Dear old Melanie Phillips
In the Sunday Telegraph on links between Al Qaeda and Saddam:"Recently, yet more evidence has emerged. The Wall Street Journal reported that captured documents listed one Ahmed Hikmat Shakir as a senior officer in the elite paramilitary Saddam Fedayeen. By an amazing coincidence, an Ahmed Hikmat Shakir was present at the January 2000 al-Qa'eda "summit" in Kuala Lumpur at which the September 11 attacks were planned.
It is of course possible that this was a different Ahmed Hikmat Shakir"
From the Washington Post
"Yesterday, the senior administration official said Lehman [and by association Phillips -- MJT] had probably confused two people who have similar-sounding names.
One of them is Ahmad Hikmat Shakir Azzawi, identified as an al Qaeda "fixer" in Malaysia. Officials say he served as an airport greeter for al Qaeda in January 2000 in Kuala Lumpur, at a gathering for members who were to be involved in the attacks on the USS Cole, the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.
Iraqi military documents, found last year, listed a similar name, Lt. Col. Hikmat Shakir Ahmad, on a roster of Hussein's militia, Saddam's Fedayeen. "
So yes, Mel, it almost certainly is a different person. Note also however the shameful way in which she approaches these issues. After saying 'it is of course possible' she added 'However, Hayes reveals subsequent events showed this man was very important indeed to Iraq'.
In other words, it doesn't really matter to her whether it was the same person or not. Saddam was Evil. Saddam was Bad. Thus everything George W Bush does is Right. And Good.
(Original story - Guardian diary)
posted by Matthew @ 6/24/2004 12:17:00 AM
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