Exclusive: Saddam Possessed WMD, Had Extensive Terror Ties
By Scott Wheeler
CNSNews.com Staff Writer
October 04, 2004
(CNSNews.com) - Iraqi intelligence documents, confiscated by U.S.
forces and obtained by CNSNews.com, show numerous efforts by Saddam
Hussein's regime to work with some of the world's most notorious
terror organizations, including al Qaeda, to target Americans. They
demonstrate that Saddam's government possessed mustard gas and
anthrax, both considered weapons of mass destruction, in the summer of
2000, during the period in which United Nations weapons inspectors
were not present in Iraq. And the papers show that Iraq trained dozens
of terrorists inside its borders.
One of the Iraqi memos contains an order from Saddam for his
intelligence service to support terrorist attacks against Americans in
Somalia. The memo was written nine months before U.S. Army Rangers
were ambushed in Mogadishu by forces loyal to a warlord with alleged
ties to al Qaeda.
Other memos provide a list of terrorist groups with whom Iraq had
relationships and considered available for terror operations against
the United States.
Among the organizations mentioned are those affiliated with Abu Musab
al-Zarqawi and Ayman al-Zawahiri, two of the world's most wanted
terrorists. Zarqawi is believed responsible for the kidnapping and
beheading of several American civilians in Iraq and claimed
responsibility for a series of deadly bombings in Iraq Sept. 30.
Al-Zawahiri is the top lieutenant of al Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden,
allegedly helped plan the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist strikes on the
U.S., and is believed to be the voice on an audio tape broadcast by
Al-Jazeera television Oct. 1, calling for attacks on U.S. and British
interests everywhere.
The source of the documents
A senior government official who is not a political appointee provided
CNSNews.com with copies of the 42 pages of Iraqi Intelligence Service
documents. The originals, some of which were hand-written and others
typed are in Arabic. CNSNews.com had the papers translated into
English by two individuals separately and independent of each other.
There are no hand-writing samples to which the documents can be
compared for forensic analysis and authentication. However, three
other experts - a former weapons inspector with the United Nations
Special Commission (UNSCOM), a retired CIA counter-terrorism official
with vast experience dealing with Iraq, and a former advisor to
then-presidential candidate Bill Clinton on Iraq - were asked to
analyze the documents. All said they comport with the format, style
and content of other Iraqi documents from that era known to be
genuine.
Laurie Mylroie, who authored the book, "Study of Revenge: Saddam
Hussein's Unfinished War against America," and advised Clinton on Iraq
during the 1992 presidential campaign, told CNSNews.com that the
papers represent "the most complete set of documents relating Iraq to
terrorism, including Islamic terrorism" against the U.S.
Mylroie has long maintained that Iraq was a state sponsor of terrorism
against the United States. The documents obtained by CNSNews.com , she
said, include "correspondence back and forth between Saddam's office
and Iraqi Mukhabarat (intelligence agency). They make sense. This is
what one would think Saddam was doing at the time."
Bruce Tefft, a retired CIA official who specialized in
counter-terrorism and had extensive experience dealing with Iraq, said
that "based on available, unclassified and open source information,
the details in these documents are accurate ..."
The former UNSCOM inspector zeroed in on the signatures on the
documents and "the names of some of the people who sign off on these
things.
"This is fairly typical of that time era. [The Iraqis] were meticulous
record keepers," added the former U.N. official, who spoke with
CNSNews.com on the condition of anonymity.
The senior government official, who furnished the documents to
CNSNews.com, said the papers answer "whether or not Iraq was a state
sponsor of Islamic terrorism against the United States. It also
answers whether or not Iraq had an ongoing biological warfare project
continuing through the period when the UNSCOM inspections ended."
Presidential campaign focused on Iraq
The presidential campaign is currently dominated by debate over
whether Saddam procured weapons of mass destruction and/or whether his
government sponsored terrorism aimed at Americans before the U.S.
invaded Iraq last year. Democratic nominee Sen. John Kerry has
repeatedly rejected that possibility and criticized President Bush for
needlessly invading Iraq.
"[Bush's] two main rationales - weapons of mass destruction and the al
Qaeda/September 11 (2001) connection - have been proved false ... by
the president's own weapons inspectors ... and by the 9/11
Commission," Kerry told an audience at New York University on Sept.
20.
The Senate Intelligence Committee's probe of the 9/11 intelligence
failures also could not produce any definitive links between Saddam's
government and 9/11. And United Nations as well as U.S. weapons
inspectors in Iraq have been unable to find the biological and
chemical weapons Saddam was suspected of possessing.
But the documents obtained by CNSNews.com shed new light on the
controversy.
They detail the Iraqi regime's purchase of five kilograms of mustard
gas on Aug. 21, 2000 and three vials of malignant pustule, another
term for anthrax, on Sept. 6, 2000. The purchase order for the mustard
gas includes gas masks, filters and rubber gloves. The order for the
anthrax includes sterilization and decontamination equipment. (See
Saddam's Possession of Mustard Gas)
The documents show that Iraqi intelligence received the mustard gas
and anthrax from "Saddam's company," which Tefft said was probably a
reference to Saddam General Establishment, "a complex of factories
involved with, amongst other things, precision optics, missile, and
artillery fabrication."
"Sa'ad's general company" is listed on the Iraqi documents as the
supplier of the sterilization and decontamination equipment that
accompanied the anthrax vials. Tefft believes this is a reference to
the Salah Al-Din State Establishment, also involved in missile
construction. (See Saddam's Possession of Anthrax)
The Jaber Ibn Hayan General Company is listed as the supplier of the
safety equipment that accompanied the mustard gas order. Tefft
described the company as "a 'turn-key' project built by Romania,
designed to produce protective CW (conventional warfare) and BW
(biological warfare) equipment (gas masks and protective clothing)."
"Iraq had an ongoing biological warfare project continuing through the
period when the UNSCOM inspections ended," the senior government
official and source of the documents said. "This should cause us to
redouble our efforts to find the Iraqi weapons of mass destruction
programs."
'Hunt the Americans'
The first of the 42 pages of Iraqi documents is dated Jan. 18, 1993,
approximately two years after American troops defeated Saddam's army
in the first Persian Gulf War. The memo includes Saddam's directive
that "the party should move to hunt the Americans who are on Arabian
land, especially in Somalia, by using Arabian elements ..."
On Oct. 3, 1993, less than nine months after that Iraqi memo was
written, American soldiers were ambushed in Mogadishu, Somalia by
forces loyal to Somali warlord Mohammed Farah Aidid, an alleged
associate of Osama bin Laden. Eighteen Americans were killed and 84
wounded during a 17-hour firefight that followed the ambush in which
Aidid's followers used civilians as decoys. (See Saddam's Connections
to al Qaeda)
An 11-page Iraqi memo, dated Jan. 25, 1993, lists Palestinian,
Sudanese and Asian terrorist organizations and the relationships Iraq
had with each of them. Of particular importance, Tefft said, are the
relationships Iraq had already developed or was in the process of
developing with groups and individuals affiliated with al Qaeda, such
as Abu Musab al-Zarqawi and Ayman al-Zawahiri. The U.S. currently is
offering rewards of up to $25 million for each man's capture.
The documents describe Al-Jehad wa'l Tajdeed as "a secret Palestinian
organization" founded after the first Persian Gulf War that "believes
in armed struggle against U.S. and western interests." The leaders of
the group, according to the Iraqi memo, were stationed in Jordan in
1993, and when one of those leaders visited Iraq in November 1992, he
"showed the readiness of his organization to execute operations
against U.S. interests at any time." (See More Saddam Connections to
al Qaeda)
Tefft believes the Tajdeed group likely included al-Zarqawi, whom Teft
described as "our current terrorist nemesis" in Iraq, "a Palestinian
on a Jordanian passport who was with al Qaeda and bin Laden in
Afghanistan prior to this period (1993)."
Tajdeed, which means Islamic Renewal, currently "has a website that
posts Zarqawi's speeches, messages, claims of assassinations and
beheading videos," Tefft told CNSNews.com. "The apparent linkages are
too close to be accidental" and might "be one of the first operational
contacts between an al Qaeda group and Iraq," he added.
Tefft said the documents, all of which the Iraqi Intelligence Service
labeled "Top secret, personal and urgent" show several links between
Saddam's government and terror groups dedicated not only to targeting
America but also U.S. allies like Egypt and Israel.
The same 11-page memo refers to the "re-opening of the relationship"
with Al-Jehad al-Islamy, which is described as "the most violent in
Egypt," responsible for the 1981 assassination of Egyptian President
Anwar Sadat. The documents go on to describe a Dec. 14, 1990 meeting
between Iraqi intelligence officials and a representative of Al-Jehad
al-Islamy, that ended in an agreement "to move against [the] Egyptian
regime by doing martyr operations on conditions that we should secure
the finance, training and equipments." (See More Saddam Connections to
al Qaeda)
Al-Zawahiri was one of the leaders of Jehad al-Islamy, which is also
known as the Egyptian Islamic Group, and participated in the
assassination of Sadat, Tefft said. "Iraq's contact with the Egyptian
Islamic Group is another operational contact between Iraq and al
Qaeda," he added.
One of the Asian groups listed on the Iraqi intelligence memo is
J.U.I., also known as the Islamic Clerks Society. The group is
currently led by Mawlana Fadhel al-Rahman, whom Tefft said is "an al
Qaeda member and co-signed Osama bin Laden's 1998 fatwa (religious
ruling) to kill Americans." The Iraqi memo from 1993 states that
J.U.I.'s secretary general "has a good relationship with our system
since 1981 and he is ready for any mission." Tefft said the memo shows
"another direct Iraq link to an al Qaeda group."
Iraq had also maintained a relationship with the Afghani Islamist
party since 1989, according to the memo. The "relationship was
improved and became directly between the leader, Hekmatyar and Iraq,"
it states, referring to Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, an Afghani warlord who
fought against the Soviet Union and current al Qaeda ally, according
to Tefft.
Last year, American authorities in Afghanistan ranked Hekmatyar third
on their most wanted list, behind only bin Laden and former Taliban
leader Mullah Omar. Hekmatyar represents "another Iraqi link to an al
Qaeda group," Tefft said. (See More Saddam Connections to al Qaeda)
The Iraqi intelligence documents also refer to terrorist groups
previously believed to have had links with Saddam Hussein. They
include the Palestine Liberation Front, a group dedicated to attacking
Israel, and according to the Iraqi memo, one with "an office in
Baghdad."
The Abu Nidal group, suspected by the CIA of having acted as
surrogates for Iraqi terrorist attacks, is also mentioned.
"The movement believes in political violence and assassinations," the
1993 Iraqi memo states in reference to the Abu Nidal organization. "We
have relationships with them since 1973. Currently, they have a
representative in the country. Monthly helps are given to them -- 20
thousand dinars - in addition to other supports," the memo explains.
(See Saddam's Connections to Palestinian Terror Groups)
Iraq not only built and maintained relationships with terrorist
groups, the documents show it appears to have trained terrorists as
well. Ninety-two individuals from various Middle Eastern countries are
listed on the papers.
Many are described as having "finished the course at M14," a reference
to an Iraqi intelligence agency, and to having "participated in Umm
El-Ma'arek," the Iraqi response to the U.S. invasion in 1991. The
author of the list notes that approximately half of the individuals
"all got trained inside the 'martyr act camp' that belonged to our
directorate."
The former UNSCOM weapons inspector who was asked to analyze the
documents believes it's clear that the Iraqis "were training people
there in assassination and suicide bombing techniques ... including
non-Iraqis."
Bush administration likely unaware of documents' existence
The senior government official and source of the Iraqi intelligence
memos, explained that the reason the documents have not been made
public before now is that the government has "thousands and thousands
of documents waiting to be translated.
"It is unlikely they even know this exists," the source added.
The government official also explained that the motivation for leaking
the documents, "is strictly national security and helping with the war
on terrorism by focusing this country's attention on facts and away
from political posturing.
"This is too important to let it get caught up in the political
process," the source told CNSNews.com.
To protect against the Iraqi intelligence documents being altered or
misrepresented elsewhere on the Internet, CNSNews.com has decided to
publish only the first of the 42 pages in Arabic, along with the
English translation. Portions of some of the other memos in translated
form are also being published to accompany this report. Credentialed
journalists and counter-terrorism experts seeking to view the 42 pages
