Mylroie: Saddam Is Behind the Terrorist Attacks

This is the first part of a two-part interview.

First, as I document in "Study of Revenge," Saddam was behind the first attack on the World Trade Center in 1993, which was also designed to destroy both buildings. The mastermind of that attack was Iraqi intelligence agent Ramzi Ahmed Yousef.

Yousef arrived in the U.S. on September 1, 1992, on an Iraqi passport and left the country the night of February 26, 1993 – the same day the World Trade Center was first bombed.

Second, as we’ve documented at Iraq News, Hussein has also been involved in all major terrorist attacks on the West since the Gulf War.

Third, the leader of the September 11 attack, Mohamed Atta, met with Iraqi counsel Admed Samir al-Ani in the Czech Republic at least four times before the 9/11 attack.

There is also tremendous evidence that subsequent anthrax attacks are connected to Iraq. The cumulative evidence that Iraq was a key player in the September 11 attack and subsequent anthrax attacks is overwhelming.

Don't forget: The U.S. is still at war with Iraq. The Gulf War never really ended. The sanctions against Iraq are essentially a continuation of that war, and U.S. pilots bomb Iraq on a regular basis.

Saddam has far greater cause than any other party to attack the United States.

Ten years ago, U.S. authorities believed that major terrorist attacks on the U.S. were state-sponsored because only states had the resources to mount such attacks. That all changed under Clinton.

The Clinton administration maintained that with the first World Trade Center bombing, a new type of terrorism emerged, which the FBI called "International Radical Terrorism." In a 1994 report, the FBI's Terrorism Research and Analytical Center described International Radical Terrorism as follows:

"IRT ... is a trans-national phenomenon. Its adherents generally overcome traditional national differences by concentrating on a common goal of achieving social change, under the banner of personal beliefs, through violence. ... IRT adherents may not consider themselves to be citizens of any particular country."

This 'loose network of terrorists' theory is clearly the one the Bush administration is now operating under and is dead wrong. Only states have the resources to mount these attacks. Equipment to manufacture weapons-grade anthrax costs millions of dollars and requires skilled scientists. Common sense tells you that it's not a bunch of nuts living in caves.

A second reason why the Bush administration is reluctant to name Iraq: It means a much tougher war with potentially millions of American civilian casualties.

Iraq has literally tons of chemical and biological weapons, as well as lots of missiles and sleeper agents already in the U.S. to deliver them. No one wants to deliver that message to the American people.

The Pentagon is aware of Iraqi involvement, but the Bush administration is still in denial.