Habbush letter

The Habbush letter, or Habbush memo, is a handwritten message dated July 1, 2001, which appeared to show a link between Al Qaeda and Iraq's Saddam Hussein government. It purports to be a direct communication between the head of Iraqi Intelligence, Gen. Tahir Jalil Habbush al-Tikriti, to Saddam, outlining mission training which Mohammed Atta, one of the organizers of the September 11 attacks, supposedly received in Iraq. The letter also claims that Hussein accepted a shipment from Niger, an apparent reference to an alleged uranium acquisition attempt that U.S. President George W. Bush cited in his January 2003 State of the Union address.

The letter has been widely considered a fabrication since it was first made public in December 2003. In 2008 journalist Ron Suskind claimed that the White House ordered the CIA to create the forgery. Two of Suskind's sources denied having knowledge of anyone in their chain of command ordering the forging the letter. Former CIA officer Philip Giraldi alleged that the Pentagon was behind the forgery. The controversy that erupted as a result of Suskind's allegations has so far led to an investigation by the House Judiciary Committee.

Background

On December 13, 2003, The Daily Telegraph of London ran a front-page story that not only claimed Saddam Hussein had trained one of the hijackers behind the September 11 attacks, but also that his government, assisted by a "small team from the Al Qaeda organization", was expecting to receive a suspicious consignment from the country of Niger. This exclusive article, and a second piece, were both written by Con Coughlin, executive foreign editor to the paper.

Coughlin's information came from a secret intelligence memorandum, purportedly handwritten during the time of Saddam Hussein and discovered only later by the newly formed Iraqi Interim Government, which summarized an operational relationship between Mohamed Atta, a known associate of al-Qaeda and one of the organizers of the aforementioned attacks, and the Iraqi Intelligence Service. The letter was signed by General Tahir Jalil Habbush al-Tikriti, chief of IIS, and directed to the president of Iraq. Coughlin said that he had received this document from a "senior member of the Iraqi interim government", though this person "declined to reveal where and how they obtained it."

The letter

Habbush's July 1, 2001, letter is labeled "Intelligence Items" and is addressed: "To the President of the Ba'ath Revolution Party and President of the Republic, may God protect you." It continues:

Mohammed Atta, an Egyptian national, came with Abu Ammer [the real name behind this Arabic alias remains a mystery] and we hosted him in Abu Nidal's house at al-Dora under our direct supervision.

We arranged a work program for him for three days with a team dedicated to working with him... He displayed extraordinary effort and showed a firm commitment to lead the team which will be responsible for attacking the targets that we have agreed to destroy.

Initial reaction to the letter

Ayad Allawi

Interim Prime Minister of Iraq Ayad Allawi was quoted in the original report, offering personal assurance over the document's authenticity: "We are uncovering evidence all the time of Saddam's involvement with al-Qaeda.... But this is the most compelling piece of evidence that we have found so far. It shows that not only did Saddam have contacts with al-Qaeda, he had contact with those responsible for the September 11 attacks."

The story was quickly picked up and repeated by several conservative columnists in the US, including syndicated columnist Deroy Murdock and William Safire. Safire talked about the document in an Op-ed for the New York Times, claiming Saddam had attempted to cover-up his links to 9/11 by assassinating Abu Nidal, who the letter claims was with Mohammed Atta in Iraq. Stephen F. Hayes, a staunch proponent of Mohamed Atta's alleged Prague connection, ignored the letter entirely.

Three weeks later, in an interview with the Rocky Mountain News, Vice President Dick Cheney spoke more broadly on Saddam Hussein and al-Qaeda link allegations:

We haven't really had the time yet to pore through all those records in Baghdad. We'll find ample evidence confirming the link, that is the connection if you will between al Qaida and the Iraqi intelligence services. They have worked together on a number of occasions.

Doubts

Investigative journalist Michael Isikoff spoke with current and former US officials, including an Iraqi document expert who was at that time reviewing thousands of Operation Iraqi Freedom documents, all of whom deemed the letter a probable fabrication. "The problem with this, say U.S. law enforcement officials, is that the FBI has compiled a highly detailed time line for Atta's movements throughout the spring and summer of 2001 based on a mountain of documentary evidence, including airline records, ATM withdrawals and hotel receipts. Those records show Atta crisscrossing the United States during this period—making only one overseas trip, an 11-day visit to Spain that didn't begin until six days after the date of the Iraqi memo." However, the article also notes that there are gaps in the known whereabouts of Atta that summer.

Isikoff continued: "Ironically, even the Iraqi National Congress of Ahmed Chalabi, which has been vocal in claiming ties between Al Qaeda and Saddam's regime, was dismissive of the new Telegraph story. 'The memo is clearly nonsense,' an INC spokesman told Newsweek."

Origin

Ron Suskind allegation

According to Ron Suskind in his 2008 book The Way of the World, the letter is inauthentic, crafted by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) on direct order of the White House, following the 2003 invasion of Iraq, but backdated, to forge a connection between Al Qaeda and Saddam Hussein, and thus provide justification for the Iraq War.

Suskind's alleged evidence includes, according to an interview he gave on August 7 2008, on-the-record statements from two CIA agents, Robert Richer, John Maguire, and others. He also claims to have tape recorded statements to back up his claims.

Suskind has never produced the tapes. While preparing an interview segment with Suskind, Keith Olbermann of the MSNBC show Countdown noted that the CIA agents fully denied Suskinds claim.[3] Former CIA agent Ron Richer told MSNBC producers, according to Olbermann, that “I never received direction from George Tenet or anyone else in my chain of command to fabricate a document from Habbush as outlined in Mr. Suskind’s book.”

According to the alleged tape recorded interview with Richer, former CIA deputy chief of clandestine operations, Richter saw a letter on White House stationery, passed down the ranks of the CIA through George Tenet, then CIA director, "probably" to James Pavitt, the Deputy Director of Operations, who passed it to his chief of staff, who passed it to Richter. Richter said that the letter might or might not have come from the vice president's office, but he wasn't sure. The letter described what the White House wanted Habbush to say in a forged letter. Suskind published a partial transcript on his web site on August 8. However, he did not release the recording he claims the transcript came from.

In a taped interview on Fox News' "Hannity & Colmes" show[4], which aired on August 15, 2008, Suskind said "We are putting up all the transcripts. They're on my Web site, and I think they're all over the Internet at this point." Since Wiki rules allow no original research, readers must check Suskind's website [5]for themselves to see if they can find anything beyond the single, partial,transcript (disputed by Richer) noted above.

On August 5, 2008, the White House issued the statement on behalf of George Tenet, Robert Richer and John Maguire, addressing Suskind's allegation. Tenet said:

It is well established that, at my direction, CIA resisted efforts on the part of some in the Administration to paint a picture of Iraqi-Al Qa'ida connections that went beyond the evidence. The notion that I would suddenly reverse our stance and have created and planted false evidence that was contrary to our own beliefs is ridiculous.

The CIA issued its own statement on August 22, 2008 saying that Suskind's allegations regarding Habbush "did not happen", and former Director Tenet followed the same day with a second statement saying that Suskind's charges were "demonstrably false in every regard."

Suskind also contends that Habbush, who still carries a $1 million reward for his capture and appears as the Jack of Diamonds on the US military's deck of most-wanted Iraqi playing cards, was secretly resettled in Jordan by the CIA with $5 million in US taxpayers money.

Philip Giraldi allegation

Former CIA officer Philip Giraldi, writing in The American Conservative magazine, has claimed to have a reliable source who tells him that Suskind's basic story about the White House ordering the forgery is correct, but some of the detail is wrong. His source claims that Dick Cheney ordered the forgery, but not from the CIA, instead using the Office of Special Plans, an office created by Donald Rumsfeld and run by Douglas Feith.

Giraldi writes that "Tenet is for once telling the truth when he states that he would not have undermined himself by preparing such a document while at the same time insisting publicly that there was no connection between Saddam and al-Qaeda."

Subsequent reactions

Professor Juan Cole posits that Habbush crafted the letter himself, and that the CIA "authenticated" it in bad faith through onetime asset Ayad Allawi — whom journalist Con Coughlin contacted to vouchsafe the document's authenticity after it was leaked to him.

Author Joe Conason also notes that Ayad Allawi had visited CIA headquarters in Langley just days before speaking with Con Coughlin of the Telegraph.

Congressional investigation

The House Judiciary Committee is now investigating the allegations. Chairman John Conyers stated, "I am particularly troubled that the decision to disseminate this fabricated intelligence is alleged to have come from the highest reaches of the administration. The administration’s attempt to challenge Mr. Suskind’s reporting appears to have been effectively dismissed by the publication of the author’s interview recordings and transcripts. I have instructed my staff to conduct a careful review of Mr. Suskind’s allegations and the role played by senior administration officials in this matter.”

Quotes

Financial Times (UK) quoted:

The response in the US to startling new allegations that the White House directed the forgery of evidence to support its case for the war in Iraq has been surprisingly muted so far. The charges may be false, of course, but if they are seriously examined and turn out to be true, this is - or ought to be - a Watergate-sized scandal.

See also

• Mohamed Atta's alleged Prague connection
• Niger uranium forgeries
• Iraq War misappropriations
• Iraq War

External links

• Whispers of a Watergate for Bush
• Dan Froomkin - A White House Forgery Scandal? - washingtonpost.com
• What the Iraq Forgery Says About 9/11
• Spy chiefs warned Blair and Bush Saddam had no WMDs, Pulitzer prize winner claims in explosive new book
• Author stands by his claim of White House forgery - MSNBC
• The White House's Weak Denials - Washington Post
• Live Discussion with Ron Suskind
• Democracy Now Interview with Ron Suskind by Amy Goodman
• Democracy Now Interview with Ron Suskind by Amy Goodman Part II
• Ron Suskind Website for His Book The Way of the World
• Examiner: New Ron Suskind Claim Strains Credibility