This makes Wall street journal but not Mike Moores film.

[PatPatriot]

Thursday, May 27, 2004 9:53 a.m. EDT
WSJ: Saddam's Files Show 'Direct' 9/11 Link

Newly uncovered files examined by U.S. military investigators in Baghdad show what is being described as "a direct link" between Saddam Hussein's elite Fedayeen military unit and the terrorist attacks on America on Sept. 11, 2001.

Ahmed Hikmat Shakir, who attended a January 2000 al-Qaida summit in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, where the 9/11 attacks were planned, is listed among the officers on three Fedayeen rosters reviewed by U.S. probers, the Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday.

"Our government sources, who have seen translations of the documents, say Shakir is listed with the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel," the paper said.

Though the Journal doesn't mention it, Saddam's Fedayeen has been identified in previous reports as the group that conducted 9/11-style hijack training drills on a parked Boeing 707 airliner at the south Baghdad terrorist camp Salman Pak.

In a post obtained through Saddam's Mukhabarat intelligence service, Shakir was stationed at the Iraqi Embassy in Kuala Lumpur at the time of the 9/11 planning session.

Also in attendance were 9/11 hijackers Khalid al Midhar and Nawaz al Hamzi, who were piloting American Airlines Flight 77 when it crashed into the Pentagon.

Ramzi bin al Shibh, the operational planner of the 9/11 attacks, and Tawfiz al Atash, a high-ranking Osama bin Laden lieutenant and mastermind of the USS Cole bombing, were also at the meeting, the Journal said.

When Shakir was arrested in Qatar on Sept. 17, 2001, he was carrying phone numbers of the 1993 World Trade Center bombers' safe houses and contacts, as well as information relating to Operation Bojinka, a plot devised by trade center bomber Ramzi Yousef that became the blueprint for the 9/11 attacks.

The Qataris released Shakir after a brief detention and he fled to Jordan, where he was re-arrested. Inexplicably, however, the CIA signed off on his release after Amnesty International complained.

"He was last seen heading home to Baghdad," the Journal says.


Editor's note:

 

[Illini]

This isn't shocking. But the liberal media will just bury this, because it doesn't help their agenda.

 

[xpanda]

Americans should know better than anyone that a rogue military member isn't necessarily acting on the interests of the leader ... Oliver North, anyone?

 

[cussin'it]

Not so fast XP. Do you really believe that an iron-fisted dictatorial control-freak that was Saddam would allow any member of his "SS" to go off doing their own shit without tacit approval?

Please, he and his advisors kept the closest tabs on the one's that could damage him the most, his Ba'ath party cronies and his protectors.

But having said that, I'm not convinced of the validity of this report. Specifically;
"When Shakir was arrested in Qatar on Sept. 17, 2001, he was carrying phone numbers of the 1993 World Trade Center bombers' safe houses and contacts, as well as information relating to Operation Bojinka, a plot devised by trade center bomber Ramzi Yousef that became the blueprint for the 9/11 attacks.

The Qataris released Shakir after a brief detention and he fled to Jordan, where he was re-arrested. Inexplicably, however, the CIA signed off on his release after Amnesty International complained."

If there is a factual basis to this then this demmands further inspection. Why would one of the world's most wanted (anyone to do with the 1st WTC attack) be allowed to walk by the CIA?
That just doesn't make any sense. They'd tell Amnesty to take a flying leap. Maybe there was an ulterior motive for cutting him loose?



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Sure could use a trim

[This message was edited by cussin'it on May 28, 2004 at 12:47 PM.]

 

[xpanda]

I think you give Saddam too much credit. It's preposterous to assume that nobody could slip through the cracks in Saddam's regime, that he would have a complete eye on every single individual under him. Even Hitler had internal dissenters who came exceedingly close to assassinating him on at least one occasion.

 

[cussin'it]

Alright, perhaps there is the slight chance of a rouge underling....but its not (according to this report) like this colonel is having fokin secret tuppperware parties in his garage...
He is traveling/stationed OUTSIDE of Iraq,
"In a post obtained through Saddam's Mukhabarat intelligence service, Shakir was stationed at the Iraqi Embassy in Kuala Lumpur at the time of the 9/11 planning session summit"
This seems to imply a pro-active engagement with these groups.

So for you to suggest that one of his purposeful emmissaries is there and "falling through the cracks" is quite a stretch. They'd have been keeping pretty short leashes on these type of people (keep in mind this guy is no diplomat, but purported to be Fedayeen).

Stationed conveniently in the foreign country where the terrorists are gathering and planning, a member of the Iraqi intelligence, no doubt, and he's fallen through the cracks???

Quite a leap in common sense there.

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Sure could use a trim

 

[jimbutorac]

I gotta reserve judgement until I see it as reported on some other sites. I couldn't even find this on Fox News and my guess is if they found it to be credible they would've published it already.

Let's see.

 

[Phaedrus]

When Shakir was arrested in Qatar on Sept. 17, 2001, he was carrying phone numbers of the 1993 World Trade Center bombers' safe houses and contacts, as well as information relating to Operation Bojinka, a plot devised by trade center bomber Ramzi Yousef that became the blueprint for the 9/11 attacks.

Anyone even vaguely familiar with Bojinka must have choked on his coffee when he read this. For those who have not heard of it, Bojinka was a rough draft plan to hijack a dozen 747s over the Pacific and blow them up simultaneously using smuggled-on explosives. It was scrapped as being unworkable due to the challenges inherent to smuggling aboard the explosives, and because crashing the planes into the ocean (since the attackers would die in either event) was not dramatic enough to be considered as an alternative.

"But planes! Both plans have planes! They're practically the same thing!"

If Bojinka was a "blueprint" for 9/11 then the entire CIA circa 1995 needs to be tried for willful neglect, since they were aware of the operation from the time Yousef was taken into custody.


Phaedrus