As people --primarily Stephen Hayes-- go through the cache of documents we recovered in Iraq, the discussion about WMD in Iraq and whether there was an Iraq-al Qaeda connection has gotten much more interesting of a sudden. Even ABC news has noticed that bin-Laden & Iraqi intelligence had continuing ties from 1995-2001. Their summary of one set of documents notes:
The attached translated report included very detailed information about all the regulations regarding financing of election campaigns in France.
Oho! And why would Saddam have been interested in making contributions to French politicians do we suppose? Before a reader sent me the ABC story, I was going to call your attention to the Hayes' piece, based on the same documents, about Saddam's connections to the Philippine Islamist group Abu Sayyaf --remember the ones who kidnapped a bunch of Americans in June, 2001?. Iraq seems to have broken off ties in the wake of the kidnapping, but personally I think the Philippine connection is interesting. Didn't the idea to use commercial jets as bombs to fly into buildings come from this group?
The Hayes piece has too much to snip effectively; read it. But it closes with this from a Foreign Affairs report on hundreds of Iraqi Intelligence documents they analyzed:
The Saddam Fedayeen also took part in the regime's domestic terrorism operations and planned for attacks throughout Europe and the Middle East. In a document dated May 1999, Saddam's older son, Uday, ordered preparations for "special operations, assassinations, and bombings, for the centers and traitor symbols in London, Iran and the self-ruled areas [Kurdistan]." Preparations for "Blessed July," a regime-directed wave of "martyrdom" operations against targets in the West, were well under way at the time of the coalition invasion.
Here's the website the Office of National Defense has set up for anyone to read these documents. And in case you need further evidence of Saddam's depravity, here's a story about what the new docs reveal about his use of chemical weapons. ..er, excuse me, "special equipment" against his own citizens.
