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Friday, January 06, 2006

1998 Indictments of Bin Laden - Documented ties with Iraq

Another little tidbit from The 9/11 Commission Report. Chapter 4 “Responses to Al Qaeda’s Initial Assaults”. page 128-129.

"On November 4, 1998, the US Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York
unsealed its indictment of bin Ladin, charging him with conspiracy to attack US defense installations. The indictment also charged that al Qaeda had allied itself with Sudan, Iran and Hezbollah. The original sealed indictment had added that al Qaeda had ‘reached an understanding with the government of Iraq that al Qaeda would not work against that government and that on particular projects, specifically including weapons development, al Qaeda would work cooperatively with the Government of Iraq.

This passage led Clarke (Richard), who for years had read intelligence reports on Iraqi-Sudanese cooperation on chemical weapons, to speculate to Berger (Sandy 'stuff my socks' Berger) that a large Iraqi presence at chemical facilities in Khartoum was ‘probably a direct result of the Iraq- Al Qaeda agreement.’ Clarke added that VX precursor traces found near al Shifa were the ‘exact formula used by Iraq’.

This language about al-Qaeda’s ‘understanding’ with Iraq had been dropped however when a superseding indictment was filed in November 1998." **(This last statement came from the testimony of Patrick Fitzgerald June 16, 2004 according to the 9/11 Commission's notes.)

The United States had indictments ready for Osama bin Laden back in 1998? So was there a connection between Iraq and Al Qaeda? Sure sounds like US Attorney's office, Richard Clarke and Sandy Berger thought so. The connection reported between Iraq and the Sudan is also very interesting. Could this be where the WMD's went?

Shocking... and it's all there in the official 9/11 Commission Report...

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