Saddam organizing attacks?

[master_q 0]

“Chalabi: Saddam organizing attacks”

 

ATLANTA, Georgia (CNN) -- Saddam Hussein is in Iraq and is organizing attacks on the U.S.-led coalition, the leader of the Iraqi National Congress said Thursday.

 

Ahmed Chalabi, who has long run the INC, which opposed Saddam's regime, also said he believes France and Germany will "see their way clearly to apologizing to the Iraqi people" for trying to prevent the U.S.-led war that ousted Saddam and liberated Iraq. 

 

Chalabi, who fled Iraq in 1958, returned after the toppling of Saddam's regime.

 

In a satellite news conference Thursday with journalists from around the world attending CNN's World Report conference in Atlanta, Chalabi said the attacks on U.S. troops -- including deadly attacks in the past week -- are "taking place directly, I believe, as an action of the Baathists."

 

"Saddam did not have a serious military plan to confront the coalition, but he had a serious post-defeat plan which he's putting into operation," Chalabi said.

 

Saddam has a great deal of money to finance the operation, Chalabi said, referring to a report that $1.3 billion was taken from the country's central bank in March.

 

"Saddam is still alive and he's still in Iraq. He's renewing his network," Chalabi said.

 

U.S. officials have said they do not know where Saddam is or whether he is alive.

 

But Chalabi said Saddam is working with supporters, though not the familiar figures who played public roles in running his regime.

 

"They're trying their best to foment discontent," he said. "And, unfortunately, some Arab media have been fanning the flames."

 

Iraqis, he said, "deplore and condemn violence against U.S. and other coalition soldiers who have come to help us liberate our country ... and I believe the Iraqi people are determined not to let this intent of Saddam prevail."

 

Chalabi said Iraqis are helping to track down Saddam and other members of his regime.

 

He criticized the United Nations, complaining that "one of the most disappointing things about our struggle is they did not pass a resolution establishing an international criminal court for Iraq as they did for the former Yugoslavia."

 

Saddam, his sons and others should be tried in an Iraqi court with international observers, Chalabi said.

 

When asked about France and Germany, two U.N. Security Council members that vocally opposed the war, Chalabi said, "They should first look with great detail in the mass graves of the Iraqi people -- and there are hundreds of thousands. ...

 

"Once they have seen this and once they are cognizant of the horrors, I think they will see their way clear to apologizing to the Iraqi people for trying to prevent President Bush from helping liberate Iraq."

 

He continued: "I believe many civilized countries in the world either silently or actively participated in keeping this horror away from their public opinion and away from the world. ...

 

"We will deal with France and Germany. French and Germans are friends of ours and we hope to work with them in the future."

 

Chalabi rejected suggestions that his longtime opposition group, supported by the United States, is a virtual puppet for Washington.

 

He argued instead that his group has criticized some U.S. actions more strongly than Arab governments, many of which he said have leaders that maintain their posts "because the United States props them up."

 

Chalabi, whose name has been floated as a possible future leader of Iraq, repeated his previous assertions that he would not seek a political post in Iraq's new government.

 

"I believe the most important thing I can do for the future of my country is to take part in the building of civil society from outside the government," he said.

--CNN http://www.cnn.com/2003/WORLD/meast/05/29/...labi/index.html

 

 

Of course we don’t really know 100% if Saddam or one of his sons is alive, but I would say that it is a very large possibility. When we first target Iraq it was generally at government buildings and probably most officials have not stayed in those buildings (because they would be a target).

 

From other reports it seems like much of the fighting just seems to be pockets of resistance and nothing more, but like I said what Chalabi is saying is a strong possibility.

 

Of course I do like and I think other countries should do what Chalabi says (or as how he predicts that they will):

 

"Once they have seen this and once they are cognizant of the horrors, I think they will see their way clear to apologizing to the Iraqi people for trying to prevent President Bush from helping liberate Iraq."

 

 

Master Q

StarTrek_Master_Q@yahoo.com

Edited May 31, 2003 by master_q

[master_q 0]

Just to add to what I was saying . . . . . .

 

"They should first look with great detail in the mass graves of the Iraqi people -- and there are hundreds of thousands. ...

 

I think that’s a key point and if other counties would just think about how brutal Saddam was I don’t think there would have been as much opposition to it. Of course one of the main reasons was the WOMD, but most importantly the connection that was there between al Qaeda.

 

(This is from another article)

Documents discovered in the bombed out headquarters of Iraq's intelligence service provide evidence of a direct link between Saddam Hussein's regime and Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda terrorist network, a newspaper reported Sunday.

 

Papers found Saturday by journalists working for the Sunday Telegraph reveal that an al Qaeda envoy met with officials in Baghdad in March 1998, the newspaper reported.

The paper quoted an unidentified Western intelligence official as saying the find was "sensational."

The paper said the documents show that the purpose of the meeting was to establish a relationship between Baghdad and al Qaeda based on their mutual hatred of the United States and Saudi Arabia.

The meeting went so well that it was extended by a week and ended with arrangements being discussed for bin Laden to visit Baghdad, the newspaper said.

Journalists found a three-page file on bin Laden inside a folder lying in the rubble of one of the rooms of the intelligence headquarters, the paper said.

"Iraqi agents at some point clumsily attempted to mask out all references to bin Laden, using white correcting fluid," the newspaper reported. "After carefully removing the dried fluid, however, the name is clearly legible three times in the documents."

One of the pages, dated February 19, was marked "top secret and urgent" and referred to plans for the trip from Sudan of the unnamed envoy, who is described in the file as a trusted confidant of bin Laden's, the paper said.

The document, signed, "MDA," which the newspaper said is a code name believed to belong to the director of one of the Iraqi intelligence sections, said the Iraqis sought to pay for the envoy's costs while in Iraq "to gain the knowledge of the message from bin Laden and to convey to his envoy an oral message from us to bin Laden."

The message to bin Laden "would relate to the future of our relationship with him, bin Laden, and to achieve a direct meeting with him," the newspaper quoted the document as saying.

The other documents confirm that the envoy traveled from Khartoum in Sudan to Baghdad in March 1998 and that he stayed at the al-Mansour Melia hotel.

The documents do not mention whether any meeting took place between bin Laden and Iraqi officials, the newspaper said.

Separately, The Sunday Times reported that its own journalists had found documents in the Iraqi foreign ministry that indicate that France gave Saddam Hussein's regime regular reports on its dealings with American officials.

The newspaper said the documents reveal that Paris shared with Baghdad the contents of private transatlantic meetings and diplomatic traffic from Washington.

One document, dated September 25, 2001, from Iraqi foreign minister Naji Sabri to Saddam's palace, was based on a briefing from the French ambassador in Baghdad and covered talks between presidents Jacques Chirac and George W. Bush.

 

---

For the reconstruction of Iraq it will be harder then some might expect and I think there is more opposition from the Iraqi people then what Chalabi say (just a bit more).

 

 

Master Q

StarTrek_Master_Q@yahoo.com

[Klingonmike 0]

Personally I believe Saddam Insane is dead,I think he got killed in one of the bombings.No one has seen him since the war and Saddam is the kind of idiot that would show himself alive and well just to thumb his nose at Bush.Until we see him on live TV I will believe he's dead. I'm sure there are pissed off Iraq leaders still alive speaking for him to give the illusion he's alive,but I really think Saddam Insane currently is in pieces and spread out over the rubble. And that is my happy thought for the day!