# This just in! Saddam denies connection with Al-Qaeda! **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [February 26, 2003, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-just-in-saddam-denies-connection-with-al-qaeda/157665 "2003-02-26T16:46:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 19\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2003, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-just-in-saddam-denies-connection-with-al-qaeda/157665/1 "2003-02-26T16:46:04Z")
[cite](http://www.nzherald.co.nz/storydisplay.cfm?reportID=562588&storyID=3197953) And in other news, the Pope is still Catholic and Generalissimo Franco is still dead. ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2003, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-just-in-saddam-denies-connection-with-al-qaeda/157665/2 "2003-02-26T16:49:40Z")
Ya know what would be funny? If he was right… Didn’t he send a boatload of humanitarian aid following 9/11, like, hundreds of millions of dollars? ---
**Author:** ![Chanticleer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/65b543/32.png) [@Chanticleer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chanticleer)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2003, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-just-in-saddam-denies-connection-with-al-qaeda/157665/3 "2003-02-26T18:34:31Z")
Yeah, Yeah…and Oj was innocent, and Clinton did not have sexual relations with that woman and Nixon was not a crook and Al Sharpton is smart and etc. etc. etc. ---
**Author:** ![Legomancer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/779978/32.png) [@Legomancer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Legomancer)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2003, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-just-in-saddam-denies-connection-with-al-qaeda/157665/4 "2003-02-26T19:07:27Z")
Why did he bother? It’s not like it matters anyway. The decision to bomb the crap out of his country was made two years ago, and nothing’s gonna stop it. ---
**Author:** ![jackelope](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/a6a055/32.png) [@jackelope](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jackelope)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2003, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-just-in-saddam-denies-connection-with-al-qaeda/157665/5 "2003-02-26T19:40:36Z")
Well, maybe I’m not as cynical as you are, but if a murderous, psychotic despot says he doesn’t have his fingers in the Al-Qaeda pie, I for one am inclined to believe him. (Anyone remember that “Kids in the Hall” skit?) ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2003, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-just-in-saddam-denies-connection-with-al-qaeda/157665/6 "2003-02-26T21:19:37Z")
Umm, folks, I really don’t believe he does have any at all. If you read the foreign press, they clearly don’t believe it either. It is only a propaganda statement from the Bush admin. distributed by the US press that makes such a claim. Some basic facts: OBL is a Saudi with close ties to Iran. Neither country likes SH in the least. Remember the Iran-Iraqi war??? Take the last alledged OBL tape: He explicitly _bad mouths_ SH and only gives support to the Iraqi _people_. A story I read yesterday about the hunt for an OBL flunky mentioned we might have recently been in a Al-Qaida camp in the _Kurdish_ controlled section of Iraq. Note that the Kurds are really, really strong anti-SH types. I seriously doubt that SH would support a group that works closely with the Kurds (who are supposedly on “our side”.) SH is an evil, bad bad guy. But he appears to have no links to OBL at all, and is apparently considered by OBL to be an enemy. (I’m trying to be factual as possible. But I don’t think a GD can be avoided.) ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2003, 9:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-just-in-saddam-denies-connection-with-al-qaeda/157665/7 "2003-02-26T21:35:39Z")
In case anyone missed my point here, it’s that I’m getting tired of being bombarded with this newsbite. I fail to see what is so newsworthy about it. Of course he says that he has no ties to Al-Qaeda! Sorry, people saying exactly what we expect them to say is not news. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2003, 9:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-just-in-saddam-denies-connection-with-al-qaeda/157665/8 "2003-02-26T21:47:16Z")
Oh, great, I just heard about Barbara Walters interviewing Robert Blake tonight. Anyone want to bet he says he’s innocent? ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2003, 10:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-just-in-saddam-denies-connection-with-al-qaeda/157665/9 "2003-02-26T22:52:00Z")
Considering that OBL is an extreme Islamic fundie, and Saddam is seen as something of a heretic, I highly doubt he has anything to do with Al Qaeda. ---
**Author:** ![AskNott](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asknott/32/5790_2.png) [@AskNott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AskNott)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2003, 12:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-just-in-saddam-denies-connection-with-al-qaeda/157665/10 "2003-02-27T00:52:42Z")
From now on, anyone who engages in stalling and lying shall be accused of Saddamy! ---
**Author:** ![censored](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/35a633/32.png) [@censored](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/censored)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2003, 2:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-just-in-saddam-denies-connection-with-al-qaeda/157665/11 "2003-02-27T02:14:13Z")
Saddamy. Haha. Just because he dosen’t have tangible ties to Al-Qaeda dosen’t mean he is suddenly a Good Guy ™. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2003, 4:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-just-in-saddam-denies-connection-with-al-qaeda/157665/12 "2003-02-27T04:32:26Z")
No one said he is. ---
**Author:** ![matt\_mcl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ab992/32.png) [@matt\_mcl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/matt_mcl)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2003, 4:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-just-in-saddam-denies-connection-with-al-qaeda/157665/13 "2003-02-27T04:50:36Z")
> [@](#): > > Just because he dosen’t have tangible ties to Al-Qaeda dosen’t mean he is suddenly a Good Guy ™. Of course not, but doesn’t it mean that yet another one of the Really Important Reasons we Have to Go to War Right Now falls on its face? ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Mudd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f14d63/32.png) [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2003, 5:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-just-in-saddam-denies-connection-with-al-qaeda/157665/14 "2003-02-27T05:04:55Z")
> [@](#): > > **ftg:** Umm, folks, I really don’t believe he does have any at all. If you read the foreign press, they clearly don’t believe it either. It is only a propaganda statement from the Bush admin. distributed by the US press that makes such a claim. [For sure](http://foxnews.com/story/0,2933,78377,00.html): > [@](#): > > WASHINGTON\_—\_The Bush administration believes a new tape purportedly of Usama bin Laden, aired by the Al-Jazeera satellite television station, is clear evidence that there is a link between Al Qaeda and Saddam Hussein. Of course, you have to squint real hard to ignore Saddam’s history of antagonizing fundamentalists and [al qaeda’s opposition to Hussein’s “apostate” regime](http://www.itv.com/news/124708.html), voiced even _in the tape in question_. > [@](#): > > Both al-Jazeera and the US authorities believe the tape is genuine. > But on it bin Laden condemns Baghdad’s leaders as “infidels”. > He urges Muslims to support the Iraqi people, but said the secular “socialist” government of Saddam Hussein has lost credibility. > “Socialists are infidels wherever they are,” the statement said. > But it added: “It does not hurt that in current circumstances, the interests of Muslims coincide with the interests of the socialists in the war against crusaders.” > Bin Laden has often criticised Saddam Hussein, whose rule has been marked by purges of Islamists. Saddam said earlier this month he had no links with al-Qaeda. Al qaeda probably has a collective hard-on about the US’s ambition to bomb the hell out of Iraq. A “regime change” would bugger an old enemy, and the inevitable collateral damage would go along way to help foster resentment against American hegemony and to radicalize potential al qaeda recruits. What’s not to like? ---
**Author:** ![Steve\_Wright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/848f3c/32.png) [@Steve\_Wright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steve_Wright)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2003, 12:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-just-in-saddam-denies-connection-with-al-qaeda/157665/15 "2003-02-27T12:06:37Z")
Iraq is a secular state (with a predominantly Muslim population, granted). Al-Qaeda is a fundamentalist Islamic terror group. Islamic fundamentalists regard secular states as intrinsically wrong, say that no true Muslim owes allegiance to secular authority, and generally work against secular states wherever they find them. You can look up _fatwahs_ on this subject on the Net, there’s no secret about it. Iraq is a secular state which has been openly at war with one fundamentalist Islamic theocracy - it’s probably in Osama bin Laden’s list of Top Ten Regimes To Destroy. (I’d put it at number six on his hit list, after Israel, America, Saudi Arabia, Britain, and probably France.) Osama bin Laden and Saddam Hussein are natural enemies - the suggestion that Saddam is actively supporting al-Qaeda is intrinsically ludicrous. ---
**Author:** ![Tansu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/67e7ee/32.png) [@Tansu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tansu)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2003, 12:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-just-in-saddam-denies-connection-with-al-qaeda/157665/16 "2003-02-27T12:39:46Z")
What **Larry Mudd** said. On the[tape](http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/2751019.stm), Osama bin Laden encourages the Iraqi people to fight against the “crusader” oppression from America, no matter what happens to Saddam and his “infidel” socialist government. The message is that Iraqis should fight Americans as Muslims against infidel oppressors, not as subjects of Saddam against Saddam’s enemies. ---
**Author:** ![Tamerlane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tamerlane/32/7602_2.png) [@Tamerlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tamerlane)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2003, 1:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-just-in-saddam-denies-connection-with-al-qaeda/157665/17 "2003-02-27T13:22:09Z")
In addition to the comments above re:al-Qaeda and Iraq - i.e. ObL and his ilk are on record as despising Saddam Hussein as an apostate, ObL even offered the use of his Afghan guerillas to defend the Saudi border from Iraq in the immediate pre-Gulf War period, before breaking with the royal family - I’ll add that whatever ObL’s ties to Iran are, they likely aren’t very friendly. > [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by ftg \* > > Some basic facts: OBL is a Saudi with close ties to Iran. Neither country likes SH in the least. Remember the Iran-Iraqi war??? Iran loathed ObL’s allies the Taliban and have no higher regard for ObL’s own theology - Iranian revolutionary Imami Shi’ism and al-Qaeda’s Sunni-based Jihadist-Salafism may both be forms of fundamentalist Islam, but they are versions of fundamentalist Islam that are fundamentally at odds ( if you will 😉 ). This doesn’t rule out temporary alliances of convenience of course. But I find hard to believe even those extend very deep and indeed I’ve yet to see solid evidence that they do. Iraq, Iran, and al-Qaeda all exist on very different and opposing ideological axises. Of course this still doesn’t mean that every other word that comes out of Saddam’s mouth isn’t a lie. Or that his claim, even if proved true, is going to save his butt. It almost certainly won’t. - Tamerlane ---
**Author:** ![Legomancer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/779978/32.png) [@Legomancer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Legomancer)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2003, 1:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-just-in-saddam-denies-connection-with-al-qaeda/157665/18 "2003-02-27T13:55:41Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by ftg \* > **A story I read yesterday about the hunt for an OBL flunky mentioned we might have recently been in a Al-Qaida camp in the _Kurdish_ controlled section of Iraq. Note that the Kurds are really, really strong anti-SH types. I seriously doubt that SH would support a group that works closely with the Kurds (who are supposedly on “our side”.)** Are they on the same “our side” that bin Ladin used to be on? If so, we need to get that side fixed. ---
**Author:** ![matt\_mcl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ab992/32.png) [@matt\_mcl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/matt_mcl)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2003, 2:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-just-in-saddam-denies-connection-with-al-qaeda/157665/19 "2003-02-27T14:32:15Z")
Here we go: [Saddam’s links to al-Qaeda](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=165966) (Great Debates)