- BAGHDAD (AFP) - Iraq has
denied any link with the al-Qaeda terror network, pointing to a profound
ideological divide, and in turn accused the United States of sponsoring
the hardline Taliban regime in Afghanistan.
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- "Everybody in the region and in the world knows
Iraq has no connection with al-Qaeda," Iraqi Deputy Prime Minister
Tareq Aziz repeated late Wednesday
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- "Until now, this false accusation was repeated many
times and no evidence was presented," Aziz said.
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- Culture Minister Hamed Yussef Hammadi also dismissed
accusations of Iraqi links with al-Qaeda, saying "this is a complete
fabrication by the Bush government."
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- "We have nothing to do with al-Qaeda, we have nothing
to do with the Taliban which came to power in Afghanistan in 1996, with
the help and encouragement of the US government.
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- "Since 1996 till the fall of Taliban, Iraq has not
recognised the Taliban government, we do not agree with most of their political
motives and we have no relation whatsoever with them," Hammadi said.
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- "Their position when we entered Kuwait was against
Iraq, so how can we, the Iraqis, who believe in freedom, who believe in
an ideology that is quite different from the ideology of Taliban have any
relation with them?"
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- Prime suspect in the 9/11 New York and Washington terrorist
attacks and branded by the FBI as an "international terrorist"
for his role in the US embassy bombings in Kenya and Tanzania, Osama bin
Laden was recruited during the Soviet-Afghan war under the auspices of
the CIA to fight Soviet invaders.
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- Saudi-born Bin Laden supported Kuwait during its invasion
by Iraq in August 1990, proposing to Saudi leaders to recruit 5,000 Mujahedin,
or Islamic fighters, from Afghanistan to help in the fight against Iraq.
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- Internet sites close to the al-Qaeda movement have always
made the difference between their empathy for the Iraqi people suffering
under 12 years of crippling UN sanctions and the "infidel" regime
of Saddam Hussein.
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- Islamists consider the Iraqi regime completely illegitimate
and the "absolute enemy," argues Islamic studies expert Francois
Burgat.
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- In his State of the Union speech to the Congress and
the nation Tuesday, Bush said that Iraq was aiding terrorists.
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- "Evidence from intelligence sources, secret communications
and statements by people now in custody reveal that Saddam Hussein aids
and protects terrorists, including members of al-Qaeda," Bush said.
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- For his part, British Prime Minister Tony Blair said
Wednesday: "We do know of links between al-Qaeda and Iraq. We cannot
be sure of the exact extent of those links."
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- He added that he knew of no evidence linking the two
in relation to the September 11, 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center
and the Pentagon.
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- Blair's official spokesman, at a daily Westminster press
briefing, went further, saying the British government now believed that
al-Qaeda operatives were being "sheltered" in Iraq.
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- But experts say the link between Iraq and bin Laden remains
tenuous.
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- "Saddam and Osama are very strange bedfellows,"
Marc Burgess, an expert on Middle East terrorism at the Center for Defense
Information, said after Bush's State of the Union speech.
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- "Al-Qaeda is as opposed to Iraq as they are to America,
both secular countries," Burgess said, warning, however, that Iraq
and al-Qaeda could have a tactical relationship in response to the US campaign
against terrorism.
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- "The timing could indicate Washington has some proof
of this" relationship, he said.
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- Without solid proof of the links between the two, "most
policy makers remain sceptical about it," said Warren Bass, a Middle
East specialist at the Council on Foreign Relations, a New York-based thinktank.
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- CIA Director George Tenet warned in Senate testimony
in March 2002 that Iraq and al-Qaeda's "ties may be limited by divergent
ideologies, but the two sides' mutual antipathies toward the United States
and the Saudi royal family suggest that tactical cooperation between them
is possible."
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- Near the Iranian border in Iraqi Kurdistan, which has
been out of Baghdad's control since the 1991 Gulf War, there operates a
1,000-strong Islamist group linked to al-Qaeda, Ansar al-Islam, which mainstream
Kurdish parties say is supported by Baghdad.
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