CIA found no al-Qaida-Saddam link 2 months before war: ex-agent+ WASHINGTON, Dec. 21 (Kyodo) _ The U.S. Central Intelligence Agency had concluded two months before the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in March 2003 that the government of President Saddam Hussein and the al-Qaida terrorist network had no connection, a former CIA agent said in an interview. The United States had also located before the war and was potentially able to kill Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, who heads the al-Qaida-related militant group responsible for killing Japanese and other foreign nationals in Iraq, Michael Scheuer, who worked as senior adviser to the chief of the CIA's Bin Laden Department until last month, told Kyodo News. But the policy-makers in the administration of President George W. Bush decided not to try to assassinate al-Zarqawi out of concern about undermining efforts to convince the European Union, especially France and Germany, to join the invasion, he said. "We knew where he was before the invasion," Scheuer said. "We had the opportunity before the invasion of Iraq to attack him from the air (around February and March) and probably kill him at that point." But the administration decided not to shoot "because they didn't want the European Union to think we were trigger-happy, and because we were still trying to get the Germans and French to join us in invading Iraq," he said. "His career since then makes it pretty apparent that we should have killed him a long time ago," Scheuer said. The militant group claimed responsibility in October for kidnapping and beheading Japanese traveler Shosei Koda, while repeating demands that Japan pull its troops out of the war-torn country. The interview revealed for the first time that there was a debate within the Bush administration over whether to assassinate al-Zarqawi, who Scheuer said was conducting "very basic rudimentary experiments" with ricin and anthrax chemical weapons at a camp in Khurma in northern Iraq. The CIA reached its conclusion over the lack of connection between Saddam and al-Qaida before U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell told the U.N. Security Council in February 2003 there was such a link, along with alleging development of weapons of mass destruction, in a bid to legitimize an invasion of Iraq. "I think many of us were surprised when we heard Secretary Powell at the United Nations pointing to a connection between Saddam Hussein and al-Qaeda," Scheuer said. Scheuer said he and his colleagues spent three weeks between December 2002 and January 2003 to review all classified files --almost 20,000 documents comprising about 60,000 pages -- on information dating back 10 years on al-Qaida and Saddam. "There was no connection between Osama bin Laden and the Iraqi government of Saddam Hussein," he said. "It was pretty clear that there was not a relationship between Iraq and al-Qaida." The conclusion was reported to then CIA Director George Tenet, Scheuer said. He said the CIA began the review because the Defense Department had earlier issued its analysis that there was a connection. ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~--> Make a clean sweep of pop-up ads. Yahoo! Companion Toolbar. Now with Pop-Up Blocker. Get it for free! http://us.click.yahoo.com/L5YrjA/eSIIAA/yQLSAA/TySplB/TM --------------------------------------------------------------------~-> -------------------------- Want to discuss this topic? Head on over to our discussion list, [EMAIL PROTECTED] -------------------------- Brooks Isoldi, editor [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.intellnet.org Post message: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] *** FAIR USE NOTICE. This message contains copyrighted material whose use has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. OSINT, as a part of The Intelligence Network, is making it available without profit to OSINT YahooGroups members who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information in their efforts to advance the understanding of intelligence and law enforcement organizations, their activities, methods, techniques, human rights, civil liberties, social justice and other intelligence related issues, for non-profit research and educational purposes only. We believe that this constitutes a 'fair use' of the copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Law. If you wish to use this copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use,' you must obtain permission from the copyright owner. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/osint/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
