I got this from the Washington Times...
-----------------------------------------------------------
IRAQ SUSPECTED OF SPONSORING TERRORIST ATTACKS
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.
-----------------------------------------------------------
IRAQ SUSPECTED OF SPONSORING TERRORIST ATTACKS
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.
