William Safire: Prague Connection: Czech counterintelligence has revealed it was tracking Mohammed Atta as he met in Prague in April, 2001 with the Iraqi consul to the Czech Republic; their assumption is that the consul was trying to recruit Atta to blow up the headquarters of Radio Free Europe, whose ideological influence on the Iraqi opposition apparently irks Saddam Hussein. But Safire prefers to believe Iraq was assisting Atta with his Sept 11th plans. Not only what they talked about, but whether the Czechs informed American intelligence agencies at that time, remains in question. Safire explains that Saddam’s assistance might have been incognito, as ObL has no high regard for the Iraqi regime but it would be in Saddam’s interest to facilitate an attack on the US. Safire also mentions “an unpublished report” suggesting that Saddam facilitated a leading Iraqi physician’s trip to minister to ObL in Afghanistan in May, 2001.

In other coverage of Iraq, Defectors Tell of Kuwaitis

in Secret Jail in Baghdad: “Two Iraqi

defectors, veterans of the country’s

intelligence service, say they worked in a secret

site outside of Baghdad where 80 Kuwaitis

captured during the 1991 war were detained in

an underground prison.” One of the defectors, who had befriended several of the prisoners despite strict orders not to fraternize and to refer to them only by number, provided names of four detainees which Kuwaiti officials have confirmed are among the missing from the Gulf War. NY Times [“FMHreader”, “FMHreader”]