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| Iraq |
| U.N. Finds No Evidence Linking Iraq to Al Qaeda |
| 2003-06-26 |
| The U.N. terrorism committee has found no evidence to support the Bush administration's claims of a link between Iraq and Al Qaeda, and the United States has provided the committee with no proof, officials said Thursday. The committee, charged with investigating Al Qaeda and the former Taliban rulers of Afghanistan, circulated a draft report on progress made to shut down Osama bin Laden's network worldwide. "Nothing has come to our notice that would indicate links between Iraq and Al Qaeda," said Michael Chandler, the committee's chief investigator. Hear no evil, see no evil, you fill in the rest. He and others revealed that the first they had heard of any links was during Secretary of State Colin Powell's February presentation to the Security Council ahead of the Iraq war. "It had never come to our knowledge before the Powell's speech, and we never received any information from the United States for us to even follow-up on," said Abaza Hassan, a committee investigator. Wouldn't have believed it even if we had, would you, Abaza? Calls to U.S. diplomats at the United Nations were not immediately returned. Powell insisted in his presentation that Saddam Hussein's regime was allowing a senior Al Qaeda member named Abu Musab Zarqawi to operate from Baghdad. Zarqawi has been indicted for the murder of a U.S. diplomat in Jordan on Oct. 28, 2002. The alleged connections were cited by the administration as one of the key reasons for going after Saddam. But the committee saw no need to even investigate Zarqawi's movements. Speaks for itself, doesn't it? The Jordanian indictment does not refer to Zarqawi as having been a member of Al Qaeda. The committee is investigating Al Qaeda activity in Iran, however, and for the first time, has added a Chechen to its list of Al Qaeda members. Russia has long insisted on a relationship between the Chechens and bin Laden's group. Of course they believe the Russians. |
| Posted by:Steve |