What level of proof will Colin Powell use when he tries to show links between Iraq and Al-Qaeda ?

Because if you replace 'Iraq' with 'United States' in the following 5 statements, then they are already 'public knowledge'. (See below for solid reliable sources and evidence to back up each statement. )

[1] - Key people known to have provided funding directly to Al-Qaeda terrorists, including Moammed Atta, were also known to have had many meetings with key members of the Iraqi cabinet, including Defense and Intelligence officials.

..or…

Key people known to have provided funding directly to Al-Qaeda terrorists, including Moammed Atta, were also known to have had many meetings with key members of the United States cabinet, including Defense and Intelligence officials.

Link To Evidence

[2] - Members of Al-Qaeda were at one time trained on bases in Iraq.

..or…

Members of Al-Qaeda were at one time trained on bases in the United States.

Link To Evidence

[3] - Iraq played a key role over a long period of time in providing arms, funding and training (both the religious and military kind) and general support to the Mujihadeen religous/military fanatics out of which many of the members of Al-Qaeda were later recruited, including (through intermediaries) Bin Laden himself.

..or…

The United States played a key role over a long period of time in providing arms, funding and training (both the religious and military kind) and general support to the Mujihadeen religous/military fanatics out of which many of the members of Al-Qaeda were later recruited, including (through intermediaries) Bin Laden himself.

Link To Evidence

[4] - Iraq honored and issued visas to persons they were known at the time to be members of Al-Qaeda. These people crossed the border into and out of Iraq on more than one occasion and in fact Iraq had a history of doing this for known terrorists.

..or…

The United States honored and issued visas to persons that were known at the time to be members of Al-Qaeda. These people crossed the border into and out of the United States on more than one occasion and in fact the United States had a history of doing this for known terrorists.

Link To Evidence

[5] - Quite apart from the largely irrelevant fact that Al-Qaeda terrorists learnt to fly whilst *in* Iraq, the Iraqi secret service had many unproven but quite clear 'circumstantial' links to the flight training schools that members of Al-Qaeda attended.

..or…

Quite apart from the largely irrelevant fact that Al-Qaeda terrorists learnt to fly whilst *in* the United States, the United States secret service had many unproven but quite clear 'circumstantial' links to the flight training schools that members of Al-Qaeda attended.

Link To Evidence

EVIDENCE OF THE ABOVE CLAIMS:

The links I provide below are to sites that 'tell it like it is' (so you don't have to try and read through the double-speak) but if you dig deeply into these particular sources you will see that they are all sourced either directly from so called 'mainstream' media like CNN or NYTimes, or with solid references and direct quotes from reputable sources (such as " Defense Department spokesmen " etc)

[1] From http://www.unansweredquestions.org/top_11.html

"...Mohammed Atta was wired $100,000 by the Pakistani intelligence agency, the ISI, just prior to the attacks. The man who approved this wire, General Mahmud was meeting with top officials of the US government, including Intelligence Committee Chairmen Representative Porter Goss (R-FL) and Senator Bob Graham (D-FL) on the morning of the [September 11] attacks.

The FBI confirmed on ABC News (This Week, September 30, 2001) that the payment had come from banks in Pakistan. A short time later, former ISI director-general Lt-Gen Mahmud Ahmad retired amidst the scandal that linked him to the payment. This was published in The Times of India, Delhi, 9 October 2001 and AFP (Agence France Press), 10 October 2001

References:
http://www.reuters.co.uk/news_article.jhtml?type=worldnews&StoryID=591591 http://www.timesofindia.com/articleshow.asp?art_id=1454238160 http://www.opinionjournal.com/best/?id=95001298 http://www.indiareacts.com/nati2.asp?recno=518
http://globalresearch.ca/articles/CHO206A.html
http://www.cooperativeresearch.org/completetimeline/AAsaeed.html

[2] From: http://www.madcowprod.com/index5.html

"In addition to having been inducted into the U.S. flight training program by two Dutch-owned flight schools in Venice, Florida, as many as six of the terrorists, including ringleader Mohammed Atta, also received training at U.S. military facilities, according to a flurry of stories between Sept 15 and 17 in the Washington Post, Newsweek, and Knight Ridder newspapers."

From : http://www.madcowprod.com/index6.html

" Despite earlier denials, terrorists in the Sept. 11 attacks received training at secure U.S. military bases, a Defense Department spokesman admitted in an interview Friday "

[3] This claim, being more general is supported by well known historical facts, acknowledged by any source that honestly portrays the history of Afghanistan and the CIA intervention in the Soviet war there. However see : http://www.cooperativeresearch.org/completetimeline/timelinethru2000.htm or the book "The War On Freedom" by Nafeez Ahmed for a general backgrounder.

[4] From Newsweek: "The CIA tracked two suspected terrorists to an Al Qaeda summit in Malaysia in January 2000, then looked on as they re-entered America and began preparations for September 11. "
http://bulletin.ninemsn.com.au/bulletin/eddesk.nsf/All/710930A347F9C31DCA256BCD00142568?OpenDocument

US consulate and foreign service official Mike Springmann - "I issued visas to terrorists". See http://www.snowshoefilms.com for video, or go to http://www.unansweredquestions.org/transcript.php for the full transcript.

[5] " The airfield where Mohamed Atta and his terrorist cadre learned to fly has a long history of being used as a training base for paramilitary operations by federal authorities, the MadCowMorningNews has learned exclusively." http://www.madcowprod.com/index36.html

"First we couldn't count votes. Now we're training terrorists." --Florida law-enforcement official involved in 9/11 probe. (From same site)

- Miles Thompson is one of the founders of http://www.unansweredquestions.org and further information and contact details for miles can be found here.

Please consider forwarding this message to others.. (with or without edits and reformatting).

If you want to start investigating this a bit more suggested starting points include:

http://www.cooperativeresearch.org/completetimeline/index.htm http://www.madcowprod.com/past.html
http://www.unansweredquestions.org/links.php

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