Looking For a Link

Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz tries, but fails, to establish a verified link between Iraq and 9-11 terrorist Mohamed Atta

by Michael Isikoff
Newsweek
August 19, 2002

 

Top Bush officials, eager to bolster their case for an invasion of Iraq, want the FBI to give them more ammunition. Last week Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz, an Iraq hawk, summoned two FBI officials to brief him on claims by Czech intelligence that 9-11 hijacker Mohamed Atta had met last year in Prague with an Iraqi intelligence agent. Wolfowitz wanted the FBI to endorse the Czech account to show ties between Saddam Hussein and Al Qaeda. But when FBI counterterrorism chief Pat D'Amuro and a case agent expressed skepticism, Wolfowitz vigorously challenged them, says one source. The sole evidence for the alleged meeting is the uncorroborated claim of a Czech informant. The informant says he saw Atta meeting with an Iraqi spy on April 9, 2001. But the FBI can't find any evidence--such as airline or passport records--that Atta was in Prague that day. (The bureau has found credit-card receipts putting Atta in Florida two days earlier.) The case agent called the meeting "unlikely." But under Wolfowitz's grilling, the agent finally agreed it was "possible," because the FBI can't account for Atta's whereabouts on the day in question. A Defense Department official says Wolfowitz wasn't trying to pressure the bureau. "He believes it's important to get clarity about what we know and what we don't know," says the official.

 

© 2002 Newsweek, Inc.

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