Regular readers of this blog (if such a breed exists) know that I have highlighted the reporting of Stephen Hayes of The Weekly Standard on evidence of links between Saddam Hussein's Iraq and the Al Qaeda terorist organization. In his new piece titled "Case Closed" , Hayes details a top secret memo that has been obtained by The Weekly Standard.
The memo, dated October 27, 2003, was sent from Undersecretary of Defense for Policy Douglas J. Feith to Senators Pat Roberts and Jay Rockefeller, the chairman and vice chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee. It was written in response to a request from the committee as part of its investigation into prewar intelligence claims made by the administration. Intelligence reporting included in the 16-page memo comes from a variety of domestic and foreign agencies, including the FBI, the Defense Intelligence Agency, the Central Intelligence Agency, and the National Security Agency. Much of the evidence is detailed, conclusive, and corroborated by multiple sources. Some of it is new information obtained in custodial interviews with high-level al Qaeda terrorists and Iraqi officials, and some of it is more than a decade old. The picture that emerges is one of a history of collaboration between two of America's most determined and dangerous enemies.
I'm not sure, but perhaps this memo, along with Hayes' reporting, will be enough to shut up Al Gore, Molly Ivins, Carl Levin, Michael Moore, (get real), and others that have long denied or ignored the fact that Iraqi intelligence has been supportive of, and collaborating with Islamic terrorism. (I guess Hussein's boasting of his $25,000 bonus payments to families of Palestinian suicide bombers might have been Clue One, but some have remained clueless).
Enough rambling by me. Please read the whole Hayes article. It's fascinating, and it's important.
Posted by dan at November 15, 2003 03:00 PM