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July 06, 2006

New Docs Sugest Saddam May Have Trained/Equipped Taliban and Al Qaeda

Ray Robinson has been busy with his translators over at the Saddam Dossier, and has unearthed documents that an Arab regime—most likely Saddam's Iraq as these documents were found in Iraqi computers—supplied training manuals and military assistance to both al Qaeda and their Taliban hosts in Afghanistan prior to 9/11. Among the instructions passed along to the terrorists are personal security instructions:

Respected brother,

Know that one of the main causes of information leaks is from personnel (translator's note: personnel talking), this is why we try to cooperate with you so that neither you or one of your brothers becomes the cause of a catastrophe that might hit one of the brothers or all of them.

Please follow these instructions:

1- Know as much as you need. (translator's note: don't ask too many questions)
2- Don't talk too much; it is said that "silence is wisdom."
3- It is recommended that all personnel wear Afghan clothing so they do not stand out from other people.
4- All the brothers should go to the market by themselves, alone.
5- It is not advised to move alone at night. (At night, walk the streets on foot)
6- As much as possible do not disclose your identity as an Arab.
7- Avoid excitement whether by glorifying or bashing.
8- Avoid being observed (translator's note: being followed and observed) and always notice who is walking behind you or following you from a distance; review the observation manual.
9- All brothers should be always armed even if with a small knife in their pockets.
10- Check your pockets and never leave important papers in them when moving around.
11- Always be careful in personal relations with Afghans or Pakistanis.
12- Avoid giving any information about the locations of your brothers.
13- It is forbidden to discuss work issues with the women.
14- It is forbidden to take children to parks and offices.
15- It is forbidden to talk about your work or the nature of your mission with anybody who is not related to it.
16- Beware of habit in your daily routine because the rule says, "Routine is the enemy of security."
17- If you are moving and have a large amount of money, beware of showing it in the market so you do not attract robbers.
18- Always beware when you are talking about the work because somebody not related to your work, the women or the children, might hear you.
19- Beware of rapid and spontaneous friendships with Afghans who speak Arabic.
20- In public places beware of talking about work issues because some Afghans know Arabic but you cannot notice this.
21- Always be forgiving when you are buying from, selling to or dealing with Afghans and avoid trouble.
22- Children are not allowed to go out by themselves whether to buy stuff or play.
23- Always make sure about the identity of your neighbors and classify them as regular people, opponents or allies.

While Robinson notes that it is not certain while Arab regime wrote these instructions along with the others contained in this translated document, he also states:

This document supports a few strong conclusions. It clearly proves that an Arab country was providing professional military assistance to Arab operatives in Afghanistan. While the document does not identify the country of origin of these Arab men, it's a logical omission since it wouldn't make sense to name the country in a memo whose purpose is to instruct how to hide one's nationality.

It is important to note, however, that in 1999, Iraq — along with Syria — was again identified by the U.S. Department of State as a government sponsor of terrorism, the only two Arab nations classified as state sponsors of terrorism at that time.

This document, of course, will be contested by those who refuse to believe that Saddam supported terrorism. These are the same people who refuse to acknowledge the fact that Abu Abbas and Abu Nidal, two of the preeminent terrorist masterminds prior to the emergence of Osama bin Laden, lived in Baghdad as Saddam's guest for many years. These are the same people who refuse to acknowledge the fact that the 1993 World Trade Center attack was made possible by an Iraqi-American bomb-builder, Abdul Rahman Yasin, who returned to Baghdad and continued to live in Iraq for a decade following his mission.

For people so deeply and philosophically invested in denial, Robinson's work can never openly be acknowledged as being correct. To do so would mean that Bush didn't lie, and that Saddam's ties to al Qaeda and other terrorist organizations was real.

For the rest of us, however, every document that Ray Robinson's team translates helps to build a picture of a Baathist regime every bit as dangerous as we thought it was.

Note: Mr. Robinson let me know he also taped an interview on Fox News television about these findings that will air every hour this morning.

Posted by Confederate Yankee at July 6, 2006 08:06 AM | TrackBack
Comments

Victor Davis Hanson once wrote an article in defense of the Iraq War saying that if you oppose the war, then you have the responsibility of defending what would have been the consequences of leaving Saddam in power. Some of those consequences would have been a further developing Sadddam-al Qaeda relationship and a further deterioration of UN sanctions due to the Oil for Food corruption, which in turn would have meant Saddam would have been free to get more WMDs. Not a pretty picture at all.

President Bush was critcized by the 9/11 Commission for not connecting the dots. As President Bush himself has said, he connected the dots as to Saddam. I think that it is high time that we realize that with the Iraq War, we have saved the world from what would have been a far more dangerous Saddam in league with al Qaeda able to operate freely in Baghdad.

Posted by: Phil Byler at July 6, 2006 10:58 AM

This information is like the hundreds of WMD found in Iraq. It's over a day old so it don't count for the left winger's that are now proven to be liars instead of the President. What a turn of events. Wonder why the President isn't making a big deal out of it? The lefties have such short memories he's holding it until Oct so it'll be fresh in 50% of their minds in Nov, but still forgotten by the lamest 50%. Gonna be an interesting campaign starting about the 15th of Oct. when hundreds of classified documents are declassified and hundreds of facts come out every day. Conservatives will have to be very careful or we'll hurt ourselves from laughing too hard and too often.

Posted by: Scrapiron at July 6, 2006 06:36 PM

Scrapiron -- we can put a fork in the recent WMD claims from Iraq. Here's Rep. Walter Jones (R-NC) on them:

"'They probably would have been intended for chemical attacks during the Iran-Iraq war,' said Dr. Kay who headed the UN weapons hunting team in Iraq from 2003 until 2004. He said experts in Iraqs chemical weapons are in almost 100% agreement that serin nerve agents produced from the 1980s would no longer be dangerous."

Certainly not a basis for war.

Posted by: Cyrus McElderry at July 6, 2006 07:45 PM

I have never spent a day in the military or working in the intelligence field. Nonetheless, I have read enough spy novels and detective novels that even I could have writtin this "Training Manual". In fact, much of it could have been copied from the surveilance chapter of my circa 1968 Hardy Boys' Detective Manual. If this is the kind of cutting edge training that Saddam's men were delivering to Al-Queda, then how the hell did Al-Queda's leadership elude our troops in Afghanistan? What, prior to this kind of clever training, did Arabs in Afghanistan wear bright orange shirts with "ARAB" printed on them in florescent green?

Posted by: J Stuart at July 6, 2006 08:23 PM