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| Iraq |
| 1st declassified Iraq documents released |
| 2006-03-16 |
| The Bush administration Wednesday night released the first declassified documents collected by U.S. intelligence during the Iraq war, showing among other things that Saddam Hussein's regime was monitoring reports that Iraqis and Saudis were heading to Afghanistan after the Sept. 11 attacks to fight U.S. troops. The documents, the first of thousands expected to be declassified over the next several months, were released via a Pentagon Web site at the direction of National Intelligence Director John Negroponte. Many were in Arabic — with no English translation — including one the administration said showed that Iraqi intelligence officials suspected al-Qaida members were inside Iraq in 2002. The Pentagon Web site described that document this way: "2002 Iraqi Intelligence Correspondence concerning the presence of al-Qaida Members in Iraq. Correspondence between IRS members on a suspicion, later confirmed, of the presence of an Al-Qaeda terrorist group. Moreover, it includes photos and names." The release of the documents, expected to continue for months, is designed to allow lawmakers and the public to investigate what documents from Saddam's regime claimed about such controversial issues as weapons of mass destruction and al-Qaida in the period before the United States invaded Iraq in March 2003. The Web site cautioned that the U.S. government "has made no determination regarding the authenticity of the documents, validity or factual accuracy of the information contained therein, or the quality of any translations, when available." A handful of prewar Iraq government documents released Wednesday had been translated into English. They included one Iraqi intelligence document indicating Saddam's feared Fedayeen paramilitary forces were investigating rumors in the fall of 2001 that as many as 3,000 Iraqis and Saudis were going to fight in Afghanistan after the U.S. invasion. "In the report on the status of rumors for November of 2001 regarding Fedayeen Saddam in al-Anbar, there is an entry that indicates that there is a group of Iraqi and Saudi Arabians numbering around 3,000 who have gone in an unofficial capacity to Afghanistan and have joined the mujahidin (mujahedeen, or holy warriors) to fight with and aid them in defeating the American Zionist Imperialist attack," the translated document stated. "After presenting the matter to the Supervisor of Fedayeen Saddam, he ordered that the matter should be looked into for verification of the truth of the rumor," the translation said. House Intelligence Chairman Peter Hoekstra, R-Mich., requested the release of millions pages of documents and audio recordings captured during current and previous U.S. military operations in Iraq. Most have sat untranslated for years. Last weekend, Negroponte agreed to set aside money and establish a system to make the documents available to the media, academics and other researchers. In a statement, Hoekstra welcomed the chance to answer questions about prewar Iraq. "Whether Saddam Hussein destroyed Iraq's weapons of mass destruction or hid or transferred them, the most important thing is we discover the truth of what was happening in the country prior to the war," he said. |
| Posted by:Dan Darling |
| #11 Those Zionists have had their eye on Afghanistan for a while now. The age-old dream of a Jewish homeland with its capitol in Kandahar is about to be realized! Hoo-boy. |
| Posted by: Baba Tutu 2006-03-16 17:22 |
| #10 Last weekend, Negroponte agreed to set aside money and establish a system to make the documents available to the media, academics and other researchers. At last! At last! No more CLASSIFIED falling thru my crack. Thanks Ponte. |
| Posted by: Sandy Berger 2006-03-16 16:24 |
| #9 It was Rove that ordered the hit on JFK to discredit the dems in Vietnam and pave the way for Bush Jr.!!!! /LLL syndrome |
| Posted by: DarthVader 2006-03-16 10:41 |
| #8 I echo that. Dan - Are you using any of the software which has been developed recently to build a model of interconnecting relationships? Some sexy neural-net stuff is floating around, now, that would be perfect for the intel gleaned. :) |
| Posted by: Glert Thetch2165 2006-03-16 10:23 |
| #7 well dan, you and others have a big job ahead analyzing these docs. Good luck! |
| Posted by: liberalhawk 2006-03-16 10:17 |
| #6 Wonder how many diplomats and journalists were on Saddam's payroll? Back when the Oil For Palaces scandal was still newsworthy, BBC Radio announced a huge list of UN officials and politicians. The BBC! |
| Posted by: SteveS 2006-03-16 09:14 |
| #5 Can't wait to find out that Saddam ordered the hit on JFK. ITYM RFK. Sirhan Sirhan's Palestinian, remember? |
| Posted by: Robert Crawford 2006-03-16 07:16 |
| #4 Wonder how many diplomats and journalists were on Saddam's payroll? |
| Posted by: Sgt. Mom 2006-03-16 06:15 |
| #3 wonder if any Western leftist orgs, e.g., the Tides Foundation, will be mentioned in the declass docs |
| Posted by: mhw 2006-03-16 05:57 |
| #2 You mean it wasn't the JoooHalliBilderIllumiNazis? David Icke, Alex Jones, and Gaia are really gonna be pissed. |
| Posted by: Glert Thetch2165 2006-03-16 01:52 |
| #1 Just in time to help get those poll numbers up. Can't wait to find out that Saddam ordered the hit on JFK. |
| Posted by: Danking70 2006-03-16 01:41 |