Flight simulator - Re: Rule, Britannia, Britannia rule the waves, Britons never will

Author

Re: Rule, Britannia, Britannia rule the waves, Britons never will

Briarroot

2005-07-18, 8:35 pm

leadfoot wrote:

quote:

> "Chuck" <Nonyabiz@all.com> wrote in message
> news:Xns9696AEB06C651nonyabizallcom@216.196.97.131...
>
>
>
> Troll??? I'll take that as a compliment. Welcome to the big leagues
>
> I wanted to be easy on poor briarroot bis since you insist I'll put his
> garbage back here
>
> No, but Saddam *was* an active supporter of several Islamic terror
> groups. So long as they did not oppose his own regime, he offered them
> asylum and even funded their activities using money skimmed from the UN
> 'Oil for Food' program. When Zarqawi, an Al-Qaida lieutenant, was
> kicked out of Iran in 2002, he fled to Iraq where he organized a
> splinter wing of Al-Qaida which has been so active since the end of
> formal hostilities..
>
> My rebuttal
>
> http://tinyurl.com/4br79
>
> Rumsfeld claims the US government has "bulletproof" confirmation of ties
> between Baghdad and al-Qaeda members, including "solid evidence" that al
> Qaeda maintains a presence in Iraq. The allegation refers to Abu Mussab Al
> Zarqawi, a Jordanian-born Palestinian who is the founder of al-Tawhid, an
> organization whose aim is to kill Jews and install an Islamic regime in
> Jordan (see Late 2001-May 2002). No evidence ever surfaces to suggest that
> the group works with al-Qaeda. Rumsfeld's statement is based on intercepted
> telephone calls in which Al Zarqawi was overheard calling friends or
> relatives. But Knight Ridder Newspapers reports that according to US
> intelligence officials, "The intercepts provide no evidence that the
> suspected terrorist was working with the Iraqi regime or that he was working
> on a terrorist operation while he was in Iraq." [Knight Ridder Newspapers,
> 10/7/02 Sources: Unnamed US Intelligence Officials] Shortly after the
> Defense Secretary's allegations, an unnamed intelligence official tells the
> Guardian, "They are not the official guests of the Government," adding that
> any members of militant Islamist organizations in the region are still "on
> the run." [Guardian, 8/22/02]
>
> Tou can also read this on zarqawi
>
> http://tinyurl.com/d4623

You can't tell the players without a scorecard. Here are 2 (of many) AP
reports from 2003.

Mar 8, 6:16 PM (ET) By JOHN L. LUMPKIN (Associated Press)

"WASHINGTON (AP) - Al-Qaida operatives are planning to strike at U.S.
and allied forces taking part in a war in Iraq, according to information
acquired by American intelligence agencies, counter-terrorism officials
said Saturday. The operatives are subordinates of Abu Musab Zarqawi,
whom CIA officials describe as a senior associate of Osama bin Laden.
Some are in Baghdad; others are elsewhere in Iraq, the counter-terrorism
officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

The intelligence does not suggest any kind of coordination between the
government of Iraqi President Saddam Hussein and the al-Qaida
operatives; instead officials believe the terrorists are looking to
capitalize on the chaos created by any military conflict to strike at
American and allied troops. A CIA report, passed to senior government
officials last week, warned of the potential strikes.

A CIA spokesman declined to comment. The New York Times first reported
the information Saturday on its Web site. The counter-terrorism
officials said operatives may be planning to use explosives or toxins to
conduct the attack.

The new information comes against a murky backdrop regarding whether
Iraq supports al-Qaida, or to what extent there are ties.

However, intelligence officials have generally agreed they have nothing
to document that Saddam Hussein had a hand in the Sept. 11, 2001,
attacks or that Saddam and Osama bin Laden are coordinating terrorist
operations.

At the center of U.S. allegations that there are links between Iraq and
the terrorist group is Zarqawi, a Jordanian terrorist
operative, and some of his followers.

CIA Director George Tenet and others have described Zarqawi as a senior
associate of al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden, but officials acknowledge
some difference of opinion within U.S. intelligence whether it is
correct to describe him as a member
of the organization.

Zarqawi has been linked to the failed millennium bombing of a tourist
hotel in Jordan and the killing of an American diplomat
in Amman in October.

According to U.S. officials, Zarqawi was in Baghdad last summer,
presumably with the knowledge of Iraqi officials. Some of his
people are still there. Zarqawi is also linked to an Islamic extremist
group in northern Iraq, Ansar al-Islam, that operates
in a region outside of Saddam's control.

An agent from Iraq's government is working for Ansar, Secretary of State
Colin Powell said in a Feb. 5 presentation to the U.N.
Security Council. Powell said this agent had offered safe haven to some
al-Qaida operatives in the region.

But Powell omitted an important point: U.S. officials later acknowledged
they don't know what this Iraqi operative is doing with Ansar al-Islam,
and they do not know whether Ansar is aware he works for the Iraqi
government.

While the agent could be openly representing Saddam's government, he
also could be spying on the group for Saddam's security services,
officials said.

According to intelligence officials, Zarqawi believes he is operating
independently of al-Qaida's chain of command. But
they say while he manages his own network of followers, he relies on
al-Qaida money and logistical support, making him
- in effect if not in reality - a lieutenant of bin Laden.

What is known, according to Powell, Tenet and other officials: Zarqawi
was around Herat in western Afghanistan in October 2001, when the U.S.
attacked the Taliban and their al-Qaida allies. He ran a camp in the
region that experimented with poisons and chemical weapons.

Officials say he may have been wounded in the leg, probably by U.S.
bombing. He crossed the border into Iran, where he reportedly received
some medical treatment. U.S. intelligence learned of his presence there,
prompting Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld in April 2002 to accuse Iran
of sheltering al-Qaida terrorists.

The following month, Zarqawi went to Baghdad. The reasons for his
departure from Iran are unclear, but he received more medical treatment
in Baghdad, possibly being fitted with a prosthetic leg, and stayed
there two months.

While he was in Baghdad, about two dozen of his followers moved to the
city. Some are still there, including two senior members of Egyptian
Islamic Jihad, a terrorist network that merged with al-Qaida during the
last few years.

U.S. officials say Saddam's security apparatus is too effective for them
not to know Zarqawi and his followers were in town. But
no officials claimed evidence that Zarqawi and the Iraqis are actively
working together to conduct terrorist attacks.

U.S. intelligence learned of Zarqawi's presence in Baghdad while he was
there, and a friendly foreign government twice asked
Baghdad about him and was rebuffed both times. Zarqawi left shortly
after the inquiries.

Iraqi Foreign Minister Naji Sabri said Baghdad had no ties to Ansar
al-Islam, nor to an alleged al-Qaida fugitive Abu Musab Zarqawi.

In July, shortly after the foreign government's inquiries, Zarqawi left
Baghdad. U.S. defense officials said he was later reported in Syria.
Officials suspect he also went to northern Iraq where Saddam holds
little authority.

In that region, his followers, working with Kurdish members of Ansar
al-Islam, established a new camp to research poisons and make
explosives. They trained others in the production of ricin, a poison
that can be used as a biological weapon.

Their ties were widespread, spanning the countries of Georgia, France,
Spain, Great Britain, Russia and possibly Italy.

European authorities have arrested 116 members of Zarqawi's extended
network, including members of a British cell that was believed to be
making ricin in a London apartment.

Zarqawi's whereabouts are unknown.

His time in Baghdad is not the only link claimed by U.S. officials.
Others include:

_An al-Qaida source said Saddam and bin Laden agreed not to oppose each
other in the mid-1990s.

_Senior representatives of both organizations met at least eight times
since the early 1990s. This includes a trip by Iraq's
ambassador to Turkey to Afghanistan in 1998.

_An Iraqi intelligence operative turned defector said Saddam sent agents
to Afghanistan to provide training to al-Qaida in document forgery.

_An al-Qaida training camp commander from Afghanistan, now in U.S.
custody, said al-Qaida sought chemical and biological weapons training
from Iraq between 1997 and 2000." ...

followed up by this one:

Apr 30, 2003 4:36 PM (ET)

By MAGGIE MICHAEL (Associate Press)

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) - A tape purportedly made by al-Qaida
operative Abu-Musab al-Zarqawi acknowledged his group was behind a
failed plot to destroy Jordan's secret service headquarters and warned
the U.S.-allied government it faced "terrifying events."

But the speaker on the seven-minute audiotape aired Friday denied having
a chemical weapon, as Jordanian officials claim. Jordanian state
television has broadcast confessions by militants allegedly linked to
al-Zarqawi in which they say the group was plotting al-Qaida's first
chemical bomb attack.

The speaker on the tape, who introduced himself as Musab al-Zarqawi,
called the allegation of a chemical bomb attack "a mere lie."

"God knows, if we did possess it, we wouldn't hesitate one second to use
it to hit Israeli cities, such as Eilat and Tel Aviv," the speaker said.

The tape was broadcast on an Internet site known as a clearinghouse for
statements by al-Qaida and other extremist groups. Excerpts also were
broadcast by the Dubai-based Al-Arabiya news channel.

Earlier this week, a purported al-Zarqawi statement appeared on the same
Web site claiming responsibility for an April 24 suicide boat attack on
Iraq's oil terminal in the Persian Gulf that killed three American
service members..

The speaker on Friday's tape said the Jordanian General Intelligence
building was targeted for attack because "Jordan has turned itself into
a hidden base of supplies for the occupying army in Iraq."

The building also housed a "big database used by the enemy of Islam to
track down holy warriors," the voice said. The speaker dubbed the
structure the "Arabs' Guantanamo," referring to the prison for terrorist
suspects at the U.S. Navy base in Cuba.

The voice on Friday's tape could not immediately be authenticated as
that of al-Zarqawi, a Jordanian wanted by the United States for
allegedly organizing terrorists to fight U.S. troops in Iraq on behalf
of al-Qaida.

The United States has offered a $10 million reward for al-Zarqawi's
capture. He is believed to be a close associate of Osama bin Laden and
is known as an expert in poisons.

Al-Zarqawi also is blamed for orchestrating the 2002 assassination of
U.S. aid worker Laurence Foley, 60, outside his Amman home. Al-Zarqawi
was sentenced to death in absentia by a Jordanian military court.

Security forces smashed the terror cell plotting attacks against targets
inside Jordan by arresting six militants in at least two raids over the
past month, Jordanian officials said.

Four other militants died last week in a shootout with police in Amman.

The militants allegedly planned to strike other buildings in Amman, such
as the U.S. Embassy and the prime minister's office, officials said.

The speaker on the tape said that while Jordan foiled this plot, his
group has more in store for the kingdom.

"The battle between us and the Jordanian government has its ups and
downs," he said. "Terrifying events are awaiting you."

He said the four men shown on Jordanian television had been tortured
into confessing, and named Azmi al-Jayousi, the alleged leader of the
plot, who confessed that he reported to al-Zarqawi.

"The torture marks on the face and hands of brother (al-Jayousi) were
very obvious," the voice said.

In Tuesday's broadcast, al-Jayousi's right eye and cheek were slightly
swollen, and he had scars on his right hand and scratches on his neck.

The discovery of the plots caused widespread fear in Jordan, a moderate
Arab nation that is closely allied to the United States, has a peace
treaty with Israel and enjoys relative stability in the volatile Middle
East.

But the kingdom's close ties with the West have placed it in the
cross-hairs of Islamic militants in the past.

Twenty-two Arab men were convicted in a terror plot that targeted U.S.
and Israeli tourists in the 2000 millennium celebrations in Jordan."

The bottom line is that Saddam allowed Islamic terrorists asylum and
support in Iraq in exchange for them leaving his regime alone.