Saddam Trying to Capture Zarqawi

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Thursday March 16, 2006 · 3:14 PM PST

2006/03/16 · 15:14

Bush often cited the presence of Abu Musab Zarqawi in Iraq as a reason to invade that country. He suggested that Saddam was harboring Zarqawi and had even arranged medical care for him.

But recently declassified documents from the captured Iraqi archives show that Saddam, in fact, ordered his agents "to be on the lookout" for Zarqawi in 2002.

So, Saddam was not only not harboring Zarqawi, but actively trying to capture him.

From ABCNews

Iraqi documents collected by U.S. intelligence during the Iraq war and released by the Bush administration show Saddam Hussein's regime was investigating "rumors" that 3,000 Iraqis and Saudis had traveled unofficially to Afghanistan after the Sept. 11 attacks to fight U.S. troops.

Many were in Arabic with no English translation including one the administration said showed that Iraqi intelligence officials suspected al-Qaida members were inside Iraq in 2002.

However, one of the documents translated by The Associated Press, a letter from an Iraqi intelligence official, dated Aug. 17, 2002, asked agents in the country to be on the lookout for Abu Musab al-Zarqawi and another unnamed man whose picture was attached.
The letter said there were reports the two could be in Iraq and directed Iraqi security officials to be on the alert as a matter of "top priority."

Of course Saddam didn't support Al Qaeda. Why on earth would Hussein's secular Baath regime support Islamist terrorists who would, if able, happily drive him from power?

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Saddam Trying to Capture Zarqawi

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