WAR: Hungary to Pull its 300 Troops from Iraq

Originally posted by vibetic
If you don't have clear evidence then even couple of examples should suffice. Any examples ? Please tell us what Marg is forgetting, we'd all like to hear.

It's widely accepted that Saddam was harbouring al-Zarqawi, who in 2002 set up a camp in north-east Iraq to train terrorists in the use of chemical weapons (and as we all know is now the orchestrator of most terrorist acts inside Iraq).

Senior Iraqis met with al-Qaeda leaders at least 8 times in the 1990s. Also, allegedly, Muhammed Atta, one of the 9/11 ringleaders, met with Iraqi intelligence in Prague a few months prior to the hijackings. Significantly, Iraq was one of the few nations that did not offer condolances to the US after the attacks.

Saddam also aided the Iranian dissident group Mujahedeen-e-Khalq and the Kurdistan Workers� Party (known by its Turkish initials, PKK), a separatist group fighting the Turkish government.

Moreover, Iraq has hosted several Palestinian splinter groups that oppose peace with Israel, including the mercenary Abu Nidal Organization, whose leader, Abu Nidal, was found dead in Baghdad in August 2002. Iraq has also supported the Islamist Hamas movement and reportedly channeled money to the families of Palestinian suicide bombers.

[edit on 5-11-2004 by mattpryor]

It's widely accepted that Saddam was harbouring al-Zarqawi, who in 2002 set up a camp in north-east Iraq to train terrorists in the use of chemical weapons.

Saddam had barely any control over kurdish north-east Iraq in 2002.

Colin Powell said 2003:
The camp is in the northern Kurdish area of the country, outside the control of the Iraqi regime, but Iraq has kept track of events there by infiltrating Ansar al-Islam, a radical Islamic group that controls the area

Keeping track of events is far different from making the events happen.
Just watching landing to the moon in TV doesn't make one an astronaut...

Senior Iraqis met with al-Qaeda leaders at least 8 times in the 1990s.

What exactly were these meetings about ?
Senior French officials met with senior American officials at least 8 times in 2002. Still I don't see the french fighting (in Iraq) ...

Also, allegedly, Muhammed Atta, one of the 9/11 ringleaders, met with Iraqi intelligence in Prague a few months prior to the hijackings.

He didn't.
www.globalsecurity.org...
The second alleged Iraqi connection to the September 11 attacks was the widely-publicized report from the Czech government to the U.S. that meetings took place between September 11 hijacker Muhammed Atta and the IIS chief in Prague, Ahmed Khalil Ibrahim Samir al-Ani. The CIA judged that other evidence indicated that these meetings likely never occurred.

www.sfgate.com.../news/archive/2002/04/30/national1548EDT0731.DTL
Atta is now believed to have been in the United States during the time he was supposed to have been meeting with Al-Ani, said a U.S. official, speaking on the condition of anonymity.

Saddam also aided the Iranian dissident group Mujahedeen-e-Khalq

Very likely true, Saddam wanted to see Iranian regime toppled (so does US). Saddam even attacked Iran conventionally as we all remember. Do you consider Iranian dissidents such a threat to US security that it justified liberating Iraq in terms of anti-terror activity ? There were just as well (and still are) Iraqi dissident groups supported by Iran.

and the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (known by its Turkish initials, PKK), a separatist group fighting the Turkish government.

So he gave money to supporters of Kurdistan and then gassed them to death to alleviate suspicions ? Or did he aid them by helping natural selection to wipe those of them who didn't have the genetic resistance to survive chemical warfare thus creating the pure-breeded kurd race to dominate world ? I mean, Saddam was probably one of the last persons on earth to support independent Kurdistan. To believe this I'm going to need some hard evidence.

I did come across following paragraph:
Tehran still provided safehaven to elements of Turkey's separatist PKK that conducted numerous terrorist attacks in Turkey and against Turkish targets in Europe. One of the PKK's most senior at-large leaders, Osman Ocalan, brother of imprisoned PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan, resided at least part-time in Iran.
Tehran however, is in Iran...

Moreover, Iraq has hosted several Palestinian splinter groups that oppose peace with Israel, including the mercenary Abu Nidal Organization, whose leader, Abu Nidal, was found dead in Baghdad in August 2002.

He was found dead because Saddam killed him for refusing to cooperate.

What they disagreed about is not completely agreed in west:
www.worldnetdaily.com... version says:

The intelligence sources are convinced that Abu Nidal ran afoul of Saddam Hussein. At that point, Saddam decided to have him killed and leaked information that he had been engaged in a series of plots against such Iraqi friends as Egypt and Syria. In contrast, Iraqi officials leaked charges that Abu Nidal had been working for Iraq's neighbor and enemy, Kuwait.

Iraq has also supported the Islamist Hamas movement and reportedly channeled money to the families of Palestinian suicide bombers.

Majority in the middle-east supports Hamas movement nothing really special in Saddam.

I don't support terrorism in any way, but what's wrong with fighting effective war against it. Not committing huge amounts of resources to errants that are likely to change the big picture very little but produce immensely adverse reactions. Effective doesn't mean just getting things done or just doing something, it means getting the maximum results with the least possible expense. Let's say for an example you would drill for oil with 4 billion dollars while finding oil only worth 1 billion dollars... Not very practical on long term.

[edit on 5-11-2004 by vibetic]