Saddam Was A Peach
Saturday, December 30th, 2006With the death toll in Iraq surpassing that of September 11, 2001, and Saddam Hussein’s execution the news of the day, I thought it might be a good time to bring up the subject of the connections between Iraq, Saddam Hussein and terrorism. And yes, there is a history of connections.
We can begin with late 1998, when the Justice Department linked Iraq to Usama Bin Laden very directly in an indictment:
In addition, al Qaeda reached an understanding with the government of Iraq that al Qaeda would not work against that government and that on particular projects, specifically including weapons development, al Qaeda would work cooperatively with the Government of Iraq.
The idea that Iraq would work with bin Laden has been kicked around for years. How could they work together? Saddam, who died clutching a Koran and stating that Palestine was “Arab,” was secular, and bin Laden, a guy who brutally blows up women and children to make a point, is a religious extremist and would never work with a secularist. (I rolled my eyes so much while I typed that last sentence that the friction may have contributed to the global warming.)
In 2003, this was part of former Secretary of Defense Bill Cohen’s 9/11 Commission testimony, he’s talking particularly about “actionable intelligence” in reference to the 1998 missile strike against the “aspirin factory” in the Sudan:
That the plant itself had been constructed under the security measures, that the plant had been funded, in part, by the so-called military industrial corporation, that bin Laden had been living there, that he had in fact money that he had put into this military industrial corporation, that the owner of the plant had traveled to Baghdad to meet with the father of the VX program, and that the CIA had found traces of EMTA nearby the facility itself.
According to all the intelligence, there was no other known use for EMTA at that time other than as a precursor to VX.
Under those circumstances, I said, that’s actionable enough for me — that that plant could in fact be producing not baby aspirin or some other pharmaceutical for the benefit of the people, but it was enough for me to say we should take it out — and I recommended that.
And maybe that’s why the leadership of the GOP controlled congress were so quick to “rally behind” Clinton in August of 1998 after the bombings.
On September 11, 2001, former CIA Director (1993-1995) James Woolsey made this statement on CNN about Iraq and the 1993 WTC bombing:
JIM WOOLSEY, FORMER CIA DIRECTOR: Wolf, no one really knows right now, but I do think the following: It’s clear now, as it was on December 7th, 1941, the United States is at war. The question is with whom. And December of ‘41 we knew. Today we really don’t.
You know, one of reasons we don’t is because when the World Trade Center was attacked in 1993, the Clinton administration had a very fine FBI agent in charge of the investigation, Jim Fox, and he had strong suspicions that the Iraqi government might have been behind that terrorist operation. He was relieved. He died a few years later. It was never really checked out thoroughly and effectively….
I think we need to very carefully look at all of the history of these terrorist operations and every shred of evidence that we may have on this one, and see if there is any chance there was state involvement behind it, because indignation and action is not enough. We need to have indignation and action at the real perpetrators. And as of yet, we just don’t know who those are.
And there’s always the fact that Saddam was an avid backer of Palestinian suicide bombers’ families, and that he most likely tried to off Bush1 in April of 1993 in Kuwait.
Now, before anyone gets their pretty panties in a bunch thinking that I’m linking Iraq to 9/11, I’m not. In September of 2003, George Bush cleary stated that there was no evidence linking the two, and I’m sure if there was evidence of a link, Bush would have it tattooed onto Dick Cheney’s forehead:
“We have no evidence that Saddam Hussein was involved with the 11 September attacks,” Mr Bush told reporters as he met members of Congress on energy legislation.
What I am saying is that Iraq and Saddam Hussein were linked to terrorism, and there was a history of intelligence that pointed to a relationship between Iraq and bin Laden and Iraq and terrorism.
On a side note…I wonder if Saddam has figured out that those goats surrounding him in the afterlife are the 70 virgins he was hoping for as he clutched that Koran on the way to his death….