Doubts On Al-Qaida, Iraq Link
By Craig Gordon and Knut Royce
WASHINGTON BUREAU; Knut Royce is a freelance writer.
September 27, 2002
Washington - With the Bush administration this week making its strongest comments yet linking al-Qaida and Saddam Hussein, some in the U.S. intelligence community are cautioning that Bush advisers are basing the new and explosive allegations on information that largely is inconclusive and uncorroborated.
Intelligence sources confirm that their knowledge about any al-Qaida/Hussein link is "evolving" and does include evidence of high-level contacts between the two dating back 10 years, and of top al-Qaida operatives traveling to Iraq's capital Baghdad in recent months, as top Bush officials said.
Much of the new information, according to one intelligence source, is coming from Abu Zubaydah, a top lieutenant of Osama bin Laden now in U.S. custody. Zubaydah has provided some valid intelligence, this source said, but often has lied or provided deliberately misleading information.
These sources also cast skepticism on the notion that any ties between al-Qaida and Hussein had developed to the point of a true collaboration, or that Iraq had provided extensive assistance to al-Qaida's effort to develop chemical or biological weapons. The information on that assistance comes from a single al-Qaida detainee and has not been corroborated, a knowledgeable U.S. official said.
"There is no evidence whatsoever of an Iraqi hand in their chemical programs," another source said. "Al-Qaida was much less sophisticated with their chemicals and bios than we know the Iraqis are."
Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said yesterday that Hussein's regime recently harbored some of bin Laden's top aides in Baghdad - though not bin Laden himself. He cited "credible information" that al-Qaida and Hussein had discussed a non-aggression pact and safe-haven opportunities in Iraq, and that al-Qaida had sought Iraqi contacts to acquire weapons of mass destruction.
But the U.S. official said it was "unclear" why and how the al-Qaida terrorists were in Baghdad and to what degree the Iraqi government had knowledge of their presence.
With no solid evidence linking Hussein to Sept. 11, the Bush administration has argued instead that Hussein's chemical and biological weapons, and his desire for nuclear weapons, pose a threat that must be eliminated.
But many intelligence officials doubt that Hussein would embrace al-Qaida, despite their common goals. Hussein's regime is proudly secular, while bin Laden's drive comes from religious motivations and his opposition to the U.S. military presence in Saudi Arabia and the Arab world.
Knut Royce is a freelance writer.
Copyright © 2002, Newsday, Inc.
