In the days following the Sept. 11 attacks, Secretary of State Colin Powell could find “no clear link” between Osama bin Laden and Saddam Hussein. One soon appeared. On Sept. 24, 2001, I reported: “The clear link between the terrorist in hiding [Osama] and the terrorist in power [Saddam] can be found in Kurdistan, that northern portion of Iraq protected by U.S. and British aircraft. . . . Kurdish sources tell me (and anyone else who will listen) that the Iraqi dictator has armed and financed a fifth column of Al Qaeda mullahs and terrorists. . . .” The C.I.A. would not listen. Through credulous media outlets, the agency — embarrassed by its pre-Sept. 11 inadequacies — sought to discredit all intelligence about this force of 600 terrorists. Called Ansar al Islam, and led by Osama’s Arabs trained in Afghanistan, they were sent in with Saddam’s support to establish an enclave in the no-flight zone. One assignment was to assassinate the free Kurds who made up the only anti-Saddam leadership inside Iraq. Full Story
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