Powell: Iraq Ties to al Qaida to be Revealed in Days

Powell: Iraq Ties to al Qaida to be Revealed in Days

Dave Eberhart, NewsMax
Tuesday, Jan. 28, 2003

Powell said Monday that evidence of Iraq's ties to al Qaida would be revealed to the nation and to the world in a matter of “days.”

On the eve of President Bush’s State of Union message, Secretary of State Colin Powell -- reacting to the U.N. weapons inspectors report at a State Department press conference -- continued the no-quarter tough stance on Iraq he unveiled at the just concluded World Economic Forum.

When pressed about the specifics behind his charges that Iraq is linked to terrorism in general and Al Qaida in particular -- made Sunday at the Swiss forum -- the secretary again hinted at yet unrevealed intelligence:

“[W]e see no reason not to believe that such contacts and the presence of al Qaida elements or individuals in Iraq is a reasonable assumption, and we have some basis for that assumption. And the information that we can divulge in greater detail, we will be divulging in the days ahead.”

“To this day,” Powell said by way of interpreting the report, “the Iraq regime continues to defy the will of the United Nations. The Iraq regime has responded to [U.N. Resolution] 1441 with empty claims, empty declarations and empty gestures. It has not given the inspectors and the international community any concrete information in answer to a host of key questions.”

In his first public reaction to the work product of chief weapons inspector Hans Blix, filled with the U.N. Security Council Monday, Powell reiterated some of the same questions he raised before the economic conference in Switzerland:

Where is the missing anthrax?

Where is the VX gas?

Where are the chemical and biological munitions?

Where are the mobile biological laboratories?

Why is Iraq violating the restrictions on ballistic missiles?

Where are the credible, verifiable answers to all of the other disarmament questions compiled by the previous inspectors?

Powell also reviewed for the media what he saw as some key revelations from the inspectors highlighted in the much anticipated report:

The inspectors have not been able to interview any Iraqi in private.

The inspectors have not been allowed to employ aerial surveillance.

The inspectors have still not received a full list of Iraqi personnel involved with weapons of mass destruction.

The inspectors say their efforts have been impeded by a swarm of Iraqi minders.

The inspectors report they have evidence that Iraq has moved or hidden items at sites just prior to inspection visits.

The inspectors have caught the Iraqis concealing top secret information in the private residences.

Powell summarized by warning, “Iraq continues to conceal quantities -- vast quantities of highly lethal materiel and weapons to deliver it. It could kill thousands upon thousands of men, women and children if Saddam Hussein decides to use these against those men, women and children or, just as frightening, to provide them to others who might use such weapons.”

In a clear republishing of his strong message delivered at the economic enclave, Powell said, “The issue is not how much more time the inspectors need to search in the dark. It is how much more time Iraq should be given to turn on the lights and to come clean. And the answer is not much more time. Iraq's time for choosing peaceful disarmament is fast coming to an end.”

When asked about his sometime label as a dove and reputation as a strong advocate of a diplomatic solution to the Iraq issue, Powell answered, “I have watched Iraq go by every exit ramp -- diplomatic exit ramp that was put there for them. They could have made a full, complete and accurate declaration in December, which would have given us some confidence that they were serious about disarmament. Instead, they gave us 12,200 pages of nothing very useful.”

At the end of the press conference, Powell once again hinted at the very short fuse remaining: “Iraq could answer this afternoon, if it chose to. Rather, the Iraqi foreign minister spent his time calling me a liar.”

Read more on this subject in related Hot Topics:

Al-Qaeda

Saddam Hussein/Iraq

Editor's note:
Saddam Hussein’s race to make a nuclear bomb