09/13/2002 The Daily Standard
<B>Why Can't the CIA Keep Up with the New Yorker?</B>
http://<a href="http://www.theweekly...8rrstd.asp</a>
by Stephen F. Hayes
IN WHAT SHOULD go down as one of the most under-discussed revelations of the war on terrorism, an unnamed "senior counterterrorism official" told the Washington Post Tuesday that the CIA is aware of credible reports documenting Saddam-al Qaeda coordination in northern Iraq, but hasn't checked them out.
Someone remind me why George Tenet still has a job.
In March, the New Yorker ran an exhaustive--16,000 words--account by Jeffrey Goldberg detailing the plight of the Kurds in Northern Iraq. It was an extraordinary piece of journalism--the kind that journalism awards are created to recognize. I distributed the article to dozens of friends and colleagues.<B> It turned Iraq doves into hawks, and skeptics about a war there into believers. </B>
Goldberg sprinkled his prose with caveats--about the possible motivations of the Kurds, about the differing agendas of Saddam and Islamic radicals. That skepticism made his account more credible. But what ultimately made the report convincing was the detail. Goldberg named the prisoners, he explained their relationships, he recreated their battles, and he described their travels.<B> In short, his work is verifiable.</B>
3/25/2002 The New Yorker
<B>THE GREAT TERROR (This is very long)</B>
http://newyorker.com/fact/content/?020325fa_FACT1
by JEFFREY GOLDBERG
The possibility that Saddam could supply weapons of mass destruction to anti-American terror groups is a powerful argument among advocates of "regime change," as the removal of Saddam is known in Washington. These critics of Saddam argue that his chemical and biological capabilities, his record of support for terrorist organizations, and the cruelty of<B> his regime make him a threat that reaches far beyond the citizens of Iraq.</B>
"He's the home address for anyone wanting to make or use chemical or biological weapons," Kanan Makiya, an Iraqi dissident, said. Makiya is the author of "Republic of Fear," a study of Saddam's regime. "He's going to be the person to worry about. He's got the labs and the know-how. He's hellbent on trying to find a way into the fight, without announcing it."
On the surface, a marriage of Saddam's secular Baath Party regime with the fundamentalist Al Qaeda seems unlikely. His relationship with secular Palestinian groups is well known; both Abu Nidal and Abul Abbas, two prominent Palestinian terrorists, are currently believed to be in Baghdad.<B> But about ten years ago Saddam underwent something of a battlefield conversion to a fundamentalist brand of Islam.</B>
<B>The Kurdish intelligence officials I spoke to were careful not to oversell their case; they said that they have no proof that Ansar al-Islam was ever involved in international terrorism or that Saddam's agents were involved in the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. But they do have proof, they said, that Ansar al-Islam is shielding Al Qaeda members, and that it is doing so with the approval of Saddam's agents.</B>
The Kurdish intelligence officials told me that they have Al Qaeda members in custody, and they introduced me to another prisoner, a young Iraqi Arab named Haqi Ismail, whom they described as a middle- to high-ranking member of Al Qaeda. He was, they said, captured by the peshmerga as he tried to get into Kurdistan three weeks after the start of the American attack on Afghanistan.<B> Ismail, they said, comes from a Mosul family with deep connections to the Mukhabarat; his uncle is the top Mukhabarat official in the south of Iraq. They said they believe that Haqi Ismail is a liaison between Saddam's intelligence service and Al Qaeda.</B>
I havent checked JEFFREY GOLDBERG's credencials, but the report seems well researched and well written. As we see from these 2 articles, there is some type of problem with the US intell agencies. It may be omnious or not, I have more to say about that later (with references).
<B> I have many more replies to the questions/comments earlier. I dont have time to respond right now but will soon, thanks for your patience</B>