http://www.news. <http://www.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/story/0,22049,21780696-5006003,00.htm l> com.au/dailytelegraph/story/0,22049,21780696-5006003,00.html Bin Laden planned more attacks May 23, 2007 12:00 Article from: Agence France-Presse
AL-Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden told the group's Iraq head Abu Musab Al-Zarqawi to plan attacks inside the US before Zarqawi was killed in a US air strike last year, a senior US official said today. Frances Townsend, President George W. Bush's homeland security advisor, made the revelation to defend Washington's argument that it was fighting in Iraq to prevent the country from becoming a new "sanctuary'' for al-Qaeda. The bin Laden-Zarqawi link was made in secret documents that were declassified amid pressure from Democratic politicians for US troops to begin withdrawing from Iraq. "The intelligence community tells us that in January of (2005), bin Laden tasked Zarqawi, who has been in Iraq, to form a cell to conduct attacks outside Iraq, and then frankly America should be his No.1 priority,'' she said. "We know from the intelligence community that Zarqawi welcomed the tasking and claimed he had already had some good proposals,'' Ms Townsend said. Later, bin Laden ordered al-Qaeda's operations chief, Hamza Rabia, to go to Iraq to brief Zaraqawi about his plans for terror strikes, including in the US, she said. At that time, a top al-Qaeda member also suggested to bin Laden that he send Rabia to Iraq help Zarqawi plan external operations. Rabia was killed in Pakistan in December 2005. Zarqawi was killed on June 7, 2006 in an US air raid on Baquba, north of Baghdad. The information comes as the White House battles strong public criticism over the continuing US mission in Iraq, four years after invading the country to oust Saddam Hussein. For the past several weeks, Mr Bush has made the fight against al-Qaeda one of his chief arguments to defend the US mission in Iraq. Ms Townsend said Mr Bush would cite the intelligence on the bin Laden-Zarqawi link in a speech to the Coast Guard Academy tomorrow in New London, Connecticut. "The President will sort of confront the question about why does bin Laden really care in Iraq,'' she said. "What he wants is a terrorist sanctuary from which he can expand his influence and plot attacks, including against us here at home.'' [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] -------------------------- Want to discuss this topic? Head on over to our discussion list, [EMAIL PROTECTED] -------------------------- Brooks Isoldi, editor [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.intellnet.org Post message: osint@yahoogroups.com Subscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] *** FAIR USE NOTICE. This message contains copyrighted material whose use has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. OSINT, as a part of The Intelligence Network, is making it available without profit to OSINT YahooGroups members who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information in their efforts to advance the understanding of intelligence and law enforcement organizations, their activities, methods, techniques, human rights, civil liberties, social justice and other intelligence related issues, for non-profit research and educational purposes only. We believe that this constitutes a 'fair use' of the copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Law. If you wish to use this copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use,' you must obtain permission from the copyright owner. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/osint/ <*> Your email settings: Individual Email | Traditional <*> To change settings online go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/osint/join (Yahoo! ID required) <*> To change settings via email: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
