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Cia denies any iraqi alqaida meeting { June 22 2004 } Original Source Link: (May no longer be active)    http://www.newsday.com/news/nationworld/nation/ny-uscia223863038jun22,0,6059318.story?coll=ny-nationalnews-headlines http://www.newsday.com/news/nationworld/nation/ny-uscia223863038jun22,0,6059318.story?coll=ny-nationalnews-headlines CIA: No Iraqi officer link in al-Qaida meeting White House official denies commissioner's statement that tied Saddam's Fedayeen unit to al-Qaida By Knut Royce Washington Bureau June 22, 2004 WASHINGTON -- The CIA concluded "a long time ago" that an al-Qaida associate who met with two of the Sept. 11 hijackers in Malaysia was not an officer in Saddam Hussein's army, as alleged Sunday by a Republican member of the 9/11 commission. Commissioner John Lehman, who was Navy secretary under Ronald Reagan, said "new ... documents" indicated that "at least one officer of Saddam's Fedayeen," an elite army unit, "was a very prominent member of al-Qaida." Lehman's remarks on NBC's "Meet the Press" lent support to the Bush administration's insistence that there were strong ties between Hussein and al-Qaida. The administration official said the CIA and U.S. Army obtained the lists of members of the Fedayeen shortly after the invasion of Iraq last year. Some, he said, had names "similar to" Ahmad Hikmat Shakir. But, he said, the CIA had concluded "a long time ago" that none were the al-Qaida associate. He would not say whether the al-Qaida associate is in U.S. custody. Other sources said he was not. A report last week by the 10-member commission concluded that al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden had "explored possible cooperation" with Iraq and that there had been contacts between Iraq and al-Qaida, but that these did not result in a "collaborative relationship." Lehman said that, since the report was issued, new intelligence had arrived "from the interrogations in Guantanamo and Iraq and from captured documents. ... Some of these documents indicate that there is at least one officer of Saddam's Fedayeen, a lieutenant colonel, who was a very prominent member of al-Qaida." His comments were made after Vice President Dick Cheney, the administration's strongest advocate of an alleged link between Hussein and al-Qaida, said in an interview Friday that he, Cheney, "probably" saw intelligence not reviewed by the Sept. 11 commission. In alleging that a Hussein army officer was an al-Qaida operative, Lehman also acknowledged that the claim "still has not been confirmed" by the commission. But he insisted that Cheney "was right when he said he may have things we [the commission] don't have yet." An administration official familiar with the CIA intelligence on the matter identified the al-Qaida associate who met with hijackers Khalid al Midhar and Nawar al Hazmi in Kula Lampur, Malaysia, in early 2000 as Ahmad Hikmat Shakir al-Azzawi. Some of the early planning for Sept. 11 allegedly occurred at the meeting. Lehman could not be reached for comment. Commission spokesman Jonathan Stull said the commission staff was looking into the allegations and, if deemed credible, they would be included in the final report to be released in July. The claim that the Iraqi officer and al-Qaida figure are the same first appeared in a Wall Street Journal editorial on May 27. A similar account was then published in the June 7 edition of the Weekly Standard, which reported that the link was discovered by an analyst working for a controversial Pentagon intelligence unit under Douglas Feith, undersecretary of defense for policy. Copyright © 2004, Newsday, Inc.

911 panel changes mind on iraq alqaeda link Alqaeda connections { January 30 2003 } Alqaida leaders deny iraq connection { June 9 2003 } Alqaida tie iraq militants Alqeda nerve gas iraq { December 12 2002 } Bush admin saddam 911 attacks Bush says no evidence linking 911 { September 17 2003 } Cia denies any iraqi alqaida meeting { June 22 2004 } Comission says no iraq alqaeda ties although pressed { July 23 2004 } Doubts on iraq alqaeda connection { June 22 2003 } Europe terror based iraq Evidence linking alqaeda soft { January 31 2003 } Expert no link alqaeda iraq { February 6 2003 } Hussein 911 link lingers many minds { September 6 2003 } Intelligence linking iraq intentionally misled says DIA Iraq 9 11 Iraq alqaeda proof Iraq alqaeda { August 21 2002 } Iraq files show alqaeda link { April 27 2003 } Iraq speech ties 911 { May 1 2003 } No prague meeting with atta and iraqi intelligence bureau { June 16 2004 } No prewar saddam alqaeda ties says senate panel { September 8 2006 } Northern iraq alqeada Pentagon contradicts cheneys iraq alqaeda claims { April 6 2007 } Powell sees no saddam 911 link { September 13 2004 } Powell ties saddam alqaeda { January 27 2003 } Rumsfeld backs off alqaeda iraq link Rumsfeld questioned on iraq alqaeda connection { May 5 2006 } Saddam atta link dubious Sept 11 panel repeats iraq osama tie weak Whitehouse inflated terror ties says senator Files Listed: 31

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