket that would have been used Mr. Atta to fly between the US and the Czech Republic. Finally, the U.S. Government has tracked Mr. Atta's movements before 9/11 via phone records, cellphone bills, and credit card receipts as part of the investigation of the 9/11 attacks. <8> <3>

[jagguy]

2. as I recall thats about it

though there were tales of a few other meetings as well and rumors of training camps.

This Prague meeting is the only one that has hung around.

[fishnfla]

3. This claim has been investigated and shot down

by the NSA or CIA I think. I trying to remember the source.

[htuttle]

4. Were they talking about this meeting?

To the best of my knowledge, the only connection between Osama bin Laden and Saddam Hussein is that they've both done business with the Bushes.

[gratuitous]

5. It's been debunked

But don't waste your time proving a negative. What is your correspondent's source for the Prague meeting? How credible is that source? Since he's the one making such a big deal about it, put the burden of proof on him.

[Terwilliger]

7. lay it to rest

Republicans are desperate to save their Boy George. Tell them how pathetic their attempts are.

[WoodrowFan]

8. Czech meeting

Czech intell debunked that one itself a long time ago, but some rightwingers still insist they met and well into 2002 the Czech government was divided over whether the meeting took place.



Mohammed Atta in Prague FAQ

http://www.computerbytesman.com/911/praguefaq.htm

Senior Czech intelligence officials have told their American counterparts
that they now have "no confidence" in their earlier report of direct
meetings in Prague between Mohammed Atta, leader of the Sept. 11 hijackers
and an Iraqi diplomat stationed in Prague who has since been expelled for
"activities inconsistent with his diplomatic status."

"Quite simply, we think the source for this story may have invented the
meeting that he reported. We can find no corroborative evidence for the
meeting and the source has real credibility problems " a high-ranking
source


http://csf.colorado.edu/envtecsoc/2002/msg00601.html


U.S. intelligence officials have been skeptical of a meeting between Atta and al-Ani, principally because no airline, credit card or other records place Atta in the Czech Republic on April 8, 2001, the day it allegedly took place, or at any other time that year.

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/MewNews/message/7552

PRAGUE, Czech Republic -- Czech intelligence officials have knocked down one of the few clear links between al-Qaeda terrorists and the Iraqi regime of Saddam Hussein, UPI has learned.
Senior Czech intelligence officials have told their American counterparts that they now have "no confidence" in their earlier report of direct meetings in Prague between Mohammed Atta, leader of the Sept. 11 hijackers and an Iraqi diplomat stationed in Prague who has since been expelled for "activities inconsistent with his diplomatic status."
http://www.newsmax.com/archives/articles/2002/10/20/102425.shtml

[Loonman]

9. Different Atta

I'm pretty sure it was a different guy with the same name.

Looking for link.......

[RedSock]

10. go here for info

http://cooperativeresearch.org/timeline/main/timelineafter911.html

And look at the "September 19, 2001-October 20, 2002" entry. Tons of links about this ever-changing story (links not visible here because they are in brackets).

September 19, 2001-October 20, 2002: The coverage of whether a purported meeting between Atta and an Iraqi spy named Ahmed al-Ani took place in Prague, Czech Republic (see April 8, 2001) has changed repeatedly over time (a Slate article also outlines many of the twists and turns of this story ):
1) September 19: It is first reported that a meeting took place; Atta is named later.
2) October 20: The story is denied.
3) October 27: The story is confirmed.
4) October 27: It is claimed Atta met with Iraqi agents four times in Prague, plus in Germany, Spain, and Italy.
5) November 12: Columnist William Safire calls the meeting an "undisputed fact."
6) December 9: Vice President Cheney calls the meeting "pretty well confirmed."
7) December 16: The identities of both al-Ani and Atta are disputed.
8) January 12, 2002: It is claimed at least two meetings took place, including one a year earlier.
9) February 6: It's reported that the meeting probably took place, but wasn't connected to the 9/11 attacks.
10) March 15: Evidence for the meeting is considered between "slim" and "none."
11) March 18: William Safire strongly asserts the meeting took place.
12) April 28 - May 2: The meeting is largely discredited.
13) May 8: Some Czech officials continue to affirm the meeting took place.
14) May 9: William Safire refuses to give up the story, claiming a "protect-Saddam cabal" in the high levels of the US government is burying the story.
15) July 15: The head of Czech foreign intelligence calls the meeting unproved and implausible.
16) August 2: With a war against Iraq growing more likely, Press Secretary Ari Fleischer suggests the meeting did happen, "despite deep doubts by the CIA and FBI."
17) August 19: Newsweek states: "The sole evidence for the alleged meeting is the uncorroborated claim of a Czech informant." It claims that Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz is nonetheless pushing the FBI to have the meeting accepted as fact.
18) September 10: The Bush administration is no longer pushing the meeting.
19) September 17: Vice President Cheney and Defense Secretary Rumsfeld "accept reports from Czech diplomats" that the meeting took place.
20) September 23: Newsweek reports that the CIA is resisting Pentagon demands to get pictures of the meeting from Iraqi exiles. One official says: "We do not shy away from evidence. But we also don’t make it up."
21) October 6: Bush gives a big speech about why the US should attack Iraq. Slate notes if Bush had evidence linking Iraq to 9/11, "this was his last plausible chance to divulge it. He didn't."
22) A poll taken between October 2-6 shows 66% of Americans believe Iraq was involved in the 9/11 attacks (see also January 12, 2003). On October 10, Congress passes a resolution authorizing Bush to declare war on Iraq.
23) October 20: This story seemingly ends when Czech officials, including the President Vaclav Havel, conclusively deny the meeting, suggesting the entire story was made up by one unreliable source well after 9/11, and after stories in the press that Atta had traveled to Prague. It now appears Atta wasn't even in the Czech Republic during the month the meeting was supposed to have taken place. President Havel told Bush the meeting didn't happen "quietly some time earlier this year."

[The Stranger]

11. Try here.

http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2002/09/10/1031608245289.html

CIA fails to find Iraqi link to terror

By Dana Priest
Washington
September 11 2002

As it makes its case against Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, the Bush administration has for now dropped what had been a central argument used by supporters of military action against Baghdad: Iraq's links to al Qaeda and other terrorist organisations.

Although administration officials say they are still trying to develop a case linking Saddam Hussein to global terrorism, the CIA has yet to find convincing evidence, according to senior intelligence officials and outside experts with knowledge of discussions within the US Government.

Analysts who have scrutinised photographs, communications intercepts and information from foreign informants say they cannot validate two prominent allegations made by the government: links between President Saddam and al Qaeda members who have taken refuge in northern Iraq, and an April, 2001, meeting in Prague between September 11 hijacker Mohamed Atta and an Iraqi intelligence agent.

"It's a thin reed," said a senior intelligence official describing the information on both cases.

As a result of the CIA's conclusions, the Bush administration has accepted that its stronger case against Iraq is Baghdad's apparent attempt to acquire chemical, biological and nuclear weapons.

[zbdent]

12. By Freeper standards, I am good friends with Tom Hanks!

In Las Vegas, I was in an upper balcony of the performance of Cirque du Soleil's "O", and Tom Hanks was in the 25th row on the floor.

I think I saw the top of his head.

Gee, it's great being friends with somebody famous, like my old buddy Joe Walsh. Not only do I live in Richfield Ohio, not far from Joe's Kent State University, but I actually went to two of his concerts! We're almost family!

[northzax]

13. tell him that you agee

that the US should go to war, or at least post great economic sanctions against any nation who's intelligence agents met with the September hijackers in the year before September, 2001. Then tell him to google Omar al-Bayoumi.

[linazelle]

14. DU Rocks!

You all are great! Thanx for taking the time to help further "the cause."