Iraqi ties to 9/11

[sqweels]

I’m sure this issue has been done to death, but what’s the latest, in a nutshell?

[Boyo_Jim]

IIRC, the CIA found no ties whatsoever between Iraq and the events of 9/11. There have since been accusations that Iraq is “harbouring” Al-Quaida and/or Taliban members.

[Bob55]

Well I’m not sure about 9/11, but I have heard convincing arguments about Iraq’s link to the Oklahoma City bombing…but you’ll have to ask a more informed Doper for more info.

[Eclectic_Skeptic]

*Originally posted by Bob55 *
**Well I’m not sure about 9/11, but I have heard convincing arguments about Iraq’s link to the Oklahoma City bombing…but you’ll have to ask a more informed Doper for more info. **

There is a good summary of this in McVeigh’s petition for writ of mandamus:

http://www.fas.org/irp/threat/mcveigh/overview.htm

But there was a grand jury investigation spearheaded by former state Rep. Charles Key which found no wider conspiracy.

http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/law/july-dec98/bombing_12-30.html

Middle east expert Laurie Mylroie believes Iraq had a hand in OKC, WTC #1 and WTC #2.
http://www.okcbombing.org/News%20Articles/iraq_link_911.htm

The tendrils of conspiracy are fascinating, but I think it is being dredged up now as yet another reason to bomb Iraq.

[Walloon]

The Wall Street Journal has presented what is to me convincing evidence that Iraq knew of the 9/11 attacks by the summer of 2001. Of course, knowing about them is not the same as being the perpetrator, but how evil if Hussein did know and did nothing about it.

[wevets]

Could you provide a summary or link to the article including the evidence?

If Hussein did indeed know about the attacks, it implies (although it does not prove) a close connection between the government of Iraq and Al-Quaeda (sp?), which would in turn be highly relevant to the looming possible war between the United States and Iraq.

[censored]

The only thing I remember is a possible meeting between Mohamed Atta and an Iraqi intelligence officer in Prague. The Czech government said it happened, and then it didn’t happen, and then it happened, etc…

[Walloon]

From an editorial in the Wall Street Journal (Eastern ed.), 14 Feb. 2003, p. A-8:

More recently, and eerily, a July 21, 2001, commentary in the Iraqi publication Al-Nasiriya praised bin Laden: “In this man’s heart you’ll find an insistence, a strange determination that he will reach one day the tunnels of the White House and will bomb it with everything that is in it.”

The article recounts bin Laden’s attacks on U.S. targets and U.S. efforts “to pressure the Taliban movement so that it would hand them bin Laden, while he continues to smile and still thinks seriously, with the seriousness of the Bedouin of the desert about the way he will try to bomb the Pentagon after he destroys the White House.”

The commentary is ominously prescient, especially since it could never have appeared without official sanction. “Bin Laden is a healthy phenomenon in the Arab spirit,” it continues, speaking about his goal to “drive off the Marines” from Arabia. Most eerily of all, the writer adds that those Marines “will be going away because the revolutionary bin Laden is insisting very convincingly that he will strike America on the arm that is already hurting. That the man . . . will curse the memory of Frank Sinatra every time he hears his songs.” Is that a reference to Sinatra’s “New York, New York”? Did Saddam know what would happen two months later?

[Squink]

I wonder what’s happened with the lawsuit over this:

(Wed Sep 4) A lawsuit filed Wednesday alleges Iraq knew Osama bin Laden was targeting the Pentagon and New York City prior to Sept. 11, and had sponsored terrorists to avenge its defeat in the Gulf War.
…
The lawsuit relies in part on a newspaper article published in Iraq on July 21, 2001, in the Iraqi city of Al Nasiriyah, 185 miles (297 kilometers) southwest of Baghdad. The firm provided The Associated Press with a copy of the article in Al-Nasiriya written in Arabic, along with its own English translation.

The lawsuit said a columnist writing under the byline Naeem Abd Muhalhal described bin Laden thinking “seriously, with the seriousness of the Bedouin of the desert, about the way he will try to bomb the Pentagon after he destroys the White House.”

http://www.e-xecutive.ru/discussions/forum_5302/msg_15758/

[GIGObuster]

That opinion piece from the Wall Street journal is actually begging for a connection, in reality Saddam and Laden dislike each other:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/2727471.stm

There are no current links between the Iraqi regime and the al-Qaeda network, according to an official British intelligence report seen by BBC News.
The classified document, written by defense intelligence staff three weeks ago, says there has been contact between the two in the past.

But it assessed that any fledgling relationship foundered due to mistrust and incompatible ideologies.

That conclusion flatly contradicts one of the main charges laid against Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein by the United States and Britain - that he has cultivated contacts with the group blamed for the 11 September attacks.

His [Bin Laden’s] aims are in ideological conflict with present day Iraq.

It is possible Osama hinted of his future maneuvers to Saddam, but knowing their ideologies, it is more likely that Osama did not trust Saddam with the plan.

[Nobody]

Well, there’s a Boeing 707 Fuselage in Iraq where terrorist training takes place:
http://www.intelmessages.org/Messages/National_Security/wwwboard/messages/832.html
Of course, that doesn’t necessarily mean that there’s a link between Saddam and 9/11, but it does mean that he is linked to terrorism in general.

[Walloon]

Hey, Hitler and Stalin hated each other too, but. . .