Found this while keeping an eye on the other side (re: Saddam and AQ)

[T Roosevelt]

Yes, I know the sources are questionable, and it smells, but I don't remember seeing anything about this. Thoughts?


Explosive, If True
November 15, 2003
A memo disributed to members of the Senate Intelligence Committee outlines evidence of a link between Saddam Hussein and al Qaeda - including links to the bombings of the U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania in 1998, the bombing of the USS Cole in 2000, and, possibly, the September 11 attack.

The New York Post has the story.

The memo goes far beyond the alleged but unproven meeting of 9/11 hijacker Mohammed Atta and Saddam's intelligence chief in Prague in April 2001.

The relationship between Saddam and bin Laden continued to grow in the aftermath of the Cole attack when two al Qaeda terrorists were deployed to Iraq to be trained in weapons of mass destruction and to obtain information on "poisons and gases." CIA reporting shows the Saudi National Guard went on a "kingdom-wide state of alert in late December 2000 after learning Saddam agreed to assist al Qaeda in attacking U.S./U.K. interests in Saudi Arabia," the memo says.

<snip>

There's more on the memo here from Rantburg, and here from NRO. Exceprt of the latter:

According to the memo--which lays out the intelligence in 50 numbered points--Iraq-al Qaeda contacts began in 1990 and continued through mid-March 2003, days before the Iraq War began. Most of the numbered passages contain straight, fact-based intelligence reporting, which in some cases includes an evaluation of the credibility of the source. This reporting is often followed by commentary and analysis.

The relationship began shortly before the first Gulf War. According to reporting in the memo, bin Laden sent "emissaries to Jordan in 1990 to meet with Iraqi government officials." At some unspecified point in 1991, according to a CIA analysis, "Iraq sought Sudan's assistance to establish links to al Qaeda." The outreach went in both directions. According to 1993 CIA reporting cited in the memo, "bin Laden wanted to expand his organization's capabilities through ties with Iraq."

[Jacobin]

1. Um, NYPost "quoting" unnamed sources?

I've got a bridge for sale. Takers?

BTW, I could probably find lots of "evidence" by looking at Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity transcripts of shit they make up from whole cloth.

[kikiek]

2. It is a bunch of crap according to what I read.

I think it was on mediamatters.org. Desperate attempt, and I doubt it will be brought up on any credible media. Sounds like it was easily disputed, but the guy wrote a book. Gotta see it, and Fox news is more than willing to pass on bullshit.

[Wickerman]

3. Page not found at NYPost

when I clicked through all the links.

However, I have it on good authority that Saddam also killed Bambi's mother. I just can't say who told me. shhhhh.

[Career Prole]

6. Don't listen to them.

Torture just makes a prisoner say what he thinks the interrogators want to hear...so far there's been 389 confessions of the killing of Bambi's mother, 522 different guys fed Jimmy Hoffa to the crocodiles, and the grassy knoll had a population of 764 when JFK was assassinated.
Nothin' doing on al Qaeda yet.

[T Roosevelt]

8. It's an old posting

might explain the links...

[Wickerman]

10. Yeah? Well, I'm not changing my mind about Saddam and Bambi's mother

[Eloriel]

4. Is this as iron-clad as Powell's speech to the UN? Just asking.

They HATED one another; the each stood for what was diametrically opposed to the others' agenda. I think it's completely, totally BOGUS.

[kikiek]

5. It is on mediamatters.org on left side headline starts

with Murdoch. He is selling it to whoever is stupid and ignorant enough to buy it and his book. As credible as Ann Coulter or Sean Hannity.

[T Roosevelt]

7. Going back in DU history

I found a few links talking about this at the time. Consensus was that it was BS...it's nice to see DU proven right yet again.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x716103

On edit: for reference

http://mediamatters.org/items/200406020002

[bemildred]

9. Drivel. Butt-covering drivel.

On the order of "the politicians handcuffed the military" claims
when you lose a war.