Secret Iraqi intelligence documents found in Baghdad have provided the first evidence of a direct link between Osama bin Laden’s al-Qaeda network and Saddam Hussein’s regime, the London Sunday Telegraph newspaper reported. It said it had found files on Saturday in the bombed headquarters of the Mukhabarat, the Iraqi intelligence service, which showed that an al-Qaeda envoy was invited secretly to Baghdad in March 1998. The aim of the meeting was to establish a relationship between the Iraqi regime and al-Qaeda based on their shared hatred of the United States, the Sunday Telegraph said. The meeting ended with arrangements being discussed for bin Laden to visit Baghdad, but the documents did not mention if any such trip eventually took place, according to the conservative London weekly. One file found by the paper referred to a planned trip from Sudan by an unnamed al-Qaeda representative. Full Story
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