There is a “potentially sinister nexus between Iraq and the Al Qaeda terrorist network,” Mr. Powell said. He presented details of what he said was a ring of terror operatives based in Baghdad, commanded by Abu Mussab al-Zarqawi, a follower of Osama bin Laden. Mr. Powell also said that high-level contacts between Iraq and Al Qaeda went back to the mid-1990’s and that Zarqawi’s lieutenants were helping to run an explosives training camp in northeastern Iraq. Mr. Powell made the first public accusations from a top American official that Mr. Zarqawi and his network “have plotted terrorist actions against countries, including France, Britain, Spain, Italy, Germany and Russia.” Since last year, he added, 116 members of that network have been apprehended in France, Britain, Spain and Italy. He said that Qaeda affiliates had been operating freely in Baghdad for more than eight months. Full Story
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