Iraq, Zarqawi and the 'al-Qaeda link'

[Dinner]

Iraq, both the parts controlled by Saddam and not controled by Saddm, has become a center which is being used by Al-Qaeda. From the BBC:

American claims of a link between Iraq and al-Qaeda rest heavily on reports that a Jordanian al-Qaeda associate, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, has been given a safe haven in Iraq.
In his presentation to the United Nations Security Council on Wednesday, US Secretary of State Colin Powell alleged that members of Mr Zarqawi's group connected with al-Qaeda have been operating freely in Baghdad for more than eight months.

Mr Powell said: "These al-Qaeda affiliates... now co-ordinate the movement of people, money and supplies into and throughout Iraq for [Mr Zarqawi's] network."

He said Mr Zarqawi, a young Jordanian of Palestinian descent, had operated al-Qaeda training camps in Afghanistan specialising in manufacturing poisons.

He said that after the fall of the Taleban, Mr Zarqawi travelled to north-eastern Iraq, where he and his network helped establish another camp specialising in producing deadly poisons, including ricin.

Mr Powell alleged that Mr Zarqawi's lieutenants were operating in a part of Iraq outside the control of Saddam Hussein but controlled by an Islamic group called Ansar al-Islam (Supporters of Islam).

Iraq haven

"Baghdad has an agent in the most senior levels of the radical organisation, Ansar al-Islam," Mr Powell told Security Council members. "In 2000 this agent offered al-Qaeda safe haven in the region. After we swept al-Qaeda from Afghanistan, some of its members accepted this safe haven."

The leader of Ansar, Mullah Krekar, has denied allegations linking his group with al-Qaeda or Saddam Hussein.

Mr Zarqawi is also said to have sought and received medical treatment in Baghdad in May and June 2002 after being injured in the fighting in Afghanistan. His leg was amputated by a surgeon.

He is also accused of masterminding the assassination of US diplomat Lawrence Foley in Amman last October.

Last December Jordanian authorities announced that two men believed to have been al-Qaeda operatives had confessed to killing the diplomat and that they had been directed by Mr Zarqawi.

"From his terrorist network in Baghdad, Zarqawi can direct his network in the Middle East and beyond," Mr Powell told the Security Council.

European bases

Mr Zarqawi has also been sentenced to death in his own country for planning bombings.

Also known as Ahmed al-Khalayleh, Mr Zarqawi is believed to have travelled extensively since the 11 September attacks, including in Iran, Iraq, Pakistan, Syria, Lebanon and Turkey.

Mr Powell linked him with al-Qaeda operations in Europe, specifically mentioning France, Britain and Spain.

According to previous Western intelligence reports, he is thought to have used London as his base until Osama Bin Laden ordered him to move to Afghanistan.

In November last year, he was named by the head of the German secret service as a likely mastermind of any potential attacks.

[Dinner]

Here is a picture of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi also known as Ahmed al-Khalayleh. He has been sentenced to death by the Jordanian government for masterminding the assassination of US diplomat Lawrence Foley in Amman last October, however, Zarqawi fled across the border into Iraq where he is still believed to be hiding.

Zarqawi was a teacher in Al-Qeada's training camps in Afghanastan where he specialized in creating poison gases and chemical weapons including Ricin. Two Al-Qaeda opporatives captured by the Jordanian policy immediately after the assissination of Lawrence Foley freely admited being members of Al-Qaeda and later, during questioning, identified Zarqawi as the mastermind of the attack and said the entire opporation was planned by Zarqawi from his base in north-eastern Iraq.

[uh Clem]

Yeah, they probably confessed to being on the grassy knoll, too.

[Dinner]

People ask for information about the link and then ridicule information that is presented simply out of hand. Can you tell me why you distrust information from the Jordanian government? No one has made any accussations of torture or coersion.

[Dinner]

Using the news search engine on CNN's web site I came up with this link. It contains a good compilation of information and news stories about Zarqawi and the possible Iraqi links to Al-Qaeda.

[uh Clem]

"All the current Abu Musab Zarqawi news," including "Showtimes." Hmmm...I'll pass.

So a couple of jerks, acting on orders from some other jerk, killed Foley. What does this have to do with Saddam Hussein?

In his presentation to the United Nations Security Council on Wednesday, US Secretary of State Colin Powell alleged that members of Mr Zarqawi's group connected with al-Qaeda have been operating freely in Baghdad for more than eight months.

And Mohammed Atta operated freely in Florida. Your point?

[chequita guevara]

Originally posted by uh Clem
And Mohammed Atta operated freely in Florida. Your point?

Please don't bomb us!

[Dinner]

Originally posted by uh Clem
So a couple of jerks, acting on orders from some other jerk, killed Foley. What does this have to do with Saddam Hussein?

That the Iraqi government knows full well that the base exists, has provided free medical care for a high ranking Al-Qaeda member (Zarqawi), that they allow Al-Qaeda to continue using Iraq as a logistics base where they can plan and carry out attacks like the assassination of Mr. Foley.

And Mohammed Atta operated freely in Florida. Your point?

Clem: As soon as it was discovered they were terrorists (admitably to late) steps were taken to try to arrest terrorists and other people trying to commit illegal acts. Iraq is actively promoting terrorist organizations by providing them with a base from which to plan, coordinate, and carry out terrorist attacks.

Can you really not tell the difference?

[Dinner]

BTW for those of you still insisting there is no evidience Iraq possess chemical weapons and has been trying to hide them here is a recent article from the Free Press news service.

Reasons U.S. should be concerned about Iraq

February 6, 2003

Secretary of State Colin Powell cited the following as among the proof that Iraqi President Saddam Hussein is violating UN demands to disarm and is a threat:

Iraq "bulldozed and graded to conceal chemical weapons evidence" at the Al Musayyib chemical complex in 2002, and had cargo vehicles and a decontamination vehicle moving around at the site. Powell said that was corroborated by a human source.

Declassified satellite pictures showed 15 munitions bunkers, four of which Powell said had active chemical munitions inside.

Satellites observed cleanup activities at nearly 30 suspected weapons sites in the days before inspectors arrived.

An audiotape between senior Iraqi officials indicated Iraq possess a banned "modified vehicle," and had "evacuated everything" before a visit by weapons inspectors.

An audiotape in which one Iraqi officer orders another to remove a reference to "nerve agents" in wireless communiques.

Hussein has a committee to spy on weapons inspectors "and keep them from doing their jobs."

A missile brigade outside Baghdad has disbursed rocket launchers and warheads containing biological warfare agents to remote locations in western Iraq.

Hussein could have produced up to 25,000 liters of anthrax and has failed to account for organic materials that could be used to produce anthrax and other biological agents.

Iraq possesses a fleet of mobile facilities used to produce and conduct research into biological agents. Other such facilities may be mounted on rail cars.

Iraq has the ability to widely disperse such agents, including banned missiles with a range of more than 600 miles.

At least 6,500 chemical bombs, including at least 550 artillery shells with mustard gas, from the Iran-Iraq war remain unaccounted for.

In 1995, Hussein initiated a crash program to build a crude nuclear weapon. He now has nuclear scientists and a bomb design and is thought to be trying to acquire fissile material.

Hussein has made repeated covert attempts to acquire high-specification aluminum tubes that can be used as centrifuges for enriching uranium.

Iraq harbors a terrorist network headed by Abu Musab Zarqawi, an associate and collaborator of Osama bin Laden.
From Free Press news services

[Ted Striker]

I still contend that World Trade Center 1 (1993) was sponsored by Iraq.

http://www.spiritoftruth.org/post_009.htm

**** if I was Saddam, I'd be doing everything I could to get back America.

[Dinner]

BTW Powell specifically mentioned Zarqawi by name when refering to the recent attempts to use Ricin gas in western Europe. Zarqawi used to teach Al-Qaeda opporatives in Afghanastan how to mass produce poison gas and how to use it most effectively.

This is a dangerous man. If he had a hand in planning the foiled Ricin attack in Europe then you can hardly say the Al-Qaeda base in Iraq isn't a threat. In deed if Iraq doesn't support Al-Qaeda or Zarqawi's terrorist plans then why don't they turn him over as the Jordanian and U.S. governments have requested?

[Dinner]

Here's a quote from Bush's speech today (for the full report go to CNN here)

"We have sources that tell us that Saddam Hussein recently authorized Iraqi field commanders to use chemical weapons -- the very weapons the dictator tells us he does not have," Bush said. "

It looks like the lefties are going to get their smoking gun when Saddam launches bio weapons into Israel, Turkey, and Kuwait.

[chequita guevara]

Originally posted by Oerdin
It looks like the lefties are going to get their smoking gun when Saddam launches bio weapons into Israel, Turkey, and Kuwait.

As I've repeatedly said, I don't care whether Iraq has WoMD. The US has repeatedly used these weapons in every war since WWII. Napalm is a chem weapon. Agent Orange is a chem weapon. Depleted Uranium is a radiological weapon. Swine fever (which the US introduced into Cuba in the 1970s) is a bioweapon. Thrip scales are a bio weapon, which the US sprayed into Cuba in the 1990s.

In this war, the US will use DU weapons. DU is exceedingly poisonous. People will be digging these bullets up for thousands of years. It will contaminate ground water, it will contaminate the earth. When they strike targets they burn and contaminate the air.

Iraq has been contained. Let it go, you war-mongers.

[uh Clem]

Oerdin, you remember that part of Powell's speech where he talks about the training camp in Iraq?

When our coalition ousted the Taliban, the Zarqawi network helped establish another poison and explosive training center camp, and this camp is located in Northeastern Iraq. You see a picture of this camp. [Graphic, above.]

The network is teaching its operative how to produce ricin and other poisons.

If what Powell says is true, then here's a question: why haven't we bombed that camp?

We've been bombing Iraq for years, we fried a carload of guys in Yemen because we could, we've made it clear we're going after terrorists wherever they are, etc, etc.

But in the meantime, here's a camp that we know of, and it's producing ricin, and we haven't leveled it?

In fact, Powell was asked about this very matter by some Congressmen on Friday. His response: he didn't want to answer in "open session."

Kinda says it all.

[Dinner]

Originally posted by uh Clem
Oerdin, you remember that part of Powell's speech where he talks about the training camp in Iraq?

I haven't said anything about training camps in Iraq. I did say several opporatives are working out of a town in northwestern Iraq and using it as a logisitical base. Supposedly there are only a few Al-Qaeda guys mixed in with the regular villagers so bombing the town doesn't seem like the best course of action. The best thing would be for the Iraqi police to arrest Zarqawi and friends as the Jordanian's have requested.