Guest column: Iraq IS war on terror

November 12, 2007 09:59 pm

— Many people (especially on the left) claim that there is no connection between Saddam Hussein/Iraq, the 9/11 attacks and the War on Terror. I offer the following data to be used by the readers to decide for themselves if there is any connection.
n A disk was found in all the material recovered in Iraq since 2003 that included floor plans of U.S. public schools in six states. For me, my wife, and any other parent of a school-age child, this is enough to convince us that Saddam/Iraq was a key part of the war on terror.
n Included in all of this material recovered in Iraq since 2003 (called the “Harmony” program) were taped conversations that show Saddam and/or his minions trained thousands of terrorists.
n In 1993, Iraq tried to assassinate the first President Bush in Kuwait. This was a de facto attack upon the United States. Even President Clinton made a tepid response to this.
n Seventeen United Nations resolutions found Iraq in material violation of sanctions/inspections and the last resolution (1441) was used by President Bush to invade Iraq in 2003. Both weapons inspectors, Charles Duelfer and David Kay, attest to this.
n United Nations inspectors found a prison lab where previous testing on biological weapons had been done.
n Russian intelligence shows that in 2002, Iraq secret services planned attacks against U.S. targets outside the United States.
n Saddam warned before 2001 that Osama bin Laden would attack the United States and “curse the memory of Frank Sinatra every time he sings his songs.” New York, New York anyone? In fact, two 9/11 families were awarded $100 million in New York District Court from Iraq funds based on this evidence. Both former weapons inspectors and former CIA director James Woolsey gave expert testimony in these cases that Iraq collaborated with or supported bin Laden in the terrorist training at the Salman Pak location in Iraq.
n Al-Qaida bigwig al-Zarqawi found refuge in Iraq before 9/11.
n Rahman Yasin (who mixed chemicals in 1993 for the first World Trade Center bombings) took refuge in Iraq before 9/11. Saddam put him on the payroll after 1993.
n In his book “Bin Laden: The Man Who Declared War on America,” Yossef Bodensky, a top terrorism adviser to Congress, stated that Iraq and al-Qaida contacts predate 9/11 by more than 10 years.
n Sept. 11 hijacker Mohamed Atta was trained in Baghdad under Abu Nidal; Nidal was killed in Iraq after 9/11 by Saddam’s secret police.
n Former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright (under Clinton) included Iraq among the seven countries designated as state sponsors of terror in 2000.
n Czech intelligence still states that Atta met with Iraq officials in April of 2001. British intelligence confirms this, but we can’t confirm it.
n Two Iraqi defectors attest that the 9/11 attacks were done by graduates of the infamous terrorist training camp at Salman Pak in Iraq. Woolsey attests to this.
n A former top Iraqi general attests that weapons of mass destruction were moved out of Iraq after we attacked in 2003, via truck and air cargo into Syria. Satellite photos show heavy truck movement out of Iraq into Syria after the attack in 2003.
In conclusion, I ask the astute, objective and intelligent readers to conclude for themselves.
Saddam had developed weapons of mass destruction, had used them, had dismantled some, had destroyed some, had moved some, and still retained the capability to use them again. We know that al-Qaida and Iraqis held many meetings, money changed hands, terrorist training occurred in Iraq, and al-Zarqawi moved freely in Iraq.
Saddam thought that the French and Russian vetoes in the United Nations Security Council would prevent an armed invasion, so he never would “fully” comply with the weapons inspectors. He foiled the U.N.-imposed sanctions by payoffs to France and Russia via the sordid “oil-for-food” program. Just as he thought he could get away with invading Kuwait in 1990, an American president said no. Thank God for the Electoral College.
Iraq is now the focal point on the war on terror. No longer does it offer safe harbor to Abu Nidal and al-Zarqawi. No longer does it threaten (or develop) WMDs. No longer does it subsidize suicide bombers in Israel, and no longer is the ultimate WMD — Saddam Hussein — free to torment, tease and threaten the free world.
When Ronald Reagan was asked how he intended to address the Cold War, he replied, “We win and they lose.” If we “cut and run” from Iraq now, picture the consequences. They win and we lose, and the moderate regimes in the Mideast (Egypt, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, etc.) succumb to radical barbarism with the ultimate goal of obliterating the infidels. That would be us. All other issues pale in comparison to the issue of national security. Our survival is at stake.
Iraq (for better or worse) has now become the focal point of the war on terror. We cannot, must not and will not lose unless we “cut and run” and the new liberal Congress denies funding to our gallant troops.
Richard LaNear is the J.R. Kuhn Distinguished Professor of Finance at Missouri Southern State University.