Remembering Ramzi Hashem Abed's Testimony

A friend sends along a link to Amy Proctor's site, which reminds us of a story that first appeared in 2005. In an interview on Iraqi TV, translated by the indispensable MEMRI, a captured al Qaeda terrorist named Ramzi Hashem Abed (video also available here) admitted that bin Laden had training camps inside Saddam's Iraq, prior to the U.S. war.

Here are three noteworthy sections of the interview:

(1) Abed Worked for Ansar al-Islam

Investigator: What is your full name?
Abed: Ramzi Hashem Abed.
Investigator: What is your alias?
Abed: 'Ubeidi.
Investigator: Where do you live?
Abed: Nabi Yunis in Mosul.
Investigator: What organization do you belong to?
Abed: Ansar Al-Islam.
Investigator: What organization is this?
Abed: It is Bin-Laden's group.
[...]

(2) On Attacking the Shiite Cleric Muhammad Baqer Al-Hakim

Investigator: A religious leader gave you 400 dollars? OK. Did the operation target Muhammad Baqer Al-Hakim specifically or the Al-Imam Ali mosque?
Abed: No... The people in charge, Mullah Al-Raikan and Al-Zarqawi, targeted Al-Hakim specifically.
Investigator: Why in this specific place? Why would they try to target Muhammad Baqer Al-Hakim near the Al-Imam Ali mosque? It is the mosque of the Emir of believers. Didn't you think of all the innocent people around?
Abed: There were also people from Iraqi military intelligence, from the Fidayin, and the internal security, who were also involved in this operation.
Investigator: So Mullah Raikan had ties with the old internal security and military intelligence?
Abed: And they are still in Mosul.
[...]

(3) On Al Qaeda's Training Camps Inside Saddam's Iraq

Abed: Our Ansar Al-Islam military camps were in Halabja.
Investigator: This was in the days of the previous regime?
Abed: Yes.
Investigator: And now?
Abed: Now, there is nothing. They were all scattered. The training area was in Falluja.
Investigator: And then?
Abed: After Falluja was hit, they would come through Syria to Mosul... I mean, through Falluja to Mosul.
[...]


A few notes on this story. First, we should always be careful not to put too much emphasis on any one piece of testimony. However, Ramzi Hashem Abed's testimony about al Qaeda's training camps inside Saddam's Iraq has been corroborated by a number of different sources.

Second, the 9/11 Commission noted that there were "indications" that Saddam's regime "tolerated and may even have helped" Ansar al Islam - the group Abed admitted belonging to -set up shop in Saddam's Iraq. The Commission decided not to get into the details of what these "indications" were, but clearly the CIA was piecing together these threads of evidence prior to the U.S.-led invasion. The 9/11 Commission also noted that bin Laden "is said to have asked for space to establish training camps" as early as 1994 or 1995. The Commission said "there is no evidence that Iraq responded to this request." But, that isn't true - at least it isn't now true anyway. Abed's testimony, plus all of the other links provided above point to the existence of al Qaeda training camps inside Saddam's Iraq long prior to 9/11. (This is not meant to imply, I must note, that any of the 9/11 hijackers were trained in these camps. There is no known evidence that they did.)

Third, Abed's account (in 2005) of the attack on Shiite cleric Mohammad Baqer al-Hakim (which took place in 2003) jives with earlier press accounts. For example, this account from 2003 of the attack on al-Hakim noted: "Four men, two Iraqis and two Saudis, thought to have links with Saddam Hussein's deposed regime and the Al Qaeda terror network, have been arrested over the Najaf massacre. " That is, Saddam's former goons found cooperation with al Qaeda to be fruitful.

In any event, Amy Proctor's post is a good reminder of just how much evidence exists on the prewar relationship between al Qaeda and Saddam's regime.