Phil Taylor's papers
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BACK TO : PROPAGANDA 'OWN GOALS' IN THE GWOT
No proof Saddam armed al-Qaida by D Campbell 
No proof Saddam armed al-Qaida, says CIA Duncan Campbell in Los Angeles Monday November 17, 2003 The Guardian The CIA has found no evidence that Saddam Hussein tried to transfer chemical or biological weapons or technology to al-Qaida or any other groups, according to a new American report. The details of the CIA's findings were published as the domestic political debate over how long US troops will remain in Iraq intensified. The report by Anthony Cordesman, a senior fellow at the Centre for Strategic and International Studies, was compiled from briefings in the past two weeks by David Kay, the CIA representative leading the search for unconventional weapons in Iraq, Paul Bremer, the US civil administrator, and military personnel. "No evidence of any Iraqi effort to transfer weapons of mass destruction or weapons to terrorists," Mr Cordesman wrote of Mr Kay's briefing. According to the report, details of which were published in the Washington Post yesterday, Mr Kay said that Iraq "did order nuclear equipment from 1999 on, but no evidence [has turned up] of [a] new major facility to use it." Mr Kay added that he had located Iraqi biological work "under cover of new agricultural facility" that indicated "advances in developing dry storable powder forms of botulinum toxin". The report concluded that 95% of current attacks on coalition forces came from former Saddam loyalists, with some assistance from fighters from Syria, Saudi Arabia and Iran. Money looted from the central bank in Iraq in the regime's dying days may be financing the attackers' activities, the report suggested. "At least $1bn [was] still unaccounted for," it said. The briefings indicate that Saddam is "cut off, isolated, moving constantly [and has] no real role in control." Mr Bremer also told CNN that there was no evidence that Saddam was coordinating the attacks. |
EXHIBITS Cordesman.pdf  |