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ABC News Bombshell; Saddam and bin Laden Meetings in 1995

March 15, 2006 | Middle East, al qaeda, bin laden, iran, iraq, pakistan, palestinian, war on terror

ABC News delivers a bombshell with regards to the war on terror. For years, the mantra has been that there was no connection between Saddam Hussein�s regime, in Iraq, and al Qaeda, despite Stephen Hayes� book documenting over 2000 links and contacts. Here, however, we have documented contacts as early as 1995:A newly released pre-war Iraqi document indicates that an official representative of Saddam Hussein’s government met with Osama bin Laden in Sudan on February 19, 1995 after approval by Saddam Hussein. Bin Laden asked that Iraq broadcast the lectures of Suleiman al Ouda, a radical Saudi preacher, and suggested “carrying out joint operations against foreign forces” in Saudi Arabia. According to the document, Saddam’s presidency was informed of the details of the meeting on March 4, 1995 and Saddam agreed to dedicate a program for them on the radio. The document states that further “development of the relationship and cooperation between the two parties to be left according to what’s open (in the future) based on dialogue and agreement on other ways of cooperation.” The Sudanese were informed about the agreement to dedicate the program on the radio.The report then states that “Saudi opposition figure” bin Laden had to leave Sudan in July 1996 after it was accused of harboring terrorists. It says information indicated he was in Afghanistan. “The relationship with him is still through the Sudanese. We’re currently working on activating this relationship through a new channel in light of his current location,” it states.

�(Editor’s Note: This document is handwritten and has no official seal. Although contacts between bin Laden and the Iraqis have been reported in the 9/11 Commission report and elsewhere, (e.g. the 9/11 report states “Bin Ladn himself met with a senior Iraqi intelligence officer in Khartoum in late 1994 or early 1995) this document indicates the contacts were approved personally by Saddam Hussein.
It also indicates the discussions were substantive, in particular that bin Laden was proposing an operational relationship, and that the Iraqis were, at a minimum, interested in exploring a potential relationship and prepared to show good faith by broadcasting the speeches of al Ouda, the radical cleric who was also a bin Laden mentor.However, Newsmaxreports:U.S. forces in Saudi Arabia were attacked by al Qaeda twice in the months following Saddam Hussein’s decision to approve Osama bin Laden’s request for help in attacking “foreign forces” in Saudi Arabia.

An Iraqi intelligence document released last week states that bin Laden met in Sudan with senior Iraqi intelligence agents on Feb. 19, 1995, where he requested help in conducting “joint operations against foreign forces” in Saudi Arabia.Unnoted by ABC: Eight months after the Riyadh attack, 19 U.S. servicemen were killed when a large truck bomb blew up the Khobar Towers military barracks in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia

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