Secret Iraqi intelligence documents found in Baghdad have provided the first evidence of a direct link between Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda network and Saddam Hussein's regime, Britain's Sunday Telegraph newspaper reported.
It said it had found files Saturday in the bombed headquarters of the Mukhabarat, the Iraqi intelligence service, which showed that an al-Qaeda envoy was invited secretly to Baghdad in March 1998.
The goal of the meeting was to establish a relationship between the Iraqi regime and al-Qaeda, the Sunday Telegraph said.
The meeting ended with arrangements being discussed for bin Laden to visit Baghdad, but the documents did not mention if any such trip eventually took place, according to the London weekly.
One file found by the paper referred to a planned trip from Sudan by an unnamed al-Qaeda delegate. An accompanying letter said the envoy was a trusted confidant of bin Laden.
It added: "We suggest permission to call the Khartoum station" - an apparent reference to Iraq's intelligence office in Sudan - "to facilitate the travel arrangements for the above mentioned person to Iraq ... and that our body carry all the travel and hotel costs inside Iraq to gain the knowledge of the message from bin Laden and to convey to his envoy an oral message from us to bin Laden."
The letter said that the message to be sent to bin Laden "would relate to the future of our relationship with him ... and to achieve a direct meeting with him." (Albawaba.com)
© 2003 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
