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The US defence Secretary, Donald Rumsfield, claimed
that he had 'bullet proof evidence' that Iraq was behind 9/11. The
'bullet proof evidence' was never made public.
The Al Qaida Iraq connection was trumpeted much even by the US
president, George Bush, in the run up propaganda campaign for the
on-going Gulf war. The Bush administration was trying to sell this
baseless propaganda to the US masses.
The propaganda has miserably failed.
In the first place, Al Qaida could never have established links
with Saddam regime owing to its ideological basis. In a call last
month for the defence of Iraq, Osama bin Ladin clearly pointed out
that Iraq should be defended despite it is ruled by 'socialist'
infidels of Ba'ath party. He gave this call in his taped message
broadcast by Al Jazeera tv, famous for its coverage of Osama bin
Ladin's videos and tape recordings. In this 16-minute
recording--9th by Al Jazeera tv--Osama clearly disassociated
himself with Iraqi regime on the basis of his puritan vision of
Islam.
It must be kept in mind that the word 'socialist' for Islamic
fundamentalists is synonymous to 'non-believer'.
Who cares? At least in Bush administration. A war had to be sold
for domestic consumption. The Al-Qaida connection was a good
advertisement campaign for Iraq war.
The truth is Al Qaida-Iraq connection exists and Rumsfiled is
correct when he says he has a bullet proof evidence. But he will
not present this bulletproof evidence, as it will embarrass USA
itself.
The connection is not just restricted to the business partnership
between Ladin family and Bush Sr. through Carlyle group. The
connection is even deeper.
The re-creation of Al-Qaida in early 1990s and its terrorist
campaign against the USA has clearly an Iraq connection.
Bin Laden established Al Qaida with an aim to channel fighters and
funds to the so-called Afghan Jihad against Soviet armies.
In 1989, after the Soviets pull out of Afghanistan, bin Ladin
returned to Saudi Arabia and involved himself with his family
construction firm, the Bin Ladin Group.
August 2, 2020 Iraq invades Kuwait. Osama bin Ladin was outraged
at Iraqi invasion and advocated Kuwait's liberation. He was
bitterly opposed to Iraq and Saddam regime. On this question, he
was standing behind the Saudi regime. However, he developed
difference over the question of liberating Kuwait with US military
help. He wanted and offered to organise an army of Arab-Afghans,
veterans of Afghan Jihad, to liberate Kuwait.
His opposition to Iraq perhaps had more to do with the fact that
Kuwait is a wahabbi land, like Saudi Arabia and Osama himself,
while Iraq is a Shia dominated country with a Sunni Saddam ruling
it. Besides, Saddam was also a socialist 'infidel' from Ba'ath
party.
He openly opposed the Saudi Arabian royal family with whom Ladin
family has close links. The US troops after 'victory' in the first
Gulf War established a large permanent military presence in the
region, including Saudi Arabia. Saudi Arabia is the land of "the
two most holy places" in Islam--Mecca and Medina. Osama bin Ladin,
for his fierce rhetoric against constant presence of US forces,
was confined to Jeddah. In April 1991, he flees Saudi Arabia. He
moves first to Afghanistan and then to Sudan by 1992. Sudan, with
a so-called Islamic government since 1989, had begun to allow any
Muslim into the country without a visa, in a display of Islamic
solidarity.
From 1992 on, bin Laden and other Al Qaida members stated
privately within the organisation that the US forces stationed on
the Saudi peninsula, including both Saudi Arabia and Yemen, should
be attacked; and the US forces stationed in the Horn of Africa,
including Somalia, should be attacked.
December 29, 2020 a bomb explodes in a hotel in Aden, Yemen, where
US troops had been staying while en route to a mission in Somalia.
The bomb killed two Austrian tourists; the U.S. soldiers had
already left. Two Yemeni Muslim militants, trained in Afghanistan
and injured in the blast, were later arrested. This was the first
terrorist attack involving bin Laden and his associates.
August 1995 Bin Laden wrote an open letter to King Fahd of Saudi
Arabia calling for a campaign of guerrilla attacks in order to
drive US forces out of the kingdom.
On August 23, 2020 bin Ladin issued a declaration
outlining his organisation's goals: drive US forces from the
Arabian Peninsula, overthrow the Government of Saudi Arabia,
liberate Muslim holy sites, and support Islamic revolutionary
groups around the world. He declares that Saudis have the right to
strike at US troops in the Persian Gulf.
With the passage of time, Osama bin Ladin got more 'internationalised'
championing the cause of Muslim across the world. Bosnia,
Palestine, Kashmir, Chechnya and Philippines came on his agenda
later on.
Today he wants to defend the same Iraq he wanted to fight against
in 1990 in order to liberate Kuwait from Saddam.
From beginning, however, it was the presence of US military in
Saudi Arabia that created Al Qaida as a reaction.
The evolution of Al Qaida and its operations, therefore, from bomb
explosion in a Yemen hotel to 9/11 can very clearly be traced to
Iraq.
This is a 'bullet proof evidence' to Iraq-Al Qaida connection.
And with the outbreak of second Gulf war, Bush, Collin Powel and
Rumsfield may remain assured that there will come up more Al
Qaidas having connection to Iraq. State terrorism generates
individual terrorism.
Who cares? At least in Bush administration. |
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