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April 01, 2003
Evidence from Ansar al-Islam
The assualt on the Ansar al-Islam compound in northern Iraq by US and Kurdish forces turned up documents connected to international terrorist rings, but not connecting them directly to Saddam Hussein. Also, many leaders of the group managed to cross into Iran ahead of the assault. Posted By Judith (Kesher Talk) at April 1, 2003 07:54 PM | TrackBackComments
And they took their WMDs with them. Down side to fighting this war after the damn UN stalled us: gave these squirrels time to move their nuts to Syria or some other s***hole. Posted by: FOG at April 1, 2003 08:00 PMYeah, that always struck me as a downside of so much delay. Posted by: Jay Solo at April 1, 2003 08:06 PMNot connected to Saddam? They were IN IRAQ!!! What other connection do you need? Posted by: Anonymous Coward at April 1, 2003 08:08 PM"Not connected to Saddam? They were IN IRAQ!!!" They were in a part of the country he doesn't control. Parts of the no-fly zones, particularly in the north, were cowboy country. Like most of Afghanistan. No one was in control outside of this gang, that tribe, or those terrorists getting funds from somewhere else. One of the legitimate reasons for invasion might be that we couldn't encourage Saddam to restore law and order to these parts, and we couldn't do it ourselves without invading. Anyway, one instance of Saddam's innocence does not mean he has clean hands. Posted by: Bruce H R at April 1, 2003 08:18 PMDirect control is irrelevant. The Mukabarat frequently crosses into Kurdish areas for espionage, sabotage, spying, etc, and are sometimes caught by Kurdish forces. Ansar al Islam has (at least until a few days ago) its own territory and sphere of influence. The Mukabarat can meet with Ansar if they wish. http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/134593694_link11.html http://www.csmonitor.com/2002/0402/p01s03-wome.htm http://abcnews.go.com/sections/nightline/DailyNews/alqaeda_iraq020927.html Posted by: greg at April 1, 2003 08:26 PMHow long would it take AP to nab Al Capone I wonder. Posted by: Der Blaue Engel at April 1, 2003 10:01 PMThe link between Ansar al-Islam and the Iraqi government is strong enough to convince pro-war folks but at the same time nebulous enough to strengthen anti-war folks. I don't doubt the Ansar al-Islam/al-Qa'eda link for a moment. The link between Ansar and Iraqi government is probably a bit weaker. How come we didn't do this earlier? (This is a fairly valid criticism I've heard from the antiwar folks.) Posted by: Shawn Pickrell at April 2, 2003 06:00 AMPost a comment
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