Did Al-Qaeda Plant Evidence to Provoke Iraq Invasion?
A senior al-Qaeda operative deliberately planted
information to lure the U.S. into invading Iraq, according to a double agent who
said he spent years working inside the terror network.
A senior al-Qaeda operative deliberately planted information to lure the U.S. into invading Iraq, according to a double agent who said he spent years working inside the terror network.
The informer, a Moroccan who uses the pseudonym Omar Nasiri, made the assertion in an interview with the British Broadcasting Corporation’s Newsnight program. His true identity wasn’t disclosed and his face was hidden.
Nasiri said Ibn Sheikh al-Libi, a leading al-Qaeda figure who was captured by U.S. forces in late 2001, falsely told his interrogators that al-Qaeda was training Iraqis. U.S. officials subsequently suggested there were links between al-Qaeda and Saddam Hussein in the lead up to the March 2003 invasion of Iraq.
Al-Libi lied because he wanted to make a Muslim country the base for a jihad by provoking a U.S. invasion and he considered Iraq the best option, Nasiri said. Nasiri said he heard al-Libi outlining his belief that Iraq was the best country for the jihad in a meeting at a mosque months before his capture.
This is making the rounds, lately. The only counter to it — so far — has been from “analysts” whining about which media sources have carried the story.
Posted: Fri - November 17, 2006 at 10:04 PM