The Missing Link? Al-Qaeda fighting with Iraqis, British claim

[Queasy]

Link

March 28 2003, 9:41 AM

Near Basra, Iraq: British military interrogators claim captured Iraqi soldiers have told them that al-Qaeda terrorists are fighting on the side of Saddam Hussein's forces against allied troops near Basra.

At least a dozen members of Osama bin Laden's network are in the town of Az Zubayr where they are coordinating grenade and gun attacks on coalition positions, according to the Iraqi prisoners of war.

It was believed that last night (Thursday) British forces were preparing a military strike on the base where the al-Qaeda unit was understood to be holed up.

A senior British military source inside Iraq said: "The information we have received from PoWs today is that an al-Qaeda cell may be operating in Az Zubayr. There are possibly around a dozen of them and that is obviously a matter of concern to us."

If terrorists are found, it would be the first proof of a direct link between Saddam's regime and Osama bin Laden, the mastermind of the 11 September attacks on New York and Washington.

The connection would give credibility to the argument that Tony Blair used to justify war against Saddam - a "nightmare scenario" in which he might eventually pass weapons of mass destruction to terrorists.

On Wednesday Donald Rumsfeld, the US defence secretary, said the coalition had solid evidence that senior al-Qaeda operatives have visited Baghdad in the past.

Rumsfeld said Saddam had an "evolving" relationship with the terror network.

The presence of fanatical al-Qaeda terrorists would go some way to explaining the continued resistance to US and British forces in southern Iraq, an area dominated by Shi'ite Muslims traditionally hostile to

Saddam's regime.

Heavy fighting continued around the besieged city of Basra yesterday after British forces destroyed 14 Iraqi tanks which had struck out towards the Al Faw peninsula.

Military commanders have decided against launching an attack on Basra because of fears the operation would result in a Stalingrad-style street battle.

It is estimated the Iraqi military forces in the area have been reduced to 30 per cent fighting strength but have now embedded themselves within civilian buildings in the city.

Armed raids have destroyed transmitters and taken state radio and television off the air in Basra and effectively cutting off its communications with Baghdad.

British tanks from the 7th Armoured Brigade, the Desert Rats, could be sent into Basra if there is a sudden civilian uprising against Saddam's forces.

Last night, forces around the city heard loud explosions as coalition helicopter gunships were sent into the area.

This is a pooled despatch from Gethin Chamberlain of The Scotsman.

PA

 

[GoodToGo]

What a way to prove that Iraqis are connected to Al Qaeda, invade and then provide evidence:disgust::frown:

 

[Queasy]

Originally posted by: GoodToGo
What a way to prove that Iraqis are connected to Al Qaeda, invade and then provide evidence:disgust::frown:

Your argument makes no sense. If there is evidence that could not have been found without insertion of military forces in the country, how would they have been able to provide that evidence previously?

Now, if you want to make the argument that the UK military is making this stuff up to justify the action or that the POWs are lying, then that is a completely different argument.

 

[conjur]

Originally posted by: Queasy

Originally posted by: GoodToGo
What a way to prove that Iraqis are connected to Al Qaeda, invade and then provide evidence:disgust::frown:

Your argument makes no sense. If there is evidence that could not have been found without insertion of military forces in the country, how would they have been able to provide that evidence previously?

Now, if you want to make the argument that the UK military is making this stuff up to justify the action or that the POWs are lying, then that is a completely different argument.

No kidding. The facility that's in Iraq used for training terrorists, which happened to have a jumbo jet in it, was said to have been used to train Al Qaeda members and other terrorists. With so much circumstantial evidence being proffered, it's not much of a leap. I wouldn't be surprised if some of the documentation being confiscated will provide even further proof.

 

[Alistar7]

Originally posted by: GoodToGo
What a way to prove that Iraqis are connected to Al Qaeda, invade and then provide evidence:disgust::frown:

Like Hitler was giving free tours of his death camps.....

By this logic you would be suprised to find WMD, even though inspections couldnt....

 

[StormRider]

Originally posted by: Alistar7

Originally posted by: GoodToGo
What a way to prove that Iraqis are connected to Al Qaeda, invade and then provide evidence:disgust::frown:

Like Hitler was giving free tours of his death camps.....

By this logic you would be suprised to find WMD, even though inspections couldnt....

I don't think this is the missing link. From what I understand, Al Qaeda and Saddam hate each other. They are fundamentally different -- Saddam is secular. However, when they heard that the US was invading Iraq, of course Al Qaeda was going to stream into Iraq and take pot shots at us.

 

[NightTrain]

If they are Al Queda, I don't care if they are there to mow his lawn. Just so they die.

 

[Siwy]

?Your argument makes no sense. If there is evidence that could not have been found without insertion of military forces in the country, how would they have been able to provide that evidence previously??

?Coalition of the billing? failed to provide any link between al-Qaeda and Saddam before going to war, that?s a fact. The way it should work is to fist get the evidence and then attack another country, not attack to maybe get the evidence. I?m not saying there isn?t any link, maybe there is, but so far I?m not convinced and so are other people and other countries.


?We must make clear to the Germans that the wrong for which their fallen leaders are on trial is not that they lost the war, but that they started it. And we must not allow ourselves to be drawn into a trial of the causes of the war, for our position is that no grievances or policies will justify resort to aggressive war. It is utterly renounced and condemned as an instrument of policy. ?

--Supreme Court Justice Robert L. Jackson, U.S. Representative to the International Conference on Military Trials, August 12, 1945

 

[Insane3D]

There was already a thread posted about this last night. As I said in that thread, just because there is Al-Queda fighting with the Iraqi's does not mean there is a "link" between OBL and/or 9/11. Are you guys really that blinded by the media? The US is involved in a highly unpopular war in a middle eastern country and it is likely that AQ is just involved more to kill some coalition forces than a link to Saddam. Also, just because there was a camp in Iraq does not mean that Saddam and AQ are connected. The camp was in a part of Iraq not even controlled by Saddam. By that reasoning, we "aided" the 9/11 terrorists because they did the vast majority of their planning and training in the US. I mean we already have over 5000 Iraqi's that were in Jordan trying to escape Saddam getting visas and returning to fight our troops because they see us as an invading force, as does most of the middle east.