That Ugly Dude Ties Iraq And Al Qaeda?

[FC]

From Investors Business Daily

 

Missing Link?

 

War On Terror: Al-Qaida mastermind Khalid Sheikh

Mohammed has confessed to being the mastermind for

a lot of terrorist crimes. Old news? Hardly. His confession

appears to link al-Qaida to Saddam Hussein’s Iraq.

 

War critics argue that Saddam Hussein had little to do

with terrorism, and nothing to do with al-Qaida.

Since there was no Iraq-al-Qaida link, they say, the

U.S. should never have invaded to get rid of Hussein,

nomatterhowevilhewas. Butsomething interesting hascomeout

of the interrogations of the lead al-Qaida suspects atGuantanamo.

In particular, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed confirmed what was

suspected all along:Hewas the driving force and chief planner behind

15 years of al-Qaida terrorism—nearly 30 attacks and plots in

all. That includes 9/11, the murder of journalist Daniel Pearl and,

muchearlier, the 1993bombing of theWorldTrade Center.

If so, it further cements the evidence that Iraq was, atminimum,a

willing partner of al-Qaida’s in the decadelong burst of terrorism

that culminated in 9/11. Indeed,

Mohammed’s Gitmo

confession neatly ties the

’93WTCbombingand 9/11

to Iraq and al-Qaida. After

all, Iraq had the means —

oil money — and the motive

— revenge for Hussein’s

humiliation in the

1991 GulfWar.

Of particular interest is

the revelation about Mohammed’s involvement in the ’93 bombing.

It shows a linkage not only between the ’93 WTC attack and

9/11, but alsobetween Iraq andal-Qaida.

We already know, for instance, that Abdul Rahman Yasin, the

Iraqi responsible for carrying out the ’93 bombing, found a haven

in Iraq for a decade after the attack. Yasin worked closely with another

al-Qaida operative,RamziYousef,onthe ’93WTCbombing.

For the record, Yousef is Mohammed’s nephew. He was described

by the National CommissionOnTerrorism’s 9/11 report as

“themastermind” of the ’93 bombing.Andaccording to U.S. intelligence,

hegot fundingfrom al-Qaida.

Intelligence documents captured in Baghdad in September 2003

show that Yasin and the others received financial aid from the

Iraqi government. This raises a big question: Why would Iraq,

under international scrutiny for both WMD and sanctions, support

a known terrorist with ties to al-Qaida? The only reasonable

answeris, it wantedto keep Yasin quiet about Iraq’s involvement.

There’s ample evidence of Iraq’s role in 9/11 too. The lead 9/11 hijacker,

Mohammed Atta, met at least twice with Iraqi intelligence

inEuropebefore carrying out the attacks.AndAhmedHikmatShakir,

an Iraqi intelligence operative, attended a key meeting of the

9/11 hijackersand other al-Qaida terrorists in January 2000.

Upon capture, Shakir was found to be in contact with Zahid

Sheikh Mohammed, brother of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, Iraqi

Musab Yasin, brother of Abdul Rahman Yasin, and Ibrahim

AhmadSuleiman, a ’93WTCconspirator.

It’s pretty clear that al-Qaida and Iraq, far from being enemies,

were tactical allies against the U.S. As such, removing Hussein

wasn’t a distraction from ourwaronterror; itwasvital to it.