No, actually you should read this report. You can find it here... (it's on the right hand side- BIG pdf!)
I think you should read it because anything the current administration doesn't want you to easily access must be GOOD stuff. I mean, they canceled a press conference about the release of the report so as to avoid being asked questions about it. So read it-- get informed about what is in this report and perhaps more importantly, what is NOT in this report. Then ask questions... ask Congressmen what they think of the report...ask journalists to ask questions of administration officials...keep asking.
The title of the paper is Iraqi Perspectives Project (Saddam and Terrorism: Emerging Insights from Captured Iraqi Documents), Volume 1, and it was originally published in January 2007 by the Joint Advanced Warfighting Program, part of the Institute for Defense Analysis (IDA). The authors were asked by the Pentagon to redact material from the report at that time, and the new version was published in November of 2007. This is the version that was just (sort of) released to the public. Its reported purpose:
Volume 1 examines the relationships between the regime of Saddam Hussein and terrorism in its local, regional, and global context (vii).
There are 5 volumes in total-- volumes 2-4 are English translations and summaries of the Iraqi documents used in Volume 1 and Volume 5 is additional background and supporting documents. All of this was designed to be used to develop operational and strategic lessons from OPERATION IRAQI FREEDOM. All of the information contained in the paper comes from a Department of Defense database called Harmony (harmony?), an archive of 600,000 captured Iraqi documents and thousands of hours of audio and video footage. Interestingly, only ~ 15 percent of the documents had been translated for the paper, and there is no indication of how much progress has been made toward completion of that (My guess--many things that did not support the administrations positions on Saddam have not and might never make it to translation for this project...oh, and they'd fired most the translators for being something other than straight).
The Saddam and Terrorism (Vol.1) report has four main sections:
1. Terror as an Instrument of State Power
2. State Relationships with Terrorist Groups
3. Iraq and Terrorism: 3 Cases
4. The Business of Terror
What follows is a summary of the first section...
From the Executive Summary there are only two pieces of information that stand out to me: 1. Saddam Hussein supported a mix of pan-Arab revolutionary causes and
emerging pan-Islamic radical movements when he believed it helped
Iraq's goals. commentary: This was not new info... this is part of the Ba'ath movement "platform."
2. No "smoking gun" was found (no direct connection) between Saddam and al
Queda.
TERROR AS AN INSTRUMENT OF STATE POWER
There was infrastructure in place for state terrorism:
+ The Iraqi regime used its paramilitary training camps (the Fedayeen Saddam)to train terrorists for use both inside and outside Iraq-primarily in Europe and the Middle East.
+ Uday Hussain (Saddam's oldest son) was the head of the Fedayeen Saddam and orders for terrorist operations were given by him to various planners for execution.
* Plans included bombings and executions; targets were most likely Iraqi exiles (Ahmed Chalibi is listed specifically for elimination.).
+ The Iraqi Intelligence Service (ITS) stockpiled weapons at many of its embassies. A list was compiled for Saddam in July 2002:
(from p.3)
Romania--missile launcher and missile
Athens (Greece)--Explosive charges
Vienna (Austria)--Explosive charges, rifles with silencers, hand grenades, and Kalashnikov rifles
Pakistan-- explosive materials of TNT
India-- plastic explosive charges and booby-trapped suitcases
Thailand-- plastic explosive charges and booby-trapped suitcases
Prague (Czech)-- missile launcher and missile
Turkey-- missile launcher, missile, and pistols with silencers
Sana'a (Yemen)-- missile launcher, missile, plastic explosives, and explosive charges
Baka (Azerbaijan)-- American missile launcher, plastic explosives, and explosive charges
Beirut (Lebanon)-- American missile launcher, plastic explosives, and explosive charges
Gulf nations-- explosive material outside the embassies
Later, there was concern about these caches being incriminating (in excess of any requirement for embassy security) and orders were given by Saddam to dispose of some of the weapons.
+ The IIS maintained research and production facilities for high-tech bombs and weapon components, including car bombs and suicide vests.
*Some interesting specifics from page 5: explosives in one bomb were disguised as detergent packets and the detonator was hidden in a pack of cigarettes.
There was state sponsorship of suicide operations:
+ Suicide operations became an increasingly popular weapon in Saddam's arsenal in the decade before OPERATION IRAQI FREEDOM
+ There is a document that references a specific government policy from 1998:
Through the process of training, it is possible to select those suitable for suicide operations and those who truly wish to volunteer for suicide operations, given that their trainings will take place during the summer vacation of schools and universities.(p.9)
+ There were programs designed to recruit volunteers (local Ba'ath leaders competed among themselves to provide suicide bombers) to use their bodies as a means to deliver weapons
+ There is a letter from an Iraqi Army major volunteering to be part of a suicide operation against coalition troops soon after the start of OPERATION IRAQI FREEDOM.
+ There is documentation of a successful suicide operation in the form of a pension request from a widow whose husband "carried out a suicide mission on 19 July 2000, and exploded himself at the Ibn Sina Hotel"-- most likely in the Kurdish area of Northern Iraq--an assignment given to him by the General Commander of the Fedayeen Saddam.
Now, some observations on the above...
- There was NO mention of attacking the United States anywhere!
- Having said that, Saddam Hussein still comes off as a bad guy using terrible methods to get what he wanted for himself and the Ba'ath party, and by extension, Iraq as he wanted it.
- The areas of main focus for Saddam seemed to have been specific Iraqi exiles who were seen as traitors. Most of these exiles were living in European countries.
- There was no mention of attacking the United States anywhere!
Okay, what else? Anybody else started reading this? What do you think about this first section?
I will do Parts 2-4 in the days to come... hope you're reading and ready to discuss!