-Caveat Lector-
September 21, 2001
Iraq suspected of sponsoring terrorist attacks
By Bill Gertz
THE WASHINGTON TIMES
Osama bin Laden was in contact with Iraqi government agents from his
base in Afghanistan in the days leading up to the Sept. 11 terrorist
attacks, according to U.S. intelligence officials.
Officials also told The Washington Times there are indications bin
Laden, the leading suspect in the deadly attacks, is preparing to flee
Afghanistan and set up operations in the African nation of Somalia.
Bin Laden's contacts with the Iraqi government were detected before the
attacks, said officials who spoke on the condition of anonymity.
"This is the basis for signs of state sponsorship," said one official.
Attorney General John Ashcroft said Wednesday that foreign governments
likely provided safe haven and support for the 19 terrorists who
hijacked four U.S.
airliners. Three of the airliners were flown into the World Trade
Center and the Pentagon; another crashed in Pennsylvania after
passengers apparently fought their captors.
Mr. Ashcroft did not identify what foreign governments are believed to
be behind the attacks.
Officials said the intelligence of direct Iraqi government contacts with
bin Laden is one of several pieces pointing to Baghdad's involvement in
the attacks.
U.S. warplanes attacked air- defense sites in Iraq yesterday, but the
Pentagon said the attacks are unrelated to U.S. anti-terrorism
operations.
President Bush and other U.S. officials have said bin Laden is the key
suspect in masterminding last week's kamikaze attacks that killed more
than 6,000 Americans.
Mr. Bush told a joint session of Congress last night that all
governments are on notice that "either you are with us, or you are with
the terrorists."
David Ivry, Israel's ambassador to the United States, said yesterday it
was too soon to make conclusions about an Iraqi role in the attacks.
"My opinion is the investigation is being done by the United States by
professionals," Mr. Ivry told editors and reporters in a meeting at The
Washington Times. "They are going to come to conclusions. We are going
to try to assist as much as we are going to be asked. But I think it's
too early to come up with a kind of fingering of somebody."
Mr. Ivry said Iraq has been supporting Palestinian terrorists in Israel
by giving financial aid to the families of suicide bombers who have
launched attacks.
Earlier this week, intelligence officials said one of the hijackers,
Mohammed Atta, met with an Iraqi intelligence agent in the months before
the attack.
The Bush administration is considering whether to target Iraq as part of
an international campaign to destroy terrorists and their networks.
Some Bush administration officials, especially within the Pentagon,
favor attacking Iraq when operations against Afghanistan are begun,
possibly within the next few weeks.
Other administration officials are said to favor limiting the first
strikes to Afghanistan.
Asked about public calls for going after state sponsors of terrorism
like Iraq, Secretary of State Colin L. Powell said President Bush "has
a clear idea in his mind and has given us our instructions as to how we
will begin this campaign and what the focus of our efforts will be
initially."
"We welcome the views from everybody as to how we might go about this
campaign," Mr. Powell said.
Regarding bin Laden's future in Afghanistan, officials said the
indications of his flight to Somalia were received in the past few days.
"There are indications he is heading to Somalia," said one official.
The indications are said to include plans for bin Laden to relocate
himself and his wives and other family members from locations in
Afghanistan to an undisclosed location in Somalia, the official said.
Disclosure of the relocation comes as the ruling Taliban militia
announced yesterday in Kabul that bin Laden would be asked to leave the
country.
A statement issued by the Ulema, or council of some 1,000 Taliban
clerics, was not an order for bin Laden to leave.
Afghan officials quoted by U.S. wire services stated that bin Laden
would be given time to leave "whenever possible."
Asked about the Taliban statement, Mr. Powell said the announcement was
not enough.
"Voluntarily or involuntarily, we believe that Osama bin Laden has to be
put under control and turned over to authorities who can bring him to
justice, and it should be done rather quickly," Mr. Powell said. "We
want action, not just statements."
Mr. Powell said bin Laden was responsible for "tragedies around the
world."
The Taliban must turn over bin Laden and "all of the other lieutenants
and the infrastructure that exists within Afghanistan," Mr. Powell
said.
"This isn't a campaign against one individual, but also the network that
he is the leader of," Mr. Powell said. "And when we have dealt with al
Qaeda, the network, Osama bin Laden, the individual, we will then
broaden our campaign to go after other terrorist organizations and forms
of terrorism around the world. It is a long-term campaign. It will be
done in a deliberate way. It will be done in a decisive way."
A military source said bin Laden's relocation to Somalia would put that
nation on the Pentagon's list of targets of planned military operations
against international terrorists.
Moving to Somalia would have symbolic value for bin Laden, who has
called on his followers to kill Americans.
The U.S. military withdrew from Somalia in 1993 following a deadly
battle in Mogadishu that left 18 U.S. Army Rangers dead. The operation
was part of a U.S. military humanitarian operation to help feed
starving Somalis that degenerated into an effort to hunt down Somali
warlord Mohammed Farrah Aidid.
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