News stories on Iraq - Al Qaida connection
[Senior Al Qaida operative in Baghdad - orchestrated murder of US diplomat in Amman]
upi.com
Armitage says key al Qaida man in Baghdad
By Eli J. Lake
UPI State Department Correspondent
From the International Desk
Published 1/30/2003 7:21 PM
WASHINGTON, Jan. 30 (UPI) -- The al Qaida operative who orchestrated the murder of a U.S. diplomat in Amman, Jordan, last October is residing in Baghdad, Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage told a Senate panel Thursday.
"I'll say that it's clear that al Qaida is harbored, to some extent, in Iraq, that there is a presence in Iraq," Armitage told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. He then referred to "a recent assassination of our diplomat in Amman, Mr. Foley, that was apparently orchestrated by an al Qaida member who's resident in Baghdad."
Laurence Foley was in Jordan with the U.S. Agency for International Development.
The information presented by Armitage clashes with recent statements from the Jordanian authorities regarding the whereabouts of Foley's murderers. After arresting most of the men, the Jordanians in December said the ringleader of the cell that orchestrated the assassination attempt was also wanted by the authorities in Iraq and was currently residing in northern Iraq, a section of the country under air protection from the United States and the United Kingdom and ruled by two Kurdish parties.
Although Armitage did not name the al Qaida member, it has been reported that he is Fadel Nazzal al-Khalayleh, also known as Abu Mussab al-Zarqawi. This -- according to U.S. officials -- is the individual President Bush said last December had sought and received medical treatment in Baghdad last year. But, some have said that he has since left Iraq's capital.
Armitage said that the fact that the man who ordered Foley's murder is in Baghdad would be part of the Bush administration's case to the United Nations next week linking al Qaida to Iraq. "This will be part of the information that Secretary Powell is going to impart in some more detail. They're busy back home right now trying to declassify as much as possible to give him a pretty full case."
On Monday Secretary of State Colin Powell authorized an independent U.S. investigation into Foley's murder. U.S. laws require such panels to be convened six months after U.S. officials are killed or die under unusual circumstances abroad. Leading the panel will be former US ambassador to Jordan Wesley Egan.
Copyright © 2001-2003 United Press International
[Zarqawi fled Afghanistan to Iran then Iraq where his injured leg was amputated]
nypost.com
DELIVERER OF DOOM
By NILES LATHEM
January 30, 2003 --
WASHINGTON - A one-legged Jordanian terrorist is the man the Bush administration believes could be plotting a biological attack on the United States for Saddam Hussein if war with Iraq erupts.
He is Abu Mussab al Zarqawi, one of al Qaeda's top operational leaders and the mastermind of the London ricin plot, as well as the assassination of American diplomat Laurence Foley in Jordan last October.
Intelligence officials said Zarqawi is the man President Bush was referring to when he warned the nation in his State of the Union Address Tuesday night that terrorists could "bring a day of horror like none we have even known" - with a vial or canister from Saddam's stockpiles of chemical or biological weapons.
Saddam's son Uday recently warned that if U.S. forces strike his country, "Sept. 11th, which they are crying over and see as a big thing, will be a real picnic for them."
Sources told The Post that U.S. intelligence agencies have received new information from communications intercepts that al Qaeda operatives are talking about a spectacular attack in re sponse to a U.S. invasion of Iraq.
"There is information that al Qaeda sees war with Iraq as a new opportunity to exploit the tensions in the region for its own purposes," said Vincent Cannistrarro, former counterterrorism director for the CIA.
Sources told The Post that a major focus of U.S. officials is Zarqawi, a Jordanian man in his 30s who has extensive experience in chemical and biological weapons and who is now considered one of al Qaeda's top leaders.
Sources said Zarqawi was badly injured during U.S. bombing raids on Kabul last year and fled Afghanistan to Iran.
Last August, Zarqawi ended up in Baghdad, where he stayed in the hospital for several weeks following the amputation of his leg by Iraqi doctors.
U.S. intelligence learned of Zarqawi's presence in Iraq through intercepts of phone calls he made to his family in Jordan, sources told The Post.
[London ricin suspects believed to have ties to Zarqawi]
cnn.com
Chemical weapon suspect: No bail
Wednesday, January 29, 2003 Posted: 8:02 AM EST (1302 GMT)
LONDON, England (CNN) -- A north African man was refused bail on a chemical weapons charge in London as police questioned four others arrested in the latest of a series of counter-terrorism raids around Britain.
Mouloud Bouhrama, 31, was arrested a week ago after police investigations into the discovery of the deadly toxin ricin in a north London flat earlier this month.
He denied a charge of conspiring with others "to develop or produce a chemical weapon" but was refused bail and remanded in custody until February 5.
Bouhrama's arrest came three weeks after police said they found ricin -- one of the world's deadliest poisons -- in a north London flat on January 5.
Greater Manchester police said they had arrested four men on Wednesday morning in the latest operations.
The four, aged 30, 32, 35 and 31, were being taken to London for questioning by Scotland Yard's anti-terrorist branch.
Two of the arrests were made in the Manchester suburb of Hulme while the third was in Bury, to the north of the city, early on Wednesday.
The fourth came later in the morning when a north African man was detained in Stretford, south Manchester.
The first arrests came on January 5 when police detained seven men at two addresses in north and east London. In addition to traces of ricin, officers found equipment that could be used to produce the poison.
Later, three North Africans were arrested after the stabbing death of Manchester police officer Stephen Oake and wounding of four other officers in a raid on January 14 connected with the ricin investigation. Kamel Bourgass, 27, faces murder and attempted murder charges.
Police said Wednesday's raids were not connected with the murder earlier this month of Detective Constable Oake.
Last week in the ricin investigation, investigators searched the Finsbury Park Mosque and two adjacent apartments, both of which belonged to the mosque. Along with fake passports, police found a large number of fake credit cards and IDs, a stun gun, a tear gas canister and a starting pistol.
Police do not suspect that ricin or any other harmful chemical substances are in the mosque.
The mosque is known for its radical brand of Islam and its support of al Qaeda. The top cleric of the mosque, Sheikh Abu Hamza, is suspected by law enforcement in Britain of having direct connections to Osama bin Laden.
U.S. officials have said they believe the arrested suspects have ties to bin Laden's al Qaeda terrorist network, specifically to "associates" of senior al Qaeda figure Abu Mussab al Zarqawi, a senior official told CNN.
Zarqawi has also been connected by U.S. intelligence to those involved in the October assassination in Amman, Jordan, of American diplomat Lawrence Foley, officials said.
More than 200 people have been arrested in Britain under anti-terror legislation since September 11, 2001, with several dozen currently awaiting trial. Most are North Africans, with the majority of those coming from Algeria. |
