Reported Possible Atta/911 and Baghdad Link

[mb7588a]

I saw the author of this article on TV this morning and waited anxiously for it to be published. If it is found to be true, which will be difficult to ascertain, it could have wide reaching ripples for the war on terror and Bush's denial that Iraq was involved with 9/11. Read the whole thing, it's short. Its about a letter found, penned by Saddam's head of intelligence, who is thought to be behind some insurgence planning.

http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2003/12/14/1071336810270.html

Headed simply "Intelligence Items", and dated July 1, 2001, it is addressed: "To the President of the Baath Revolution Party and President of the Republic, may God protect you." The first paragraph states that "Mohamed Atta, an Egyptian national, came with Abu Ammer (an Arabic nom-de-guerre) and we hosted him in Abu Nidal's house at al-Dora under our direct supervision. We arranged a work program for him for three days with a team dedicated to working with him... He displayed extraordinary effort and showed a firm commitment to lead the team which will be responsible for attacking the targets that we have agreed to destroy." There is nothing in the document that provides any clue to the identity of the "targets", although Iraqi officials say it is a coded reference to the September 11 attacks.

The second item explains how Iraqi intelligence, helped by "a small team from the al-Qaeda organisation", arranged for an (unspecified) shipment from Niger to reach Baghdad by way of Libya and Syria.

Iraqi officials believe this is a reference to the controversial shipments of uranium ore that Iraq acquired from Niger to aid Saddam in his efforts to develop an atom bomb.

While it is almost impossible to ascertain whether the document is legitimate, Iraqi officials are convinced of its authenticity, even though they decline to reveal where and how they obtained it.

[wuushew]

1. O'reilly talking about this

as yet unproved however

[La_Serpiente]

2. I noticed this

While it is almost impossible to ascertain whether the document is legitimate, Iraqi officials are convinced of its authenticity, even though they decline to reveal where and how they obtained it.

I've had enough of this administration. So much information has been cooked and sexed up, there is no telling whether this document is real or not. Remember, these are the same guys who ran Iran/Contra now.

[mb7588a]

3. The author is British

I don't think this is a U.S. admin. kind of thing, I think it might be the Iraqi Council's doing. I watched their press conference yesterday. They don't sound like a bunch that can be 100% trusted.

[punpirate]

4. Can you say...

... Ahmed Chalabi?

And say, forgery, again?

This is absurd. But, it got released right at the time Hussein was captured, and I'll bet a steak dinner to a doughnut that it hasn't yet been vetted by any serious intelligence agency anywhere.

This routine is getting very, very old....

[Silverhair]

13. Yeah, this smells funny. Let's wait and see.

A memo of a simple meeting between SH's boys and Atta would have been very damning, and believable. But a memo of a meeting and notes on 9-11 & the Uranium too? "TILT"

[lfairban]

5. Niger shipment?

Doesn't the reference to the Niger shipment of yellow cake uranium shipment to Iraq make it pretty obvious that this document is not authentic? As I recall, Joe Wilson's visit to Africa convinced him that no such shipment could have taken place, not just that the documents in question were obvious forgeries.

[snippy]

9. Exactly. This is complete and utter Bushshit.

[IndianaGreen]

10. This is the same old recycled story about Iraq and WMD

that has been debunked so many times before. Why is this legend still being perpetuated? Does anyone think that if a lie is repeated often enough people will believe it?

:crazy:

[htuttle]

12. I doubt you'll consider this a surprise...

...but our fellow Americans are all too often DUMB AS A BAG OF DOORKNOBS!

Doubt me? Do you realize that many of the people who've been selliing those 'Penis Enlargement' pills through spam have become millionaires from it? When I heard that fact a few months ago, it removed all doubt from my mind about my countrymen...

Every time this hackneyed story about Niger/Atta/Iraq comes up, I'd wager that more than half the people in this country think it's a NEW story, since they never really read and comprehended the details the last time it came around.

"You can fool some of the people all of the time, and those are the ones you need to concentrate on..."
-- GW Bush, Washington Gridiron Club dinner, March 2001

[ET Awful]

6. Of course they hadn't "agreed to destroy" any targets either. . .

remember that the bin Laden tape showed him as being surprised when the towers fell, he didn't expect them to.

[Q]

7. Of course it's 'difficult to ascertain'....that's the point of propganda..

- The Bushies have no intention of proving this or any other propaganda they throw out to confuse the public.

- This type of 'unproveable' BS is exactly why many Americans still believe Saddam was involved with 9-11. I'd be interested in knowing why you're spreading this type of rumor on DU?

[mb7588a]

11. I was just interested in what people thought of it, really.

Like I said, I saw him on TV yesterday morning in his proper British presentation. All he was reporting was a document that surfaced and I found it interesting. I made it clear it the authenticity hasn't been ascertained. So I was not spreading a rumor. Spreading implies agreeing with it and trying to sell it to others. That wasn't my intent.

[bearfartinthewoods]

8. ah sheeit....

well it was bound to happen, sooner or later so it's probably better to get it over with now.

[RBHam]

14. Look for alot of this misinformation now

Clutter up people's brains with bullshit so they don't start asking too many thorny questions like why did the Reagan/Bush regime support this monster in the first place.

[rustydog]

15. It is entirely possible Atta trained in Iraq...

That does not mean al Qaeda and Saddam were in cahoots on the 9/11 attack!
If you use Bush Co. arguement there, then al Qaeda and America are partners in 9/11 because 9 pilots trained on American Soil therefore, America is a partner of al Qaeda.

[janx]

16. Not this story again...

This has been debunked so many times that it's beginning to get ludicrous.

[Blue_Roses]

17. this is such obvious

bullshit.

[Minstrel Boy]

18. Saddam didn't train Atta - the US government did

(I posted this yesterday, but it sank without much notice under the weight of DU's collective nervous breakdown.)

Mohammed Atta attended the International Officers School at Maxwell Air Force in Alabama. Saeed Alghamdi studied at the Defense Language Institute in Monterey. At least three other alledged 9/11 hijackers received training at secure US military installations.

This was reported as early September 16, 2001 by The New York Times, but has since been flushed down the official memory hole.

Lt. Col. Steve Butler was vice chancellor for student affairs at the Defense Language Institute while Alghamdi was a student. In a letter published May 26, 2002, Butler charged "Bush knew of the impending attacks on America. He did nothing to warn the American people because he needed this war on terrorism. What is...contemptible is the President of the United States not telling the American people what he knows for political gain." Butler was removed from his position and threatened with court martial.

According to its web site, the Defense Language Institute provides foreign language services to "Department of Defense, government agencies and foreign governments" to support "national security interests and global operational needs." Why was Alghamdi there? Why did he enter the US through a visa office run as a CIA operation?

Fifteen of the alledged hijackers received visas through Jeddah, bin Laden's home, headquarters of the bin Laden family business and Osama's Saudi base before his expulsion. Michael Springman, a 20-year veteran of the State Department who was stationed to Jeddah, says he was repeatedly ordered to approve unqualified visa applicants: terrorists who received training in the United States by leave of the CIA. "The State Department did not run the Consulate in Jeddah. The CIA did."

A CBC radio interview with Springman, from January 19, 2002, can be heard here: http://radio.cbc.ca/programs/dispatches/audio/020116_springman.rm. He claims his decisions to deny visas to unqualified applicants were frequently overturned for "national security reasons." In the interview, he claims he was told the CIA was working with bin Laden through the Jeddah office as a channel to send al Qaeda recruits to the United States for training as terrorists. He bluntly asserts that this partnership didn't end with the expulsion of the Soviets from Afghanistan, and continued as late as September 11, 2001. Springman raised hell, and lost his job. Why would the CIA be helping bin Laden send terrorists into the US after the Soviet defeat? Springman: "It's only a few thousand dead, and what's that against the greater gain for the United States in the Middle East?"

Springman, 20-year State Department veteran, suggests that those who died on September 11 "may have been sacrificed in order to further wider US geopolitical objectives."

It wasn't Saddam who trained them. It was the United States.

http://www.madcowprod.com/index5.html
http://www.wsws.org/articles/2002/jun2002/offi-j21.shtml
http://www.gregpalast.com/detail.cfm?artid=104&row=1
http://sandiego.indymedia.org/en/2002/02/521.shtml
http://radio.cbc.ca/programs/dispatches/audio/020116_springman.rm

[RBHam]

20. Good one

Minstrel Boy, you're a credit to your nation.

[MadHound]

19. Sorry, but this is a patently false story

But one designed to validate our illegal and immoral invasion of a sovereign country. The Niger yellowcake uranium story has been proven time and again to be a lie. The tying of Iraq to Al Quaeda has been tried before and miserably failed. This is simply another piece of red meat propaganda to feed the masses in an ongoing effort to legitamize our illegal and immoral war.

Sad to say, but a great many of the sheeple will eat it up and call for more.