At about 11 pm, my connection dropped to the call. Here are the specifics I was going to mention. I wrote this back in 2003:
The problem which prompts this war is the imminent threat of mass killing of our civilians. Here's some examples, from a variety of publicly available sources, of why Iraq is considered part of this threat:
* 9/11 hijack ringleader Mohammed Atta met in Prague in April 2001 with an Iraqi official registered as diplomat Ahmed Khalil Ibrahim Samir al-Ani. The meeting was observed by Czech intelligence as part of an ongoing surveillance of al-Ani. Atta flew back to the USA the next day. Within 2 weeks after that 2001 trip, thirteen of the 9/11 hijackers are known to have flown into the USA from Saudi Arabia. The Czech government expelled al-Ani on April 22, after he was observed "casing" the Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty building. His predecessor had been expelled for the same reason. They weren't the first Iraqi second consuls to show interest in the radio headquarters: in 1998, Jabir Salim defected to England with suitcase full of cash ($100,000 or so), which he claimed was earmarked for blowing up RFE/RL.
As to what Atta and the Iraqi spook discussed, I can't imagine anyone giving more presumption to any subject other than the one Atta was well on the path to enthusiastically give his life for. I do think it's clear that Atta was quite purposeful in going to Prague, as contemporaneous official records from a 2000 trip from Germany to Prague indicate that he was denied entry on May 30 and came back on June 2 with paperwork in order. I also think it's clear that the day after that 2000 meeting, Atta flew to the USA. And two weeks after that, Atta received $100,000 wire transfer from anonymous mideast source, via a moneychanger in Emirate of Shirzah.
The Boston Globe reporter Brian Whitmore, in his October 23, 2002 article, quotes an unnamed "senior Czech official" who puts it better than I can: "I am confident that Atta was here and I don't think it was to get a cheap plane ticket or to see the sights. He was here on business and we know what his business was."
* Iraq considers us an enemy, and its state-controlled press has published unambiguous threat to use biological weapons against us outside of Iraq. Here's how Dr. Laurie Mylroie, former Clinton advisor, described the threat, which Iraq made just 9 days after 9/11: "The Iraqi newspaper Babil, published by Saddam's son, clearly spells out their strategy. The September 20th edition predicted a three-stage American war on Afghanistan: 1) air attacks, 2) escalating air attacks and ground troops, and 3) a Vietnam-style quagmire and growing Muslim counterattacks. Babil says during the first two stages Iraq will not publicly involve itself in the war because '[Americans] will watch Iraq accurately and seriously. If we do anything, Iraq will be attacked, not just like the attack of 1998, but perhaps like the attack of 1991 [the Gulf War].' However, once we reach stage 3 – a Vietnam-style quagmire – Babil warns, 'At this stage, it is possible to turn to biological attack, where a small can, not bigger than the size of the hand, can be used to release viruses that affect everything.'"
* Iraq has long history of aiding various terrorists, including al Qaeda. The Salman Pak compound, for example, included a passenger airliner body used, according to multiple eyewitness defectors, to train people how to hijack planes. The official Iraqi line on this is that Salman Pak was an anti-terrorism training site. I note that Iraq quickly demolished much of the compound after the 1991 war, before the UN inspectors had a chance to see the place in person.
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