March 22, 2005
© 2005 WorldNetDaily.com
WASHINGTON – There is new evidence connecting Saddam Hussein to support for al-Qaida before the Sept. 11 attacks, but even more disturbing links between the terrorist network and Russian intelligence, reports Joseph Farah's G2 Bulletin.
According to the report in the premium, online intelligence weekly published by the founder of WorldNetDaily, Moscow is playing a dangerous and duplicitous chess game aimed at shortening the U.S. military occupation of Iraq.
In addition to the covert intelligence support provided to al-Qaida, sources say Russian intelligence personnel met in early January with their Iranian and Indian counterparts to discuss frankly and candidly ways to get the U.S. out of the region as quickly as possible.
According to intelligence sources, some of the talks included the acquisition by Iran of more powerful and modern weaponry to use in attacks on U.S. and U.S.-led coalition forces in Iraq.
But Russia's undermining of U.S. interests in the area go even deeper, say these sources.
Iraqi Interior Minister Falah al-Naqib has reportedly discovered a memo archived by the Saddam Hussein regime that shows Baghdad was supporting Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the al-Qaida terrorist thought to be leading the insurgency in Iraq today. Other support of al-Qaida is also discussed in the memo. Some suggest this memo could prove to be the smoking gun to prove Hussein's support for Osama bin Laden's network leading up to 9-11 and thereafter.
But, not only Hussein was supporting al-Qaida, according to the memo, so was Libya's Moammar Gadhafi. Many of the Sunni clerics in Iraq and throughout the Mideast were, too. And Russian intelligence was also lending its support.
This discovery also explains why Zarqawi has pledged to kill al-Naqib. Two weeks ago, two car bombs exploded near the interior ministry, killing at least five policemen in what al-Qaida's local wing said was a twin suicide attack meant to assassinate the minister.
The group, led by Zarqawi, vowed to pursue al-Naqib, part of its campaign of violence to bring down the U.S.-backed interim government and stall efforts to form a new cabinet. But, in this case, he is not just another high-ranking Iraqi official. He's a man who has got the goods on Zarqawi and some of his most important sponsors – including Russian intelligence, say G2 Bulletin's sources.
In another meeting in late January or early February, intelligence officials from Russia, North Korea and Iran discussed ways to reduce U.S. influence in the Middle East.
Russia's main motivation is not anti-Americanism, say G2 Bulletin sources. It is economic. Moscow sees big potential in the arms market in both Iran and Iraq – but only if the U.S. is out of the picture.
In a separate report, G2 Bulletin says reports of Zarqawi's demise are greatly exaggerated.
Despite reports, including one in the Saudi newspaper Al Watan, that al-Qaida's top operative in Iraq, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, has been arrested, G2B sources say he is still on the loose.
Last week, Al Watan reported the terrorist had been arrested and that an announcement had been delayed until a new Iraqi government was in place. The purported arrest supposedly took place on the Iraqi-Syrian border, according to the newspaper.
The Saudi paper said that the arrest of Zarqawi was completed ahead the recent visit of Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld in Iraq – a visit that took place in early February.
However, according to U.S. military sources on the ground, Zarqawi is suspected of being the mastermind of deadly car bomb terrorist attacks earlier this month.
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