Iraq has rejected U.S. claims of links to a Kurdish terrorist group believed connected to al-Qaida, and said it has offered to hand over a suspect in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing. Iraqi Foreign Minister Naji Sabri said Baghdad had no ties to Ansar al-Islam nor an alleged al-Qaida fugitive Abu Musaab Zarqawi, who has been linked to the murder of a U.S. diplomat in Jordan and poison plots in a half-dozen European countries. Sabri, in a 13-page letter to U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan to rebut U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell’s presentation to the Security Council earlier this month, also said Baghdad is offering to hand over to Washington Abdul-Rahman Yasin, a suspect in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing who is on the FBI’s most-wanted list. Sabri’s letter, which was posted on the Iraqi Foreign Ministry’s web site Thursday, denied any link between Iraq and Zarqawi or Ansar, saying both operated in northern Iraqi areas under the control of Kurdish groups allied to Washington and beyond Baghdad’s reach. Powell also accused Ansar of harboring al-Qaida fugitives from Afghanistan, implying the group would not have offered al-Qaida any refuge without Iraqi President Saddam Hussein’s consent. Full Story
About OODA Analyst
OODA is comprised of a unique team of international experts capable of providing advanced intelligence and analysis, strategy and planning support, risk and threat management, training, decision support, crisis response, and security services to global corporations and governments.