A new document has surfaced that indicates that Iraq sought out Osama way back before anyone* knew who Osama was.
I suspect that these little tidbits will drip out over the next few years. I don't know if the two men were drinking buddies, but there's little doubt that Saddam had a lot of time for the terrorists operating in the Middle East. There also seems little doubt that bin Laden fits that description.
* I wanted to mention that although the NY Times says that at the time of this approach from Iraq, "Mr. bin Laden was little known beyond the world of national security experts", Tony Benn MP knew about bin Laden in 1978! Yes, that's right. 1978! {I think he meant 1979, but still that was early.}
I heard him on Newstalk a couple of weeks ago describing how he went to the Soviet Embassy in 1978 to protest about the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan (how righteous of him, but of course the invasion was in '79). It seems the Soviets explained to Benn that they were in Afghanistan to defeat terrorists, including one Osama bin Laden, whom they named.
You see, Tony Benn is still bitter about the fall of the USSR and he blames the US for it because they helped fund the Mujahedin, who helped precipitate the fall of the USSR. So, now Tony Benn figures that the US is only getting what it has coming to it with regards to bin Laden, etc. I guess he feels that he is now getting the "last laugh".
