Report: CIA failed to prove al Qaida link
CIA officials, in an attempt to prove Washington’s accusations about Iraq’s ties to al Qaida, found a tenuous — and ultimately bogus — link, a French newspaper reported Sunday. Le Journal du Dimanche said Jordanian officials alerted the U.S. government that the uncle of one of the Sept. 11, 2001, hijackers was linked to the Fatah Revolutionary Council, headed by terrorist Abu Nidal. The group is closely linked to the Baghdad regime of Saddam Hussein, Le Journal reported. Nidal, however, was based in Damascus, Syria, until he died under mysterious circumstances last year. CIA officials subsequently demanded Syria help find documents implicating the Sept. 11 hijacker, Ziad el Jarrah, and his uncle, to Baghdad. “In vain,” the newspaper reported. “The Islamist Ziad el Jarrah had absolutely no political ties with his secular uncle … Once more, an effort to imply Iraq in the Sept. 11 attacks fell short.” Full Story