# bin Laden and Saddam Link in 1998?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bin-laden-and-saddam-link-in-1998/175252>\
**Category:** Great Debates\
**Created:** [May 14, 2003, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bin-laden-and-saddam-link-in-1998/175252 "2003-05-14T18:15:31Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Major\_Kong](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b9bd4f/32.png) [@Major\_Kong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Major_Kong)\
**Post date:** [May 14, 2003, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bin-laden-and-saddam-link-in-1998/175252/1 "2003-05-14T18:15:31Z")

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Is this article accurate did Saddam try to build a relatioship with bin Laden in 1998?

> **[Saddam link to Bin Laden](https://www.theguardian.com/world/1999/feb/06/julianborger)**
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> Saddam Hussein's regime has opened talks with Osama bin Laden, bringing closer the threat of a terrorist attack using chemical, biological or nuclear weapons, according to US intelligence sources and Iraqi opposition officials.

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**Author:** ![Ravenman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ravenman/32/2929_2.png) [@Ravenman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ravenman)\
**Post date:** [May 14, 2003, 6:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bin-laden-and-saddam-link-in-1998/175252/2 "2003-05-14T18:41:11Z")

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I am highly, highly suspicious of any “intelligence reports” that come from the Iraqi National Congress, whether past, present, or future. Those guys have an endless record of going to the press with their latest blockbuster intelligence coups, which just begs the question of why one would report supposedly useful intelligence directly to the press.

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**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\
**Post date:** [May 14, 2003, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bin-laden-and-saddam-link-in-1998/175252/3 "2003-05-14T20:43:59Z")

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> [@](#):
>
> Is this article accurate did Saddam try to build a relatioship with bin Laden in 1998?

There were reports for a few days - I don’t see them anymore around here - that documents had been found indicating a man purporting to represent Al Qaeda met with an Iraqi representative around that time. Is is true? I don’t know. I do remember MI6 saying that there was no evidence that there were any subsequent meetings or that any such partnership ever happened.

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**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\
**Post date:** [May 14, 2003, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bin-laden-and-saddam-link-in-1998/175252/4 "2003-05-14T20:55:55Z")

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And I agree with Ravenman: I wouldn’t trust the Iraqi National Congress any further than I could throw them, and I’m not good at throwing congresses.

Two other notes: 1) the article is over four years old and statements in it could have been revised or disproved, and  
2) note the last paragraph:

> [@](#):
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> Mr Fandy said senior members of the Saudi royal family told him in recent weeks that they had received assurances from the Taleban leader, Mullah Mohamed Omar, _that once the radical Islamist movement secured control over Afghan territory, Bin Laden would be forced to leave_. “It’s a matter of time now for Osama.” He said Bin Laden would have a strong ideological aversion to accepting Iraqi hospitality, but might have little choice.

I think we know what became of THAT, eh? Bin Laden never needed the new homebase, so we can probably discount at least that as a motivation for reaching out to Hussein.