Iraq dismissed Wednesday U.S. attempts to establish a link between Osama bin Laden and Baghdad as no more than a pretext for the White House to launch an attack.
"The desperate bid by the US administration to establish a connection between Iraq and al-Qaeda is part of a policy to find an excuse to launch an offensive against Iraq," Salem al-Qubaissi, head of an Iraqi parliamentary committee on international affairs, was quoted as saying.
On Tuesday, U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell said that a statement by Bin Laden had indicated further links between global terrorism and Iraq. Powell told the Senate Budget Committee that earlier in the day he had read a transcript "of what bin Laden, or who we believe to be bin Laden, will be saying on Al Jazeera during the course of the day."
Powell told lawmakers they would "be seeing this as the day unfolds, where once again he speaks to the people of Iraq and talks about their struggle and how he is in partnership with Iraq." "This nexus between terrorists and states that are developing weapons of mass destruction can no longer be looked away from and ignored," Powell aired.
Meanwhile, a German government spokesman said Wednesday that the new audio tape presumably of bin Laden's voice did not point to close links between the al Qaeda network and Iraq. "From what is known so far, we don't think we can conclude that there is evidence of an axis or close link between the regime in Baghdad and al Qaeda," the spokesman told a news conference. (Albawaba.com)
© 2003 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
