9/11 Commish Bob Kerrey: News Docs Show Saddam a Threat
A bombshell Iraqi intelligence document detailing a 1995 pact between Saddam Hussein and Osama bin Laden to conduct "joint operations" against the U.S. proves that Saddam Hussein "would collaborate with people who would do our country harm," former 9/11 Commission member, Bob Kerrey said Friday.
"This is a very significant set of facts," Kerrey told the New York Sun.
"I personally and strongly believe you don't have to prove that Iraq was collaborating against Osama bin Laden on the September 11 attacks to prove he was an enemy [of the U.S.] and that he would collaborate with people who would do our country harm," the Nebraska Democrat explained.
While Kerrey cautioned that the 1995 pact doesn't implicate Saddam directly in the 9/11 attacks, he contended: "It does tie him into a circle that meant to damage the United States."
"Saddam was a significant enemy of the United States," Kerrey said, adding that the relationship between the Iraqi dictator and the al Qaida chief would become clearer as more materials from the former regime get translated and analyzed.
The newly released Iraqi intelligence document - first reported by the Weekly Standard last Sunday - details a February 19, 1995 meeting between an official representative of Iraq and Osama bin Laden, who is said to have requested Iraq's help with "carrying out joint operations against foreign forces" in Saudi Arabia.
At the time, the only foreign forces in Saudi Arabia were U.S. troops.
The document indicates that Saddam was thoroughly briefed on the bin Laden meeting and signed off on efforts to "invigorate" his government's relationship with the al Qaida chief.
Eight months after the meeting, in Nov. 1995, five U.S. military advisors were killed in an al Qaida attack against a Saudi national guard installation in Riyadh. Seven months after the Riyadh attack, al Qaida killed 19 U.S. airmen in the Khobar Towers barracks bombing.
Contrary to what the "joint operations" document seems to indicate, in 2004 the 9/11 Commission concluded that Saddam and bin Laden had no "collaborative, operational relationship." |
