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HavenWorks.com/intelligence/archive/2003 |
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/ 2003 Intelligence News |
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- "Ashcroft
steps aside from CIA leak probe." ... "John Ashcroft,
US attorney-general, on Tuesday stepped aside from a politically charged
investigation into the leak of the identity of an undercover Central Intelligence
Agency officer." ... "Patrick Fitzgerald, the US attorney in Chicago, will
take over the inquiry and report to James Comey, Mr Ashcroft's deputy at
the Department of Justice, which is running the investigation, and Christopher
Wray, assistant attorney-general." -By Marianne Brun-Rovet
-FT.com
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- 
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- "Iraq
arms hunt may hinder other U.S. aims." ... "In nine
months, not a single item has been found in Iraq from a long and classified
intelligence list of weapons of mass destruction which guided the work
of dozens of elite teams from Special Forces, the military, the CIA and
the Pentagon during the most secretive, expensive and fruitless weapons
hunt in history." ... "For U.S. allies, arms control experts and some involved
in the hunt, the lack of evidence in a war premised on the threat of proliferation
will have far reaching consequences in the coming year for the United States
in its efforts to curb Iran, North Korea, Syria and others." ... "While
some argue the Iraq war helped push open the doors of closed regimes such
as Libya and Iran, others say it has only strengthened convictions that
negotiations, U.N. inspections and sanctions work." -By
Dafna Linzer -AP
via -MercuryNews-BayArea
- 
- "Germany
Raises Security at Hospital." ... "Hamburg police
received the information from unidentified "security sources," a city police
statement said. It stated that authorities had "concrete indications of
people who want to carry out attacks by means of a car bomb" on the facility,
in the suburb of Wandsbek." -AP
via -ABCNEWS.com
- "Attacks
possible during holidays; alert level raised to Orange."
... "The head of the Department of Homeland Security on Monday urged people
to "just go about your business" despite the decision to raise the national
terror-attack warning to its second-highest level." ... "After briefing
President Bush on Monday, Ridge reiterated to reporters that the intelligence
community considered the new threat "the most significant threat" to the
country since the terror attacks of Sept. 11, 2001." ... ""The information
we have indicates that extremists abroad are anticipating near-term attacks
that they believe will either rival or exceed" the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks,
Ridge had said in announcing the upgraded alert status on Sunday."
-AP via -USATODAY
-
-
- "[UK]
Intelligence officers had role in [Libya] deal."
... "MI6 officers and senior Foreign Office officials held a series of
secret meetings with Colonel Gadafy's closest advisers before agreement
with Libya was announced by Tony Blair and - soon afterwards - by George
Bush on Friday." ... "A key meeting took place at the Travellers Club in
Pall Mall, a traditional haunt of the intelligence community, last Tuesday.
It was attended by William Ehrman, director general of defence and intelligence
at the FO, David Landsman, head of the FO's counter-proliferation department,
and two MI6 officers." -By Richard Norton-Taylor
-Guardian.co.uk
- "Nation's
Threat Level Rising to Orange: Government Raising
National Threat Warning From Yellow to Orange, Federal Official Says."
... "The government is raising the national threat warning from yellow,
the midpoint on its five-color scale, to orange, a federal official said
Sunday." ... "The warning was prompted in part by a raised level of ominous
intercepted communications that has not quieted for months. The significance
of the sustained level of intelligence "chatter" is unclear, the officials
said." -AP
via -ABCNEWS.com
-
- 
-
-
- 
- "EU
Agrees to Share Airline Passenger Data." ... "The
European Union has agreed to share information about its airline passengers
with the United States, in a deal announced yesterday that ends year-long
negotiations over a new U.S. law intended to fight terrorism." ... "International
airlines will turn over data about their U.S.-bound passengers, such as
a traveler's name, e-mail address, telephone number and credit card number
to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security's Customs and Border Protection
unit." -By Sara Kehaulani Goo
-WashingtonPost
-
-
- "A
tip, high-tech surveillance and a GI with a shovel nab Saddam."
... "Perhaps a mile from his nearest palace, Saddam spent his final minutes
of freedom in an underground chamber of hard-packed dirt, just wide enough
to permit a man to recline. After decades as self-proclaimed heir to the
iconic 12th-century warrior known in the West as Saladin, Saddam surrendered
meekly without a shot from the pistol he clutched in his lap." ... "The
clues that led to Saddam's capture emerged three weeks ago, officials said,
when intelligence analysts and Special Operations forces shifted the focus
of their hunt from Saddam's innermost circle to the more distant relatives
and tribal allies who they suspected had been sheltering the deposed president."
... "The U.S. military and the CIA had formed a task force devoted exclusively
to finding Saddam and his top allies. Called Task Force 121, it is an interagency
team of CIA paramilitaries and "black," or unacknowledged, Special Operations
forces." -By Barton Gellman and Dana Priest with contributions
from Rajiv Chandrasekaran and Bradley Graham -WashingtonPost
via -SeattleTimes.NWsource
- 
-
- "Prosecutors
get delay in case against ex-chaplain." ... "The
criminal proceedings against Captain James Yee, the former Muslim chaplain
at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, charged with mishandling classified data,
fell into confusion and stalled as prosecutors asked for extra time to
determine whether documents found in Yee's luggage when he was leaving
the base were, in fact, classified." ... "The hearing was postponed Tuesday
until Jan. 19 to give the prosecutors time to review the documents that
set off a major investigation into whether Yee was a spy, a contention
from which the government has since distanced itself." -By
Neil A. Lewis -NYTimes
via -IHT.com
- 
- "Spy
Satellites Used to Look for Damage on Space Station."
... "NASA has enlisted U.S. spy satellites and taken other measures to
inspect the exterior of the international space station for signs of any
damage that might explain a strange metallic crunching noise that was heard
by the two astronauts on board in the middle of the night of Nov. 26."
... NASA has also shifted steering control of the orbiting laboratory to
Russian-built thrusters while engineers study a new problem in the ailing
U.S.-built gyroscope system, spaceflight officials said yesterday." -By
Kathy Sawyer -WashingtonPost
- 
- -
"Officer
charged with Guantanamo security breach." ... "Col.
Jackie Duane Farr is the fourth man assigned to intelligence operations
at Guantanamo Bay accused of mishandling classified information." ... "Until
recently, Farr was director of the intelligence collection operation in
the so-called Joint Interrogations Group, said Lt. Col. Pamela Hart, a
Guantanamo spokeswoman. The group has teams of interrogators and analysts
who weekly question about half of the 660 prisoners being held at Camp
Delta, a sprawling prison camp for captives taken in Afghanistan in the
War on Terror." -By Carol Rosenberg-Miami/Herald
-
- 
- 
-
-
-
- "Al Qaeda’s
terror style spreading: Analysts see a form
of franchising at work around globe." ... "Leaders of the al Qaeda
terrorist network have franchised their organization’s brand of synchronized,
devastating violence to homegrown terrorist groups across the world, posing
a formidable new challenge to counterterrorism forces, according to intelligence
analysts and experts in the United States, Europe and the Arab world."
... "The recent attacks in Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Chechnya and Iraq show
that the smaller organizations, most of whose leaders were trained in al
Qaeda camps in Afghanistan, have fanned out, imbued with radical ideology
and the means to create or revitalize local terrorist groups. They also
are expanding the horizons of groups that had focused on regional issues."
-By Douglas Farah and Peter Finn with contributions
from Dana Priest, Dan Eggen, and Margot Williams -WashingtonPost
via -MSNBC
-
- 
- "NYPD
to Have Access to Interpol Data." ... "The NYPD will
be the first police department in the United States to plug into a Interpol
database that allows access to fingerprints, passports and pictures." ...
"Ronald Noble, secretary general of Interpol, the world's largest international
police organization, said the heavily encrypted system, named I-24/7, will
put information about suspects anywhere in the world at police officers'
fingertips." -By Daryl Khan
-AP via -Newsday.com
-
- "US
Struggles to Determine Who Is the Enemy in Iraq."
... "The Pentagon is struggling to figure out who the enemy is in Iraq,
with officials saying they remain foggy about the leadership and organization
of the insurgency and analysts decrying a huge intelligence lapse." ...
"Military commanders and U.S. intelligence officials describe resistance
forces in Iraq as some combination of loyalists of toppled President Saddam
Hussein's government, criminals paid by those loyalists to carry out attacks,
Islamic militants from outside Iraq, and isolated Shiite radicals." -By
Will Dunham -Reuters
via -Wired
-
- "9/11
Victims' Relatives Want Deal Details: Relatives of
9/11 Victims Urge Commission to Disclose Details of Deal With White House."
... "Relatives of people who perished in the Sept. 11 terror attacks are
urging a federal commission to disclose the fine print of its deal with
the White House that gives the panel restricted access to sensitive intelligence
documents." ... "The Family Steering Committee, a group of victims' relatives
monitoring the work of the independent commission on Sept. 11, said the
restrictions are unacceptable." -AP
via -ABCNEWS.com
-
-
- "W.H.
to let 9/11 panel review briefings: The independent
commission investigating the September 11 terrorist attacks said Wednesday
the White House would let it review classified daily presidential intelligence
briefings." ... ""We believe this agreement will prove satisfactory and
enable us to get our job done," the commission said in a statement." ...
"But commission member Max Cleland, a former Democratic senator, said he
was "disgusted" by the deal." ... ""The White House gets to cherry-pick
how much access the nation's commission looking into 9/11 gets to crucial
documents," he said. "I'm ready to vote for subpoenas right now.""
-CNN
-
-
- "CIA
Report Says U.S. Losing Popular Support in Iraq."
... "A CIA report concludes that ordinary Iraqis increasingly are siding
with the insurgency amid doubts about the U.S. ability to stamp it out,
officials said on Wednesday, while the U.S. administrator in Iraq said
it was hard to figure out where the Iraqi public stands." ... "The report,
warning of possible failure for Bush's efforts to establish Iraq as a democracy
if the situation is not fixed, said aggressive U.S. counter-insurgency
measures were leaving many Iraqis disillusioned and pushing them to support
the insurgency, one U.S. official said." -By Will
Dunham -Reuters
via -Wired
-
- -
- "Cheney’s Long
Path to War: The Hard Sell: He sifted intel.
He brooded about threats. And he wanted Saddam gone. The inside story of
how Vice President Cheney bought into shady assumptions and helped persuade
a nation to invade Iraq." ... "Of all the president’s advisers, Cheney
has consistently taken the most dire view of the terrorist threat. On Iraq,
Bush was the decision maker. But more than any adviser, Cheney was the
one to make the case to the president that war against Iraq was an urgent
necessity. Beginning in the late summer of 2002, he persistently warned
that Saddam was stocking up on chemical and biological weapons, and last
March, on the eve of the invasion, he declared that “we believe that he
[Saddam Hussein] has in fact reconstituted nuclear weapons.” (Cheney later
said that he meant “program,” not “weapons.” He also said, a bit optimistically,
“I really do believe that we will be greeted as liberators.”) After seven
months, investigators are still looking for that arsenal of WMD." (1, 2,
3)
-By Mark Hosenball, Michael Isikoff and Evan Thomas
-MSNBC 20031117
-Newsweek
-
-
- "U.S.
Had Warning of Attack, but No Details." ... "Only
days before the bombing in Saudi Arabia on Saturday that killed at least
17 people, American intelligence agencies had been warned that such an
attack by Al Qaeda was imminent but the warnings lacked sufficient detail
to disrupt the plot, officials said Sunday." ... "The information, which
came from several sources, prompted the closing of the United States Embassy
in Riyadh, but did not provide specifics about the time or location of
an attack, officials said. It did lead American officials to conclude that
Qaeda cells were planning to go after "soft" targets "very soon," one official
said." -By James Risen
-NYTimes via -Google-News
-
-
-
-
- "White
House Promises to Hand Over Iraq Intelligence Documents."
... "The White House reversed itself and promised the Senate Intelligence
Committee access to all materials requested for its inquiry into prewar
intelligence on Iraq, the committee chairman said Sunday." ... "The committee
is examining the accuracy of intelligence about deposed Iraqi President
Saddam Hussein's weapons programs and purported contacts with terrorist
groups. That intelligence served as Bush's main arguments for the U.S.-led
war." -By William C. Mann-WashingtonPost
-
- "2
CIA Operatives Killed in Afghanistan." ... "The CIA
said Tuesday that William Carlson, 43, of Southern Pines, N.C., and Christopher
Glenn Mueller, 32, of San Diego were ambushed and killed Saturday near
the village in Shkin in Paktika province while ``tracking terrorists.''"
... "Both were veterans of military special operations forces, the agency
said, who were working for the CIA's Directorate of Operations that conducts
clandestine intelligence-gathering and covert operations." -By
Burt Herman -AP
via -AJC
-
- "Bush
Won't Commit to Giving Classified Reports to 9/11 Panel."
... "President Bush declined today to commit the White House to turning
over highly classified intelligence reports to the independent federal
commission investigating the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks, despite public
threats of a subpoena from the bipartisan panel." ... "The president said
in a brief meeting with reporters that the documents were "very sensitive"
and that the White House was still discussing the issue with the panel's
chairman, Thomas H. Kean, the former Republican governor of New Jersey."
-By Philip Shenon -NYTimes
via -Google-News
Osama
bin Laden -
"CIA
says bin Laden tape probably authentic." ... "A CIA
technical analysis has determined that the latest audio tape broadcast
over the weekend is probably the voice of al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden
recorded during the past six months, a CIA spokesman says."-Reuters
-
- 
-
"Six
months after Saddam, eight die as bombers prolong violence."
... "A suicide car bomber killed at least eight people at a Baghdad police
station yesterday as Iraq marked six months since the fall of Saddam Hussein's
regime with another day of bitterly familiar violence." ... "The latest
attack killed three Iraqi policemen and five civilians who had crowded
into the courtyard of the police station in the poor Shia Muslim district
now known as Sadr City. The driver of the car also died and at least 45
people were injured in the blast." ... "In a separate incident in western
Baghdad a few minutes earlier, a Spanish intelligence officer was assassinated
in front of his house." -By Rory McCarthy and Giles
Tremlett -Guardian.co.uk
-
- "Bush
Unsure if Name Leaker Will Be Caught: Bush
Expresses Doubt That Leaker of CIA Official's Name Will Be Caught." ...
"Bush's chief of staff, Andrew Card, urged some 2,000 White House employees
to turn over any relevant documents by Tuesday night. White House lawyers
will screen the materials and decide which ones to send to the Justice
Department as part of a criminal inquiry into the leak, Bush spokesman
Scott McClellan said." ... "Investigators are trying to determine who leaked
to columnist Robert Novak and two Newsday journalists the identity of Valerie
Plame, a CIA operations officer who has served overseas. She is married
to former Ambassador Joseph Wilson, who publicly accused the Bush administration
of manipulating intelligence to exaggerate the threat from Iraq."
-AP via -ABCNEWS.com
-
- "British
open Iraq war inquiry." ... "The official inquiry
into what was apparently the suicide of a leading British weapons expert
[David Kelly] was told Monday that intelligence officers had registered
concern at the way Prime Minister Tony Blair's government presented the
threat from Iraq's weapons systems before going to war." ... "But senior
government officials on the first full day of testimony at the inquiry
denied that the government knowingly used false information to create a
sense of imminent threat from Baghdad." -By Alan Cowell
-NYTimes via -IHT.com
-
- 
- "Indonesia hotel
was known target: Australian FM warns of more
terror attacks in coming days." ... "Police on Wednesday said they seized
documents last month showing terrorists had planned to target the area
around Jakarta’s Marriott Hotel, where a powerful car bomb killed 10 people
and injured nearly 150 on Tuesday. Meanwhile, Australia’s foreign minister
said his government had acquired intelligence indicating there could be
further attacks in Indonesia in the coming days." ... "Jemaah Islamiyah,
blamed for last year’s deadly nightclub bombing in Bali, allegedly claimed
responsibility for the hotel bombing in remarks published by Singapore’s
Straits Times newspaper." -Ned Colt, Jim Miklaszewski,
and Tammy Kupperman with the -AP
and -Reuters via -MS-NBC
- "Report:
FBI Informant Knew 9/11 Hijackers." ... "An FBI informant
knew two of the Sept. 11 hijackers but never suspected they were terrorists,
according to a congressional report that nonetheless concludes no single
piece of information could have prevented the attacks." ... "The unidentified
informant was with Khalid Almihdhar and Nawaf Alhazmi in San Diego during
the summer of 2000, although the nature of their relationship was unclear."
... "Almihdhar and Alhazmi recently had been linked by U.S. intelligence
officials to possible terrorist activity, but that information apparently
had not been shared with the FBI, the report said. Nothing the two men
said or did in the presence of the informant aroused suspicion." -By
Curt Anderson with contributions by Ken Guggenheim
-AP via -Guardian.co.uk
-
- "Weapons
expert had slashed wrist: Police have confirmed
that the expert at the centre of the Iraq dossier row bled to death from
a slit wrist, as Tony Blair comes under increasing pressure over the affair."
... "Dr David Kelly, 59, was the suspected mole behind a BBC report that
Downing Street communications director Alastair Campbell "sexed up" a dossier
setting out the case for war." ... "Dr Kelly disappeared two days after
being grilled by the Commons foreign affairs select committee as part of
its inquiry into the use of intelligence in the run-up to the war in Iraq."-BBC/News
-
-
- 
- "CIA asked Britain
to drop Iraq claim: Advice on alleged uranium
buywas refused." ... "The CIA tried unsuccessfully in early September 2002
to persuade the British government to drop from an official intelligence
paper a reference to Iraqi attempts to buy uranium in Africa that President
Bush included in his State of the Union address four months later, senior
Bush administration officials said yesterday." ... "“We consulted about
the paper and recommended against using that material,” a senior administration
official familiar with the intelligence program said. The British government
rejected the U.S. suggestion, saying it had separate intelligence unavailable
to the United States." -By Walter Pincus with
contributions by Karen DeYoung-WashingtonPost
via -MSNBC
-
-
- "CIA approved
Bush remarks on Iraq: State of Union speech
referring to nuclear weapons claim was cleared." ... "Amid increasing criticism
and doubts cast on U.S. intelligence that led to the war against Iraq,
the Bush administration Friday continued its defense of President Bush’s
case for ousting Saddam Hussein. U.S. national security adviser Condoleezza
Rice said the CIA had cleared Bush’s January State of the Union speech
in its entirety, including a sentence — now labeled false — alleging Iraq
was looking to buy uranium from Africa." ... "If CIA Director George Tenet
had any misgivings about that sentence in the president’s speech, “he did
not make them known” to Bush or his staff, said Rice." -Contributed
to by David Gregory and -AP
via -MSNBC
-
-
- "CBS:
White House Ignored CIA Over Iraq Uranium Claim."
... "The White House ignored a request by the CIA to remove a statement
in President Bush's State of the Union address that Iraq was seeking uranium
from Africa for its nuclear weapons program, CBS Evening News reported
on Thursday." ... "The CIA checked the parts Bush's speech dealing with
Iraq's weapons of mass destruction for accuracy and CIA officials warned
White House National Security Council staff that the intelligence was not
strong enough to flatly state that Iraq tried to buy uranium from Africa,
CBS News said." -CBSNews-Reuters
-
- "White
House downplays role of faulty report." ... "The
Bush administration defended on Wednesday its decision to go to war against
Iraq and downplayed the role of discredited intelligence in the decision."
... "At a Washington news conference hosted by the Arms Control Association,
a former senior official in the State Department's intelligence bureau
said the problem was not bad information but the tendency of policymakers
to exaggerate intelligence on Iraq." ... ""The administration has had a
faith-based intelligence attitude: 'We know the answers, give us the intelligence
to support those answers,' " said Greg Thielmann, who resigned last September
as chief arms proliferation analyst." -By John Diamond
-USATODAY
-
- "White
House Issues Retraction of Allegations in Bush State of the Union Address."
... "The White House has issued a rare retraction of allegations from the
president's January State of the Union Address. Officials say President
Bush's accusation that former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein tried to buy
uranium in Africa, was based on what turned out to be a forged document."
... "Making his case against Saddam Hussein six months ago, President Bush
said British intelligence reported that the then-Iraqi leader had tried
to buy significant quantities of uranium from Niger." ... "The United Nations
later concluded that those documents were forgeries and White House spokesman
Ari Fleischer now admits that the information should not have been included
in the State of the Union." -By Scott Stearns -VOANews.com
-
- 2004
Presidential Election
- "Sept.
11 probers complain of delays: White House
slow in providing access to key documents, federal commission says." ...
"Leaders of a federal commission investigating the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks
complained Tuesday that the Bush administration had been too slow to provide
access to key documents and was intimidating witnesses by insisting that
CIA and FBI "minders" attend sensitive interviews." ... "The chairman of
the commission, former New Jersey Gov. Thomas Kean, said the delays were
threatening the panel's ability to meet its congressionally imposed deadline
and produce a final report before the 2004 presidential election." ...
"Kean and commission Vice Chairman Lee Hamilton were particularly critical
of the administration's insistence that interviews with intelligence or
law enforcement officials be supervised." -By Greg
Miller-LAtimes
via -SFGate.com
-
-
- "CIA
Calls Hussein Recording Authentic." ... "The Central
Intelligence Agency said yesterday that a taped message broadcast Friday
from Saddam Hussein appears to be authentic, the most definitive indication
that the former Iraqi president survived the war and is seeking to rally
opposition to the U.S. occupation." ... "As anti-American attacks grow
in number and sophistication, inflicting additional U.S. casualties daily,
Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld is reviewing whether troops are needed
beyond the 146,000 in Iraq and 63,000 in neighboring Kuwait or whether
U.S. forces can safely be reduced." ... "Secretary of State Colin L. Powell
is urging President Bush to at least keep total U.S. and international
troop levels near the current number until the danger has passed and Iraq
is stable, according to U.S. officials familiar with Powell's thinking.
They added that his preference is to recruit more forces from foreign countries."
-By Thomas E. Ricks and Walter Pincus with contributions
by Peter Slevin -WashingtonPost
-
- "British
Panel Clears Blair of Charges of Doctoring Iraq Data."
... "A House of Commons committee cleared the government today of charges
that it doctored evidence of Iraqi weapons, but the committee criticized
the government's handling of intelligence findings, saying it resulted
in Prime Minister Tony Blair's unknowingly misinforming Parliament." ...
"The committee is one of two parliamentary panels looking into allegations
that the government may have exaggerated the threat posed by Iraq before
the war. The other, an intelligence panel, will take its testimony behind
closed doors and submit its report to the prime minister for revisions
before making it public." -NYTimes
via -Google-News
-
-
- "Iraq
weapons claims criticised: Claims about Iraq's
weapons were given too much weight by the government, MPs have ruled -
but they have cleared media chief Alastair Campbell of "sexing up" intelligence."
... "The all-party foreign affairs committee says a suggestion that Iraq
could deploy chemical and biological weapons within 45 minutes should not
have been given such prominence by the government." ... "But in their 54-page
verdict on how ministers made the case for war in Iraq, the MPs - in a
split decision - say Mr Campbell did not make changes to a dossier on Iraq's
weapons, as alleged in a BBC report." ... "In another finding upon which
the committee were divided, the report says ministers did not mislead parliament
over Iraq's weapons."-BBC/News
-
- "Blair
furious at BBC's attack on integrity." ... "Both
Downing Street and the BBC were standing firm over their interpretation
of the Radio 4 Today programme story by defence correspondent Andrew Gilligan
on May 29, which alleged that intelligence officials were unhappy about
the September 2002 dossier." ... "Downing Street insisted it had been accused
of lying in Mr Gilligan's report by deliberately inserting information
that Saddam Hussein could launch a biological or chemical weapons strike
within 45 minutes." -FT.com
-
-
- "Nuke
component unearthed in Baghdad back yard: U.S.
officials: Find is not smoking gun." ... "The CIA has in its hands the
critical parts of a key piece of Iraqi nuclear technology -- parts needed
to develop a bomb program -- that were dug up in a back yard in Baghdad,
CNN has learned." ... "The parts, with accompanying plans, were unearthed
by Iraqi scientist Mahdi Obeidi who had hidden them under a rose bush in
his garden 12 years ago under orders from Qusay Hussein and Saddam Hussein's
then son-in-law, Hussein Kamel." ... "U.S. officials emphasized this was
not evidence Iraq had a nuclear weapon -- but it was evidence the Iraqis
concealed plans to reconstitute their nuclear program as soon as the world
was no longer looking." -CNN
-
-
- "Sources:
U.S. planned to kill bin Laden before 9/11:
When President Bush took office in January 2001, the White House was told
that Predator drones had recently spotted Osama bin Laden as many as three
times and officials were urged to arm the unmanned planes with missiles
to kill the al-Qaeda leader." ... "But the administration failed to get
drones back into the Afghan skies until after the September 11 attacks
later that year, current and former U.S. officials say."
-AP via -CNN
-
- July
4th News
- "Texas
Terror Worries: Report: Terrorists Possibly
Targeting Lone Star State." ... "Federal homeland security officials have
informed Texas law enforcement agencies of intelligence reportedly gathered
from suspected al Qaeda operatives discussing potential terrorism in the
state next month." ... "Homeland security officials are reviewing the information
eavesdropped earlier this month from two suspected al Qaeda operatives
discussing potential terrorism in Texas timed for the July Fourth weekend,
unnamed officials in Washington told the Houston Chronicle on Monday."
-AP via -ABCNEWS.com
- "Al Qaeda in
America: The Enemy Within: How the terrorist
organization is recruiting and planning strikes here in the U.S." ... "Khalid
Shaikh Mohammed looked more like a loser in a T shirt than a modern-day
Mephistopheles. But “KSM,” as he is always referred to in FBI documents,
held the key to unlock the biggest mystery of the war on terror: is Al
Qaeda operating inside America?" ... "The answer according to KSM's confessions
and the intense U.S. investigation that followed, is yes." ... "KSM revealed
an overhaul of Al Qaeda’s approach to penetrating America. The 9-11 hijackers
were all foreign nationals—mostly Saudis, led by an Egyptian—who infiltrated
the United States by obtaining student or tourist visas. To foil the heightened
security after 9-11, Al Qaeda began to rely on operatives who would be
harder to detect. They recruited U.S. citizens or people with legitimate
Western passports who could move freely in the United States. They used
women and family members as “support personnel.” And they made an effort
to find African-American Muslims who would be sympathetic to Islamic extremism.
Using “mosques, prisons and universities throughout the United States,”
according to the documents, KSM reached deep into the heartland, lining
up agents in Baltimore, Columbus, Ohio, and Peoria, Ill. The Feds have
uncovered at least one KSM-run cell that could have done grave damage to
the United States." -By Daniel Klaidman, Mark Hosenball,
Michael Isikoff, and Evan Thomas, with Kevin Peraino, Steve Tuttle, Holly
Bailey, Suzanne Smalley and Sarah Downey 20030623
Ed. -Newsweekvia
-MSNBC
-
-
- "U.S. stands
by Iraq intelligence." ... "A senior Pentagon official
on Wednesday pointedly dismissed mounting criticism that U.S. military
officials might have manipulated intelligence to bolster an administration
argument for war with Iraq. The reports amounted to "urban legend" based
on a "goulash of inaccuracies," he said. Those strong comments from Douglas
Feith, undersecretary of defense for policy, came amid reports that the
Central Intelligence Agency had begun an internal review to see whether
a major, top-secret U.S. intelligence report last autumn had overstated
the threat from Iraqi weapons programs." ... "The agency's prewar analyses
- including the finding in the secret October report that Iraq had biological
and chemical weapons and was working to restart a nuclear program - have
been questioned by some intelligence officials and lawmakers. House and
Senate committees are planning inquiries." -By Brian
Knowlton -IHT.com
-
- "Rumsfeld
Denies 'False Pretext' for Iraq War." ... "Defense
Secretary Donald Rumsfeld denied on Thursday that the Iraq war was waged
under a false pretext even though U.S. search teams have failed to find
the chemical and biological weapons cited as justification for the invasion."
... "During a radio interview, Rumsfeld expressed fresh confidence that
such weapons of mass destruction would be found in Iraq, and offered several
explanations for why they have not been located." -By
Will Dunham -Reuters
-
-
- "Report
links Iraqi trailers to weapons." ... "A report from
two US intelligence agencies yesterday said a pair of Iraqi trailers filled
with laboratory equipment was the best evidence that Saddam Hussein's government
had a biological weapons program." ... "Although they still lack solid
evidence of any biological, chemical, or nuclear weapons in Iraq, the Central
Intelligence Agency and the Defense Intelligence Agency concluded in a
six-page ''white paper'' that each trailer was part of a larger two- or
three-trailer facility for production of the weapons." ... "But the report,
which comes more than six weeks after the Pentagon declared an end to major
combat operations in Iraq, also underscored that US officials have been
unable to prove their assertions that the Hussein regime developed weapons
of mass destruction. Although they have found circumstantial evidence to
suggest a possible program, US officials have not yet uncovered actual
weapons." -By Robert Schlesinger
-Boston/Globe
-
-
-
-
- "U.S.
and Russia Press Iran on Al Qaeda, Weapons:
Concerns Mount Over Nuclear Facilities, Influence in Iraq; Some at Pentagon
Urging Intervention." ... "The Bush administration kept up pressure against
Iran yesterday, saying that the Islamic republic's claims of cracking down
on al Qaeda within its borders were inadequate and expressing continued
concern about Iran's pursuit of nuclear weapons." ... "Some administration
officials, especially at the Pentagon, are urging the administration to
adopt steps to destabilize the Iranian government in the wake of unconfirmed
intelligence reports that suggested al Qaeda operatives in Iran helped
plan the May 12 suicide bombing attacks against residential compounds in
Riyadh, Saudi Arabia." -By Glenn Kessler-WashingtonPost
-
-
- "Arms teams
seek new information: Frustrated hunters move
away from outdated Iraqi intelligence." ... "Frustrated weapons hunters
are turning away from outdated U.S. intelligence leads, which have failed
to turn up any evidence of chemical, biological or nuclear arms in Iraq
after 10 weeks. Teams are now moving toward their own intelligence gathering,
based on interviews with Iraqi scientists, factory workers and even neighbors
who lived near shadowy operations once run by Saddam Hussein." -AP
via -MSNBC
-
-
-
-
- "Prewar
Views of Iraq Threat Are Under Review by C.I.A.."
... "The Central Intelligence Agency has begun a review to try to determine
whether the American intelligence community erred in its prewar assessments
of Saddam Hussein's government and Iraq's weapons programs, several officials
say." ... "The director of central intelligence, George J. Tenet, has named
a team of retired C.I.A. officers to scour the classified intelligence
reports that were circulated inside the government before the war on a
range of issues related to Iraq, including those concerning Bagdhad's links
to terrorism and unconventional weapons, officials said. The team plans
to compare those reports with what has actually been discovered in Iraq
since the war ended." ... "The review will encompass reports produced by
the Central Intelligence Agency, the National Intelligence Council, the
Defense Intelligence Agency and other agencies, and is the first internal
review of Iraq-related intelligence since the war ended in April, officials
said." -By James Risen
-NYTimes
-
-
- 
- 
- "Iraqi
Documents on Israel Surface on a Cultural Hunt."
... "What began today as a hunt for an ancient Jewish [Talmud] text at
secret police headquarters here wound up unearthing a trove of Iraqi intelligence
documents and maps relating to Israel as well as offers of sales of uranium
and other nuclear material to Iraq." ... "In one huge room in the flooded
basement of the building, American soldiers from MET Alpha, the "mobile
exploitation team" that has been searching for nuclear, biological and
chemical
weapons in Iraq for the past three months, found maps featuring terrorist
strikes against Israel dating to 1991." -By Judith
Miller -NYTimes
via -AltaVista-News
-
-
- "Failed
hostage rescue raises worries: 'I fear for
my son's life,' mom says of man held in Colombia." ... "Rosano, whose son,
Marc Gonsalves, of Big Pine Key [Florida], is one of three Americans kidnapped
by Colombian rebels three months ago, said in a telephone interview with
The Herald that she feared for her son's life because hostages have been
told that attempts to free them will be fatal -- just as it was for the
victims of the botched operation." ... "Gonsalves and the two other American
defense contractors taken Feb. 13 are apparently alive. But the body count
from Monday's rescue operation for other captives -- 10 hostages dead,
including a governor -- has mothers around Colombia clamoring for the government
to approve prisoner swaps that could free dozens of captives held by the
Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia." -By France
Robles with contributions by Tim Johnson-Miami/Herald
-
-
-
- "White
House refuses to release Sept. 11 info." ... "The
Bush administration and the nation's intelligence agencies are blocking
the release of sensitive information about the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks
on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, delaying publication of a 900-page
congressional report on how the terrorist assault happened." ... "Intelligence
officials insist the information must be kept secret for national security
reasons.
But some of the information is already broadly available on the Internet
or has been revealed in interim reports on the investigation, leading to
charges that the administration is simply trying to avoid enshrining embarrassing
details in the report." -By Frank Davies with contributions
by James Kuhnhenn -Knight Riddervia-Miami/Herald
-
-
-
- "From
Iraq's secret files, a trail of mass murder." ...
"Over the past few days, the US Army has taken custody of hundreds of thousands
of Iraqi secret-police files. The dossiers - an impeccable detailing of
two decades of mass murder reminiscent of the meticulous recordkeeping
of Hitler's Germany or Stalinist Russia - could contain crucial evidence
in any trial that former President Saddam Hussein or his top officials
might face." ... "Already the files have yielded fragments of Iraq's secret
past. The group of former prisoners who gathered the documents have so
far gleaned the names of more than 5,500 prisoners who were executed, according
to the files. The Committee of Free Prisoners has posted them on the walls
of its makeshift headquarters by the Tigris River. Every day, thousands
of ordinary men and women crowd around the rosters, seeking names of missing
relatives." -By Peter Ford
-CSMonitor
-
- "Patterns
of Global Terrorism 2002." ... "Patterns
of Global Terrorism." -Counterterrorism
Office -Releases -State.gov
- 
- 
- "Higher
Espionage: The CIA finds a warmer reception
on campus since 9/11, as it openly seeks scholars' expertise. But critics
say such close ties compromise academic values." ... "The promise of closer
university/CIA ties is a better-informed government, perhaps resulting
in a US foreign policy that is wiser or more grounded. But concerns abound
- especially when it comes to preserving the standard of scholarly objectivity
and meeting the CIA's demand for secrecy." ... "... many on campus voice
concern about the lifetime secrecy agreements scholars must sign in order
to see classified material. From then on, they must submit for agency review
anything that bears on the topics covered by the pact." -By
Mark Clayton -CSMonitor
-
-
- "Evidence
of Al Qaeda spy ring in key Afghan roles: US
and Afghan forces raided Amniat offices in Khost in March. The ensuing
investigation shows key papers are in Al Qaeda hands." ... "For the past
year, Hazratuddin Habibi has been the intelligence chief of Khost, appointed
by President Hamid Karzai to keep an eye on Taliban or Al Qaeda activities
in this crucial province along the Pakistani border." ... "Hazratuddin,
a former intelligence chief for the Taliban known by his first name, was
certainly qualified for the job. But colleagues in the central government's
intelligence agency, Amniat, and in other military departments began to
notice that raids on Taliban hideouts were coming up empty. Arrests of
Al Qaeda suspects went awry. It occurred to local political leaders as
well as intelligence and military officials that Hazratuddin may be a double
agent." -By Scott Baldauf
-CSMonitor
 |
-
-
- "US
seizes Saddam's deputy." ... "Tariq Aziz, the most
internationally recognised face of the fallen Iraqi regime after Saddam
Hussein himself, was in US custody last night after surrendering to American
forces, Pentagon officials said." ... "Mr Aziz, the eight of spades in
the Pentagon's deck of cards, is unlikely to possess information about
weapons of mass destruction or Saddam's current whereabouts, intelligence
experts said." ... "However, the fact that Mr Aziz had been found alive
increased the chances that Saddam and his sons were also still alive. He
might also possess explosive information on the extent of past support
for the regime in the west." -By Oliver Burkeman
-Guardian.co.uk
Search
Iraq News - Search
Google:
 |
 |
|
-
-
- "Spymaster
among 4 officials arrested." ... "The detentions
of Muzahim Sa'b Hassan Tikriti, who headed Iraq's air defenses, General
Zuhayr Talib Abdul Sattar Naqib, the former military intelligence chief,
and Mohammed Mahdi Salih, the former trade minister, bring to 14 the number
of former officials on the 55-name wanted list who are in custody or believed
killed." ... "A fourth Iraqi captured Wednesday is not on the list but
will be of keen interest to U.S. investigators - Salim Said Khalaf Jumaylia,
former director of American operations for Iraq's intelligence agency.
He is suspected of having knowledge of Iraqi intelligence activities in
the United States, including names of people spying for Iraq, said the
U.S. Central Command spokesman, Jim Wilkinson." ... "As Baghdad struggles
to recover from war, U.S. officials bluntly denied [Mohammed Mohsen] Zubaidi's
claims that he has U.S. military support for his quest to serve as unelected
mayor." -AP,
-Reuters, and -NYTimes
via -IHT.com
-
-
- "Al
Qaeda Fractured: Sources: U.S. Intelligence
Finds Bin Laden’s Network Splintered, Ineffective." ... "Analysts who track
al Qaeda for the intelligence community believe that evidence is mounting
that the terrorist organization may lack the command and control, the resources
and coordination to conduct an operation of the same magnitude as 9/11."
... "The assessment is not unanimous within the intelligence and law enforcement
communities, though. Some U.S. national security officials have told ABCNEWS
that they believe that, despite the arrests of top operatives such as Shaikh
Mohammad, al Qaeda remains a potent force and a threat to American citizens."
-ABCNEWS.com
-
- "Iraqi Shiite
strength surprises U.S.: Rise of anti-U.S.,
fundamentalist government a possibility." ... "As Iraqi Shiite demands
for a dominant role in Iraq’s future mount, Bush administration officials
say they underestimated the Shiites’ organizational strength and are unprepared
to prevent the rise of an anti-American, Islamic fundamentalist government
in the country." ... "Some U.S. intelligence analysts and Iraq experts
said they warned the Bush administration before the war about vanquishing
Hussein’s government without having anything to replace it. But officials
said the concerns were either not heard or fell too low on the priority
list of postwar planning." -By Glenn Kessler and Dana
Priest -WashingtonPost
via -MSNBC
-
-
- "U.S. warns
Iran about interference: White House alleges
agents operating in Iraq." ... "The White House on Wednesday warned Iran
not to interfere with U.S. efforts to rebuild Iraq after the downfall of
Saddam Hussein. “We have concerns about Iranian agents in Iraq,” White
House spokesman Ari Fleischer said. “We have made clear to Iran we oppose
any outside interference in Iraq’s road to democracy.”" ... "Shiites, who
comprise 60 percent of the Iraq population, already have asserted de facto
control over several cities in the south, filling an administrative vacuum
and nimbly moving ahead of the U.S. drive to form a transitional central
government." -By Robert Windrem, Ron Allen with -AP,
-Reuters via -MS-NBC
-
-
-
- "US
warns Syria over Iraq: United States Defence
Secretary Donald Rumsfeld has once again attacked Syria, this time accusing
it of helping Saddam Hussein's key supporters escape Iraq." ... "He said
the US has "scraps of intelligence" Damascus is helping some Iraqis move
to Syria, from where a number are moving on to other places." ... "On Wednesday,
Mr Rumsfeld also repeated earlier charges that Syria had facilitated the
movement of military equipment and people into Iraq to help fight US and
British forces." -BBC/News
-
- "Marines
find bloodstained U.S. uniforms." ... "U.S. Marines
raiding an Iraqi military prison in Baghdad found bloodstained uniforms
belonging to at least two American prisoners-of-war, officers here said
Tuesday." ... "The Marines attacked a sprawling 54,000 square foot compound
at Rashid airfield in the southeastern corner of the city after receiving
intelligence reports that up to seven POWs were being held there." -By
David J. Lynch -USATODAY
-
-
- "Saddam’s
Voice? Intercept Believed to Be of Saddam’s
Voice Led to Airstrike; Heavy Fighting in Baghdad." ... "U.S. intelligence
intercepts, including one believed to be of Saddam Hussein talking to his
advisers about how to flee the capital city, led to a U.S. "leadership
strike" on an upscale Baghdad neighborhood, ABCNEWS has learned." ... "One
intelligence intercept, believed to have been carried out by the NSA (National
Security Agency), indicated that a person who may have been the Iraqi leader
was having a conversation with his advisers about how and when they could
leave Baghdad." -Contributions by Richard Engel, John
Donvan, John McWethy, Martha Raddatz, and Don Dahler -ABCNEWS.com
-
- "Troops ignore Saddam
death report: Marines: ‘Sure — Osama and Jimmy
Hoffa were there, too!’" ... "U.S. officials said they had intelligence
information from an extremely reliable source Monday that Saddam and other
top Iraqi leaders, including at least one of his sons, were meeting at
a building in the upscale Al Mansour neighborhood of Baghdad." ... "Acting
on the tip, a lone U.S. B-1 bomber dropped four 2,000-pound “bunker buster”
bombs on what U.S. officials described as a residence." -By
Chip Reid -MSNBC