http://www.newsmax.com/archives/ic/2...5/111243.shtml

Saturday Nov. 15, 2003; 10:44 a.m. EST
Intelligence Bombshell: Saddam Financed Lead 9/11 Hijacker

In a startling about face for U.S. intelligence officials, a bombshell
memo released by the Senate Intelligence Committee late Friday draws a
direct link between Saddam Hussein and the 9/11 attacks, citing evidence
that Iraqi intelligence bankrolled lead 9/11 hijacker Mohamed Atta in the
months leading up to the worst terrorist attack ever on U.S. soil.

The previously secret 16 page memo, prepared by the CIA and other U.S.
intelligence agencies, says Atta met as many as four times in Prague with
Iraqi intelligence agent Ahmed al Ani prior to the 9/11 attacks.

In a staggering revelation that offers an overwhelming and compelling
justification for the U.S. attack on Iraq, the CIA memo says that, during
one of these meetings, al Ani "ordered the [Iraqi Intelligence Service]
finance officer to issue Atta funds from IIS financial holdings in the
Prague office."

Al Ani was captured by coalition forces in July and has reportedly
denied to U.S. interrogators any meeting with Atta. U.S. press reports on
Iraq's role in 9/11, however, have been notoriously unreliable and are often
driven by an agenda to undermine justification for the war.

In excerpts first reported late Friday by the Weekly Standard, the
memo says that the CIA "can confirm two Atta visits to Prague - in Dec. 1994
and in June 2000." Data surrounding the other two meetings, on Oct. 26, 1999
and April 9, 2001, is described as "complicated and sometimes
contradictory."

Neither the CIA nor the FBI can confirm, for instance, that Atta met
specifically with Iraqi intelligence.

However, the memo emphasizes that Czech intelligence continues to
insist that the meetings took place.

"Czech Interior Minister Stanislav Gross continues to stand by his
information," said the Standard, noting that the memo cites five
high-ranking members of the Czech government who have publicly confirmed
meetings between Atta and al Ani.

Another point about the memo worth noting: It's revelations are based
not just on information obtained by the FBI and the CIA - agencies whose
pre-9/11 intelligence failures were legion. Instead the memo sources a
variety of domestic and foreign agencies, including the Defense Intelligence
Agency and the National Security Agency.

"Much of the evidence is detailed, conclusive, and corroborated by
multiple sources," the Standard said.

Another intriguing link between the 9/11 attacks and Iraq comes from
"sensitive reporting" on a Malaysia-based Iraqi national named Ahmed Shakir.

Shakir is said to have "facilitated the arrival of one of the Sept 11
hijackers for an operational meeting in Kuala Lumpur (Jan 2000)." Shakir's
travel and contacts link him to a worldwide network of terrorists, including
al Qaeda, the memo reveals. Shakir worked at the Kuala Lumpur airport - a
job he claimed to have obtained through an Iraqi embassy employee. As the
Standard notes:

"The Iraqi embassy, not his employer, controlled Shakir's schedule. He
was detained in Qatar on September 17, 2001.

"Authorities found in his possession contact information for
terrorists involved in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, the 1998 embassy
bombings, the 2000 attack on the USS Cole, and the September 11 hijackings.
The CIA had previous reporting that Shakir had received a phone call from
the safe house where the 1993 World Trade Center attacks had been plotted."

Beyond detailing evidence tying Saddam to the 9/11 attacks, the
blockbuster memo reveals 50 instances of contacts between senior al Qaeda
officials and Iraqi operatives - starting in 1990 and continuing right up to
March 2003.

Incredibly, the Bush administration has gone out of its way to
disparage reports of any Iraq-9/11 links.

Although Vice President Dick Cheney told "Meet the Press" in September
that evidence of a link is inconclusive, President Bush shut the door on
further speculation a week later, telling reporters that U.S. intelligence
had uncovered "no evidence" of a Baghdad role in the 9/11 plot.

In a further example of administration incompetence, the Standard
reports that "few people in the U.S. government are expressly looking for
such links. There is no Iraq-al Qaeda equivalent of the CIA's 1,400-person
Iraq Survey Group currently searching Iraq for weapons of mass destruction."









"By calling attention to 'a well regulated militia', the 'security' of the
nation, and the right of each citizen 'to keep and bear arms', our founding
fathers recognized the essentially civilian nature of our economy. Although
it is extremely unlikely that the fears of governmental tyranny which gave
rise to the Second Amendment will ever be a major danger to our nation, the
Amendment still remains an important declaration of our basic
civilian-military relationships, in which every citizen must be ready to
participate in the defense of his country. For that reason, I believe the
Second Amendment will always be important."
-- Senator John F. Kennedy, (D) 1960