Iraq letter denies link to al Qaeda
From Ronni Berke
CNN New York Bureau
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Abu Mussab al Zarqawi
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| ABU MUSSAB ZARQAWI |
• Al Qaeda commander skilled in chemical and biological weapons
• Whereabouts unknown
• Received medical treatment in Baghdad last year, but coalition intelligence says it's unclear if Iraqi leadership knew
• Accused by Jordan of coordinating assassination of U.S. diplomat Laurence Foley in Amman in October 2002
• Gave chem/bio training at camp in Georgia's Pansiki Gorge to men recently arrested in Europe , intelligence sources say
• Convicted in absentia by a Jordanian court for planning to bomb tourist hotels during millennium celebrations
• Traveled through Iran, Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Turkey, and Georgia since fleeing Afghanistan. Unclear whether countries knew
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UNITED NATIONS (CNN) -- Mohamed Aldouri, Iraqi ambassador to the United Nations, said Thursday the Iraqi government has sent a letter to U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan "refuting" U.S. allegations that it still has weapons of mass destruction and supports terrorists.
He claimed the 20-page letter disproves everything U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell said to the Security Council in his presentation February 5.
Aldouri said the letter shoots down Powell's suggestion that Iraq has ties to al Qaeda, or that Iraqi officials ever met with alleged al Qaeda operative Abu Mussab al Zarqawi.
"Iraq categorically denies that we've ever seen him," Aldouri said.
Powell told the U.N. Security Council that after al Qaeda and the Taliban were ousted from Afghanistan, Zarqawi, a Jordanian national, established a camp in northeastern Iraq to train terrorists in using explosives and poisons.
Zarqawi also traveled to Baghdad for medical treatment last May, staying there for two months "while he recuperated to fight another day," Powell said.
During Zarqawi's stay in Baghdad, nearly two dozen of his associates set up a base of operations in the capital to move people, money and supplies throughout the country, said Powell. "They've now been operating freely in the capital for more than eight months," Powell said.
The United States, using another international intelligence service as an intermediary, twice gave the Iraqi government information it could have used to apprehend Zarqawi and break the Baghdad cell, but "Zarqawi still remains at large to come and go," Powell said. "From his terrorist network in Iraq, Zarqawi can direct his network in the Middle East and beyond."
Aldouri said Iraqi officials found out about Zarqawi's presence in Iraq only when they received a letter from Jordan informing them about him.
Powell also said Baghdad kept track of events at the Zarqawi's camp in the Kurdish-controlled area of northern Iraq by infiltrating Ansar al-Islam, a radical Islamic group that controls the area.
However, Aldouri said Iraq's letter to Annan also denies any Iraqi link to Ansar al-Islam. In fact, the ambassador said, the Iraqis indicated they provided military support to Jalal Talabani, the leader of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan in northern Iraq, to help in his fight against al Qaeda supporters.
