Among the pre-war documents posted online yesterday by the Pentagon is a letter from a member of Saddam's intelligence apparatus indicating al-Qaida and the Taliban had a relationship with the regime prior to the 9-11 attacks.

The letter by the member of Saddam's Al Mukabarat to a superior, dated Sept. 15, 2001, reports a pre-9/11 conversation between an Iraqi intelligence source and a Taliban Afghani consul.

The documents were released yesterday at the direction of National Intelligence Director John Negroponte.

Among the first batch of the thousands expected to be declassified over the next several months, the Al Mukabarat document was translated from the original Arabic by a contributor to the online forum Free Republic.

Laura Mansfield, an independent Middle East analyst, examined the translation for WorldNetDaily and said it appears to be accurate.

The letter indicated Osama bin Laden and the Taliban in Afghanistan were in contact with Iraq – noting a specific visit to Baghdad – and said the U.S. had proof Saddam's regime and al-Qaida were cooperating to hit a target in the U.S.

The document said the U.S. was aware of such a relationship and could strike Iraq and Afghanistan if the attacks proved to be tied to bin Laden and the Taliban...

Caveat

Weekly Standard reporter Stephen Hayes, whose reporting has helped move members of Congress to call for release of the documents, nevertheless, has cautioned that they are published with a caveat. The Pentagon website says: "The U.S. Government has made no determination regarding the authenticity of the documents, validity or factual accuracy of the information contained therein, or the quality of any translations, when available."

The administration's intent is to allow lawmakers and the public to investigate the documents' claims about controversial issues such as weapons of mass destruction and al-Qaida's relationship to the regime prior to the March 2003 invasion.

House Intelligence Chairman Peter Hoekstra, R-Mich., requested the release, and last weekend Negroponte agreed to set up the website.

Hoekstra said in a statement he welcomed the opportunity to answer questions critical to the debate over the war.

"Whether Saddam Hussein destroyed Iraq's weapons of mass destruction or hid or transferred them, the most important thing is we discover the truth of what was happening in the country prior to the war," he said... 

WorldNetDaily.com http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=49297