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Copyright © 2001 The International Herald Tribune | www.iht.com
Iraqi Terror Hasn't Hit U.S. in Years, CIA Says
James Risen New York Times Service
Wednesday, February 6, 2002
WASHINGTON The Central Intelligence Agency has no evidence that Iraq
has engaged in terrorist operations against the United States in
nearly a decade, and the spy agency also is convinced that Saddam
Hussein has not provided chemical or biological weapons to Al Qaeda
or related terrorist groups, according to several U.S. intelligence
officials.
American intelligence officials said they believe the last terrorist
operation by Iraq against the United States was a botched attempt to
assassinate former President George Bush during his 1993 visit to
Kuwait. That plot was disrupted before it could be launched, and U.S.
intelligence officials believe Mr. Saddam has been reluctant to use
terrorism since then for fear of being detected.
George Tenet, the CIA director, is scheduled to testify Wednesday before the Senate
Select Committee on Intelligence about the global threats facing the United States.
During his appearance, his first before Congress since Sept. 11, Mr. Tenet is likely
to be asked about a wide range of terrorism-related issues, including Iraq.
[On a related issue, Secretary of State Colin Powell said Tuesday that Iraq's overture
to the United Nations to resume talks should be limited to the country's refusal to
allow the return of UN weapons inspectors, The Ass
ociated Press reported from Washington.
["It should be a very short discussion," Mr. Powell said of the UN's announcement
Monday that the secretary-general, Kofi Annan, would receive a delegation from Iraq.
"The inspectors have to go back."]
Since Sept. 11, there has been widespread speculation about possible Iraqi links to
the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, based largely on reports of a
meeting in Prague between Mohamed Atta, who is beli
eved to have been the leader of the Sept. 11 hijack teams, and an Iraqi intelligence
officer. The intelligence reports about that meeting have been the subject of intense
analysis and debate within the U.S. intelligence c
ommunity, and some officials have questioned whether the meeting took place at all.
Now senior U.S. intelligence officials have concluded that the meeting between Mr.
Atta and the Iraqi officer, Ahmed Khalil Samir al-Ani, did occur, but they say that
they do not know what was discussed and they do not be
lieve the meeting itself is enough evidence to tie Iraq to the Sept. 11 attacks.
Some experts say that, even if Iraq were somehow involved in Sept. 11, Mr. Saddam
never would have entrusted such a sensitive matter to a mid-level intelligence officer
like Mr. al-Ani.
U.S. intelligence officials said they believed that Iraqi intelligence now focuses
most of its resources on helping to evade and violate the trade and economic sanctions
that have been imposed on the regime since the Gulf
War.
The officials also said that their greatest concern about Iraq is its continuing
development of chemical and biological weapons, covert programs that have resumed
since UN weapons inspectors left the country in 1998. They
said that Mr. Saddam believes weapons of mass destruction would give him greater
influence in the region and would deter the United States and its allies from another
military attack.
A CIA report released last week noted that Iraq probably is also continuing a
low-level program on nuclear weapons research, but its inability to obtain enough
material capable of fission is the biggest obstacle to Baghda
d's nuclear aspirations.
The major threat to the United States from Iraqi efforts to develop weapons of mass
destruction would come instead from Iraq's parallel efforts to develop long-range
missiles, which could be tipped with chemical or biolog
ical warheads, the CIA believes.
In his State of the Union Address last week, President George W. Bush described Iraq,
Iran and North Korea as an "axis of evil" that the United States must confront to
maintain global stability.
Mr. Bush also said Iraq "continues to flaunt its hostility toward America and to
support terror," but the section of his speech devoted to Iraq focused primarily on
Baghdad's efforts to develop weapons of mass destruction
.
Some U.S. intelligence officials say that the Bush administration does not have enough
evidence of Iraqi complicity in terrorism to justify making Iraq the next target in
the war on terrorism.
To be sure, there have been signs in recent years that Mr. Saddam might consider
terrorism as a tool against the United States in the long-running duel between the two
countries over the suspected chemical and biological
weapons sites in Iraq.
In 1998, American and Middle Eastern intelligence agencies discovered that Abu Nidal,
the Palestinian who was one of the most feared terrorists of the 1970s and early
1980s, had moved from Libya to Baghdad.
Mr. Nidal had been ousted from his previous haven because its leader, Colonel Moammar
Gadhafi, had decided to cut his ties to terrorists to bring an end to international
sanctions.
But Mr. Nidal does not appear to have engaged in any anti-American operations since
his arrival in Iraq, and it is possible that he actually has ended his terrorism
career, officials said.
Powell Presses for UN's Return
Secretary Powell said UN weapons inspectors should return to Iraq because Mr. Saddam
must demonstrate that he is not trying to develop weapons of mass destruction, the
Associated Press reported.
Inspectors left Iraq in 1998 and have been barred from returning.
The UN said Monday that Amr Moussa, the secretary-general of the Arab League who
recently visited Baghdad, had told the UN secretary-general, Mr. Annan, that Iraq
would resume talks without any special conditions.
Mr. Annan responded that he was prepared to receive a delegation from Iraq.
But the UN gave no indication whether the Iraqi government was willing to discuss the
return of the UN's inspectors.
Diplomats at the United Nations told The New York Times that the offer relayed by Mr.
Moussa had all the hallmarks of an attempt by Mr. Saddam to build up international
opposition to an American attack.
They noted that Mr. Saddam made a similar offer more than a year ago, when sanctions
against Iraq were being discussed and his officials came to the UN with stacks of
documents purporting to prove that Baghdad was in comp
liance with UN resolutions.
Mr. Powell, speaking before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said that Iraq
should not hesitate to admit the inspectors if it were not developing weapons of mass
destruction.
But Mr. Moussa, speaking to reporters Tuesday in Washington, said all
issues - not just the return of the inspectors - should be on the
table.
Mr. Moussa refused to say whether he believed a breakthrough could be
reached, but said, "The conditions under which the Iraqi people live
also need a fresh look."
Copyright © 2001 The International Herald Tribune
End<{{{
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