December 18, 2003

Iraq/Al Qaeda Link Update

Newsweek is reporting that the memo alleged as proof that lead 9/11 hijacker Mohammed Atta was in Iraq the summer before the September 11 attack is a "probably a fabrication."

Note the word "probably." Also note that if the document is a fake, it proves only that the document is a fake. It does not prove or disprove the larger question of whether Saddam's regime had ties to al Qaeda. Anti-war lefties dancing and celebrating and firing their rhetorical AK-47s in the air in celebration of this Newsweek story would be wise to remember this:

One of the more interesting pieces of postwar evidence was uncovered in Baghdad by reporters for the Toronto Star and London's Sunday Telegraph. The February 19, 1998, memo from Iraqi intelligence, in which bin Laden's name was covered over with Liquid Paper, reported planned meetings with an al Qaeda representative visiting Baghdad. Days later al Qaeda issued a fatwa alleging U.S. crimes against Iraq. At about the same time, a U.S. government source tells Stephen Hayes of the Weekly Standard, Iraq paid bin Laden deputy Ayman Zawahiri $300,000.

The anti-war lefties also should re-read this post from mid-November, which linked to and excerpted from stories in the New York Times and the Weekly Standard about a Senate Intelligence Committee memo outlining the long list of clues strongly suggesting ties between Saddam and al Qaeda generally - and possibly even between Saddam and the September 11 attack specifically.