PGHIMC - Pittsburgh Independent Media Center

Saddam Hussein's Support of Al Qaeda
by Yassar Datsmibebe Monday, Oct. 20, 2003 at 4:54 PM

The Middle East Media Research Institute translates a report from Al-Yawm Al-Aakher, an independent weekly newspaper in Iraq (thanks to America, there are such things now), on Saddam Hussein's ties to al Qaeda.

Two months before the Sept. 11 attacks, according to the an Iraqi officer identified only as L, "about 100 trainees arrived" at the Iraqi military's special forces school:

They were a mixture of Arabs, Arabs from the Peninsula [Saudi Arabia], Muslim Afghans, and other Muslims from various parts of the world. They were divided into two groups, the first one went to Al-Nahrawan and the second to Salman Pak, and this was the group that was trained to hijack airplanes. The training was under the direct supervision of major general (M. DH. L) [only identified by initials] who now serves as a police commander in one of the provinces. Upon the completion of the training most of them left Iraq, while the others stayed in the country through the last battle in Baghdad against the coalition forces.

L tells the paper that during Iraq's liberation, al Qaeda members "participated immediately in extremely fierce battles that astonished the Iraqis and the Americans":

On April 5, 2003 orders were issued to send these individuals to the battle front immediately. About 100 of them were sent to the 11th company division in Nasiriya. And for the sake of history I will say that this division's endurance was due to some formidable fighters, the commanding officer and members of Al-Qa'ida who fought with intensity and brutality that are seldom matched, while they were praising Allah.

http://www.memri.org/bin/latestnews.cgi?ID=SD59203

Meanwhile, Garry Trudeau devoted his Doonesbury strip yesterday to a drawing of a guy yelling "THERE IS NO EVIDENCE OF A LINK BETWEEN SADDAM HUSSEIN AND 9/11! NONE!" It's nice to see such nonsense on the funny pages where it belongs. http://www.doonesbury.com/strip/dailydose/index.html?uc_full_date=20031019

Along similar lines, the Science Fiction Book Club-- logo: "50 years of great science fiction and fantasy"--is offering for sale Al Franken's "Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them." http://www.sfbc.com/doc/full_site_enrollment/detail/fse_product_detail.jhtml?repositoryId=615823010

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