MAKING THE CASE: For War Against Iraq

By Barbara Stanley

I have heard many in the media and elsewhere (as in the recent antiwar march in D.C. that was sponsored by the Communists Workers World Party, the founders of the International A.N.S.W.E.R., comrades and good friends of N. Korea) claim Bush hasn’t made the case for war against Iraq. I have recently been given the research that makes the case, in no uncertain terms, once and for all, tying Iraq directly to the terrorists who threaten us all.

Herewith, the facts, for any who would just read them, for to be informed is to be able to pass this intel around to others. At the end of this piece, there is a direct connection, also, with the Venezuelan Chavez government (Fidel Castro’s close ally and friend) and this, I believe, should sound the alarm. The Chinese communists now control both ends of the Panama Canal and this bodes ill for the land-route coming up to our southern border. Considering the Chinese Communists were instrumental in arming the Taliban in Afghanistan, their involvement, especially now with the N. Korean nukes, brings a dangerous note to the current world situation.

1990s: SUDAN: AL-TOURABI ARRANGES FOR BIN LADEN TO MEET IRAQI AGENT AL-HIJAZI, WHO WOULD EVENTUALLY HEAD IRAQI INTELLIGENCE
During the early 1990s, Sudan’s Sheikh Hassan al-Tourabi of the Islamic National Front arranged meetings between bin Laden and Iraqi Intelligence officials. Bin Laden met with Faruq al-Hijazi, an Iraqi intelligence agent in the Sudan who would later head Iraqi intelligence for Saddam Hussein. There would be later meetings as well in 1994 and 1995.- Findlaw, Ashton, et al. v. al Qaeda

1992: ZAWAHIRI MET WITH IRAQI AGENTS IN BAGHDAD OVER SEVERAL DAYS
Upon information and belief, there have been numerous meetings between IRAQI Intelligence agents and high-ranking al Qaeda terrorists to plan terror attacks. Once such meeting occurred in 1992, when Zawahiri (Egyptian Islamic Jihad leader and al Qaeda officer) met with Iraqi Intelligence agents in Baghdad, Iraq over several days. An Iraqi serving with the Taliban who fled Afghanistan in the fall of 2001, was captured in Kurdistan and has corroborated this meeting and confirmed that Iraqi contacts with al Qaeda began in 1992. - Findlaw, Ashton, et al. v. al Qaeda

1994: BIN LADEN MEETS IRAQI INTELLIGENCE AGENTS IN SUDAN
Bin Laden again met with Iraqi intelligence secret service director Faruq al-Hijazi agreed to work together on terrorist projects directed against the U.S. - Findlaw, Ashton, et al. v. al Qaeda

1995: BIN LADEN MEETS IRAQI INTELLIGENCE AGENTS IN SUDAN
Bin Laden again met with Iraqi intelligence officers in 1994 and 1995 in the Sudan. At these meetings, bin-Laden and Iraqi intelligence secret service director Faruq al-Hijazi agreed to work together on terrorist projects directed against the U.S. - Findlaw, Ashton, et al. v. al Qaeda

1996 - 2001: BIN LADEN, TALIBAN, IRAQ MUTUAL ASSISTANCE
From 1996 until 2001, bin Laden with the financial and logistical support of Omar and others in the Taliban and Iraq and Iraqi intellignece, created, supplied and operated at least five training camps in order to create an “Islamic Foreign Legion” capable of attacking their enemies throughout the world. These camps trained men from 15 nations in guerrilla warfare, terrorist activities, rocket warfare, demolition and bombing, including the use of mines, grenades, TNT, nitroglycerine and plastic explosives. Classes were also given in “how to kill a policeman” and “traps, murder and terrorist moves.” Iraq upon information and belief, agreed to supply arms to al Qaeda and provide al Qaeda with access to and training in the use of chemical and biological weapons and agreed to instruct al Qaeda terror trainers at its Salman Pak camp in Baghdad that contained a Boeing 707 used to practice hijacking. Iraq also agreed to supply al Qaeda terrorists with new identities and passports from Yemen and the United Arab Emirates. Al Qaeda agreed to provide protection from political opponents to Iraq and Saddam Hussein, and to commit assassinations and other acts of violence to create instability in regions of Iraq, particularly Kurdistan, to assist the regime of Saddam Hussein. Al Qaeda further agreed to provide trained terrorists, assassins and martyrs to carry out terror attacks in concert with Iraq against their common enemies, including the United States. - Findlaw, Ashton, et al. v. al Qaeda

FEBRUARY 1997: BIN LADEN ON IRAQ
Bin Laden publicly expressed his support for Iraq in its conflict with the United States stating: “The hearts of the Muslims are filled with hatred towards the United States of America and the American president for American conduct towards Iraq.”- Findlaw, Ashton, et al. v. al Qaeda

APRIL 25 - MAY 1, 1998: AL QAEDA'S ABU-ISLAM & QASSIM MEET WITH QUSAY HUSSEIN IN IRAQ; ALSO IRAQI AGENTS MET WITH AL QAEDA IN AFGHANISTAN
Between April 25 and May 1, 1998, two of bin Laden’s senior military commanders, Muhammad Abu-Islam and Abdullah Qassim, visited Baghdad for discussions with Saddam Hussein’s son -- Qusay Hussein -- the “czar” of Iraqi intelligence. Qusay Hussein’s participation in those meetings highlights the importance of the talks in both symbolic and practical terms. Upon information and belief, as a direct result of these meetings, Iraq again made commitments to provide training, intelligence, clandestine Saudi border crossings, financial support and weapons and explosives to al Qaeda. Iraqi intelligence officials met with bin Laden in Afghanistan several more times. A second group of bin Laden and al Qaeda operatives from Saudi Arabia were then trained by Iraqi intelligence in Iraq to smuggle weapons and explosives into Saudi Arabia and other countries, which they later accomplished in an effort to carry out future terrorist acts of violence. - Findlaw, Ashton, et al. v. al Qaeda

1993 -2001: 911 HIJACKER ATTA, CZECHOSLAVAKIA TRIPS
Another lead: reports that chief hijacker Mohammed Atta made as many as four trips to Prague in the Czech Republic, dating from 1993 to 2001. So far U.S. intelligence only has hard evidence of one trip in 1999, when Atta was on his way to the United States. Prague is important because it has been alleged, though again not proved, (* My note: Not proved? We have two named Czechoslavakian officials who have adamantly stated he did meet- this is far more proof than the typical US reporter ever had to claim that 'militia groups' were behind the OK City bombing.) that Atta met there with a senior Iraqi intelligence officer. - "9/11 Bombshell: New Evidence Of Iraq-Al Qaeda Ties?," by David Martin, CBS News Oct. 1, 2002 David Martin

1998 Summer: IRAQ TRAINS AL QAEDA PERSONNEL
After the meetings in Iraq with Qusay Hussein, Saddam hussein's son, Iraqi intelligence officials met with bin Laden in Afghanistan several more times. A second group of bin Laden and al Qaeda operatives from Saudi Arabia were then trained by Iraqi intelligence in Iraq to smuggle weapons and explosives into Saudi Arabia and other countries, which they later accomplished in an effort to carry out future terrorist acts of violence. A third group of bin Laden and al Qaeda operatives received a month of sophisticated guerrilla operations training from Iraqi intelligence officials later in the Summer of 1998. - Findlaw, Ashton, et al. v. al Qaeda

JULY 1998 mid: AL ZAWAHIRI MEETS WITH IRAQI VICE PRESIDENT RAMADAN IN IRAQ
Despite philosophical and religious differences with Saddam Hussein, bin Laden continually sought to strengthen and reinforce the support he and al Qaeda received from Iraq. In mid-July 1998, bin Laden sent Dr. Ayman al-Zawahiri, the Egyptian co-founder of al-Qaeda, to Iraq to meet with senior Iraqi officials, including Iraqi vice president Taha Yassin Ramadan. Upon information and belief, the purpose of this meeting was to discuss and plan a joint strategy for a terrorist campaign against the United States. During the July 1998 visit Zawahiri toured an Iraqi military base and nuclear and chemical weapons facility near al-Fallujah in Iraq and upon information and belief, observed training by Iraqi intelligence officials of al Qaeda operatives at the al-Nasiriyah military and chemical weapons facility in Iraq. - Findlaw, Ashton, et al. v. al Qaeda

DECEMBER 1998: IRAQI OFFICIAL AL-HIJAZI MEETS WITH BIN LADEN IN AFGHANISTAN
Following the December 1998 air strikes on Iraq, Saddam Hussein dispatched Faruq al-Hijazi to Kandahar, Afghanistan in order to meet with bin Laden and plot their revenge. To demonstrate Iraq’s commitment to bin Laden and al Qaeda, Hijazi presented bin Laden with a pack of blank, official Yemeni passports, supplied to Iraqi Intelligence from their Yemeni contacts. Hijazi’s visit to Kandahar was followed by a contingent of Iraqi intelligence officials who provided additional training and instruction to bin Laden and al Qaeda operatives in Afghanistan. These Iraqi officials included members of “Unit 999,” a group of elite Iraqi intelligence officials who provided advanced sabotage and infiltration training and instruction to al Qaeda operatives. At that meeting, upon information and belief, bin Laden, al Qaeda and Iraq agreed to join efforts in a detailed, coordinated plan for a protracted terrorist war against the United States. - Findlaw, Ashton, et al. v. al Qaeda

1998 or after: IRAQ AGREES TO AID BIN LADEN IN SETTING UP LAB IN AFGHANISTAN TO PRODUCE ANTHRAX
Iraq maintains an advanced chemical and biological weapons program and is one of only three countries in the world producing a highly developed weaponized anthrax. Some time during or after 1998, Iraq agreed to help bin Laden and al Qaeda develop a laboratory in Afghanistan designed to produce anthrax. - Findlaw, Ashton, et al. v. al Qaeda

JANUARY 1999: IRAQ TRAINS MORE AL QAEDA OPERATIVES AT ADDITIONAL CAMPS AROUND BAGHDAD
In addition to the al-Nasiriyah and Salman Pak training camps, by January 1999, bin Laden and al Qaeda operatives were being trained by Iraqi intelligence and military officers at other training camps on the outskirts of Baghdad. - Findlaw, Ashton, et al. v. al Qaeda

JANUARY 1999: IRAQI AGENT ISMAIL BECOMES LIASON BETWEEN AL QAEDA, TALIBAN & IRAQ
In January 1999, Iraq began reorganizing and mobilizing Iraqi intelligence front operations throughout Europe in support of bin Laden and al Qaeda. Haqi Ismail, believed to be a member of the Iraq's Mukhabarat Secret Service, left Iraq to train in an Afghanistan al Qaeda camp. Ismail was believed to be a liaison between Iraq, the Taliban and al Qaeda and was rewarded with a position in the Taliban Foreign Ministry. - Findlaw, Ashton, et al. v. al Qaeda

JANUARY 2000: MALAYSIA, 911 HIJACKER AL MIDHAR, IRAQI SHAKIR
When hijacker Khalid al Midhar arrived in Malaysia in January of 2000 for a meeting of key al Qaeda operatives, he was met at the airport by an Iraqi named Ahmad Shakir, who worked part-time greeting VIPs, a job he got with the help of someone in the Iraqi Embassy. One week later, al Midhar flew to the United States, and 18 months later he was aboard the airliner that crashed into the Pentagon. He is considered one of the most important hijackers because he was in charge of the so-called muscle – the young Saudi men responsible for subduing the passengers. - "9/11 Bombshell: New Evidence Of Iraq-Al Qaeda Ties?" by David Martin, CBS News Oct. 1, 2002 David Martin

2000 Spring: 911 HIJACKERS JARRAH & AL-SHEHHI MET WITH IRAQI INTELLIGENCE AGENTS
According to U.S. and foreign intelligence officials, in the spring of 2000, Iraqi intelligence agents met with September 11th pilot hijackers Zaid Samir Jarrah and Marwan al-Shehhi in Dubai, UAE in order to advance the hijacking of U.S. aircraft to commit terrorist acts. Not long after the meeting, al-Shehhi entered the United States on May 29 and Jarrah entered on June 27, to begin preparations for attacks. - Findlaw, Ashton, et al. v. al Qaeda

MAY 29, 2000: 911 HIJACKER AL-SHEHHI ENTERS THE US
Shortly after meeting with Iraqi intelligence agents in Dubai, UAE, Marwan al-Shehhi enters the US - Findlaw, Ashton, et al. v. al Qaeda JUNE 27, 2000: (911 HIJACKER JARRAH ENTERS THE US) Shortly after meeting with Iraqi intelligence agents in Dubai, UAE, Zaid Samir Jarrah enters the US. - Findlaw, Ashton, et al. v. al Qaeda

JULY 21, 2001: IRAQ, FOREWARNING
On July 21, approximately six weeks before the September 11th attacks, Iraqi columnist Mulhalhal reported that bin Laden was making plans to “demolish the Pentagon after he destroys the White House.” Mulhalhal’s July 21 article further informed that bin Laden would strike America “on the arm that is already hurting.” Upon information and belief, this references a second Iraqi sponsored attack on the World Trade Center. This interpretation is further bolstered by another reference to New York as “[bin Laden] will curse the memory of Frank Sinatra every time he hears his songs.” (e.g., “New York, New York”) identifying New York, New York as a target. Mulhalhal further indicated, “The wings of a dove and the bullet are all but one and the same in the heart of a believer.”

This appears to be a reference to the use of commercial aircraft as a weapon. The information was reported in an Iraqi newspaper whose editor-in-chief serves as secretary to Uday Hussein’s Iraqi Syndicate of Journalists. The article expressed Iraqi admiration and support for bin Laden’s plans and its appearance in the newspaper would clearly have to be endorsed by Saddam Hussein himself. All Iraqi news media is strictly controlled and censored by the government of Saddam Hussein and is under the direct oversight of Uday Hussein. Various members of Iraqi intelligence work at and control the content of each and every newspaper published inside Iraq. The information contained in Mulhalhal’s published statements were known prior to the events of September 11th, and that Mulhalhal has ties to Iraqi intelligence, demonstrates foreknowledge of the planned attacks by bin Laden and indicates support by Iraqi co-conspirators. - Findlaw, Ashton, et al. v. al Qaeda

2001 - 2002 winter: IRAQI SUPERGUN INSTRUCTIONS FOUND IN AL QAEDA CAMPS
Instruction documents on an artillery weapon known as the “Super Gun” were found in al Qaeda camps when they were captured by U.S. forces in the winter of 2001-2002. Iraq is the only state known to have purchased and assembled the super gun, a weapon so large it must be constructed in segments. It has a range of several hundred miles. - Findlaw, Ashton, et al. v. al Qaeda

SEPTEMBER 2002 late: NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISOR RICE SAYS AL QAEDA & IRAQ ARE LINKED
The clearest link so far is that at least one senior member of al Qaeda fled to Baghdad after Sept. 11. He has since left Baghdad and there is no evidence Saddam Hussein knew about his visit, although in a police state like Iraq people don't just come and go. No one who has seen the intelligence is prepared to make the case that Saddam had a role in the Sept. 11 attacks. But suspicious links between Iraq and al Qaeda are becoming part of the Bush administration's case for removing him from power. Last week, President Bush's national security adviser said al Qaeda operatives had found refuge in Baghdad, and accused Saddam's regime of helping Osama bin Laden's followers develop chemical weapons. Condoleezza Rice's statements were the strongest public charges yet alleging contacts between al Qaeda and the Iraqi government. "There clearly are contacts between al Qaeda and Iraq that can be documented; there clearly is testimony that some of the contacts have been important contacts and that there's a relationship here," Rice said. She said much of the information was coming from al Qaeda operatives captured since Sept. 11.

This included several senior leaders whom the U.S. alleges organized terrorist attacks. "We clearly know that there were in the past and have been contacts between senior Iraqi officials and members of al Qaeda going back for actually quite a long time," Rice said. "We know too that several of the (al Qaeda) detainees, in particular some high-ranking detainees, have said that Iraq provided some training to al Qaeda in chemical weapons development." The widely held view has been that while Saddam and bin Laden both oppose the United States, their motivations are too different for them to work together. Saddam seeks secular power; bin Laden's drive comes from religious motivations and his opposition to the U.S. military presence in Saudi Arabia and the Arab world. "No one is trying to make an argument at this point that Saddam Hussein somehow had operational control of what happened on Sept. 11, so we don't want to push this too far, but this is a story that is unfolding, and it is getting clearer, and we're learning more," Rice said. - "9/11 Bombshell: New Evidence Of Iraq-Al Qaeda Ties?" by David Martin, CBS News Oct. 1, 2002 David Martin

1992: HIZBALLAH, IRAN, BIN LADEN, AL QAEDA
Bin Laden makes a proposal to the Shiite organization Hizballah that they set aside their differences to cooperate in a common objective of killing US troops stationed in Asia and Africa. – MSNBC

1990s early: HIZBALLAH, IRAN & AL QAEDA STILL LINKED
Testimony in the East Africa embassy bombings trial, concluded last year (2001), lays out connections between al-Qaeda and the Iranian government, an unidentified senior Iranian religious leader and Iran’s most favored terrorist group, the Hizballah, during the early 1990s. – MSNBC

1990s early and mid: AL QAEDA & IRANIAN OFFICIALS MEET
Specifically, the transcript of the trial shows that as early as 1998 the US was aware that on “various” occasions during the early to mid-1990s, high-ranking al-Qaeda members met with Iranian officials and that bin Laden himself met with the leader of its terrorist surrogate, the Hizballah, to “cooperate against the perceived common enemy,” the US. Among the prosecutors’ revelations at the embassy bombing trials was that Iran and Hizballah provided weapons and weapons training to al-Qaida and its ally, the Egyptian Islamic Jihad, and that “Osama bin Laden and other ranking members of al-Qaida, stated privately ... al-Qaida should put aside its differences with Shiite Muslim terrorist organizations, including the government of Iran and its affiliated terrorist group Hizballah, to cooperate” against the US. Moreover, there was testimony that bin Laden met with Imad Mugniyeh, the mastermind behind the terrorist attacks that took more than 300 American lives in Beirut during the 1980s. – MSNBC

1992 - 1996: AL QAEDA'S SALIM, IRANIAN CLERIC, AL QAEDA, NATIONAL ISLAMIC FRONT OF SUDAN, IRANIAN GOVERNMENT
The meetings between al-Qaida and the unidentified Iranian religious leader took place in Sudan with Mamdouh Mahmud Salim, bin Laden’s former financial manager, representing al-Qaida. They took place at “various times” between 1992 and 1996, according to prosecutors. All the meetings apparently took place in Sudan. According to U.S. prosecutors, “At various times between in or about 1992 and in or about 1996, the defendant Mamdouh Mahmud Salim met with an Iranian religious official in Khartoum as part of an overall effort to arrange a tripartite agreement between al-Qaida, the National Islamic Front of Sudan and elements of the government of Iran to work together against the United States, Israel and other Western countries.” Salim goes on trial in New York early next year, and it is expected that details of those dealings will be made public. –MSNBC

MARCH 2002: VENEZUELAN BERNAL IS CAUGHT SMUGGLING ARMS INTO SAUDI ARABIA FROM IRAQ
An MRV politician and close President Hugo Chavez aide closely tied to the Circulos Bolivarianos, Freddy Bernal, was in Iraq (in) March. He got caught trying to move arms into Saudi Arabia by U.N. peacekeeping forces policing the border- "Terror Threat from Venezuela: Al Qaeda Involved," by| Martin Arostegui, Militares Democraticos, December 27, 2002

MARCH 8, 2002 9:29 PM: VENEZUELA, FATTAH, HANJOUR, 9/11 HIJACKERS
At 9:29 p.m. on March 8, 2002, Hakim Mamad Ali Diab Fattah landed at Venezuela's Simón Bolívar International Airport on board Delta Flight 397. The Venezuelan-born Arab had been the subject of international surveillance because he had taken lessons at two New Jersey flight schools attended by Hani Hanjour, who crashed American Airlines Flight 77 into the Pentagon on Sept. 11, 2001. The FBI had arrested Fattah in the US after discovering that he also had talked about blowing up an airliner and had used forged identity documents. Information about him was requested from Venezuela's internal security service, Direccion de Inteligencia Seguridad y Prevencion (DISIP). But little was forthcoming other than psychiatric records showing that he was a diagnosed schizophrenic who had failed to attend therapy for more than a year.

Top-level members of Venezuela's security services now are shedding some light on the mystery. General Marcos Ferreira, who recently resigned as director of the Venezuelan national guard's border control, Departamento de Extranjeria (DIEX), says that DISIP picked up Fattah directly from the plane and escorted him into a waiting car parked on the runway. - "Terror Threat from Venezuela: Al Qaeda Involved," by Martin Arostegui, Militares Democraticos, December 27, 2002

MAY 8, 2002: JOSE PADILLA
Arrest of American citizen Jose Padilla AKA Abdullah al Mujahir, with a US passport, coming into Chicago O'Hare from Pakistan. Target may have been Washington DC. It was determined to consider him an enemy combatant.

JUNE 18, 2002: SYRIA, MOHAMMED HAYDAR ZAMMAR
The Washington Post reports that according to Arab intelligence sources, the Syrian debriefing of German citizen Mohammed Haydar Zammar, 41, is providing the United States with critical information on the genesis of the plot to attack New York and Washington as well al Qaeda's structure and possible plans. It is unclear if U.S. officials have direct access to Zammar or whether the Syrians put questions from the United States to the prisoner and then report back. But an Arab source said Zammar has become another check on information the United States gleans from the interrogation of al Qaeda prisoners worldwide, including the captured senior bin Laden Lieutenant Abu Zubaida. German intelligence sources said today that they were only informed by U.S. officials Thursday of Zammar's imprisonment in Syria after an article in The Washington Post raised questions about his whereabouts. Zammar is being held by the Syrian authorities on long-standing charges that he was involved in a bombing plot in the country, Arab officials said.

JUNE 22, 2002: IRANIANS, UN, CAMERAS, BROOKLYN BRIDGE, TUNNELS, STATUE OF LIBERTY
Middle Easterners spotted videotaping the Brooklyn Bridge, entrance tunnels, and the Statue of Liberty. They were stopped and questioned but not arrested because they were employees of the Iranian mission to the UN and had diplomatic immunity.

JUNE 27, 2002: IRANIANS, UN, CAMERAS, BROOKLYN BRIDGE, TUNNELS, STATUE OF LIBERTY
Two men who work in NY for Iran's mission to the UN are being expelled from the US, ABCNEWS has learned. Sources told ABCNEWS that the two Iranians were seen five days ago videotaping the Brooklyn Bridge, the entrance to the tunnels into Manhattan and the Statue of Liberty. The men, who have been in the US only four months and are described as security workers for the mission, were stopped and questioned by NY police, sources said, but were not arrested because of their diplomatic immunity. U.S. officials plan to expel the men for suspicious activities, some of which are related to irregularities in their identification documents, sources said.

JULY 31, 2002: WASHINGTON POST REPORTS CIA FOUND IRAQI BIOWEAPONS LAB
The Washington Post runs a detailed report (“Reality is uncertainty,” by Joby Warrick, Washington Post, 31 July 2002) suggesting that the CIA has found a laboratory called Tahhaddy, or “Challenge”, on the west bank of the Tigris river, employing a team of 85 scientists working on a viral strain code-named Blue Nile. - Iraq - Scotsman says Saddam has weapons to wipe out world's population, nuclear bomb within 3 years "The Scotsman dossier - SPECIAL REPORT ON IRAQ" by Fraser Nelson, Westminster Editor

AUGUST 2002: US SATELLITES DETECT ACTIVITY AT IRAQI BIOWEAPONS FACILITY US satellites detect a convoy of 60 trucks at a one of main suspected biological weapons factories, called the Taji Cell Protection Plant. - Iraq - Scotsman says Saddam has weapons to wipe out world's population, nuclear bomb within 3 years "The Scotsman dossier - SPECIAL REPORT ON IRAQ" by Fraser Nelson, Westminster Editor

SEPTEMBER 26, 2002 Thursday: IRAQ, AL-QAEDA, WASHINGTON, (Reuters)
Senior al Qaeda leaders have been in Baghdad "in recent periods," U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said on Thursday, as the Bush administration pushed its case for possible military action against Iraq. Rumsfeld was not more specific about the timing, but his comments at a Pentagon briefing appeared designed to allay doubts among opposition Democrats and foreign allies that Iraq was a legitimate target in the U.S. war on terrorism. However, none of the evidence has been made public. "We certainly have evidence of senior al Qaeda who have been in Baghdad in recent periods. Whether they're currently there or not one never knows, because they're moving targets," he said, of the movement blamed by Washington for the Sept. 11 attacks on America that killed around 3,000 people. "If you're asking if it (intelligence) is current -- in the last period of days or weeks -- the answer is yes," the secretary said. (Charles Aldinger, Washington newsroom,).

SEPTEMBER-OCTOBER 2002: (SALEM, IRAQ, WEST BANK)
Saddam Hussein's pro-Iraqi "terror banker" on the West Bank, Rakad Salem, 58 - who personally met with Saddam in Baghdad - is captured along with incriminating documents in a raid on his office in Ramallah. - "TERROR BANKER" by URI DAN, New York Post, October 9, 2002

OCTOBER 2002: IRAQ
Iraqi scientists know how to make chemical weapons that can penetrate military protective clothing, and Iraq imported up to 25 metric tons this month of a powder that is a crucial ingredient to such "dusty" weapons. Iraq told the UN the powder was destined for a pharmaceutical company. A former weapons inspector says that company was ordered by President Saddam Hussein before the 1991 Persian Gulf War to work on chemical and biological weapons. The powder, sold under the brand name Aerosil, has particles so small that, when coated with deadly poisons, they can pass through the tiniest gaps in protective suits. Researchers inside and outside the U.S. government say they are not certain Iraq has dusty chemical weapons. Declassified U.S. intelligence documents say Iraq produced a dusty form of the blister agent mustard gas in the 1980s and used it during its eight-year war with Iran. - "Iraq takes delivery of powder used in chemical arms," AP via Washington Times, 11/18/02

OCTOBER 2002: IMMIGRATION, ASSADI, IRAQ
A Washington, D.C. jury convicted Mohammed Hussein Assadi of smuggling Iraqis into the United States through Cali, Colombia, Ecuador, and other locations in South America. Assadi supplied illegal alien Iraqis with stolen and altered European passports and round-trip airline tickets to the U.S. in exchange for up to $8,000 per person. These Iraqi smugglees purchased documents at a commercial vendor in Northern Iraq called the "Market of Passports," which they used to travel through Turkey and Ecuador into Colombia. According to a statement from the U.S. attorney's office, Assadi instructed the aliens to destroy the fraudulent passports and tickets while en route to America and to surrender to U.S. immigration authorities without disclosing their true place of origin. The scheme relied on smug knowledge of our government's "catch and release" policy for illegal aliens who are freed pending deportation proceedings -- a policy that remains in place today. - "The Iraqi Infiltration," by Michelle Malkin, townhall.com, November 20, 2002

OCTOBER 2, 2002: SALIM ARRESTED BY ISRAELIS: HE IS LINKED TO IRAQ
Rakahd Salim, the General Secretary of the Front for National Liberation in the West Bank and Arafat advisor, was arrested on October 2, 2002 after documents seized by the IDF during operation "Defensive Shield" indicated that he was responsible on behalf of Saddam Hussein for the distribution of money to the families of Palestinian terrorists and suicide bombers. Salim was directly responsible for the transfer of Iraqi aid funds to the families of suicide bombers and Palestinian terrorists.

OCTOBER 8, 2002: SALEM or SALIM, IRAQ, WEST BANK, ARAB LIBERATION FRONT, FATAH, PLO, PLF
Saddam Hussein's pro-Iraqi "terror banker" on the West Bank, Rakad Salem (Rakahd Salim), 58 - who personally met with Saddam in Baghdad - confesses to funneling $15 million to Palestinian terrorists. Investigators said documents obtained in the West Bank verified Salem's admission that $15 million had passed from Saddam's personal control through a series of bank accounts until it reached the Arab Liberation Front, where Salem was secretary-general. Investigators said Salem served as Saddam's conduit to terrorists in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. They said he admitted paying $10,000 to the family of every Palestinian "martyr" - the popular term for homicide bomber. In addition, seriously wounded survivors of attacks on Israelis would receive $1,000 in Iraqi money, he said. The less seriously wounded would get $500.

Authorities said Salem's notoriety as Saddam's moneyman put him in close contact with leading Palestinian factions, including Yasser Arafat's Fatah movement, and he served on the Palestine Liberation Organization's Central Council. His arrest was the first of a major agent of the Iraqi dictator for a role in the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. Israeli authorities said the financial chain went from accounts in a branch of the Iraqi national bank in Amman, Jordan, to a Jordanian bank in Amman, to a Ramallah bank controlled by Salem. Israeli prosecutors did not say over what time period the $15 million was transferred. Until his arrest, Salem had occupied a fifth-floor office in Ramallah, on the same floor as the terrorist Palestinian Liberation Front, whose leader, Abu Abbas, carried out the 1986 hijacking of the cruise ship Achille Lauro. Israeli authorities say Salem had close ties to Abbas, who is believed to be hiding out in Iraq. Salem was arrested last week by Israeli commandos who were disguised as Arabs. He is being held at an undisclosed location - "TERROR BANKER" by URI DAN, New York Post, October 9, 2002

JANUARY 5, 2003 Sunday: (US: FLORIDA)
On January 5, at a press conference in Miami, the former personal pilot of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez dropped a bombshell that has been ignored by just about every major U.S. news organization: The Venezuelan president, according to the pilot, gave al Qaeda a substantial sum of money following the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks.

Venezuelan Air Force Major Juan Diaz Castillo, who is now seeking political asylum in the United States and says his "life and liberty are in danger in Venezuela," says Chavez chose him to conduct the transfer because he trusted him as a close personal assistant.

At a Miami press conference this past Sunday (January 5, 2003), Diaz said that shortly following the September 11 terrorist attacks, Chavez commissioned him "to organize, coordinate, and execute a covert operation consisting of delivering financial resources, specifically $1 million, to [Afghanistan's] Taliban government, in order for them to assist the al-Qaeda terrorist organization," while, "making it appear as if humanitarian aid were being extended to the Afghan people." The first attempt to transfer the money fell through, but in late September 2001 Venezuelan Vice President Diosdado Cabello decided to funnel the money through Venezuela's ambassador in India, one Walter Marquez. The Taliban received the money and publicly acknowledged receipt of $100,000 in "humanitarian aid." "The rest went straight to al Qaeda," claims Díaz Castillo. "That is, $900,000."

Diaz Castillo said that while in the Venezuelan air force, he saw Chavez's government send pro-Chavez armed groups — named "Bolivarian Circles," after South American independence hero Simón Bolívar — to Cuba for military training and ideological indoctrination, in order "to carry out acts of violence through them" against opponents. Diaz also says that Chavez has supplied money and arms to the Marxist guerrillas in neighboring Colombia that have plunged that country into chaos. Diaz Castillo's testimony alone should not be taken at face value — but his statements are consistent with other defectors' testimony and Chavez's public behavior, such as the testimony of General Marcos Ferreira, who resigned as director of Venezuela’s border-control service, and the testimony of General Nestor Gonzalez, another military dissident. - "Chavez Bombshell? - A defector’s testimony links the Venezuelan strongman to international terror."

About The Author
Award-winning writer and Federal Observer contributor Barbara Stanley is a conservative writer of commentary on a broad range of subjects and a Sentry Editorial Excellence Award-winning journalist residing in the upstate forest of New York. In addition to political and social commentary, Barbara writes fictional short stories at her website.

Copyright (c) 2003 Barbara Stanley All Rights Reserved