Two months ago, almost to the day, I posted about a translation of a captured IIS document, CMPC-2003-001488, that described intelligence that the IIS garnered from one of its Afghan contacts regarding ties between Osama bin Laden, al-Qaeda, and Saddam Hussein. I also noted in that post that the memo had been translated by Iraqi blogger Omar at Iraq the Model and at Pajamas Media last March. Tapscott’s Copy Desk notes that blogger Fix 4 RSO has now also discovered this memo, which appears to put lie to the notion that post-war intel failed to show any operational ties between Saddam Hussein and AQ.
Here’s the memo as I posted it in July:
Office of the Presidency Intelligence Service M5/3/9/2
The Honorable Mr. General Director Manager M5
Subject: Information
Our Afghani source numbered 11002 had provided us with the information on the denotation paper number -1- )
The Afghani Consul Ahmad Dahstani (the information on the denotation paper number (2)) had mentioned in front of him with the followings:
1. Osama Bin Laden and the Taliban Group in Afghanistan were in touch with the Iraqis and that group of the Talibans and Osama Bin Laden had visited Iraq.
2. The United States of America has evidence that the Iraqi government and Osama Bin Laden’s group expressed cooperation among themselves in bombing targets in American.
3. In case Osama Bin Laden and the Taliban were proven to have been involved in carrying out these terrorist operations, it could be possible that the United Stated will attack both Iraq and Afghanistan.
4. The Afghani consul heard about the connection between the Iraqis and the Osama Bin Laden group during his stay in Iran.
5. Upon what has been presented we suggest writing to the Intention Committee with the above information.
Please revise…Your recommendation …. With appreciation,
Obviously, the case worker for this source at M5/3 (the directorate for North Africa and East Asia) was very concerned that the US had information that exposed an operational link between Iraq and AQ. It doesn’t mention any specific tie to the 9/11 attack, but it states that the Afghan source believed that we had proof of their intent to bomb American targets. The IIS was very concerned that the information he believed we already had would lead the US to attack both Afghanistan and Iraq — and this memo was written four days after 9/11.
This didn’t get treated like speculation, either. The case worker directed this memo to the head of M5, responsible for counterintelligence, for his immediate attention. It also got copied to the “Intention Committee President”, apparently a separate review process for intel. The IIS considered this important data.
However, as I pointed out, it’s hardly new. It’s been in the open for at least six months, and the government translation for two. All of which casts even more doubt on the Senate report that claims no additional evidence of connectioned between Saddam, Osama, and the Taliban came to light in the post-invasion period. Has the Senate even bothered to look through the FMSO documents?