Man Hiding In Iraqi Mountain Caves Could Provide Iraqi Link To Al Qaeda
Mon Dec 09 2002 10:00:39 ET
A mystery in the U.S.- declared war on terrorism is unfolding in a warren of mountain caves in northeastern Iraq known as Little Tora Bora, home to a core group of Al Qaeda fighters and a small army of local allies, the LA TIMES reported on Monday.
"The mystery is personified by an enigmatic Iraqi based in the remote mountains who has U.S. intelligence asking: Who exactly is Abu Wael? The answer could be pivotal in determining whether Iraqi President Saddam Hussein really has connections to Osama bin Laden. So far, the evidence is both intriguing and contradictory. One body of evidence points to Abu Wael as a senior Iraqi intelligence officer and as Hussein's secret liaison with Al Qaeda and its Iraqi affiliate, Ansar al-Islam, or Supporters of Islam.
That would make him the long-sought connection between Iraq and Al Qaeda -- and justification for tying a U.S.-led military operation in Iraq to the war on terrorism. But other evidence suggests that Abu Wael is a senior official in Ansar who deeply opposes Hussein as an autocrat in a secular regime that has brutally repressed Muslims."
