World Magazine Online has a very interesting article summarizing the alleged Iraqi intelligence documents obtained by CNSNews.com. Excerpt:
The papers, obtained by Cybercast News Service (CNS) and released Oct. 4, "establish irreversible evidence that there were strategic relations between the Baathist regime and Islamist groups that became al-Qaeda," [Islamic terrorism expert] Mr. Phares said after reviewing them at WORLD's request on Oct. 6. In addition, the documents link al-Zarqawi-associated groups throughout the Middle East, including al-Qaeda, on Saddam's payroll and acting under his direct authority....
"Saddam was personally overseeing the details" of training terrorists and assigning their missions, Mr. Phares said. "From 1993 on, Saddam Hussein connected with Sunni fundamentalists in the Arab world. He was in touch with the founding members of al-Qaeda."
The article is very much worth reading, and the underlying documents, assuming they are authentic, are interesting (to me, at least).
Posted by oscarjr at October 11, 2004 10:33 PM | TrackBackOne point I noticed. 5 kilos of mustard gas? Where from? Why so little? 5 kilos wouldn't go very far at all. If these documents are so important, why give them to a news organisation?
Posted by: ExpatEgghead at 05:18 AMOn the mustard gas, the CNS table indicates an order of 5 kgms from "Saddam's company". I don't know whether 5 kilos is a small amount, and, if so, why the order was placed. If these are translations of fabrications, though, I don't know why a knowledgable fabricator would not have added some zeros after the 5.
As to why the documents were given to a news organization, the original CNSNews article stated:
The senior government official and source of the Iraqi intelligence memos, explained that the reason the documents have not been made public before now is that the government has "thousands and thousands of documents waiting to be translated.Posted by: Oscar Jr. at 08:41 AM"It is unlikely they even know this exists," the source added.
The government official also explained that the motivation for leaking the documents, "is strictly national security and helping with the war on terrorism by focusing this country's attention on facts and away from political posturing.
"This is too important to let it get caught up in the political process," the source told CNSNews.com.
