The Weekly Standard‘s Stephen F. Hayes has been doing what the mainstream media has not – actively investigation the links between Iraq and al-Qaeda. His latest report uncovers more connections between the Hussein regime and the terrorist cell.
Mahmdouh Mahmud Salim, also known as Abu Hajer al Iraqi was the head of al-Qaeda’s efforts to obtain weapons of mass destruction throught much of the 1990’s. As his alias implies, he was also al-Qaeda’s pointman between al-Qaeda and Saddam Hussein. A former al-Qaeda operative name Jamal Ahmed al Fadl told a US court that bin Laden and Hajer al Iraqi met in 1989, and in 1993 and 1994 he worked with the Iraqi government in Khartoum, Sudan on obtaining chemical weapons. (Video footage of Qaeda chemical weapons tests were found by CNN in Afghanistan and aired worldwide. The origin and nature of the chemicals used is still unknown.)
Hayes has uncovered a very credible case that there have been high-level contacts between Iraq and al-Qaeda in the past, even involving the transfer of chemical weapons between the two. Given that evidence, it is clear that one cannot say that there is no connection between Iraq and al-Qaeda unless there is evidence that conclusively disproves these connections.
There’s been relationships between al Qaeda and the US in the past, as well as Iraq and the US in the past, but we don’t harp on them. Why not? Because, as the Administration is so fond of spewing, “everything changed on September 11th.” Funny thing about that, though, it that for three years prior to September 11th Mahmdouh was rotting in first a German, then an American prison.
Now, here’s a hypothetical for you: suppose you were a highly placed terrorist agent that was captured by one of your enemies, the US. Let’s just assume that your organization is also intent on destroying a certain secular government in the Middle East, but is afraid of starting another inter-Arab conflict, as the last one killed millions of people (Iran-Iraq War). What if it was possible for you to put the enemy that had captured you in a deadly position, while simultaneously removing the secularist that your organization couldn’t get rid of on its own?
Oh, wait, is that a motive for Mahmdouh to try and tie al Qaeda to Iraq when being quesitoned by the US? Doesn’t it seem like the US would want to have slightly more to go on than the word of a killer in this matter?
Just a thought.