Habari Post

The pentagon released a report by the Institute for Defense Analyses titled "Saddam and Terrorism: Emerging Insights from Captured Iraqi Documents" that concluded the following with respect to Saddam Hussein and terrorism:

- Saddam Hussein's government sponsored state terrorism as a tool to silence opposition and criticism. The report includes records of processes and a bureaucratic infrastructure to recruit and train citizens in use of car bombs and suicide vests.

- The targets of terrorist operations under Saddam Hussein were predominantly Iraqi citizens in Iraq and abroad. Other targets include assets of Saudi Arabia and Kuwait, perceived as U.S. allies in the region.

- Saddam Hussein's government maintained relationships with terrorist groups believed to be aligned with his government's long-term goals, including organizations in Afghanistan, Egypt, Pakistan and Palestine. The Iraqi government "nurtured" some of these relationships including providing financial support to families of suicide bombers in Gaza and the West Bank.

- It is conclusive that there were no links between Saddam Hussein's government and Al Qaeda. This last point is particularly damaging to the credibility of the American government because the alleged link between Saddam Hussein and Al Qaeda was one of the primary points senior U.S. officials argued for invading Iraq in 2003.

You can download an executive summary of the report and listen to a audio summary on NPR.