The Importance of Military Intervention in Iraq

The recent controversy regarding the "non-binding" resolution to defend support for the war and to object to the troop surge in Iraq gives us deep concern for the morale of our troops and, by extention, the safety of America.

Inasmuch as President Bush and former Defense Secretary Rumsfeld received a great deal of criticism for initiating the conflict, by accusing Saddam of processing WMD's (weapons of mass destruction), it must be borne in mind that this was not the sole reason for our attack on Iraq. The United Nations passed many resolutions against Saddam's government and Saddam failed to comply and was ever the obstructionist to weapons inspection. Even President Clinton had ordered an air strike on Iraq (perhaps with an ulterior motive).

The attached memo was submitted by Larry J. O' Daniel, the Coaliton's POW/MIA Committee Chairman, former Captain USAR, Military Intelligence, Phoenix Vietnam Veteran, and author of Missing in Action, Trail of Deceit (1976) and Trails of Deceit (2000), to provide a greater understanding of our reasons for invading Iraq and why we must continue to fight until victory is achieved.

This is probably the most sober e mail I have ever sent.
I prefer to look at it as an intelligence briefing that was never given to the American public. Do the people know the following about Iraq? Prior to our going into Iraq, Palestinian terrorists, trained at Salman Pak, Iraq, were captured by our allies in Israel. After interrogation they revealed:

1. The Palestinians were going to down an airplane at Ben Gurion airport

2. Al Qaeda was going to attack an American base in Turkey with chemical weapons.

3. Their clues lead to the Jan 14, 2003 raid in Manchester, England in which ricin was found.

4. Abu Zarqawi was in Iraq (the Al Qaeda leader) and Al Qaeda was training in poisons and chemicals at Salman Pak, specifically in ricin. They were trained by Unit 999, Iraqi intelligence.

5. The Islamists were likewise trained at Halabja, in Kurdistan, then under the control of Ansar al Islam, the Al Qaeda group.

6. There was going to be an attack from Georgia against Russia by Chechens.

7. Intelligence agencies in Turkey, and US intelligence confirmed this information. On October 23, 2002, Russia had an opera house attacked by Chechen and Arab rebels. The Manchester raid was the final confirming link in what the Palestinians gave in their interrogations.

8. This incident, alone, has WMD (chemical and ricin) terror against the US, Israel, and British targets and established Palestinian, Iraq, and Al Qaeda links BEFORE we went into Iraq. What did we find in Iraq?

• Documents establishing that Osama bin Laden and the Taliban in Afghanistan were in contact with Iraq and it that previously a group from Taliban and Osama Bin Laden group visited Iraq.

• Abu Al Zarqawi as really in Iraq pre- invasion (verifying the Palestinians story) Part of this information is PRE-9/11

How about the so-called Senate Intelligence Committee report that says no links betweeen Saddam and Al Qaeda? Well one media guy really read the report and found - The July 12 Special Report with Brit Hume, Bret Baier reported -Baier: "Sixty-six pages of the report fall under the heading 'Iraq's Links to Terrorism.' ...the report lays out the extent of the informal ties. A January 2003 CIA assessment from reliable, clandestine sources states that quote 'direct meetings between senior Iraqi representatives and top al Qaeda operatives took place from the early 1990s to the present,' meaning all the way up to January 2003. Multiple, credible sources are cited that Iraq provided al-Qaeda with various kinds of training, combat, bomb-m aking, along with chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear training, backing up public and private statements by former CIA director George Tenet." (Made after the Israeli revelation to the United States) George Tenet: "Iraq has in the past provided training and document forgery and bomb-making to al-Qaeda. It has also provided training in poisons and gasses to two al-Qaeda associates." Baier: "The report states that the CIA had multiple sources telling them that Saddam Hussein had issued a standing offer of safe haven to Osama bin Laden and his organization in 1999." (This is likewise a confirmation of the Israeli find independent of this) The skeptical Senate Intelligence report called this second testimony "as from 'credible' and 'reliable' people as opposed to those in 2002 from persons of 'differing' reliability. Thus, the 2003 events were probably viewed as happening or 'definitely occurred.' -" (of course this came AFTER the Israe li interrogation listed in the beginning.)

Why am I bringing you this? Because the Democrats refuse to look at, listen to, or read any of this. For purely political reasons, POWER TO BE GAINED by KEEPING AMERICANS IN THE DARK - they are undercutting our troops in Iraq - in harms way. John Kerry called our soldier dumb - John Kerry called our soldiers as terrorists in the night - John Murtha called them cold blooded killers - Dick Durbin called them Nazis - and the list goes on and on. If they win control, they will cut and run, regardless of the harm to our fighting men. They are specific about this. Cut and run - just like they cut and run when we won most of Vietnam (IV Corps where I served in particular was very secure. This was also where most of the population lived).

I do not want to happen to our sons and daughters what happened to the Vietnam veteran. I swore to help it never to happen again. Contemplate what it would mean to our secur ity if we did cut and run. Some will say - well Iraq was not involved in 9/11. Says who? There is no "Proof" saying yes, but there are dots indicating there was a connection. I laid out only a portion of the connecting dots. Abu Zarqawi was involved in the killing of an American official, Lawrence Foley (He trained in Iraq) - An Islamist named Ressam was trained on chemicals and poisons in Afghanistan for his planned attack on Los Angeles (poisons and chemcials were transferred from Iraq to Afghanistan) - Ramzi Yousef came to the United States on a forged Iraqi diplomatic passport prior to the WTC attack in Feb 1993 (a recurring modus operandi for Islamist terrorists) - An Islamist named Yasin - after the WTC attack in 1993 - fled to Iraq (is still there) and put on the Iraqi government payroll - Documents were found tying Iraqi intelligence to individual 9/11 terrorists - Multiple foreign intelligence agencies traced individual 9/11 terrorists to meetings in which Iraqi intelli gence participated. (Mohammed Atta had meetings with Iraqi intelligence in an eastern European country prior to 9/11.)

A mere coincidence? It is said - if you believe in coincidence, you don't belong in intelligence. Enough said.

For Saddam, the first Gulf War never ended as he continued to support hostile acts against the United States. According to Jayna Davis, author of The Third Terrorist (2002), Saddam bears direct responsibility for the destruction of the Murrah Building in Oklahoma City, and his use of "mustard gas" on the Kurds indigenous to Iraq was not only genocide but evidence of his possession of WMDs. The shelf life of mustard gas is not short, as evidenced by the hazmat warnings in Fort Dix, New Jersey, where mustard gas has been buried since 1918.

There is more, but if you don't believe by now, more won't convince you. As the representative of a veteran's group endorsing federal candidates in Arizona, I recommended a straight Republican pull. I stated the Democratic candidate for Senate offended veterans in his statements. He refuses yet to reject John Kerry's remarks. Similarly, the Democratic candidate for Governor only says Kerry was misunderstood. This is a lie! Kerry has never apologized for his 1971 slur. He has never apologized for calling people in Vietnam doing the same job as our troops today - seeking Al Qaeda leadership - as an organized assassination program. This latest statement fits into that category - and the weak Democratic response to this latest slur by Democratic leadership - only justifies my earlier call and urging everyone to ignore the Democrats and v ote for the only group urging we win against this group of Islamofascists - The Republicans. Turning over control to the other side will say we want to cut and run.

Al Qaeda aside, Iraq harbored and trained other Islamist terrorists (most affiliated or aligned with Al Qaeda views) that has killed tens of Americans and injured hundreds. Teddy Roosevelt threatened action for the honor of one lone American. The Marines have a stanza "to the Shores of Tripoli" - (commemorating the war against the Barbary Pirates, the earlier version of Islamist terrorists. Do we have the guts to see a victory or do we wait until they are on the streets of America like they have rioted in the streets of France and openly killing like the streets of Holland?

This is the seriousness of the choice. Victory or cut and run. The choice is in our hands. Exercise that choice.

May God Bless us and the United States as we make that choice.

Larry J O'Daniel


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For those who do not understand or realize the extent of the danger we face from radical Islam, it would be worthwhile to read the publication What Americans Need To Know About Jihad," by Robert Spencer, published by The Freedom Center.
([email protected])

Robert Spencer has written extensively on this topic. It is only through knowledge that we will comprehend the danger that we face from the Jihadists if we allow ourselves to "cut and run" from Iraq.

ROCK THE CASBAH!

John J. Molloy
Chairman
(1967/68 - Vietnam Combat Infantryman, World Trade Center Survivor: 2/26/93, 9/11/01)