Docs: Saddam Sought Anti-American Alliance With Taliban

"No connections," etc.:

It is highly probable that the man in this meeting is Fazlur Rahman, a Pakistani cleric described in an article from the BBC Profile: Maulana Fazlur Rahman as “A pro-Taliban cleric in Pakistan... one of the two main contenders for the post of the country's prime minister.� The BBC also said “Maulana Fazlur Rahman… is known for his close ties to Afghanistan's ousted Taliban regime.�

Part One of the Saddam Dossier appeared to chronicle Rahman's meeting with Taha Yassin Ramadan, the then-vice president of Iraq and Saddam's chief enforcer. Part Two describes a meeting with an unidentified Iraqi official referred to as “M.O.M.,� who possibly is Tahir Jalil Habbush al Tikriti, the director of the IIS. This translation refers to the previous meeting of Maulana Fazlur Rahman and Ramadan. It also mentions a future meeting between the Maulana and Saddam Hussein. A second document captured in Afghanistan seems to confirm that a relationship existed between Saddam and the Maulana. The document is posted under the identifying Harmony number AFGP-2002-601693 at the West Point Terrorism Center.

....

The Iraqi official tells the Maulana that they want the Taliban to support Iraq against U.S. actions. They also discuss their common enemy: the United States.

Also mentioned in the notebook is Fazlur Rahman Khalil, a Pakistani Taliban leader and Al Qaeda associate, who does not appear to be present at this meeting. ....Khalil was a co-signatory of the infamous Usama bin Laden 1998 fatwa against the U.S.

Key excerpts from the notebook itself, with helpful highlighting, at Confederate Yankee.

Have you ever considered precisely how naive the belief is that Saddam had no connections with Al Qaeda? Why would he not? They had a common enemy and common goals.

It's just beyond ludicrous that Saddam and Al Qaeda sought to avoid working together simply to cause political problems for George Bush from 2004-2006.

posted by Ace at 03:45 PM

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