*EPF403 06/17/2004
White House Report, June 17: Iraq
(Bush defends decision for war with Iraq, White House says DOD should cooperate with Red Cross) (610)

BUSH ASSERTS SADDAM HUSSEIN-AL QAEDA CONTACTS

President Bush defended the decision to go to war with Iraq, saying that Saddam Hussein had established ties to terrorist organizations, including al Qaeda.

Speaking to reporters following a Cabinet meeting June 17, the president told reporters that Iraqi intelligence officers had met with Osama bin Laden in the Sudan, and that Saddam Hussein had provided support for senior al Qaeda associate Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.

White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan quoted an October 2002 letter from Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) Director George Tenet to the U.S. Senate Intelligence Committee saying, "We have solid reporting of senior-level contacts between Iraq and al Qaeda going back a decade. Credible information indicates that Iraq and al Qaeda have discussed safe haven and reciprocal non-aggression. Since Operation Enduring Freedom, we have solid evidence of the presence in Iraq of al Qaeda members, including some that have been in Baghdad."

According to McClellan, Tenet said that the al-Zarqawi terrorist network in Baghdad contained two dozen members of Egyptian Islamic Jihad, which the press secretary said is indistinguishable from al Qaeda.

"Saddam Hussein had a long history of terrorism and a history of using weapons of mass destruction (WMD). The most dangerous threat we face in this day and age is the nexus between outlaw regimes with WMD and terrorist organizations, and the president was not willing to trust the intentions of Saddam Hussein," McClellan said.

According to news reports, the commission investigating the 9/11 terrorist attacks on the United States issued a report June 16 claiming that there was no evidence to support claims of a working relationship between al Qaeda and Saddam Hussein.

When asked about the report, Bush said "this administration never said that the 9/11 attacks were orchestrated between Saddam and al Qaeda. "We did say there were numerous contacts between Saddam Hussein and al Qaeda."

Bush noted recent attacks by terrorists throughout Iraq but reaffirmed his commitment there saying, "We fully understand terrorists will try to shake our will, to try to shake our confidence, to try to get us to withdraw from commitments we have made in places like Afghanistan and Iraq. And they won't succeed."

"A free Iraq will make the world more peaceful," the president said, "A free Iraq will be an ally of those nations who honor human rights and human dignity and the aspirations of men and women everywhere."

COOPERATION WITH RED CROSS ON DETAINEES

In response to a July 17 Pentagon confirmation that a suspected Iraqi terrorist was held in an Iraqi prison without the knowledge of the International Committee of the Red Cross, McClellan told reporters that the U.S. military should work "closely and cooperatively" with the Red Cross on "detainee issues."

According to news reports, the unidentified prisoner, a suspected member of the Ansar al-Islam guerrilla group, was held by U.S. forces for seven months without notification despite requirements mandated by the Geneva Conventions to assign a prisoner an identification number and inform the Red Cross of all detainees.

"The Pentagon said that they [the Red Cross] should have been notified and pointed out that they have taken steps to rectify the matter," McClellan said adding, "If you look back broadly at what we have done, we cooperate closely with the Red Cross."
A Pentagon spokesman said June 17, "He [the unidentified prisoner] will be assigned an identification number and, if appropriate, moved into the general prison population."

(Distributed by the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)

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