Saddam Hussein and Bin Laden:
A Match Made Up in Propaganda?
Compiled By: Ryan Mauro
tdcanalyst@optonline.net
This is to serve as a semi-chronological guide to Iraq’s sponsorship of terrorism throughout the years beginning with 1990. I personally have not taken a firm position as to if Saddam personally supported any anti-American terrorist attack, but the information is presented here for you to make up your mind. Some may say that Wahhabists like Bin Laden, Shiites like the Iranians, and Sunnis like the Iraqis won’t work together do to theological differences. This argument has obviously been disproved, as today we see Saddam’s loyalists, Wahhabists and all sorts of terrorists today cooperating in the war against Coalition forces.
Compare the theory to Christianity. This is like saying Catholics and Protestants don’t work together. They may not attend the same churches, but as we see today in the disputes in Alabama over the display of the Ten Commandments, they unite against a common threat. Please read this article with an open mind, and perhaps it will become as obvious to you as it is to myself, that Saddam’s regime was a state sponsor of terrorism.
1990
Early 1990 saw the first major acceleration in Saddam’s interest in terrorist groups. Iraqi intelligence helped set up a command headquarters, recruitment program and training program in Amman, Jordan for various Palestinian terrorist organizations. From here, assistance to Yasser Arafat’s Palestinian intelligence apparatus and security forces including Force 17; the 15th of May Organization; the Organization of the Survivors of Hammah (sect of Syrian Muslim Brotherhood); Hamas; Palestine Liberation Front; Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine; Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine and other groups was provided. [1]
Iraq also began creating front groups including the Front for the Islamic Army for the Liberation of Palestine, and took responsibility for turning Arafat’s Palestinian Liberation Organization forces into the Palestinian Liberation Army. Iraq directed the transformation. The Iraqi front group, FIALP, then formed an alliance with the PLA, Hamas, and the Islamic Unification Movement and was used to provide covert Iraqi support. [2] Under the joint Arafat-Hussein efforts, PLO units began moving from Algeria, Jordan, Sudan and Yemen to Iraq to be trained and transformed into PLA units in late March. [3]
1991
The Gulf War saw Iraq’s first try at terrorist attacks. They completely failed, but Saddam Hussein’s links to terrorists, particularly Palestinian ones, was shown. Among the attacks attempted, was a bomb attack against the Thomas Jefferson Library in Manila, Philippines by two intelligence operatives. Attacks on Western interests by the Iraqis were foiled in the Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia, Australia and Thailand.
In the summer of 1991, the Arafat-Hussein transformation of the PLO was still in the process. Half-way through June, Arafat ordered the movement of 10,000 PLO militants to Iraq to assist in the creation of a special, elite terrorist force under Iraqi command. [4]
1992
This is the first year that contact between Saddam Hussein’s regime and Osama Bin Laden’s organization was established. According to CIA reports, the first meeting between a Bin Laden representative and an Iraqi representative occurred. By the end of 2002, nearly 100 direct meetings of the kind would be recorded by the CIA. [5]
One of the first meetings was between Ayman Al-Zawahiri, head of the Egyptian Islamic Jihad which later merged with Al-Qaeda, making Zawahiri second only to Bin Laden. This has been confirmed by a former Iraqi intelligence officer and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan forces. [6]
1993
On February 26, 1993, the World Trade Center was bombed. Strangely, few cared to notice that this was near the second anniversary of the beginning of the ground war in the Gulf War, which began February 23. Logically, that day is a Sunday, so moving the attack ahead up by two days to cause maximum casualties and damage, can explain the inaccurate timing.
Laurie Mylroie, a former advisor to Clinton on Iraq, and author of “Study of Revenge”, needs to be praised for her expert research about the attack. I encourage readers to purchase her book. She believes Iraq got involved in radical Islamic terror plots in New York after the regime learned of the activity from a terrorist they harbored who was uncle to one of the Muslim ringleaders.
The ringleader of the bombers, Ramzi Yousef, arrived in America on an Iraqi passport, and was nicknamed “Rashid the Iraqi” by the radical terrorists he joined in New York. The moment Yousef arrived; he directed the group to target the World Trade Center and how to do it. After the bombing, the second ringleader, an Iraqi, Abdul Rahman Yasin (whose expertise was essential for mixing the sophisticated chemicals we discussed) fled to, and was protected by, Saddam’s regime in Iraq. ABC News spotted him in Baghdad in 1994 and learned he was being paid by the regime.
Mylroie shows compelling evidence that Iraq provided the intelligence and false passports for Ramzi Yousef and the terrorists, and possibly funding. The hydrogen-cyanide gas that was planned to be spread by the explosion is remarkably similar to the hydrogen-cyanide gas technology Iraq had perfected. After the bombing Yousef fled the country under a false identity, Abdul Basit Karim, a Pakistani national originally born in Kuwait. Upon investigation of the name, Mylroie learned that the real Abdul Basit Karim has been missing since the Iraqi occupation of Kuwait. During this time, Iraq seized Kuwait’s files from the Interior Ministry, allowing Iraq to steal hundreds or possibly thousands of identities. Karim is one such identity that has been stolen.
How do we know that Abdul Basit and Ramzi Yousef are the same person? Mylroie shows the obvious signs that the passport of Abdul Basit was tampered and explains that fingerprints matching Yousef’s was found in Abdul Basit’s police file. The altered passport was used by Yousef in 1992 to receive another passport to Pakistan in Abdul Basit’s name. The differences between the real Abdul Basit and Ramzi Yousef are also obvious physically and personality-wise, as explained in Mylroie’s book.
Also convicted in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing was the “Blind Sheikh” Omar Abdel al-Rahman, believed to be the spiritual mentor for Ayman Al-Zawahiri and Osama Bin Laden. It is suspicious that such a figure would work with an alleged Iraqi intelligence agent, although al-Rahman himself may not have known the fact. Another conspirator, Mohammed Salameh is suspected of working alongside Iraqi intelligence—in fact, the brother of Abu Halima, another conspirator, confirmed this. Salameh is known to have made nearly fifty phone calls to Iraq between June 10th and the day of the bombing attack. His uncle, Kadri Abu Bakr, is known to have worked in Baghdad since 1986 for a Palestinian terrorist unit.
After the bombing, Ramzi Yousef fled to Manila, harbored by Mohamed Jamal Khalifia, the brother-in-law of Osama Bin Laden. Bin Laden, through Khalifia, paid Yousef to train members of Abu Sayyaf, an Al-Qaeda branch in the Philippines, about bomb production. [7]
Mylroie says that many senior US government officials believe Iraq was involved in the bombing, as well as those involved in the investigation. She quotes Jim Fox, the leader of the FBI investigation as saying, “The majority of senior law-enforcement officers in New York believe that Iraq was involved.” She also claims that Egyptian and Saudi intelligence sources concurred with the view.
Later on, as evidence came out that Iraq was linked to the World Trade Center bombing, newspapers would express denial, alarm or others, dire warning. As the Boston Globe wrote: “If Saddam’s operatives manipulated simple-minded Islamic zealots to bomb the World Trade Center, it is only prudent to assume his agents are capable of striking again.” [8]
Another highlight of 1993 was the attack on American soldiers in Somalia, and the following retreat out of the country. This was the first time that Bin Laden’s forces would loosely work with Iraqi intelligence, which had been recruiting militants in Sudan and Somalia. Bin Laden’s militants in Somalia would fight alongside these recruits and even members of Iraq’s special forces. It is unknown the level of direct contact Iraq and Bin Laden had in coordinating the events. [9]
Of course, also in 1993, was Iraqi intelligence’s attempted assassination of former President Bush in Kuwait. The attack to be carried out with a truck bomb and armed assassins was foiled, but this was significant as the first proven Iraqi-sponsored attack. I also suggest reading Laurie Mylroie’s book, “Study of Revenge”, which has evidence that Iraq was also involved in a plot to be carried out in late 1993 to destroy the United Nations building in New York, the federal building, and the Holland and Lincoln tunnels.
1994
The beginning of cooperation with Al-Qaeda began in 1994. Farouq Hijazi, a high-ranking Iraqi intelligence officer, had his first meeting with Osama Bin Laden in Sudan. [10] It is believed they discussed cooperation in handling Islamic terrorists and insurgents, and Iraq’s chemical and biological weapons facilities in Sudan.
The beginnings of the Oklahoma City plot may also be rooted in events in 1994. Edwin Angeles, a co-founder of Abu Sayyaf on the Philippines (an Al-Qaeda branch), began his meetings with Ramzi Yousef (whom he met in 1989), Ahmad Hassin (Yousef’s half-brother), an American named Terry (possibly Terry Nichols?) and another unidentified American, possibly a man that goes by the name of “John Lepney’. It was at these meetings in 1994 that plots to bomb US government buildings in Oklahoma City, St. Louis and San Francisco were discussed. [11]
Iraq is believed to have upgraded its terrorist force in the United States mainland (specifically New York City) with its first professional biological weapons scientist—complete with expertise in genetic engineering and access to local scientific labs. This is in addition to “Waly Samar”, whom we will discuss. [12]
1995
1995 was highlighted by the attack on the Murrah building in Oklahoma City, led by Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols, anti-government, right-wing terrorists. But should this mean a link to Middle Eastern terrorists should be ruled out? In the minds of most investigators, yes. But they are wrong.
The reporting of Jayna Davis (investigative reporter); Larry Johnson (former deputy director of the State Department’s Office of Counterterrorism); and Patricia Long (former Middle East expert for the DIA) is sure to one day prove them all wrong. As former CIA director James Woolsey said, one day we will be indebted to Davis and her coworkers. [13] Apparently, the evidence of a connection to the Middle East was at one point in the mind of the police. Immediately after the attack, the FBI launched an intense search for men of Middle Eastern origin that reportedly fled the building after the explosion. Later, the search was cancelled.
Davis’ research shows that there a multiple people who saw Middle Easterners with Timothy McVeigh, and the descriptions were so clear that a government sketch was produced. 24 witnesses say they saw about eight Middle Easterners with Nichols and McVeigh during the attack. She records that several employees at the Oklahoma City Property-Management Company claim to have seen a brown Chevy truck being chased by the police outside the office just days prior to the terrorist attack. The owner of the company is Palestinian, with suspected ties to the Palestinian Authority.
Approximately six months prior to the attack, the Palestinian had hired a group of former Iraqi soldiers from the Republican Guard to work at the rental houses. Eyewitnesses reported that on the day of the attack, they were seen in a disturbingly good mood. On April 17th, 1995, the day McVeigh rented the Ryder truck, all the employees were absent from work. In Davis’ investigation, the Iraqi with the most focus is a man named Amad Hussain Hashem al-Hussaini, one of the former Republican Guard members, whose picture is nearly identical to the police sketch made from eyewitness reports of one of the Middle Easterners at the attack. Al-Hussaini has attempted to sue Davis for these allegations, but the case was dismissed.
Al-Hussaini’s left arm has a traditional Republican Guard tattoo symbolizing service during the Gulf War, when Iraq began sponsoring anti-American terrorism. Five witnesses report seeing several of al-Hussaini’s Iraqi workers frequently visiting a motel in Oklahoma City in the months, days and hours before the attack. During the visits, they were often seen with either Nichols or McVeigh. Four days before the attack, two eyewitnesses say they saw McVeigh drinking with al-Hussaini.
On the day of the attack, just hours before the incident, two witnesses say they saw al-Hussaini one block from the Murrah building. Around the same time in the hours up to the attack, one of al-Hussaini’s co-workers was seen in the driver’s seat of a Chevy pickup at an apartment complex near the Murrah building. When police officers found the abandoned truck, it was tripped of identification numbers and body molding used for identification purposes. The owner of the motel frequently visited and an employee both confirm seeing Middle Easterners on the day of the attack, within feet of a large Ryder truck in the parking lot, just hours before the explosion. They described the truck as having an unusual odor of diesel fuel coming from the rear. Minutes after the odor came about, McVeigh returned the room key and drove off with a man—apparently al-Hussaini.
Seven witnesses reported to Jayna Davis that they saw a man similar to al-Hussaini riding with Timothy McVeigh in the Ryder truck directly in front of the Murrah building, just minutes before the fertilizer bomb went off. Al-Hussaini then sped away in a brown Chevrolet pickup truck; precisely matching the FBI’s description of a vehicle that wanted Middle Easterners may be using that day.
After the attack, Al-Hussaini moved from Oklahoma City to work at Boston’s Logan International Airport, where several 9/11 hijackers would meet to seize airliners, including Mohammed Atta.
During the follow-up investigation, it was discovered that Timothy McVeigh had a large collection of phone numbers of Iraqis that he hid. Jayna Davis’ follow-up investigation reveals that 22 witnesses saw an Arab-looking man alongside Terry Nichols and Timothy McVeigh in the minutes and seconds before the bomb detonated. There has been no testimony by a witness that contradicts these claims—the people that saw McVeigh and Nichols alone either had a view that would not allow the viewing of the Iraqi—or they saw the Americans after the bomb detonated. By that time, al-Hussaini had driven off in a different truck. Two local officials say they saw an Arab with a backpack running from the Murrah building as fast as they could, while looking at a watch, in the seconds before the blast.
Davis also says that a source on Capitol Hill gave her a copy of a government warning that a terrorist attack sponsored by either Iran or Iraq was imminent against the mainland, but the warning listed government facilities in Washington DC as the primary target. Although the warning was incorrect in that detail, it does appear that there is classified intelligence linking the Oklahoma City bombing to Middle Eastern terrorists. [14]
Terry Nichols also had a suspicious connection to international terrorists besides his meetings with the Iraqis led by al-Hussaini. Davis is now claiming to have irrefutable evidence that Nichols got the bomb-making expertise from Iraqi intelligence officers in the Philippines, when he met Ramzi Yousef, the suspected Iraqi intelligence agent whom led the 1993 World Trade Center bombing. Both lived amongst Al-Qaeda-associated operatives while they were in the Philippines.
Insight Magazine had a great interview with the widow of Edwin Angeles, a co-founder of the Abu Sayyaf group and agent of the Philippines’ Defense Intelligence Group. Elimina Abdul in the March 10, 2002 interview said that her husband finally told her all he knew, because he knew he would soon be killed. Since talking, she claims, several shots have been fired at her.
Beginning in 1994, her husband met with Ramzi Yousef, Ahmad Hassim, an American whose first name is Terry—known as “The Farmer”, and another American whose name she does not know. Everyday for one full week, they talked about bombing US government buildings in Oklahoma City, St. Louis and San Francisco. The Americans were also taught how to make the bombs needed for the operations. Ramzi Yousef also contributed funding to the Americans for the attacks. Elimina Abdul confirms that Yousef was an Iraqi agent, and she says that her husband had a private meeting with a Filipino soldier who said that the Iraqi role could never be exposed.
According to Insight’s investigation, Edwin Angeles had a videotaped interrogation with the Filipino police. He confirmed that an American named “John Lepney” was involved, as was another American named Terry. The first meeting, he said occurred just prior to the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, and meetings continued later in 1994. At the meetings was Ramzi Yousef’s half-brother, Ahmad Hassim. Angeles says that he first met Yousef in July, 1989 as a “personal envoy” of Osama Bin Laden. Bin Laden’s brother-in-law, Muhammed Khalifia, was at the time establishing the Abu Sayyaf group in the Philippines using front companies. However, Yousef is suspected of being paid by Iraq to carry out the June 20, 1994 bombing of a Muslim shrine in Iran. Yousef’s father and brother also worked with Iraqi intelligence in the Iranian dissident terrorist group, the People’s Mujahideen Organization of Iran. [15] In another testimony, that of Abdul Hakim Murrad, arrested for working with Yousef in the first World Trade Center bombing, also says that Ramzi Yousef and his co-workers in the Philippines were responsible for the attack in Oklahoma City. Yousef’s role throughout the years as an Iraqi-sponsored terrorist may be the key to understanding the role of Saddam Hussein in terrorism.
1995 brought Iraqi assistance to Al-Qaeda as well. Saddam Hussein sent Farouq Hijaz, a former Iraqi intelligence general, and Habib Ma’muri, chief of special operations, to meet with Bin Laden representatives at Salman Pak, Iraq’s top terrorist training camp. [16] According to Iraqi defectors, these meetings resulted in the revival of the plot to hijack airliners in the US to attack prominent US buildings including the World Trade Center, which had already survived the first Iraqi attack. Al-Qaeda was also disappointed by similar airliner plots foiled by the seizure of documents by Filipino police. Al-Qaeda forces were eager to succeed in their plans. [17]
To fulfill these plans, Iraq began training its first foreign terrorists in hijacking techniques using a Boeing-747 from Kuwait. The Iraqis trained the Muslims at a camp in Baghdad. [18]
State-sponsored terrorism may also have had a role in the bombing attack on US forces at Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. The day after UNSCOM’s report was released which revealed Iraq’s massive, covert biological weapons program, a terrorist group claiming to be in Saudi Arabia gave Western forces in the country until June 28th to leave. The threat was broadcasted on Iraqi state radio after it was published. On November 13th, a powerful bomb killed 5 Americans and 2 Indians in Riyadh. The Iraqi media hailed the attack, and warned that the attack should serve as a message to the US and Saudi Arabia. Kuwaiti officials immediately blamed it on Iraq [19] , as did many senior Saudi intelligence officials. One told Laurie Mylroie, “”Of course that was Iraq. That was a professional bomb. It was not made by a bunch of Saudis sitting in a tent in the middle of the desert.” [20] The famous high-ranking Iraqi defector, Hussein Kamil, said: “[Saddam is] determined to beat the US and ‘topple the White House into the dust.’ That’s one of his favorite expressions. You can judge how sly he is: He wants everybody to think it’s the Iranians behind the attack. He is using them as a smokescreen, hoping to fool the world. He will go on trying to seek revenge against his enemies. Top of his list are Saudi Arabia and the US.” [21] When members of Saudi Hezbollah were found involved in the attack, many blamed Iran. It is entirely possible Iran had a role, but that does not mean Iraq did not either. As I’ll explain when I discuss the year 2001 issues, Imad Mughniyah, the head of Iran’s Hezbollah, often works with Ayman Al-Zawahiri of Al-Qaeda.
1996
Harbored in Sudan, Osama Bin Laden again met with a senior Iraqi intelligence officer. The meeting established how they would maintain ties once Bin Laden moved to Afghanistan. [22] This was the same year that Ramzi Yousef was captured in Pakistan, living less than a block away from the Iraqi ambassador to the country. [23]
In June, the Arab League held an important summit, and on the table for discussion were the UN sanctions on Iraq. Pro-American Arab countries, led by Saudi Arabia, expressed support for the sanctions, which greatly angered Saddam Hussein. The Iraqi state press then issued a warning to the Arab countries that if they “sin” against Iraq, they would only be hurting themselves. Two days after the Iraqi state press issued the warning; suspected Al-Qaeda operatives bombed the Khobar Towers installation in Saudi Arabia, killing nearly 20 Americans. An Iraqi defector, General Wafiq Samarai, claims Saddam asked him to join a secret organization to attack US interests during the Gulf War, and that the Khobar Towers attack was an exact copy of some of the plans for attacks. [24] As I said before, just because Saudi Hezbollah members was involved, this does not mean Iraq did not have a role.
Over the summer, UN inspectors also discovered that Directorate M-21 of Iraqi intelligence was responsible for directing a huge terrorist training and recruitment program. The inspectors testified saying, “Document after document outlined an international program of terror.” [25]
On September 5th, Ramzi Yousef, Abdul Hakim Murad and Wali-Khan Amin Shah were convicted for the plot to hijack airliners and crash them into American buildings including the Pentagon and the World Trade Center. Murad appears to have been one of the designated pilots for the plot, as he admitted to being trained at flight schools in America. Information from the arrest and later, the trial of terrorists involved in the 1998 embassy bombings would become vital to the 9/11 connection. It appears that several of the 9/11 hijackers trained at the same school in Norman, Oklahoma (near Oklahoma City) as operatives involved in Yousef’s plot. Why was the Iraqi special agent, Yousef, cooperating with Al-Qaeda’s plot if there was no cooperation between Saddam and Bin Laden? [26]
It also appears that Al-Qaeda learned the shoe-bombing tactic from Iraqi agents. The information taken from the apartment used by Ramzi Yousef showed Yousef was teaching Murad, an Al-Qaeda operative, how to sneak chemicals and explosives onto airliners, and how to hide explosives in shoes to be detonated while the airliner was in-flight. When the Oklahoma City bombing occurred, Murad told the prison guard that the “Liberation Army” was responsible. According to the aforementioned Edwin Angeles, involved in the airliner plot and with the joint Yousef-Al-Qaeda plots, this was the term used when referring to the Palestine Liberation Army, a terrorist group directly sponsored by Saddam Hussein (this is openly known) and used to carry out attacks and cooperate with allied terrorists, leaving no trace directly back to Iraq. [27]
Between December 28th and 29th, the D-8 group, which included Syria, blamed Saddam Hussein’s regime for the poor conditions on the Iraqi people and to comply with UN resolutions. Two days later, the Islamic Change Movement (believed by many to be an Iraqi front group) claimed credit for a terrorist attack killing 9 people in Damascus on a bus. The Islamic Change Movement also claimed credit for the Riyadh and Khobar Towers bombings.
1997
This year, the first Al-Qaeda camps in Iraq opened up. Saddam Hussein’s regime increased the flow of small arms and money to Osama Bin Laden’s terrorist organization. [28] In springtime, Iraq’s support for Palestinian terrorists took a new turn. Smuggling routes were established through Jordan, for Iraqi weapons including shoulder-fired surface-to-air missiles and anti-armor RPGs to be delivered to Arafat’s Palestinian militants. [29]
Beginning in 1997, and continuing through the beginning of the Iraq War, between 1,200 and 1,500 Iraqi special forces would infiltrate Jordan to reach areas of Islamic radicalism as well as Palestinian refugee camps to deliver arms and ammunition to Arafat’s militants and Hamas in the West Bank and Jordan. [30]
1998
According to captured Iraqi documents, in March of this year, Osama Bin Laden sent an envoy to meet with Iraqi officials in Baghdad’s al-Mansour Hotel to create an alliance to fight a common enemy. Iraq paid for the trip by the envoy, and the meeting was so successful; it was extended for a week, and ended in arrangements for Bin Laden to travel to Baghdad himself. The envoy was asked by Iraq to become a personal liaison between Saddam Hussein and Bin Laden. [31]
This year Farouq Hijazi was promoted to ambassador to Turkey by Saddam Hussein. Not long after his appointment, Hijazi traveled to Afghanistan and met with Osama Bin Laden. The meeting resulted in an official invitation to Bin Laden to travel to Baghdad for a meeting. [32] Between April 25th and May 1, 1998, two Al-Qaeda senior military advisors, Muhammed Abu-Islam and Abdullah Qassim met with Qusay Hussein, Saddam’s youngest son, in Baghdad. [33] Plans were made for the first group of Saudis belonging to Al-Qaeda to be trained in Iraq, whom crossed over in mid-June using secret infiltration routes that Iraqi intelligence had used. Upon arrival at the al-Nasariya terrorist camp, one group of Saudis was taught how to prepare for attacks and conduct surveillance, and the other group was integrated into a network to smuggle weapons and explosives into Saudi Arabia from Iraq. [34]
On May 1, Iraq warned of “dire consequences” if UN inspectors did not leave, and sanctions were not lifted. Eight days later, Bin Laden issued a declaration of war on the USA, with the main themes citing US “aggression” in Saudi Arabia and Iraq. The Iraqi situation dominated much of his speech, calling for revenge on behalf of the Iraqi Muslims. Throughout the rest of the year, Saddam’s and Bin Laden’s threats appeared to be synchronized. On August 5th, Saddam finally expelled UN inspectors and demanded sanctions be lifted. The state press warned of “consequences” yet again, and two days later, Al-Qaeda attacked the American embassies in Tanzania and Kenya. [35]
In mid-July, Ayman Al-Zawahiri was sent by Bin Laden to meet with senior Iraqi officials in Iraq, including vice president Taha Yassin Ramadan. [36] During the July visit, Zawahiri was taken to a suspected site used for nuclear and/or chemical weapons production near al-Fallujah, and oversaw the training of Al-Qaeda operatives at the al-Nasiriyah military and chemical weapons facility.
The summer brought the first evidence of planned Iraqi bio-terrorism. Iraqi women were caught trying to smuggle vials of biological agents, specifically anthrax and botulinum toxin, into the United States and United Kingdom by trying to hide them inside their bodies. [37]
In December, Bin Laden was seen at Baghdad’s al-Rashid Hotel by Giovanni Di Stefano, a famous lawyer who was working to strike a deal with Iraqi Airlines in Italy and Yugoslavia. The meeting was also confirmed by defectors and the intelligence communities of the region. At the meeting, Saddam offered Bin Laden safety (which Bin Laden turned down), and a deal was made for Al-Qaeda operatives to receive special weapons training in Iraq. [38] Hijazi was put in charge of supervising the movement of the first 60 Al-Qaeda operatives to Iraq for training, whom would then begin a new Al-Qaeda branch in northern Iraq known as Ansar al-Islam. The group, which serves as Saddam’s link to Bin Laden, is paid by Saddam to persecute the rebellious Kurds and to conduct assassinations. [39]
Outraged by US and British airstrikes on Iraq, the Iraqi trade minister issued this warning in the state media: “When the United States is helping terrorist activities against Iraq, then this will enhance terrorist activities against the United States. It is not a threat; it is a consequence of their policy.” The day the airstrikes ended, Farouq Hijazi was sent by Saddam Hussein to meet with Bin Laden at Kandahar, Afghanistan. Yemeni diplomatic passports were delivered, as well as further assurances of support for attacks on the West. Soon after the meeting, several Iraqi military-intelligence officers arrived in Afghanistan via Pakistan, including members of the elite Unit 999. In Afghanistan, 4 teams of 12 veteran terrorists were chosen for the elite training Unit 999 could provide in Iraq. [40]
Support for other terrorists in 1998 also increased. Baghdad began giving safe harbor to the terrorist mastermind, Abu Nidal, whom often was solicited for support by groups including Palestinian Islamic Jihad, the PFLP, and various state sponsors. An Iraqi defector (a top official in Mukhabarat) has described Iraq’s support for these groups and others, whose testimony is here described by Vanity Fair’s David Rose: “The first was the Iranian opposition force...which during the 1980s maintained at least 20,000 fighters inside Iraq, where it helped suppress the 1991 Shi’a uprising. The second was the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, which carried out a long string of murders and hijackings...However, by the early 90s, the Popular Front’s place in the terrorist pantheon was usurped by...Hamas, perfectors of suicide bombing...The defector’s testimony reveals the true depth of the Iraq-Hamas connection.” [41]
Michael Ledeen, commenting on the defector’s testimony in his book, War Against the Terror Masters, writes: “The defector painted a detailed picture of the close working relationship. Hamas had its own office in Baghdad, and its own subdepartment within the structure of Mukhabarat. Hamas killers were trained in Iraq, both at the infamous Salman Pak terrorist camp and another in the northeast. And of course there were weapons, ‘guns, ammunition both heavy and light, detonators and explosives. It was Iraq which trained Hamas in how to make bombs.’ There are good reasons to believe that Saddam continues to seek ways to take revenge on us, and we know for a certainty that his people are working feverishly to develop several weapons of mass destruction.” [42]
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