January 30, 2004

Stephen Hayes FPM Interview

Jamie Glazov, the Managing Editor of Front Page Magazine continues his excellent interview series this week with a conversation with Stephen Hayes of The Weekly Standard. Anyone who is still either agnostic or ignorant on the issue of the link between Saddam's Iraq and Al Qaeda has not been following the reporting of Stephen Hayes. Nor have they been reading this blog for that matter, which has regularly linked to Hayes' work, for example here, here, and here.

Of course the confusion involved in this issue of "links", (often exploited by the Left) is that no categorical link has been proven between Saddam and the 9/11 attacks, while there is a wealth of evidence linking Saddam to the Al Qaeda organization itself. Here Glazov askes Hayes about evidence that there in fact was a 9/11 link:

FP: As you have discussed in your work, there were actual contacts between 9/11 ringleader Mohammed Atta and Saddam’s people in Prague. And one of these meetings occurred in April, 2001, just a few months before 9/11. U.S. and Czech intelligence have confirmed these meetings, including the fact that they involved Saddam’s approval for funding Atta. What do you think of the significance of these meetings? How can anyone deny Iraq’s direct involvement in 9/11 if Iraqi intelligence officials were meeting with one of the main 9/11 perpetrators?

Hayes: It’s a fascinating story. Five top Czech officials are on record as confirming the meeting. The Czechs have also reported to the CIA that al Ani authorized a financial transfer to Atta from the Iraqi Intelligence service to Atta. The FBI and the CIA have not been able to confirm these reports to their satisfaction. Dick Cheney once described reports of the meeting as “credible” but “unconfirmed.” I think that’s the best way to leave it at this point. Al Ani, now in US custody, has denied it. I expect we’ll hear more about the alleged meeting and the conclusions about it in the near future.

Read it all, and check out the links to Hayes' Weekly Standard stuff. So many Americans have managed to remain insulated from this information that Democrats and others who simply deny any link are let off the hook. The "Case Closed" article was boycotted almost entirely by mainstream news outlets, apparently since it didn't comport with the "Bush lied" thesis. Oh well, baby steps.

Posted by dan at January 30, 2004 5:27 PM