http://www.cbn.com/cbnnews/news/031209a.asp
INFILTRATION
Dissed Information: Media Ignores Saddam-Osama Link
By Dale Hurd
CBN News Sr. Reporter
December 9, 2003
Former CIA Director James Woolsey says a Saddam-Bin Laden connection is irrefutable.
CBN.com – Since when does the Washington press corps not care about a leaked, classified Pentagon memo? Maybe when it makes the media look bad, or maybe when it makes the president look good.
A leaked classified Pentagon memo lays out how Osama Bin Laden and Saddam Hussein worked together from the early 90s right up to the days before the Iraq war.
Prepared by Undersecretary of Defense Douglas Feith for the Senate Intelligence Committee, the 16-page memo comes from American and foreign intelligence sources. It details Iraq's training of Al-Qaeda members in such things as bomb-making and biological and chemical warfare, as well as logistical and financial support. Stephen Hayes of the Weekly Standard, who reported on it for the magazine, obtained a copy of the memo.
Hayes said, "I think one of the reasons I found it persuasive is the level of detail. If you just want to pick one of many examples, there's a report that the Deputy Director of Intelligence for Iraq, Faruq Hijazi, made a trip to Afghanistan in late 1998. There are seven sources, different sources that corroborated contacts between Iraqi intelligence and senior Al-Qaeda members in Pakistan and Afghanistan during that time frame. "
Much of the evidence is confirmed by multiple sources. And it paints a picture of substantial and long-running collaboration between Iraq and Al-Qaeda. Former CIA Director James Woolsey says a Saddam-Bin Laden connection is irrefutable. He also believes Czech intelligence, cited in the Pentagon memo, that says lead 9-11 hijacker Mohammed Atta met with an Iraqi spy named Al-Ani in Prague four times before Sept. 11. Some American intelligence sources have disputed the claim.
Woolsey said, "The people who have denied this meeting have all been afraid to use their names. No one has denied it on the record…five Czech officials responsible for Czech intelligence have said, on the record, putting their name and their face behind what they say, that the meeting between Al-Ani and Mohammed Atta occurred. I tend to go with the Czechs."
The Czechs also say Baghdad authorized a payment to Atta.
Hayes said, "Nobody knows what the payment was for. Nobody in fact knows if the payments were ever made. The Czechs have just told our intelligence sources that this payment from the Iraqi intelligence to Mohammed Atta was authorized."
And if you hadn't heard about it yet, that's because the media reaction has been to dismiss it.
Since when does the Washington press corps not care about a leaked, classified Pentagon memo? Maybe when it makes the media look bad, or maybe when it makes the president look good.
Brent Bozell is a conservative media critic. He said, "I absolutely guarantee you that had this intelligence report concluded that there was not a connection between Saddam Hussein and Osama Bin Laden, it would lead every network news show for three or four days."
He continued, "Whenever there is a memo that comes out of the CIA or the Pentagon that's negative about George Bush, it's guaranteed to be on ABC News that night, or on NBC or on CBS. Now we have a comprehensive intelligence report that defends the president's policies and they've spiked it. "
Even the liberal magazine Slate has ridiculed the blackout, saying in an article, "everybody knows how the press loves to herd itself into a snarling pack to chase the story of the day. Less noticed is the press' propensity to half-close its lids, lick its paws and contemplate its hairballs when confronted with events or revelations that contradict its prejudices."
Bozell said, "It's extraordinary that the media believe in the public right-to-know, except for those things the media don't want the public to know.
But the story's not dead yet. The U.S. is no doubt examining a treasure trove of captured Iraqi intelligence documents in Baghdad that could tell much more.