T1A B43 Iraq- Al Qaeda News Clips Fdr- Entire Contents- Media Reports- 1st Pgs for Ref 025

8/14/2019 T1A B43 Iraq- Al Qaeda News Clips Fdr- Entire Contents- Media Reports- 1st Pgs for Ref 025

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FORWARD : News Page 1 of 4

JUNE 20 , 2003 I currentjssue I back issues I subscribe I

Oil for Food Sales Seen As Iraq Tie To AlQaedaU.S. Probes Bank N etworkBy MARC PERELMANFORWARD STAFFThe hunt for Saddam Hussein's money could provide some clues to one of the claims madeby the Bush administration to justify its war in Iraq the possible link between the formerIraqi regime and the Al Q aeda terrorist group .Two entities, a shadow y banking netwo rk linked by the adm inistration to Al Qaeda and aSaudi oil company close to the Taliban regime, were involved in buying oil from SaddamHussein under the United Nations' oil-for-food program, the Forward has learned.The now-defunct program allowed I raq to buy food and medicine with its oil proceedsunder U.N . supervision. Although the oil sales in question were legal and approved by theU.N., several observers say the system involved kickbacks and was used by Saddam to buypolitical support and to financ e intelligence activities and even terrorist groups."I t seems very plausible that some of the oil money went to terrorism financing, " aterrorism-financing expert closely mo nitoring Iraq said on condition of anonymity. "Ibelieve this actually happene d."Among Iraq's oil customers since 1997 is a Liechtenstein-based company called G alpInternational Trading Establishment, a subsidiary of Portugal's main oil company, accordingto a list of oil purchasers obtained by the Forward. The U.N. has not published the list.The company chose as its legal representative in Liechtenstein a tax haven know n forhosting thousands of shell com panies a company called Asat Trust, according toLiechtenstein business records.Asat Trust was designated by the United States and the U.N. as a financier of Al Qaedathrough its links to Al Taqwa, a cluster of financial entities spanning the globe from theBahamas to Italy and controlled by members of the Muslim Brotherhood.The operation raises the possibility that Iraq quietly funneled money to Al Qaeda bydeliberately choosing an oil company wo rking with one of the terrorist group's allegedfinancial backers.

http://www.forward.com/issues/2003/03.06.20/news2.html 7/14/03


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1) U.N. Group Finds No Hussein-AI Qaeda LinkBy TIMOTHYLO'BRIENNew York TimesUNITED NATIONS, June 26 -- The chairman of the monitoring group appointed by the UnitedNations Security Council to track Al Qaeda told reporters here today that his five-member teamhad found no evidence linking Al Qaeda to Saddam Hussein's administration in Iraq.A report issued by the monitoring group did find that, despite "marked successes" in the fightagainst Al Qaeda, a new generation of Qaeda-trained terrorists, as well as veterans of the group,continue to threaten the global community.The report praises the capture of several senior Qaeda operatives and successful efforts to blockthe group's access to the international banking system , but said recent bom bings in Saudi Arabia,Morocco and elsewh ere sugge st that Al Qaeda "and its associated groups still pose a significantthreat to international peace and security."Michael Chandler, the chairman of the monitoring group, cautioned that the absence of evidencelinking Mr. Hussein to Al Qaeda was not definitive.'That doesn't mean to say it doesn't e xist," M r. Chandler said, but simply that his team has foun dno such evidence.During Security Council testimony in February, before the United States-led war with Iraq,Secretary of State Co lin L. Powell said that Al Qaeda training camps existed in northeastern Iraq.Mr. Chandler acknowledged Mr. Powell's findings today and did not contest them, noting that thecamps Mr. Powell referred to may have been destroyed by American military strikes.The report raised alarms about Al Qaeda's potential access to nuclear and chemical weaponsand its continuing ability to finance its activities through charities and the drug trade."There is evidence, fro m Al Qaeda training manuals and other intelligence, that Al Qaeda hasinvestigated the way s and means of developing" nuclear, chemical and biolgical weapons, thereport stated.The report also painted an ominous picture of a new generation of Qaeda o peratives, whoapparently first surfaced in the recent bombings in Casablanca, Morocco. The reason for AlQaeda's resilience, the report said, is its religious zeal.'They retain strong appeal among Islamic extremist elements around the world and are able todraw on a substantial number of cadres trained in Afghanistan or in other training centersassociated with the Al Qaeda ne twork," the report stated. 'There are also indications that the AlQaeda network has been able to reconstitute its levels of support."Previous reports produced by Mr. Chandler's monitoring committee have drawn criticism forinexact or inaccurate data, but federal law enforcement authorities and members of diplomaticmissions to the United Nations said today's re port was we ll grounded.In its analysis of terro rist financing, the report notes that the succe ssful vetting of the bankingsystem for terrorist funds has forced Al Qaeda and other terro rist groups to rely more heavily oninformal financial networks known as hawalas to move money.The report also deplores that the United Nations list of Al Qaeda operatives and associates ofOsama bin Laden is relatively short, a problem it attributes to the unwillingness or inability ofsome countries to provide names to the monitoring group. Most of the names so far, officials heresaid, have come from the United States.


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2) UN terrorism unit finds no link between Iraq, Al QaedaBy Dafna LinzerAssociated PressNEW YORK -- A United Nations terrorism comm ittee has found no evidence linking Iraq to AlQaeda but did not investigate specific B ush adm inistration claims of such ties, o fficials saidThursday.The terrorism comm ittee has just com pleted a draft report charting efforts by countries to trackand shut down Osam a bin Laden's operations. The report notes success in the war on terrorismstemming from the arrests of some top Al Qaeda figures.But it also says the group has been able to reconstitute support and benefit from loopholes tocontinue acts of terrorism w orldwide.Nowhere in the 42-page draft is there any mention of Iraq or claims that it served as a haven forAl Qaeda."Nothing has come to our notice that would indicate links between Iraq and Al Q aeda," saidMichael Chandler, the committee's chief investigator.The comm ittee first heard of alleged ties during Secretary of State Colin Powell's Februarypresentation to the Security Council b efore the Iraq war."It had never com e to our knowledge before Powell's speech, and we never received anyinformation from the United States for us to even follow up on," said Abaza Hassan, a committeeinvestigator.U.S. diplomats said Powell had laid out all the evidence to the council."We know that Iraq provided some training to Al Qaeda in chemical weapons development, andwe also know there were clear contacts between them that can be documented," said RichardGrenell, spokesman for the U.S. mission at the UN.Powell insisted in his presentation that Saddam Hussein's regime was allowing a senior Al Qaedamember named Abu Musab Zarqawi to operate from Baghdad. Zarqawi has been indicted for themurder of a U.S. diplomat in Jordan on Oct. 28, 2002.The alleged connec tions were cited by the administration as one of the key reasons for goingafter Hussein.But the committee saw no need to investigate Zarqawi's movements and deliberately stayedaway from investigating Iraq."There are other committees in the United Nations that deal with Iraq," Chandler said. "We haveconcentrated our efforts where clearly Al Qaeda was active."One of the places it is looking into is Iran.The United States has said senior Al Qaeda figures are in Iran, and officials w ere investigatingwhether they were linked to a M ay attack in Saudi A rabia.Chandler, who visited the Iran-Afghanistan border in October, said he had been satisfied thenwith steps the Iranians were taking.


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