Documents of the former Iraqi government released by the US Government include unexpected revelations about events in Iraq prior to the US-led invasion. These documents are addressed in an ABC News report released this week.
Fulfilling the lowered expectations many have developed for the major media, the story is titled Did Russian Ambassador Give Saddam the US War Plan?, emphasizing a document about the Russian ambassador involved in the oil-for-food scandal leaking some fairly obvious information about US invasion strategy to the Hussein regime. An interesting story, but it ought to take a back seat to some of the other documents, especially those that provide definitive evidence that Saddam was hiding WMD information from UN inspectors and that he had in fact been in communication with Osama bin Laden and worked in cooperation with Al Qaeda in the past.
For three years the media and the left have been trying to discredit some of the claims that led up to the Iraq war, especially the presence of ongoing WMD development and the idea that there were connections between the Hussein regime and Al Qaeda. Now those disinformation campaigns seem to be falling apart and these documents add to the growing body of evidence that the Bush administration was far closer to the mark than it has been given credit for in its concerns about Saddam's Iraq.
The ABC report confirms that the documents show that Saddam's government was in communication with Al Qaeda and with Osama bin Laden through intermediaries, and that they had discussed support for terrorism and 'joint operations' against common enemies like Saudi Arabia and the United States. The report says in part:
A newly released prewar Iraqi document indicates that an official representative of Saddam Hussein's government met with Osama bin Laden in Sudan on February 19, 1995, after receiving approval from Saddam Hussein. Bin Laden asked that Iraq broadcast the lectures of Suleiman al Ouda, a radical Saudi preacher, and suggested "carrying out joint operations against foreign forces" in Saudi Arabia. According to the document, Saddam's presidency was informed of the details of the meeting on March 4, 1995, and Saddam agreed to dedicate a program for them on the radio. The document states that further "development of the relationship and cooperation between the two parties to be left according to what's open [in the future] based on dialogue and agreement on other ways of cooperation."
Perhaps even more significantly, the documents confirm the fact that Iraq continued to possess and develop WMDs far past the period in the early 1990s when they had supposedly destroyed their chemical and biological agents, and that they carried on an ongoing campaign to conceal information about their WMD capabilities and research from the United Nations inspectors. In one of the documents procedures are outlined for concealing WMD information including:
Removing correspondence with the atomic energy and military industry departments concerning the prohibited weapons (proposals, research, studies, catalogs, etc.)
and
Removing prohibited materials and equipment, including documents and catalogs and making sure to clear labs and storages of any traces of chemical or biological materials that were previously used or stored.
This fits closely with a previous ABC Nightline report on a series of audio tapes from meetings of Hussein and his advisors in which methods which had been used to conceal WMDs from inspectors were discussed.
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Article comments
— go to most recent comments1 - gazelle
God, sounds like a speech by colin powell, someone you can trust.
That means we'll still need to check the intelligence, the level of this intelligence (meaning how selective, rarified, stupified and corroborated it is), whether it is designed to justify a predesignated policy (cant believe powell fell for it - at least it seemed so - though condi wasnt surprised), or is it just plain messiness of data whose reliability is any one's guess.
chalabi's plans were no different - where is he?
the worst fears, i can now reliably say, based on inteligence, will not come true.
best
2 - Dave Nalle
Gazelle, that was just pure gibberish. What on earth were you trying to say there?
Powell didn't have access to any of this data at the time he made his defense of WMDs, though he did have photos of convoys of trucks transporting materials into Syria, which I guess I should also have mentioned in the article, but it's old news.
Regardless of what has gone before, the facts about WMDs and Saddam's links to Al Qaeda are there and they are not going away no matter how much you deny and distract.
Dave
3 - tommyd
This "report" from ABC News will go nowhere because it's nothing but a pack of disgusting lies, used by the Neocon Media/Government Complex to cover up the pure evil of their disastrous and muderous war on Muslims.
People, don't believe this ABC News bullshite. Plus, this story has already been floating around for a few weeks now at such reputable and respectable and even-flowed websites like "Free"Republic and WorldNetDaily......ya know, places that Dave Nalle likes to frequent.....
....just kiddin' around wit ya Dave. Don't hate me.
4 - Dave Nalle
Tommy, what you call a 'pack of lies' is a collection of original documents from the Hussein government. Nothing even vaguely ambiguous about them.
How you can believe all the crazy conspiracy shit that you do and yet not accept simple facts is beyond me.
Dave
5 - Jet in Columbus
The inescapable fact remains, that the US has satelites and spotter planes capable of photographing a readable license plate from outer space-and to recognize human targets getting into a car, as evidenced by our military using them to order strikes on a motorcade to take out Bin Laden's underlings. It's impossible to comprehend that these same satelites weren't used to bolster Bush's battle cry to war, or to prove the presence of those claimed WMDs. As far back as the sixties even Kennedy used photos to prove the Cubans had Russian missiles, and I KNOW our technology has improved since then.
If indeed they moved Saddam's WMDs to other countries, the NSA, CIA etc would've known about it as it happened.
The questions remain. If we had concrete proof of Iraq's WMDs, why hasn't it been reported-you KNOW Bush would've splashed it all over the world? I'm not talking about (easily faked) papers that MIGHT prove it, that were discovered much later either. I'm talking concrete proved photos of victorious US soldiers standing in front of them. There aren't any, because there were any. We were conned into going to war because of something that MIGHT happen!
Bush would have those WMDs parked on the White House lawn to rub them in the "Leftist Media"'s face-and you know it.
If on the other hand the WMDs were moved to other countries for "savekeeping", our agents on the ground, our airforce observers in the air, and our satelites in space would've spotted and photographed their movements, and we would've invaded those countries instead of Iraq. And don't tell me they weren't concentrating on the region, with battle plans being drawn.
It seems clear to me that Bush was reaching at straws in a vendeta to clear his Father's name and cover Bush Sr's disasterous mistakes during the first Gulf War. He also was hell-bent on revenge for Saddam's attempt on his father's life.
But then again that's only my opinion.
6 - tommyd
Yea, Dave, and I'm sure Saddam's signature is all over the documents too, because he wanted everyone Neocon in America to know he chatted up Osama over a hookah pipe one night in Baghdad about kamikaze acrobatic plane piloting jihadis.
Does ABC "News" also discuss anything about the 24,000 volumes of Iraqi documents disclosing their weapons programs....which were non-existant after 1992. These volumes were handed over to the UN BEFORE Bush's shock and awe program for democracy in Iraq too. But all Iraqis were guilty I guess and had to be bombed for their own good.
Saddam's guilty, Bush was right, 'Merrikuh roooooools, war is peace, ragheads all suck, pulverize the Eiffel Tower, might makes right, do as 'Merrikuh says not as we do, and got darn it! let's go to the Mall and run up our credit cards to keep the economy going. Oh, Honey, do you have $200 bucks so I can fill up the Navigator to at least half a tank before we go?
7 - Jet in Columbus
Tommy, see item 5 above you, you might find it interesting since it was written at the same time you were posting you very well thought out comment...
8 - Dave Nalle
If indeed they moved Saddam's WMDs to other countries, the NSA, CIA etc would've known about it as it happened.
What makes you think they didn't. Here's a link to multiple satellite photos of Syrian WMD facilities. And here's another link to the CIA's report on WMDs in Iraq at the time the war began.
The questions remain. If we had concrete proof of Iraq's WMDs, why hasn't it been reported-you KNOW Bush would've splashed it all over the world?
It HAS been reported. Over and over again. It's just being denied and distorted by people like you.
I'm not talking about (easily faked) papers that MIGHT prove it, that were discovered much later either.
Not one expert has even attempted to claim that these documents are fakes. There is a clear chain of custody. We know where they came from, who handled them and what they are, plus they confirm information direct from people like General Sada who were at the meetings.
If on the other hand the WMDs were moved to other countries for "savekeeping", our agents on the ground, our airforce observers in the air, and our satelites in space would've spotted and photographed their movements, and we would've invaded those countries instead of Iraq. And don't tell me they weren't concentrating on the region, with battle plans being drawn.
See the satellite photos linked to above. There are also photos of the truck convoy that moved some of the WMDs to Syria, but I'm still trying to dig up a web link to them.
Dave
9 - [MR]Chip
Satellite photos! Documents! Then it must be true!
*deja vu feeling*
(what, no confessions by people with cute nicknames like Curveball?)
10 - Dave Nalle
Let's see. We've got eyewitness statements, printed documents, tape recordings with the voices of Saddam and his advisors on them and satellite photos, all of which confirm the same information. They originate from former members of the Saddam regime, the CIA, Israeli intelligence, the US military and the news media.
In order for this information not to be believable you have to believe that all of these organizations and individuals are involved in a massive conspiracy and forgery campaign. And you reach that conclusion based on what evidence, exactly?
Dave
11 - tommyd
Jet In Columbus, yes, your post is spot on.
Why wouldn't BushCo openly release the undisputable evidence BEFORE the War on Iraqis?
Why send Powell to the UN with 10 year old intelligence and those laughable drawings of Iraqi mobile labs of chemical destruction if dated and authentic satellite photos were available?
But, Jet, ya know, we'll get called "leftists" if we question anything our government says or does.
12 - Dave Nalle
Tommy, most of this information originated AFTER the war was already well under way. This is NOT the same data Powell took to the UN, this is new information coming from documents recovered during the war and people at liberty to speak now that the war is over. Even the Satellite photos are relatively new.
This is not the same old case for their being WMDs in Iraq, this is an entirely new collection of information supporting the relocation of Iraqi resources and technology to Syria.
Dave
13 - Jet in Columbus
Aha-then what was the evidence BEFORE the war started, not after? Sounds like "the ends justify the means" here!
14 - Jet in Columbus
"But, Jet, ya know, we'll get called "leftists" if we question anything our government says or does."
Oh I've been called worse Tommy, and on this very site!
15 - Jet in Columbus
By the way Tommy D-Big Brother Dave has you IP address!!!
16 - Nancy
I trust NOTHING the Bush administration says. If they say the sky is blue, I'll believe it only when I see it verified by an independent source I trust - and that disqualifies anybody anywhere in BushCo or their toadies like the NSA. They've spent their credibility lying so often about so much, they have none now. Except among the diehard fans of Dubya, of course.
17 - Dave Nalle
Well then I guess Nancy's on my side in this since none of the Info comes from the White House or the NSA.
Dave
18 - Jet in Columbus
As well she should be, dare any of us think otherwise?
19 - Nancy
You said in your opening sentence these documents were released by the US government. Ergo, they are suspect. The US government has long been out of control when it comes to manipulation, lies, etc. not only of others, but of its own citizens ... which is recognized by a popular ironic/comedic saying, "Hi; I'm from the government and I'm here to help you."
20 - Jet in Columbus
and I believe it was said in New Orleans!!!
It takes me a while to prepare, so I'll have to log off soon to get ready for "Real Time with Bill Maher"
The conservatives on the dias are usually hilarious and I don't want to miss it.
21 - tommyd
"By the way Tommy D-Big Brother Dave has you IP address!!!"-Jet In Columbus
Jet, Dave Nalle is probably a government mole. No normal human being can put this much time into supporting every policy Bush regime for free! Free!?! Who would constantly blog in support the most unpopular US President in US history here in the States as well as throughout the entire world, for FREE?! Like not getting paid? I mean Republicans are insanely obsessed with God and Money and I don't think Dave's a Christian.
My motto: Live free or die.
22 - Jet in Columbus
Now Now, If I'm to believe what I'm hearing from other sources, Dave has one of the most level desks in the country. While I'm giving him the benefit of the doubt, I've never actually seen a comment or post from him even remotely left of center, but that doesn't mean they don't exist.
For the moment I think Dave Nalle is as "Fair and Balanced" as Fox News.
My new tag line starting to day?
>>>... but of course that's only my opinion!<<<
23 - Jet in Columbus
Speaking of split personalities Dave; how can you have 11 comments in one place and 26 in another... on the same leader board????
For god's sake reassure me there aren't TWO of you!!!!
24 - Dave Nalle
Jet, you can't even be troubled to scroll up and click on the link that gives you a complete lising of my articles and read a few of the 200+? Here, I'll help. And take a look at #s 10, 15 and 17 if you want to see me diverging from the Bush/GOP party line.
Oh, and I have two listings in comments because my laptop which is in the living room and my desktop in my office have separate IP addresses and that's how BC tracks comments.
Dave
25 - Jet in Columbus
I stand corrected...
...but of course that's only my opinion