-Caveat Lector-
From
http://www.praguepost.cz/news071101c.html
}}}>Begin
Wednesday, October 24, 2001
Experts downplay terrorism connection
Atta may have met Iraqis, but disease
link is called dubious
By James Pitkin
Experts are discounting as speculation media reports that terrorist
Mohammed Atta received anthrax spores from Iraqi agents in Prague.
"It makes good headlines," said Hynek Kmonicek, the Czech ambassador
to the United Nations, "but it amounts to a lot of speculation, and
possible and impossible theories being spread."
In its Oct. 14 edition, the Observer of London cited U.S. officials
as saying that Atta, believed to have organized the Sept. 11 attacks
on New York City and Washington, D.C., met on several occasions with
Iraqi agents in Prague, who handed him small amounts of the
potentially lethal bacteria.
THE ATTA SAGA
June 2, 2000 Mohammed Atta arrives in Prague from Germany by car and
leaves the next day on a Czech Airlines nonstop flight to Newark, New
Jersey.
Sept. 11, 2001 Atta is among the 19 hijackers of three planes that
crash into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.
Oct. 10 The Prague Post reports that an expelled Iraqi diplomat met
regularly with Islamic extremist recruits in Prague, assisting with
documents and passage.
Oct. 14 The Observer reports that Atta may have met with the expelled
diplomat in Prague to obtain anthrax.
Oct. 15 Former UN weapons inspector Richard Butler tells CNN that it
is possible that Atta received anthrax spores from an Iraqi agent in
Prague.
According to the report, the U.S. sources said they had obtained
their information from Egyptian authorities.
Laurie Mylroie, an analyst with the Washington, D.C.-based Center for
Security Policy and a respected expert on Iraq, called those sources
"highly unreliable," and said she doubts the credibility of an
anthrax exchange in Prague.
"The Egyptians have no way of knowing what was going on in Prague,"
Mylroie said. "It just seems funny to me. It's not [the Iraqis']
usually way of going about something like this. They would have kept
[anthrax] under tighter control."
Police here say Atta made two trips to the Czech Republic, although
they acknowledge he may have made additional visits under assumed
names.
On May 30, 2000, Atta arrived at Prague's Ruzyne airport from Germany
and was refused entry. He returned by bus with proper documentation
on June 2 and stayed overnight before flying commercially to Newark,
New Jersey the next day.
U.S. sources claim Atta also met with Ahmed Khalil Ibrahin Samir al-
Ani -- at that time the second consul at the Iraqi embassy in Prague -
- who was expelled in April this year for "activities exceeding his
diplomatic duties."
While Prime Minister Milos Zeman denied the two met in Prague, he
admitted he "cannot be informed about all Saddam Hussein's agents."
Reports of Atta's Iraqi connection gained credibility after Richard
Butler, a former UN weapons inspector in Iraq, told CNN he could not
rule out that "a small quantity of [anthrax] was handed over in
Prague to Mohammed Atta ... and the person who handed it over in
Prague was an Iraqi."
Butler told The Prague Post that he mentioned Prague based only on
the Observer report. Though he calls Atta's meeting with the expelled
Iraqi diplomat "a matter of public record," he says he has no idea
what they may have discussed.
"What they talked about is something I don't know," Butler said.
"What transpired between them, including the possibility of anthrax
being handed over, is something I don't know."
Without hard evidence, he said, anything more is "profitless speculation."
"I think this is a very serious business, and above all we must deal in facts," Butler
said.
Since the Sept. 11 attacks, which killed more than 5,000 people, anthrax has been
blamed for at least one death in the United States, where dozens of citizens may have
been exposed to the bacteria through contact with con
taminated letters.
Iraq is already on the U.S. list of countries suspected of supporting terrorists. If
linked with the anthrax outbreak, the country could face tough reprisals. Under
communism, Czechoslovakia was a major trading partner wi
th Iraq, especially in conventional weapons. Butler said that during his time as a UN
weapons inspector, he suspected Iraq of turning Czech planes into delivery vehicles
for biological weapons.
Bilateral relations soured when the Czech Republic strongly endorsed UN sanctions
against Iraq in the early 1990s. But Kmonicek, a former Deputy Foreign Minister and a
specialist in the Middle East and Iraq, said Prague r
emains an ideal meeting point for Arabs in Europe.
"We have ... inherited contacts with many parts of the Middle East mosaic," he said.
"I can imagine a lot of Arab talks can go on in the Czech Republic."
Czech officials are investigating the possibility that Atta, who
lived in Hamburg starting in 1992, may have set up at least two
businesses here under assumed names.
The Czech Republic has been a NATO member since 1999, but Kmonicek
discounted the suggestion that a link, if proved, might undermine the
country's position in the alliance. "At the same time," he added, "it
is simply not pleasant when Prague is mentioned and it's not in
connection with culture."
Until the reports are supported with evidence, Kmonicek urges caution
on the part of the media. "It's not easy to know these days what is
information, what is disinformation ... and what is disinformation
with a purpose," he said.
James Pitkin's e-mail address is [EMAIL PROTECTED]
End<{{{
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