THE US, THE UN AND IRAQ, ELEVENTH THREAD

AP) Saddam Hussein's government did not cooperate with al Qaeda prior to the U.S. invasion of Iraq, the U.S. Defense Department said in a report based on interrogations of the deposed leader and two of his former aides.

"...by the spring and summer of 2002, more than a dozen al-Qa'ida-affiliated extremists converged on Baghdad, with apparently no harassment on the part of the Iraqi government. They found a comfortable and secure envirnonment in which they moved people and supplies to support Zarqawi's operations in northern Iraq."[63]

According to Tenet, while Zarqawi did find a safe haven in Iraq and did supervise camps in northeastern Iraq run by Ansar al-Islam, "the intelligence did not show any Iraqi authority, direction, or control over any of the many specific terrorist acts carried out by al-Qa'ida."

The Army's Foreign Military Studies Office website translated a letter dated August 17, 2002 from an Iraqi intelligence official. The letter is part of the Operation Iraqi Freedom documents. The letter asks agents in the country to be on the lookout for Abu Musab al-Zarqawi and another unnamed man. Pictures of both men were attached.

The letter issued the following 3 directives:

Instructing your sources to continue their surveillance of the above mentioned individuals in your area of operations and inform us once you initiate such action.

Coordinate with Directorate 18 to verify the photographs of the above mentioned with photos of the members of the Jordanian community within your area of operations.

Conduct a comprehensive survey of all tourist facilities (hotels, furnished apartments, and leased homes).

Give this matter your utmost attention. Keep us informed.

Security forces captured the Pakistani Taliban's top spokesman, and he acknowledged the death of the group's leader in a recent U.S. missile strike, officials said Tuesday " further signs the militants are in disarray since the American attack.

AQ in Iraq was simply out of [Saddam's] control as reports also said.

We could have taken out that camp any time we wanted before the invasion.

Ansar-al-Islam
Ansar al-Islam was formed in December 2001.
Ansar al-Islam comprised about 300 armed men, many of these veterans from the Afghan war, and a proportion being neither Kurd nor Arab. Ansar al-Islam is alleged to be connected to al-Qaeda, and provided an entry point for Abu Musab al-Zarqawi and other Afghan veterans to enter Iraq.[/size]

...

At the beginning of the 2003 invasion of Iraq it controlled about a dozen villages and a range of peaks in northern Iraq on the Iranian border ...

Iraq shows bomber's confession
Reuters
Published: August 23, 2009, 23:04


Baghdad: An Iraqi official yesterday showed a video of what he said was a supporter of late dictator Saddam Hussain's Baath party confessing to organising one of the truck bomb blasts last week in which 95 people died.

The man, who appeared oddly calm for someone accused of taking part in the bloodiest attack of the year in Iraq, said he had orchestrated the bombing together with a leader of a branch of the now outlawed Baath party who was living in Syria.

"A month ago Sattam Farhan ... called from Syria and asked me to conduct a bombing operation to shake the administration," said the bald and moustachioed man, described as a former police chief named Wissam Ali Kadhim Ebrahim.

"He said that if you can't do it, we have other factions that can."


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Many Saddam loyalists fled to Syria after the fall of Saddam in 2003, and Iraqi officials frequently blame neighbouring countries for fomenting violence in Iraq.

Baghdad security spokesman Qassim Al Moussawi, who showed the video to the media, had previously announced the arrest of a group of Baathists he alleged were responsible for Wednesday's bombings, which devastated the foreign and finance ministries.

His office said yesterday shortly after the taped confession was aired that every police officer manning checkpoints on the day of the blasts between Baghdad and Diyala province, where the prisoner said the attack was put together, had been arrested.

The bombings, in which more than 1,000 people were wounded, many by glass from the ministries' shattered windows, dealt a blow to Prime Minister Nouri Al Maliki's claim ahead of an election in January to have presided over a fall in violence.

They also shook public confidence in the Iraqi security forces, six weeks after US troops pulled out of urban centres and handed primary responsibility for defending the population against insurgent attacks to domestic troops and police.

It was difficult to ascertain the veracity of the confession and of the detentions connected with the bombings.

The government has often trumpeted the arrests of major terrorism suspects only to be proven wrong. The announcement that the culprits behind Wednesday's explosions had been arrested on the same day as the bombings was only made after two days of intense criticism of Iraqi security forces.

Al Moussawi said other confessions from the network allegedly behind the blasts would be shown to Iraqis in coming days after the conclusion of investigations by judges.

In the video, the man did not mention trucks or the foreign ministry. He hinted at collusion by someone in the security forces.

"I called someone in Muqdadiya (in Diyala province) to ease the passage of the car through checkpoints to Baghdad. He asked for $10,000," the man said.

"A person called Sattar called me from Baghdad and told me that a car had been prepared in Khalis (in Diyala). I sent this person (from Muqdadiya) to Khalis who brought the car to Baghdad ... and it exploded outside the finance ministry."

ican, You never did answer my question; how will al Qaida invade our country?