Gary North lives! He says Iraq did it. From Reality Check 78, Oct 2, 2001

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DID BIN LADEN REALLY MASTERMIND THE ATTACK?

A subscriber sent me a link from Jane's. My thanks! Jane's is the most widely respected private organization in the world that monitors weapons systems. It is British. This report from Aman, Israel's intelligence service, points the blame at Iraq. The story is a summary of a longer one that is available only to Jane's paid subscribers. It's sufficient.

What the story reports is that Iraq may be using a connection to bin Laden's operation to pursue its own deadly objectives. This explanation makes sense to me. Any state that would dare to attack the United States would soon be smashed -- melted, if need be. By hiding behind the cover of an independent terrorist group, Iraq could gain revenge, and also avoid retaliation. We read:

Israel's military intelligence service, Aman, suspects that Iraq is the state that sponsored the suicide attacks on the New York Trade Center and the Pentagon in Washington. Directing the mission, Aman officers believe, were two of the world's foremost terrorist masterminds: the Lebanese Imad Mughniyeh, head of the special overseas operations for Hizbullah, and the Egyptian Dr Ayman Al Zawahiri, senior member of Al-Qaeda and possible successor of the ailing Osama Bin Laden. . . .

The Iraqis, who for several years paid smaller groups to do their dirty work, were quick to discover the advantages of Al-Qaeda. The Israeli sources claim that for the past two years Iraqi intelligence officers were shuttling between Baghdad and Afghanistan, meeting with Ayman Al Zawahiri. . . .

"We've only got scraps of information, not the full picture," admits one intelligence source, "but it was good enough for us to send a warning six weeks ago to our allies that an unprecedented massive terror attack was expected. One of our indications suggested that Imad Mughniyeh met with some of his dormant agents on secret trips to Germany. We believe that the operational brains behind the New-York attack were Mughniyeh and Zawahiri, who were probably financed and got some logistical support from the Iraqi Intelligence Service (SSO)."

"Bin Laden is a schoolboy in comparison with Mughniyeh," says an Israeli who knows Mughniyeh . "The guy is a genius, someone who refined the art of terrorism to its utmost level. . . ."

Mughniyeh, 48, is a "sick man", says an intelligence officer who was in charge of his file. He is considered by Western intelligence agencies as the most dangerous active terrorist today. He is wanted by several governments and the Americans have put a $2m reward on his head.

http://www.janes.com/security/international_security/news/fr/fr010919_1_n.shtml

This report could be disinformation by Israel, in an attempt to get even with Iraq by means of U.S. power. I doubt it, however. It's clear by now that the U.S. is not in a position to switch its target now and attack Iraq. We are locked onto bin Laden like a heat-seeking missile. It would be very difficult to reinvent the devil at this stage. We can hardly threaten Iraq with anything more than what we have dished out for ten years. To drop a nuclear weapon on Iraq would unleash the furies on us, from all sides, including our NATO partners, who would want to stay out of the jihad's line of terrorist fire. In any case, the Israelis recommend assassination, not another war.

Our Israeli sources claim to see Mughniyeh's signature on the wreckage in New York and Washington. How to counter this kind of terrorism? "To fight these bastards you don't need a military attack," said an experienced Israeli commando officer. "You only need to adopt Israel's assassination policy."

Did Iraq co-opt bin Laden's organization with the offer of money and equipment? This explanation makes more sense than anything I have read so far. The attack was so sophisticated. One issue is training. Another is financing. Above all, it is motivation. More than anyone on earth, Saddam Hussein has reasons to get even with the United States. He's got the money. Using bin Laden's organization would be a perfect cover.

This means that any attempt to freeze bin Laden's source of funding will not be easy. There's a lot more where that came from!

No matter what happens to bin Laden now, it will work for the Iraqis. The organization is not just bin Laden's troops in Afghanistan. The Administration was too quick to identify bin Laden as the mastermind. The Administration would have a hard time switching to Saddam at this late date. This would look especially suspect because of the father-son connection of the President. The Islamic world would not believe it.

So far, we have seen nothing from the Administration regarding proof of bin Laden's guilt. We were told that proof was on the way. Now we are told that it isn't on the way. This is not smart.

What is most disturbing about this story is this: the war on terrorism will go on without ceasing if Iraq or any other government is putting up the money and the intelligence assets. Meanwhile, the myth of the private army of unstoppable avengers will spread in Islam.

This mythology already basic to Islamic mythology and history anyway. Where do we get the word "assassin"? From the word for "hashish." Legend has it that the Old Man of the Mountain -- the bin Laden of his day -- formed a terrorist organization in response to the Western crusaders. He had his men use hashish to build their confidence. The assassins were dedicated terrorists. References to the Old Man of the Mountain go back at least to the 12th century. (The best book on this group is Bernard Lewis's THE ASSASSINS: A RADICAL SECT OF ISLAM.) The idea of eternal glory and the attainment of heavenly bliss through suicidal acts of terrorism goes back a long time on Islam's theological fringes. Bin Laden fits well into this pattern. The Administration has now revived this legend and has given it worldwide prominence.

It's too late to easily switch our sites to Saddam Hussein. He is old news. He has no flair, no charisma, and very little element of mystery. He is just another dictator -- one that we can't do much about short of nuclear war. He has hung onto power despite our sanctions and no-fly zones. So, we have a new dragon to slay. That's the dragon everyone in America wants slain.

Combine a living myth an ancient myth and unlimited money from a dictator with access to oil revenue, and you (we) have a true nightmare scenario. This is a hydra. Cut off its head, and it still exists. The flow of funds will continue. So will the flow of suicidal volunteers.

We had better hope that a Muslim group turns him over to a Muslim court in a Muslim country. If he gets tried under Shari'a law and convicted, this will save America a lot of trouble. If he gets killed by non-Muslims in his mountain redoubt, we will have created a martyr -- and not a peace-seeking kind of martyr.

Jane's report on Iraq fits with the following report on a 1998 alliance among bin Laden, Sudan, and Iraq to make chemical weapons.

http://thecouriermail.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5936,2919891%255E954,00.html

And, as a follow-up:

http://www.jrnyquist.com/sept17/jrn_essay.htm

The lesson here is this: hatred covers a multitude of theological differences. We are hated.



-- (Roland@hatemail.com), October 03, 2001

Answers

We are all gonna die. Why waste precious time debating when we have so much to do and so little time?

-- (I@am.going2die), October 03, 2001.

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