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'''Laurie Mylroie''' has written on ] and the ], most notably in ''Study of Revenge''. Ex-CIA Director James Woolsey hailed the book as "brilliant and brave." Former Deputy Secretary of Defense, Paul Wolfowitz, also praised ''Study of Revenge''--as did former Chairman of the Defense Policy Board, Richard Perle; James Fox, former head of New York FBI; and Vincent Cannistraro, former Chief of Counterterrorism Operations for the CIA's Counterterrorism Center.<ref>{{cite book|last=Mylroie|first=Laurie|title=Study of Revenge: Saddam Hussein's Unfinished War against America|date=2000|publisher=American Enterprise Institute Press|location=Washington, DC|page=Dust Jacket}}</ref> Mylroie is an author and analyst who has long worked on the Middle East and Islamic world, both before and after 9/11. In ''Study of Revenge'' (2000), she argued that the Iraqi regime under ] sponsored the ] and subsequent terrorist attacks. She claimed those attacks were part of an ongoing war that Saddam waged against America following the cease-fire to the 1991 Gulf War. Less than a year after her book was published, the ] occurred. ''Study of Revenge'' implied that Saddam was responsible, and she adopted that view, defending it on many occasions, including before the 9/11 Commission.<ref>{{cite web|last=Mylroie|first=Laurie|title=Statement of Laurie Mylroie to the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States July 9, 2003|url=http://www.9-11commission.gov/hearings/hearing3/witness_mylroie.htm|publisher=National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States|accessdate=February 19, 2104}}</ref> Her writings are considered to have been influential among ] during the buildup to the ].<ref>{{cite news|last=Bergen|first=Peter|title=Did one woman's obsession take America to war?|url=http://www.theguardian.com/world/2004/jul/05/iraq.iraq|accessdate=February 19, 2014|newspaper=Guardian|date=July 4, 2004}}</ref> | |||
'''Laurie Mylroie''' (born 1953) is a U.S. author who has written several controversial and heavily criticized books on the subject of ] and the ]. Notably, Mylroie contends that the Iraqi government under ] sponsored the ] and many subsequent terrorist attacks. She is one of a few commentators who has consistently held that Iraq was complicit and involved in the ] and subsequent ]. Her writings are viewed as having been influential among ] during the buildup to the ].<ref> ], April 19, 2007</ref> | |||
==Career== | ==Career== | ||
Mylroie earned a doctorate in ] from ] |
Mylroie earned a bachelor's degree from Cornell University and a doctorate in ] from ]. She also studied Arabic at the American University of Cairo. Subsequently, she taught as an Assistant Professor at Harvard University in the Department of Government (Political Science), Faculty of Arts and Science, and then as an ] in the Strategy and Policy Department of the ]. She was the consultant on ] for Bill Clinton's 1992 presidential campaign--although she later became a strong critic of Clinton for what she came to charge was his mishandling of the terrorism that began on his watch, starting with the February 26, 1993, bombing of New York's World Trade Center. | ||
Mylroie was a research fellow at The Washington Institute for Near East Policy and then with the Foreign Policy Research Institute, as well as an adjunct fellow at the ]. Following the 9/11 attacks, she served on DARPA's Special Task Force on Terrorism and Deterrence and a DTRA panel on counter-terrorism. She deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan, where she served as a cultural adviser to the U.S. military. She has written three books and numerous articles, which have appeared in ''The American Spectator'',''<ref>{{cite web|last=Hume |first=Brit |url=http://spectator.org/people/laurie-mylroie/all |title=The American Spectator : Contributors : Laurie Mylroie |publisher=Spectator.org |date=July 15, 2013 |accessdate=2013-07-30}}</ref> Atlantic Monthly'', ''Boston Globe'', ''Commentary'', ''The National Interest'', ''The New Republic'', ''Newsweek'', ''New York Times'', ''Wall Street Journal'', ''Washington Post,'' and ''Washington Times'', among others. | |||
In January 2009, the website ] discovered that Mylroie was the author of two 2007 reports about Iraq which were done for the ]'s ]. This means that she had still been employed by the ] after her theories had been widely discredited.<ref>Justin Elliott, , ], January 29, 2009</ref><ref>Silverstein, Ken. , '']''. January 29, 2008.</ref> | |||
⚫ | ==Support for Saddam |
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⚫ | In 1988, |
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:Iraq’s good fortune, said Mylroie, was due to the wisdom of Saddam, who was implementing an economic "perestroika" and political "glasnost." Iraqi officials interviewed by Mylroie told her that Saddam was "much concerned about democracy... He thinks that is healthy," and she wagered this was "not just idle chatter." From an American perspective, Mylroie concluded, "the more Saddam Hussein exercises control over the Baath Party, including the ideologues, the better." | |||
:... She proposed that the Bush (Senior) Administration should offer Saddam extensive economic and military aid. “Iraq and the United States,” she wrote, "need each other."<ref>Ken Silverstein, , Harper's, August 28, 2007, quoting Laurie Mylroie, "The Baghdad Alternative," Orbis, Vol. 32, No. 3, Summer 1988.</ref> | |||
⚫ | Isikoff and Corn write: | ||
⚫ | :Mylroie continued to advocate engaging Saddam, even after the Iraqi dictator slaughtered tens of thousands of Kurds in what became known as the Anfal campaign of 1987 and |
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⚫ | Isikoff and Corn argue that Mylroie "was looking to change the region through back-channel, private diplomacy – and she aspired to be a behind-the-scenes peacemaker who would broker a deal between Saddam and Israel." To this end, she met with Iraqi officials including ]. After Saddam's invasion of Kuwait, however, the would-be diplomat "turned against the dictator she had once wanted Washington to help, with the passion of one who felt personally betrayed."<ref name="hubris69"/> | ||
⚫ | In October 1990, Egyptian President ] |
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==Iraq connection claims== | ==Iraq connection claims== | ||
{{disputed|date=May 2008}} | {{disputed|date=May 2008}} | ||
Senior figures in New York FBI, the lead investigative agency in the February 26, 1993, bombing of the World Trade Center, suspected that Iraq was behind the attack.<ref>{{cite web|last=Fox|first=James|title=James Fox Letter|url=http://www.lauriemylroie.com/archive/Fox_letter10-24-94.pdf|accessdate=March 1, 2014}}</ref> Mylroie's work--essentially an extension of their own--first appeared at length in an article in ''The National Interest'', "The World Trade Center Bomb: Who is Ramzi Yousef? And Why it Matters."<ref>{{cite web|last=Mylroie|first=Laurie|title=The World Trade Center Bomb: Who is Ramzi Yousef? And Why it Matters|url=https://www.fas.org/irp/world/iraq/956-tni.htm|publisher=Federation of American Scientists|accessdate=February 16, 2014}}</ref> ''The Washington Monthly'' included the article in its monthly "Journalism Award," noting "Mylroie also found that lack of coordination between the Justice Department and national security agencies means that national security gets short shrift in dealing with domestic terrorism."<ref>{{cite web|title=Monthly Journalism Award|url=http://www.lauriemylroie.com/1993/Wash_Monthly_Award.pdf|publisher=The Washington Monthly|accessdate=February 16, 2014}}</ref> Tragically, that point became all too clear--and the conventional wisdom--after 9/11. | |||
Mylroie's claims concerning links between Iraq and the 1993 World Trade Center bombing were published in her book ''Study of Revenge: Saddam Hussein's Unfinished War Against America'' (2000). "The New York FBI office, however, strongly believed Iraq was behind the 1993 Trade Center attack," she wrote. "The Clinton White House did not want to hear that and FBI Headquarters accommodated."<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.nationalreview.com/comment/comment-mylroie052902.asp |title=Laurie Mylroie on Sept. 11 & Iraq |publisher=NationalReview.com |date=May 29, 2002 |accessdate=2013-07-30}}</ref> Her book is based on an examination of the trial documents related to the 1993 bombing. "Only Laurie Mylroie appears to have gone through it carefully," said former CIA Director ]. | |||
Her ''National Interest'' article appeared in expanded form in ''Study of Revenge: Saddam Hussein's Unfinished War Against America'' (2000). Her book was endorsed by James Fox, who headed New York FBI at the time of the World Trade Center bombing and led the investigation of that attack. Fox wrote, "Although we are unable to say with certainty the Iraqis were behind the bombing, that is certainly the theory accepted by most of the veteran investigators.” He described ''Study of Revenge'' as "one of the most comprehensive and best-researched reviews of the bombing investigation."<ref>{{cite web|last=Fox|first=James|title=Reference Letter for Study of Revenge|url=http://www.lauriemylroie.com/archive/Fox_letter10-24-94.pdf|accessdate=February 16, 2014}}</ref> Similarly, Vincent Cannistraro, former Chief of Counterterrorism Operations for the CIA's Counterterrorism Center, described ''Study of Revenge'' as "one of the most brilliant pieces of research and scholarship in this area that I have ever read. has not only carefully gathered and set forth the facts of the bombing itself, but has provided original analysis that uncovers linkages that I believe the U.S. government investigators have failed to notice."<ref>{{cite web|last=Cannistraro|first=Vincent|title=Reference letter for Study of Revenge|url=http://www.lauriemylroie.com/files/Cannistraro_Letter.pdf|accessdate=February 16, 2014}}</ref> As Mylroie explained, "The Clinton White House did not want to hear that Iraq was behind the bombing."]<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.nationalreview.com/comment/comment-mylroie052902.asp |title=Laurie Mylroie on Sept. 11 & Iraq |publisher=NationalReview.com |date=May 29, 2002 |accessdate=2013-07-30}}</ref> Her book is based on an analysis of the voluminous trial documents related to the 1993 bombing. "Only Laurie Mylroie appears to have gone through it carefully," said former CIA Director ], who endorsed ''Study of Revenge'' as a "brilliant and brave book."<ref>{{cite book|last=Mylroie|first=Laurie|title=Study of Revenge|date=2000|publisher=American Enterprise Institute Press|location=Washington DC|pages=Book Jacket}}</ref> | |||
Mylroie's book states that ], an Iraqi-American who mixed chemicals for the explosive, escaped to Iraq soon after the attacks. ], commander of the operation, travelled under an Iraqi passport, although he is not Iraqi. Just a few months before the WTC bombing, Yousef claimed he'd lost his passport and got a new Pakistani passport in the name of Abdul Basit. (Yousef had three passports when he was arrested.) Mylroie examined files related to Basit and his family at the Kuwaiti Interior Ministry and found that various documents are missing, including photos and passport photocopies. She concludes that they tampered with, presumably during the Iraqi occupation of Kuwait in 1990–91. | |||
], an Iraqi-American who mixed chemicals for the explosive, was one of two indicted fugitives in the World Trade Center bombing, and he fled to Iraq soon after the bombing. This point is well known and is discussed in ''Study of Revenge'', but the focus of Mylroie's work is the other fugitive, the mastermind, ], who was arrested in 1995 following a failed plot in the Philippines. Yousef arrived in the United States in September 1992 on an Iraqi passport, and he was known among New York area militants as "Rashid, the Iraqi." In December, just a few months before the February 26, 1993, bombing, Yousef went to the Pakistani consulate in New York, claiming that he was Abdul Basit Karim and that he had lost his passport. The consulate provided Yousef a temporary passport in Karim's name, and he fled New York the night of the bombing on that passport (Yousef had three passports when he was arrested.) During Mylroie's work on the Trade Center bombing, which began as a consultant for a joint ABC News and Newsweek investigation,<ref>{{cite news|last=Dickey|first=Christopher|title="America's Most Wanted"|newspaper=Newsweek|date=July 4, 1994}}</ref> she spoke with Kuwaiti officials. One official read to her the summary of Kuwait's investigation into Abdul Basit Karim. The Kuwaiti summary noted that a document was missing from Karim's file: a copy of the front page of his passport, with a picture and signature. Notably, the Kuwaitis attributed this to Iraq's occupation. The Kuwaiti summary of Karim's file also included a notation that Karim and his family had left Kuwait on August 26, 1990, traveling from Kuwait to Iraq, crossing from Iraq into Iran at Salamchah, on their way to Pakistani Baluchistan, where they live now. After the official finished reading that, Mylroie looked up at him and asked, "What's that information doing in your file?" | |||
There is a notation in Basit's file, dating from the occupation period. Mylroie argues that this implies the file was of special interest to the Iraqis. The fingerprint cards in Basit's file match those for Yousef. Mylroie contends that the cards were switched by the Iraqis. She concludes that "Abdul Basit and his family were in Kuwait when Iraq invaded in August 1990; that they probably died then; and that Iraqi intelligence then tampered with their files to create an alternative identity for Ramzi Yousef."<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.fas.org/irp/world/iraq/956-tni.htm |title=THE WORLD TRADE CENTER BOMB: Who is Ramzi Yousef? And Why It Matters – The National Interest | date=Winter, 1995/96 |publisher=Fas.org |accessdate=2013-07-30}}</ref> | |||
Stunned silence was the response. Such information does not belong in a government file. A traveler does not provide authorities his entire itinerary. He only states that he is leaving one place for another on a certain date, by a certain mode of transportation. Moreover, on August 26, 1990, there was no Kuwaiti government. Iraq had invaded and occupied Kuwait on August 2, and Kuwait's government was in exile in Saudi Arabia. An Iraqi official had to have put that information into Karim's file--while Iraq occupied Kuwait. | |||
Information was taken out of the file (the copy of the front page of Karim's passport), as the Kuwaitis recognized. Mylroie argues that information was also added, including the notation about Karim's family leaving Kuwait on August 26, 1990. Moreover, the Kuwaiti official told her that the fingerprint card in Karim's file matched the fingerprint card that U.S. authorities had for Ramzi Yousef.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.fas.org/irp/world/iraq/956-tni.htm |title=THE WORLD TRADE CENTER BOMB: Who is Ramzi Yousef? And Why It Matters – The National Interest | date=Winter, 1995/96 |publisher=Fas.org |accessdate=2013-07-30}}</ref> That could mean only one of two things: either that Yousef's real identity was Karim or that someone switched the fingerprint cards, removing the original with Karim's prints and replacing it with a new card, bearing Yousef's prints. For a variety of reasons, including that Karim was short (5'7") and Yousef is tall (6'), Mylroie argues that they are two different people. So do others, including the Swansea Institute's deputy principal, Ken Reid, who told the BBC: "I am personally convinced that the person who is held in New York is not our former student," and "I am personally convinced that our former student is no longer alive."<ref>{{cite news|title="Swansea Student Links to Bin Laden"|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/wales/1549539.stm|newspaper=BBC|date=September 18, 2001}}</ref> | |||
Chaim Kaufmann notes that "On several occasions in 2001–02, Wolfowitz pressured CIA and DIA analysts to validate a claim in a book by Laurie Mylroie that Hussein had been behind the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center. Both agencies had studied the book long before and considered it meritless."<ref>Chaim Kaufmann, , ''International Security'' (Summer 2004).</ref> | Chaim Kaufmann notes that "On several occasions in 2001–02, Wolfowitz pressured CIA and DIA analysts to validate a claim in a book by Laurie Mylroie that Hussein had been behind the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center. Both agencies had studied the book long before and considered it meritless."<ref>Chaim Kaufmann, , ''International Security'' (Summer 2004).</ref> | ||
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==Fingerprint controversy== | ==Fingerprint controversy== | ||
After September 11, former Director of Central Intelligence ] convinced the Pentagon to send him to Britain. Earlier in 2001, Woolsey had visited the Swansea Institute, where Abdul Basit Karim had studied for two years. Woolsey had left Swansea convinced that Mylroie was right: Ramzi Yousef and Abdul Basit Karim were two different people.<ref>{{cite news|last=Woolsey|first=R. James|title=Blood Ba'ath|url=http://www.newrepublic.com/article/politics/blood-baath|accessdate=February 17, 2014|newspaper=The New Republic|date=September 24, 2001}}</ref> After 9/11, he was provided a government jet and FBI staff to pursue her claim that Abdul Basit Karim and ] were different people, as ''Newsweek'' reported. The purpose of Woolsey's trip was to consult with British authorities on whether latent fingerprints on material that Karim had handled as a student at Swansea matched the fingerprints of Ramzi Yousef in prison. The British press would later report that Yousef and Karim were two different people.<ref>{{cite news|title=Al-Qaida and Iraq: how strong is the evidence?|url=http://www.theguardian.com/world/2003/jan/30/iraq.alqaida|accessdate=February 17, 2014|newspaper=The Guardian|date=January 30, 2003}}</ref> <ref>{{cite news|title="Powell Will Struggle to link Saddam with al Qa'eda Terrorism|url=http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/iraq/1420864/Powell-will-struggle-to-link-Saddam-with-al-Qaeda-terrorism.html|newspaper=Sunday Telegraph}}</ref> But Justice Department officials told ''Newsweek'' that the results of the Woolsey mission were what the FBI had predicted: the fingerprints were identical. After the match was made, FBI officials assumed that it had put the Mylroie theory to rest.<ref>{{dead link|date=July 2013}}</ref> | |||
After September 11, former Director of Central Intelligence ] was provided a government jet and FBI staff to investigate Mylroie's claim that Abdul Basit and ] were different people. ''Newsweek'' reported: | |||
However, Woolsey failed to obtain any documentation from British authorities regarding this point. The examination of fingerprints produces two documents: pictures of the prints and their analysis. Mylroie felt that Woolsey erred in not asking for any documentation, particularly as this had become an extremely controversial point. If Mylroie was right, then British (and U.S.) authorities had missed a crucial point. | |||
:The idea behind the mission was to check fingerprints on file in ], ], where Basit had once gone to school, and compare them to the fingerprints of the Ramzi Yousef in prison. | |||
Mylroie pointed to a British report that stated the opposite of what Woolsey had been told: "According to Britain's ''Guardian'' newspaper, latent fingerprints lifted from material Mr. Karim left at Swansea bear 'no resemblance' to Yousef's prints. They are two different people."<ref>{{cite web |first= Laurie |last=Mylroie|url=http://www.opinionjournal.com/extra/?id=110004906 |title= Very Awkward Facts |publisher=OpinionJournal.com |archiveurl= http://web.archive.org/web/20040411210017/http://www.opinionjournal.com/extra/?id=110004906| archivedate= April 11, 2004 |date= April 3, 2004 |accessdate=2013-07-30}}</ref> ''The Guardian'' cited this finding as evidence ''against'' Mylroie's theory: "Mr Woolsey returned empty-handed. 'The two sets of fingerprints were entirely different,' says a source familiar with the investigation."<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2003/jan/30/iraq.alqaida |title=Al-Qaida and Iraq: how strong is the evidence? |publisher= The Guardian |date= January 30, 2003 |accessdate=2013-07-30}}</ref> Another British paper, ''The Sunday Telegraph'', reported the same, "The two sets of fingerprints did not match," and reached the same conclusion.<ref>{{cite news|title="Powell Will Struggle to Link Saddam with al Qaeda Terrorism"|url=http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/iraq/1420864/Powell-will-struggle-to-link-Saddam-with-al-Qaeda-terrorism.html|accessdate=February 17, 2014|newspaper=Sunday Telegraph|date=February 2, 2003}}</ref> However, the point in both ''The Guardian'' and ''Sunday Telegraph'' is ''exactly'' Mylroie's point. As noted above, she has always maintained that Ramzi Yousef and Abdul Basit Karim are two different people. | |||
:... Justice Department officials tell ''Newsweek'' that the results of the Woolsey mission were exactly what the FBI had predicted: that the fingerprints were in fact identical. After the match was made, FBI officials assumed at the time that it had put the Mylroie theory to rest.<ref>{{dead link|date=July 2013}}</ref> | |||
⚫ | Yet Ramzi Yousef's inked fingerprints--as taken at JFK, when Yousef entered the U.S. in September 1992--match the inked prints in Karim's file in Kuwait. How can that be, if they are two different people? Maybe, someone switched the fingerprint card in Karim's file in Kuwait? That person took out the original card, with Karim's prints, and inserted a new card with Yousef's prints. Who would do that? Perhaps, Iraq, which occupied Kuwait for seven months. Why? To create a false identity--or "legend"--for a terrorist, which is standard intelligence tradecraft. As Mylroie affirmed: "That conclusion (of ''The Guardian'' and ''Sunday Telegraph'') actually supports my argument: Yousef’s inked prints (from JFK immigration) did not match the latent prints on Karim’s project. They are two different people."<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.frontpagemag.com/articles/Read.aspx?GUID=95AF676F-EFBA-44E1-A5EA-E63FCA6EEE2B |title= Symposium: The Saddam-Osama Connection: Part IV |publisher= FrontPage Magazine |date=February 11, 2005 |accessdate=2013-07-30}}</ref> | ||
Mylroie, however, pointed to a British report stating the opposite: "Indeed, according to Britain's ''Guardian'' newspaper, latent fingerprints lifted from material Mr. Karim left at Swansea bear 'no resemblance' to Yousef's prints. They are two different people."<ref>{{cite web |first= Laurie |last=Mylroie|url=http://www.opinionjournal.com/extra/?id=110004906 |title= Very Awkward Facts |publisher=OpinionJournal.com |archiveurl= http://web.archive.org/web/20040411210017/http://www.opinionjournal.com/extra/?id=110004906| archivedate= April 11, 2004 |date= April 3, 2004 |accessdate=2013-07-30}}</ref> | |||
''The Guardian'' report cited this finding as evidence ''against'' Mylroie's theory: | |||
:Mr Woolsey returned empty-handed. "The two sets of fingerprints were entirely different," says a source familiar with the investigation.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2003/jan/30/iraq.alqaida |title=Al-Qaida and Iraq: how strong is the evidence? |publisher= The Guardian |date= January 30, 2003 |accessdate=2013-07-30}}</ref> | |||
⚫ | |||
David Plotz points out that most of Mylroie's critics question not the claim that these were two different people, but rather her assumption that this proves Iraqi culpability in the attacks: | David Plotz points out that most of Mylroie's critics question not the claim that these were two different people, but rather her assumption that this proves Iraqi culpability in the attacks: | ||
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{{cquote|"The sharpest critique of Mylroie is that she discounts evidence that Yousef worked ''not'' for Iraq but for Osama Bin Laden... Bin Laden biographer ], ], and other media outlets concur that Ramzi Yousef worked for a Bin Laden-funded operation in the ]. So does American intelligence, apparently... Mylroie offers no real evidence linking Hussein to the 1998 bombings. Mylroie's strongest contention, that Ramzi Yousef is not Abdul Basit, does not confirm that Iraq bombed the World Trade Center in 1993. It just confirms that Ramzi Yousef is more mysterious than we suspect. It could still be that al-Qaida, not Hussein, provided Yousef with training, fake papers, and resources."<ref name="slate2001">David Plotz, "," ''Slate Magazine'' (28 September 2001).</ref>}} | {{cquote|"The sharpest critique of Mylroie is that she discounts evidence that Yousef worked ''not'' for Iraq but for Osama Bin Laden... Bin Laden biographer ], ], and other media outlets concur that Ramzi Yousef worked for a Bin Laden-funded operation in the ]. So does American intelligence, apparently... Mylroie offers no real evidence linking Hussein to the 1998 bombings. Mylroie's strongest contention, that Ramzi Yousef is not Abdul Basit, does not confirm that Iraq bombed the World Trade Center in 1993. It just confirms that Ramzi Yousef is more mysterious than we suspect. It could still be that al-Qaida, not Hussein, provided Yousef with training, fake papers, and resources."<ref name="slate2001">David Plotz, "," ''Slate Magazine'' (28 September 2001).</ref>}} | ||
Yet according to the ], Yousef was not a member of al-Qaida. Thus, Bodansky and the other media outlets cited above, contradict the 9/11 Commission. The Commission also says there was no credible evidence of Iraqi involvement in the 1993 bombing.<ref>: "KSM notes that Yousef was not a member of al Qaeda and that Yousef never met Bin Ladin." (p. 489); "We have found no credible evidence to support theories of Iraqi government involvement in the 1993 WTC bombing." (p. 559)</ref> | |||
Laurie Mylroie's former ally ], of the ], called her theory "a tour de force, but it's a tour de force of alchemy. It has a fundamentally wrong premise."<ref name="slate2001"/> According to ], who |
Laurie Mylroie's former ally ], of the ], called her theory "a tour de force, but it's a tour de force of alchemy. It has a fundamentally wrong premise."<ref name="slate2001"/> According to ], who prosecuted ] in 1995, "Mylroie's theory was loopy... Leaving aside various other implausibilities in her surmise, the government had several sources who knew Basit as Basit both before and after the time he spent in Kuwait."<ref name="nationalreview1">{{dead link|date=July 2013}}</ref> However, J, Gilmore Childers, who prosecuted the Trade Center bombers, had a different view. He believed that Ramzi Yousef and Abdul Basit Karim were two different people. So, too, did Jim Fox, New York FBI Director at the time of the Trade Center bombing, who led the investigation.<ref>{{cite news|last=Woolsey|first=R. James|title=Blood Ba'ath|url=http://www.newrepublic.com/article/politics/blood-baath|accessdate=February 17, 2014|newspaper=The New Republic|date=September 24, 2001}}</ref> | ||
==Support== | ==Support== | ||
], a national security advisor to various presidents, described her book in a blurb on its cover as "splendid and wholly convincing."<ref>{{cite web|first= Judith|last= Miller |url=http://www.amazon.com/gp/reader/006009771X/ |title=The War Against America: Saddam Hussein and the World Trade Center Attacks: A Study of Revenge |publisher=Amazon.com |date= |accessdate=2013-07-30}}</ref> ], former vice chairman of the CIA's National Intelligence Council, wrote that "Laurie Mylroie is right; Laurie is ''always'' right."<ref>{{cite web|last=Meyer |first=Herbert E. |url=http://www.nationalreview.com/comment/meyer200404080954.asp |title=Connecting the Dots |publisher=NationalReview.com |date=April 8, 2004 |accessdate=2013-07-30}}</ref> | ], a national security advisor to various presidents, described her book in a blurb on its cover as "splendid and wholly convincing."<ref>{{cite web|first= Judith|last= Miller |url=http://www.amazon.com/gp/reader/006009771X/ |title=The War Against America: Saddam Hussein and the World Trade Center Attacks: A Study of Revenge |publisher=Amazon.com |date= |accessdate=2013-07-30}}</ref> | ||
], former vice chairman of the CIA's National Intelligence Council, wrote that "Laurie Mylroie is right; Laurie is ''always'' right."<ref>{{cite web|last=Meyer |first=Herbert E. |url=http://www.nationalreview.com/comment/meyer200404080954.asp |title=Connecting the Dots |publisher=NationalReview.com |date=April 8, 2004 |accessdate=2013-07-30}}</ref> | |||
], professor of international relations at Boston University and former Senate Staff member dealing with oversight of the intelligence services, described her book ''Bush vs. the Beltway'' as "the best available account of the reasoning behind the conduct of the war on terror," albeit too lenient on President Bush.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1282/is_20_55/ai_108892935 |title=Unequal Struggle |publisher=FindArticles.com |date= |accessdate=2013-07-30}}</ref> | ], professor of international relations at Boston University and former Senate Staff member dealing with oversight of the intelligence services, described her book ''Bush vs. the Beltway'' as "the best available account of the reasoning behind the conduct of the war on terror," albeit too lenient on President Bush.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1282/is_20_55/ai_108892935 |title=Unequal Struggle |publisher=FindArticles.com |date= |accessdate=2013-07-30}}</ref> | ||
Former Bush 43 White House speechwriter, Joseph Shattan, praised Mylroie as "one of America's leading students of terrorism." Shattan believed that the Bush White House should have done more to defend and explain the Iraq war to the American people and felt that its failure to do so contributed directly to the election of Barack Obama.<ref>{{cite news|last=Shattan|first=Joseph|title=The Man who Elected Barack Obama: Why Didn't Rove Speak out Sooner?|url=http://spectator.org/articles/39801/man-who-elected-barack-obama|accessdate=February 17, 2013|newspaper=The American Spectator}}</ref> | |||
''The Washington Post's'' "Book World" included ''Study of Revenge'' among its "Expert's Picks" following the 9/11 attacks.<ref>{{cite news|last=Adams|first=Lorraine|title=Expert's Picks|url=http://www.lauriemylroie.com/files/011021_WaPo_Web_Page.htm|accessdate=February 19, 2014|newspaper=The Washington Post|date=October 21, 2001}}</ref> | |||
The ''Middle East Intelligence Bulletin'', reviewing ''Study of Revenge'' before 9/11, called it a "must read," explaining, "This reviewer believes that Mylroie has correctly pinpointed Saddam Hussein as the source of terrorist attacks on Americans, including the World Trade Center bombing.... The Clinton administration, wittingly or unwittingly, has chosen the path of self-delusion: to not investigate the matter seriously....he failure of U.S. officials to address the question of state sponsorship of terrorism will have significant future costs. It encourages future terrorist attacks by eliminating the costs of retribution from the calculations of leaders such as Saddam Hussein.<ref>{{cite web|last=Mandeles|first=Mark|title=Book Review: Study of Revenge, Saddam Hussein's Unfinished War Against America|url=http://www.meforum.org/meib/articles/0101_irbr.htm|publisher=Middle East Intelligence Bulletin|accessdate=February 19, 2014}}</ref> | |||
==Criticism== | ==Criticism== | ||
Mylroie has been criticized by many terrorism experts. CNN reporter ] |
Mylroie has been criticized by many terrorism experts, particularly those who endorsed the Clinton-era claim that a new kind of terrorism that did not involve states had emerged during his presidency. CNN reporter ] called Mylroie a "crackpot" and criticized what he claims is her belief that "Saddam was not only behind the '93 Trade Center attack, but also every anti-American terrorist incident of the past decade, from the bombings of U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania to the leveling of the federal building in Oklahoma City to September 11 itself."<ref name="washingtonmonthly2003">{{cite web|url= http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/features/2003/0312.bergen.html |title="Armchair Provocateur" |first=Peter|last= Bergen |publisher=Washingtonmonthly.com |date= 2003 |accessdate=2013-07-30}}</ref> Bergen claims that Mylroie's argument depends entirely on | ||
:a deduction which she reached following an examination of Basit's passport records and her discovery that Yousef and Basit were four inches different in height. On this wafer-thin foundation she builds her case that Yousef must have therefore been an Iraqi agent given access to Basit's passport following the Iraq occupation. However, U.S. investigators say that 'Yousef' and Basit are in fact one and the same person, and that the man Mylroie describes as an Iraqi agent is in fact a Pakistani with ties to al Qaeda.<ref name="washingtonmonthly2003"/> | :a deduction which she reached following an examination of Basit's passport records and her discovery that Yousef and Basit were four inches different in height. On this wafer-thin foundation she builds her case that Yousef must have therefore been an Iraqi agent given access to Basit's passport following the Iraq occupation. However, U.S. investigators say that 'Yousef' and Basit are in fact one and the same person, and that the man Mylroie describes as an Iraqi agent is in fact a Pakistani with ties to al Qaeda.<ref name="washingtonmonthly2003"/> | ||
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Bergen claims that "an avalanche of evidence" refutes Mylroie's basic assumption. | Bergen claims that "an avalanche of evidence" refutes Mylroie's basic assumption. | ||
], a senior fellow at the ], points out that "Mylroie's work has been carefully investigated by the CIA and the FBI.... The most knowledgeable analysts and investigators at the CIA and at the FBI believe that their work conclusively disproves Mylroie's claims.... Nonetheless, she has remained a star in the neoconservative firmament."<ref>Daniel Benjamin and Steven Simon, ''The Next Attack'' New York: Times Books, 2005, p. 145. ISBN 0-8050-7941-6</ref> | ], a former Clinton administration official and senior fellow at the ], points out that "Mylroie's work has been carefully investigated by the CIA and the FBI.... The most knowledgeable analysts and investigators at the CIA and at the FBI believe that their work conclusively disproves Mylroie's claims.... Nonetheless, she has remained a star in the neoconservative firmament."<ref>Daniel Benjamin and Steven Simon, ''The Next Attack'' New York: Times Books, 2005, p. 145. ISBN 0-8050-7941-6</ref> | ||
Dr. ] |
Dr. ], a former Clinton administration official, complained: "Laurie has discovered Saddam’s hand in every major attack on US interests since the Persian Gulf War, including U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania and even the federal building in Oklahoma City. These allegations have all been definitively refuted by the FBI, the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) and other investigatory bodies...."<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.frontpagemag.com/articles/readarticle.asp?ID=16986&p=1 |title= Symposium: The Saddam-Osama Connection: Part II |publisher=FrontPage Magazine |date=February 11, 2005 |accessdate=2013-07-30}}</ref> | ||
Michael Isikoff and David Corn noted that "An editor who worked on '']'' recalled that Mylroie often became obsessed with individual facts and exaggerated their importance: 'She was capable of great insight and of investing the smallest detail with the most disproportionate weight. She was not always capable of making a straightforward, linear argument. Left to her own devices, she would seize on reeds she would think were redwoods."<ref>Michael Isikoff and David Corn, ''Hubris'' (New York: Crown, 2006) p. 69.</ref> | |||
==Mylroie-McCarthy debate== | ==Mylroie-McCarthy debate== | ||
In 2008, Laurie Mylroie reviewed ''Willful Blindness'' by ], who had prosecuted ] |
In 2008, Laurie Mylroie, writing in the ''New York Sun'', reviewed ''Willful Blindness'' by ], who had prosecuted ] in 1995. Mylroie explained that Rahman had not ordered the bombing of the World Trade Center--nor was he charged with doing so. She also explained that other elements of the plot had been organized by Sudan, as the trial transcript made clear. She complained that McCarthy understated "the degree to which the extremists were penetrated by the intelligence agencies of several states."<ref>Laurie Mylroie, , ''New York Sun'', April 23, 2008.</ref> She argued that this was the basic flaw of the Clinton era handling of terrorism: it focused on the arrest and trial of perps and ignored state sponsorship. | ||
Replying on ], McCarthy accused Mylroie of misunderstanding "the difference between intrigue and evidence, between history and prosecution." Calling Rahman "the central figure in the overarching conspiracy," he wrote: "At trial, we proved that Sheikh Abdel Rahman had close ties to ], leader in the early 1990s of Sudan's de facto government, the ]."<ref name="nationalreview1"/> At this point her former ally ] wrote a blog entry attacking "Laurie Mylroie's Shoddy, Loopy, Zany Theories."<ref>{{cite web|author=Daniel Pipes |url=http://www.danielpipes.org/blog/2008/04/laurie-mylroies-shoddy-loopy-zany-theories.html |title=Laurie Mylroie's Shoddy, Loopy, Zany Theories – Exposed |publisher=Danielpipes.org |date= 2008 |accessdate=2013-07-30}}</ref> ] of the ] added: "no one I know took her arguments very seriously."<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.weeklystandard.com/weblogs/TWSFP/2008/04/mccarthy_on_mylroie.asp |title=McCarthy on Mylroie |publisher=WeeklyStandard.com |date=April 30, 2008 |accessdate=2013-07-30}}</ref> | Replying on ], McCarthy accused Mylroie of misunderstanding "the difference between intrigue and evidence, between history and prosecution." Calling Rahman "the central figure in the overarching conspiracy," he wrote: "At trial, we proved that Sheikh Abdel Rahman had close ties to ], leader in the early 1990s of Sudan's de facto government, the ]."<ref name="nationalreview1"/> At this point her former ally ] wrote a blog entry attacking "Laurie Mylroie's Shoddy, Loopy, Zany Theories."<ref>{{cite web|author=Daniel Pipes |url=http://www.danielpipes.org/blog/2008/04/laurie-mylroies-shoddy-loopy-zany-theories.html |title=Laurie Mylroie's Shoddy, Loopy, Zany Theories – Exposed |publisher=Danielpipes.org |date= 2008 |accessdate=2013-07-30}}</ref> ] of the ] added: "no one I know took her arguments very seriously."<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.weeklystandard.com/weblogs/TWSFP/2008/04/mccarthy_on_mylroie.asp |title=McCarthy on Mylroie |publisher=WeeklyStandard.com |date=April 30, 2008 |accessdate=2013-07-30}}</ref> | ||
Mylroie responded to McCarthy, arguing that the case against Rahman was "weak" and "different acts of violence, including the WTC bombing, were somewhat artificially linked" to strengthen the charges against him. She emphasized McCarthy's comment that Rahman was never charged with the "substantive crime" of bombing the World Trade Center.<ref>{{dead link|date=July 2013}}</ref> The debate continued in the ''New York Sun''.<ref>Laurie Mylroie vs. Andrew McCarthy, , ''New York Sun'', May 8, 2008.</ref> | Mylroie responded to McCarthy, arguing that the case against Rahman was "weak" and "different acts of violence, including the WTC bombing, were somewhat artificially linked" to strengthen the charges against him. She emphasized McCarthy's comment that Rahman was never charged with the "substantive crime" of bombing the World Trade Center.<ref>{{dead link|date=July 2013}}</ref> The debate continued in the ''New York Sun''.<ref>Laurie Mylroie vs. Andrew McCarthy, , ''New York Sun'', May 8, 2008.</ref> | ||
⚫ | ==1980s Support for Saddam== | ||
⚫ | Early in her career, Mylroie advocated support for Iraq in the context of its war and rivalry with Iran. In 1988, just before the cease-fire to the Iran-Iraq war, she published an article in the journal ''Orbis'', advocating "The Baghdad Alternative," which involved bolstering U.S. ties to Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein. Ken Silverstein gives this summary: | ||
:Saddam was implementing a policy of economic "perestroika" and political "glasnost," according to Mylroie. Iraqi officials she interviewed told her that Saddam was "much concerned about democracy... He thinks that is healthy," and she suggested this was "not just idle chatter." From an American perspective, Mylroie concluded, "the more Saddam Hussein exercises control over the Baath Party, including the ideologues, the better." She proposed that the Bush (Senior) Administration, already favoring Iraq against Iran, should offer Iraq more support in exchange for overt Iraqi support for U.S. Middle East policy goals. “Iraq and the United States,” she wrote, "need each other."<ref>Ken Silverstein, , Harper's, August 28, 2007, quoting Laurie Mylroie, "The Baghdad Alternative," Orbis, Vol. 32, No. 3, Summer 1988.</ref> | |||
⚫ | Isikoff and Corn write: | ||
⚫ | :Mylroie continued to advocate engaging Saddam, even after the Iraqi dictator slaughtered tens of thousands of Kurds in what became known as the Anfal campaign of 1987 and 1988. In May 1989, Mylroie wrote in ''The Jerusalem Post'' that Israel and the United States should not 'poke' Iraq 'with a stick' and should refrain from tossing 'idle threats and harsh words' at Baghdad. She suggested Iraq might become a benign, if not positive, presence in the region.<ref name="hubris69">Michael Isikoff and David Corn, ''Hubris: The Inside Story of Spin, Scandal, and the Selling of the Iraq War'' (New York: Crown, 2006) p. 69.</ref> | ||
⚫ | Isikoff and Corn argue that Mylroie "was looking to change the region through back-channel, private diplomacy – and she aspired to be a behind-the-scenes peacemaker who would broker a deal between Saddam and Israel." To this end, she met with Iraqi officials including ]. After Saddam's invasion of Kuwait, however, the would-be diplomat "turned against the dictator she had once wanted Washington to help, with the passion of one who felt personally betrayed."<ref name="hubris69"/> | ||
⚫ | In October 1990, Egyptian President ] mentioned Mylroie's trips to Baghdad and Israel, which she later denied. Isikoff and Corn, however, interviewed five of her former associates (including ]) who all "confirmed that she had been a secret go-between between Baghdad and Jerusalem."<ref name="hubris70">Michael Isikoff and David Corn, ''Hubris: The Inside Story of Spin, Scandal, and the Selling of the Iraq War'' (New York: Crown, 2006) p. 70.</ref> | ||
==Books== | ==Books== | ||
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*''Study of Revenge: Saddam Hussein's Unfinished War Against America''. The AEI Press (2000). ISBN 0-8447-4127-2 | *''Study of Revenge: Saddam Hussein's Unfinished War Against America''. The AEI Press (2000). ISBN 0-8447-4127-2 | ||
*''Bush vs. the Beltway: How the CIA & the State Department Tried to Stop the War on Terror''. ReganBooks (2003). ISBN 0-06-058012-7 | *''Bush vs. the Beltway: How the CIA & the State Department Tried to Stop the War on Terror''. Harper Collins (ReganBooks) (2003). ISBN 0-06-058012-7 | ||
==References== | ==References== | ||
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Revision as of 02:51, 16 March 2014
Laurie Mylroie has written on Iraq and the War on Terror, most notably in Study of Revenge. Ex-CIA Director James Woolsey hailed the book as "brilliant and brave." Former Deputy Secretary of Defense, Paul Wolfowitz, also praised Study of Revenge--as did former Chairman of the Defense Policy Board, Richard Perle; James Fox, former head of New York FBI; and Vincent Cannistraro, former Chief of Counterterrorism Operations for the CIA's Counterterrorism Center. Mylroie is an author and analyst who has long worked on the Middle East and Islamic world, both before and after 9/11. In Study of Revenge (2000), she argued that the Iraqi regime under Saddam Hussein sponsored the 1993 World Trade Center bombing and subsequent terrorist attacks. She claimed those attacks were part of an ongoing war that Saddam waged against America following the cease-fire to the 1991 Gulf War. Less than a year after her book was published, the September 11, 2001 attacks occurred. Study of Revenge implied that Saddam was responsible, and she adopted that view, defending it on many occasions, including before the 9/11 Commission. Her writings are considered to have been influential among neoconservatives during the buildup to the 2003 invasion of Iraq.
Career
Mylroie earned a bachelor's degree from Cornell University and a doctorate in Political Science from Harvard University. She also studied Arabic at the American University of Cairo. Subsequently, she taught as an Assistant Professor at Harvard University in the Department of Government (Political Science), Faculty of Arts and Science, and then as an Associate Professor in the Strategy and Policy Department of the U.S. Naval War College. She was the consultant on Iraq for Bill Clinton's 1992 presidential campaign--although she later became a strong critic of Clinton for what she came to charge was his mishandling of the terrorism that began on his watch, starting with the February 26, 1993, bombing of New York's World Trade Center.
Mylroie was a research fellow at The Washington Institute for Near East Policy and then with the Foreign Policy Research Institute, as well as an adjunct fellow at the American Enterprise Institute. Following the 9/11 attacks, she served on DARPA's Special Task Force on Terrorism and Deterrence and a DTRA panel on counter-terrorism. She deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan, where she served as a cultural adviser to the U.S. military. She has written three books and numerous articles, which have appeared in The American Spectator, Atlantic Monthly, Boston Globe, Commentary, The National Interest, The New Republic, Newsweek, New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, and Washington Times, among others.
Iraq connection claims
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Senior figures in New York FBI, the lead investigative agency in the February 26, 1993, bombing of the World Trade Center, suspected that Iraq was behind the attack. Mylroie's work--essentially an extension of their own--first appeared at length in an article in The National Interest, "The World Trade Center Bomb: Who is Ramzi Yousef? And Why it Matters." The Washington Monthly included the article in its monthly "Journalism Award," noting "Mylroie also found that lack of coordination between the Justice Department and national security agencies means that national security gets short shrift in dealing with domestic terrorism." Tragically, that point became all too clear--and the conventional wisdom--after 9/11.
Her National Interest article appeared in expanded form in Study of Revenge: Saddam Hussein's Unfinished War Against America (2000). Her book was endorsed by James Fox, who headed New York FBI at the time of the World Trade Center bombing and led the investigation of that attack. Fox wrote, "Although we are unable to say with certainty the Iraqis were behind the bombing, that is certainly the theory accepted by most of the veteran investigators.” He described Study of Revenge as "one of the most comprehensive and best-researched reviews of the bombing investigation." Similarly, Vincent Cannistraro, former Chief of Counterterrorism Operations for the CIA's Counterterrorism Center, described Study of Revenge as "one of the most brilliant pieces of research and scholarship in this area that I have ever read. has not only carefully gathered and set forth the facts of the bombing itself, but has provided original analysis that uncovers linkages that I believe the U.S. government investigators have failed to notice." As Mylroie explained, "The Clinton White House did not want to hear that Iraq was behind the bombing."] Her book is based on an analysis of the voluminous trial documents related to the 1993 bombing. "Only Laurie Mylroie appears to have gone through it carefully," said former CIA Director James Woolsey, who endorsed Study of Revenge as a "brilliant and brave book."
Abdul Rahman Yasin, an Iraqi-American who mixed chemicals for the explosive, was one of two indicted fugitives in the World Trade Center bombing, and he fled to Iraq soon after the bombing. This point is well known and is discussed in Study of Revenge, but the focus of Mylroie's work is the other fugitive, the mastermind, Ramzi Ahmad Yousef, who was arrested in 1995 following a failed plot in the Philippines. Yousef arrived in the United States in September 1992 on an Iraqi passport, and he was known among New York area militants as "Rashid, the Iraqi." In December, just a few months before the February 26, 1993, bombing, Yousef went to the Pakistani consulate in New York, claiming that he was Abdul Basit Karim and that he had lost his passport. The consulate provided Yousef a temporary passport in Karim's name, and he fled New York the night of the bombing on that passport (Yousef had three passports when he was arrested.) During Mylroie's work on the Trade Center bombing, which began as a consultant for a joint ABC News and Newsweek investigation, she spoke with Kuwaiti officials. One official read to her the summary of Kuwait's investigation into Abdul Basit Karim. The Kuwaiti summary noted that a document was missing from Karim's file: a copy of the front page of his passport, with a picture and signature. Notably, the Kuwaitis attributed this to Iraq's occupation. The Kuwaiti summary of Karim's file also included a notation that Karim and his family had left Kuwait on August 26, 1990, traveling from Kuwait to Iraq, crossing from Iraq into Iran at Salamchah, on their way to Pakistani Baluchistan, where they live now. After the official finished reading that, Mylroie looked up at him and asked, "What's that information doing in your file?"
Stunned silence was the response. Such information does not belong in a government file. A traveler does not provide authorities his entire itinerary. He only states that he is leaving one place for another on a certain date, by a certain mode of transportation. Moreover, on August 26, 1990, there was no Kuwaiti government. Iraq had invaded and occupied Kuwait on August 2, and Kuwait's government was in exile in Saudi Arabia. An Iraqi official had to have put that information into Karim's file--while Iraq occupied Kuwait.
Information was taken out of the file (the copy of the front page of Karim's passport), as the Kuwaitis recognized. Mylroie argues that information was also added, including the notation about Karim's family leaving Kuwait on August 26, 1990. Moreover, the Kuwaiti official told her that the fingerprint card in Karim's file matched the fingerprint card that U.S. authorities had for Ramzi Yousef. That could mean only one of two things: either that Yousef's real identity was Karim or that someone switched the fingerprint cards, removing the original with Karim's prints and replacing it with a new card, bearing Yousef's prints. For a variety of reasons, including that Karim was short (5'7") and Yousef is tall (6'), Mylroie argues that they are two different people. So do others, including the Swansea Institute's deputy principal, Ken Reid, who told the BBC: "I am personally convinced that the person who is held in New York is not our former student," and "I am personally convinced that our former student is no longer alive."
Chaim Kaufmann notes that "On several occasions in 2001–02, Wolfowitz pressured CIA and DIA analysts to validate a claim in a book by Laurie Mylroie that Hussein had been behind the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center. Both agencies had studied the book long before and considered it meritless."
In March 2008, the Pentagon released its study of some 600,000 documents captured in Iraq after the 2003 invasion (see 2008 Pentagon Report). The study "found no 'smoking gun' (i.e., direct connection) between Saddam's Iraq and al Qaeda."
The Pentagon study found that the 1993 World Trade Center bomber Yasin "was a prisoner, and not a guest, in Iraq." Among the documents released was a captured audio file of Saddam Hussein saying that he did not trust Yasin because his testimony was too "organized." Saddam speculated that the 1993 attack had been carried out by Israel or American intelligence, or perhaps a Saudi or Egyptian faction. Mylroie denied that this was proof of Saddam's non-involvement, claiming that "one common purpose of such meetings was to develop cover stories for whatever Iraq sought to conceal."
Fingerprint controversy
After September 11, former Director of Central Intelligence James Woolsey convinced the Pentagon to send him to Britain. Earlier in 2001, Woolsey had visited the Swansea Institute, where Abdul Basit Karim had studied for two years. Woolsey had left Swansea convinced that Mylroie was right: Ramzi Yousef and Abdul Basit Karim were two different people. After 9/11, he was provided a government jet and FBI staff to pursue her claim that Abdul Basit Karim and Ramzi Ahmad Yousef were different people, as Newsweek reported. The purpose of Woolsey's trip was to consult with British authorities on whether latent fingerprints on material that Karim had handled as a student at Swansea matched the fingerprints of Ramzi Yousef in prison. The British press would later report that Yousef and Karim were two different people. But Justice Department officials told Newsweek that the results of the Woolsey mission were what the FBI had predicted: the fingerprints were identical. After the match was made, FBI officials assumed that it had put the Mylroie theory to rest.
However, Woolsey failed to obtain any documentation from British authorities regarding this point. The examination of fingerprints produces two documents: pictures of the prints and their analysis. Mylroie felt that Woolsey erred in not asking for any documentation, particularly as this had become an extremely controversial point. If Mylroie was right, then British (and U.S.) authorities had missed a crucial point.
Mylroie pointed to a British report that stated the opposite of what Woolsey had been told: "According to Britain's Guardian newspaper, latent fingerprints lifted from material Mr. Karim left at Swansea bear 'no resemblance' to Yousef's prints. They are two different people." The Guardian cited this finding as evidence against Mylroie's theory: "Mr Woolsey returned empty-handed. 'The two sets of fingerprints were entirely different,' says a source familiar with the investigation." Another British paper, The Sunday Telegraph, reported the same, "The two sets of fingerprints did not match," and reached the same conclusion. However, the point in both The Guardian and Sunday Telegraph is exactly Mylroie's point. As noted above, she has always maintained that Ramzi Yousef and Abdul Basit Karim are two different people.
Yet Ramzi Yousef's inked fingerprints--as taken at JFK, when Yousef entered the U.S. in September 1992--match the inked prints in Karim's file in Kuwait. How can that be, if they are two different people? Maybe, someone switched the fingerprint card in Karim's file in Kuwait? That person took out the original card, with Karim's prints, and inserted a new card with Yousef's prints. Who would do that? Perhaps, Iraq, which occupied Kuwait for seven months. Why? To create a false identity--or "legend"--for a terrorist, which is standard intelligence tradecraft. As Mylroie affirmed: "That conclusion (of The Guardian and Sunday Telegraph) actually supports my argument: Yousef’s inked prints (from JFK immigration) did not match the latent prints on Karim’s project. They are two different people."
David Plotz points out that most of Mylroie's critics question not the claim that these were two different people, but rather her assumption that this proves Iraqi culpability in the attacks:
"The sharpest critique of Mylroie is that she discounts evidence that Yousef worked not for Iraq but for Osama Bin Laden... Bin Laden biographer Yossef Bodansky, Time magazine, and other media outlets concur that Ramzi Yousef worked for a Bin Laden-funded operation in the Philippines. So does American intelligence, apparently... Mylroie offers no real evidence linking Hussein to the 1998 bombings. Mylroie's strongest contention, that Ramzi Yousef is not Abdul Basit, does not confirm that Iraq bombed the World Trade Center in 1993. It just confirms that Ramzi Yousef is more mysterious than we suspect. It could still be that al-Qaida, not Hussein, provided Yousef with training, fake papers, and resources."
Yet according to the 9/11 Commission, Yousef was not a member of al-Qaida. Thus, Bodansky and the other media outlets cited above, contradict the 9/11 Commission. The Commission also says there was no credible evidence of Iraqi involvement in the 1993 bombing.
Laurie Mylroie's former ally Daniel Pipes, of the Middle East Forum, called her theory "a tour de force, but it's a tour de force of alchemy. It has a fundamentally wrong premise." According to Andrew C. McCarthy, who prosecuted Sheik Omar Abdel Rahman in 1995, "Mylroie's theory was loopy... Leaving aside various other implausibilities in her surmise, the government had several sources who knew Basit as Basit both before and after the time he spent in Kuwait." However, J, Gilmore Childers, who prosecuted the Trade Center bombers, had a different view. He believed that Ramzi Yousef and Abdul Basit Karim were two different people. So, too, did Jim Fox, New York FBI Director at the time of the Trade Center bombing, who led the investigation.
Support
Richard Perle, a national security advisor to various presidents, described her book in a blurb on its cover as "splendid and wholly convincing."
Herbert E. Meyer, former vice chairman of the CIA's National Intelligence Council, wrote that "Laurie Mylroie is right; Laurie is always right."
Angelo Codevilla, professor of international relations at Boston University and former Senate Staff member dealing with oversight of the intelligence services, described her book Bush vs. the Beltway as "the best available account of the reasoning behind the conduct of the war on terror," albeit too lenient on President Bush.
Former Bush 43 White House speechwriter, Joseph Shattan, praised Mylroie as "one of America's leading students of terrorism." Shattan believed that the Bush White House should have done more to defend and explain the Iraq war to the American people and felt that its failure to do so contributed directly to the election of Barack Obama.
The Washington Post's "Book World" included Study of Revenge among its "Expert's Picks" following the 9/11 attacks.
The Middle East Intelligence Bulletin, reviewing Study of Revenge before 9/11, called it a "must read," explaining, "This reviewer believes that Mylroie has correctly pinpointed Saddam Hussein as the source of terrorist attacks on Americans, including the World Trade Center bombing.... The Clinton administration, wittingly or unwittingly, has chosen the path of self-delusion: to not investigate the matter seriously....he failure of U.S. officials to address the question of state sponsorship of terrorism will have significant future costs. It encourages future terrorist attacks by eliminating the costs of retribution from the calculations of leaders such as Saddam Hussein.
Criticism
Mylroie has been criticized by many terrorism experts, particularly those who endorsed the Clinton-era claim that a new kind of terrorism that did not involve states had emerged during his presidency. CNN reporter Peter Bergen called Mylroie a "crackpot" and criticized what he claims is her belief that "Saddam was not only behind the '93 Trade Center attack, but also every anti-American terrorist incident of the past decade, from the bombings of U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania to the leveling of the federal building in Oklahoma City to September 11 itself." Bergen claims that Mylroie's argument depends entirely on
- a deduction which she reached following an examination of Basit's passport records and her discovery that Yousef and Basit were four inches different in height. On this wafer-thin foundation she builds her case that Yousef must have therefore been an Iraqi agent given access to Basit's passport following the Iraq occupation. However, U.S. investigators say that 'Yousef' and Basit are in fact one and the same person, and that the man Mylroie describes as an Iraqi agent is in fact a Pakistani with ties to al Qaeda.
Bergen claims that "an avalanche of evidence" refutes Mylroie's basic assumption.
Daniel Benjamin, a former Clinton administration official and senior fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, points out that "Mylroie's work has been carefully investigated by the CIA and the FBI.... The most knowledgeable analysts and investigators at the CIA and at the FBI believe that their work conclusively disproves Mylroie's claims.... Nonetheless, she has remained a star in the neoconservative firmament."
Dr. Robert S. Leiken, a former Clinton administration official, complained: "Laurie has discovered Saddam’s hand in every major attack on US interests since the Persian Gulf War, including U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania and even the federal building in Oklahoma City. These allegations have all been definitively refuted by the FBI, the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) and other investigatory bodies...."
Mylroie-McCarthy debate
In 2008, Laurie Mylroie, writing in the New York Sun, reviewed Willful Blindness by Andrew C. McCarthy, who had prosecuted Sheik Omar Abdel Rahman in 1995. Mylroie explained that Rahman had not ordered the bombing of the World Trade Center--nor was he charged with doing so. She also explained that other elements of the plot had been organized by Sudan, as the trial transcript made clear. She complained that McCarthy understated "the degree to which the extremists were penetrated by the intelligence agencies of several states." She argued that this was the basic flaw of the Clinton era handling of terrorism: it focused on the arrest and trial of perps and ignored state sponsorship.
Replying on National Review Online, McCarthy accused Mylroie of misunderstanding "the difference between intrigue and evidence, between history and prosecution." Calling Rahman "the central figure in the overarching conspiracy," he wrote: "At trial, we proved that Sheikh Abdel Rahman had close ties to Hassan al-Turabi, leader in the early 1990s of Sudan's de facto government, the National Islamic Front." At this point her former ally Daniel Pipes wrote a blog entry attacking "Laurie Mylroie's Shoddy, Loopy, Zany Theories." Stephen F. Hayes of the Weekly Standard added: "no one I know took her arguments very seriously."
Mylroie responded to McCarthy, arguing that the case against Rahman was "weak" and "different acts of violence, including the WTC bombing, were somewhat artificially linked" to strengthen the charges against him. She emphasized McCarthy's comment that Rahman was never charged with the "substantive crime" of bombing the World Trade Center. The debate continued in the New York Sun.
1980s Support for Saddam
Early in her career, Mylroie advocated support for Iraq in the context of its war and rivalry with Iran. In 1988, just before the cease-fire to the Iran-Iraq war, she published an article in the journal Orbis, advocating "The Baghdad Alternative," which involved bolstering U.S. ties to Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein. Ken Silverstein gives this summary:
- Saddam was implementing a policy of economic "perestroika" and political "glasnost," according to Mylroie. Iraqi officials she interviewed told her that Saddam was "much concerned about democracy... He thinks that is healthy," and she suggested this was "not just idle chatter." From an American perspective, Mylroie concluded, "the more Saddam Hussein exercises control over the Baath Party, including the ideologues, the better." She proposed that the Bush (Senior) Administration, already favoring Iraq against Iran, should offer Iraq more support in exchange for overt Iraqi support for U.S. Middle East policy goals. “Iraq and the United States,” she wrote, "need each other."
Isikoff and Corn write:
- Mylroie continued to advocate engaging Saddam, even after the Iraqi dictator slaughtered tens of thousands of Kurds in what became known as the Anfal campaign of 1987 and 1988. In May 1989, Mylroie wrote in The Jerusalem Post that Israel and the United States should not 'poke' Iraq 'with a stick' and should refrain from tossing 'idle threats and harsh words' at Baghdad. She suggested Iraq might become a benign, if not positive, presence in the region.
Isikoff and Corn argue that Mylroie "was looking to change the region through back-channel, private diplomacy – and she aspired to be a behind-the-scenes peacemaker who would broker a deal between Saddam and Israel." To this end, she met with Iraqi officials including Tariq Aziz. After Saddam's invasion of Kuwait, however, the would-be diplomat "turned against the dictator she had once wanted Washington to help, with the passion of one who felt personally betrayed."
In October 1990, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak mentioned Mylroie's trips to Baghdad and Israel, which she later denied. Isikoff and Corn, however, interviewed five of her former associates (including Judith Miller) who all "confirmed that she had been a secret go-between between Baghdad and Jerusalem."
Books
- Saddam Hussein & the Crisis in the Gulf (with Judith Miller). Random House (1990). ISBN 0-09-989860-8
- Study of Revenge: Saddam Hussein's Unfinished War Against America. The AEI Press (2000). ISBN 0-8447-4127-2
- Bush vs. the Beltway: How the CIA & the State Department Tried to Stop the War on Terror. Harper Collins (ReganBooks) (2003). ISBN 0-06-058012-7
References
- Mylroie, Laurie (2000). Study of Revenge: Saddam Hussein's Unfinished War against America. Washington, DC: American Enterprise Institute Press. p. Dust Jacket.
- Mylroie, Laurie. "Statement of Laurie Mylroie to the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States July 9, 2003". National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States. Retrieved February 19, 2104.
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(help) - Bergen, Peter (July 4, 2004). "Did one woman's obsession take America to war?". Guardian. Retrieved February 19, 2014.
- Hume, Brit (July 15, 2013). "The American Spectator : Contributors : Laurie Mylroie". Spectator.org. Retrieved July 30, 2013.
- Fox, James. "James Fox Letter" (PDF). Retrieved March 1, 2014.
- Mylroie, Laurie. "The World Trade Center Bomb: Who is Ramzi Yousef? And Why it Matters". Federation of American Scientists. Retrieved February 16, 2014.
- "Monthly Journalism Award" (PDF). The Washington Monthly. Retrieved February 16, 2014.
- Fox, James. "Reference Letter for Study of Revenge" (PDF). Retrieved February 16, 2014.
- Cannistraro, Vincent. "Reference letter for Study of Revenge" (PDF). Retrieved February 16, 2014.
- "Laurie Mylroie on Sept. 11 & Iraq". NationalReview.com. May 29, 2002. Retrieved July 30, 2013.
- Mylroie, Laurie (2000). Study of Revenge. Washington DC: American Enterprise Institute Press. pp. Book Jacket.
- Dickey, Christopher (July 4, 1994). ""America's Most Wanted"". Newsweek.
- "THE WORLD TRADE CENTER BOMB: Who is Ramzi Yousef? And Why It Matters – The National Interest". Fas.org. Winter, 1995/96. Retrieved 2013-07-30.
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(help) - ""Swansea Student Links to Bin Laden"". BBC. September 18, 2001.
- Chaim Kaufmann, Threat Inflation and the Failure of the Marketplace of Ideas, International Security (Summer 2004).
- Eli Lake, Report Details Saddam's Terrorist Ties, New York Sun, March 14, 2008
- Laurie Mylroie, More To Uncover on Saddam, New York Sun, April 2, 2008
- Woolsey, R. James (September 24, 2001). "Blood Ba'ath". The New Republic. Retrieved February 17, 2014.
- "Al-Qaida and Iraq: how strong is the evidence?". The Guardian. January 30, 2003. Retrieved February 17, 2014.
- ""Powell Will Struggle to link Saddam with al Qa'eda Terrorism". Sunday Telegraph.
- Terror Watch: Justice System on Trial – Newsweek National News – MSNBC.com
- Mylroie, Laurie (April 3, 2004). "Very Awkward Facts". OpinionJournal.com. Archived from the original on April 11, 2004. Retrieved July 30, 2013.
- "Al-Qaida and Iraq: how strong is the evidence?". The Guardian. January 30, 2003. Retrieved July 30, 2013.
- ""Powell Will Struggle to Link Saddam with al Qaeda Terrorism"". Sunday Telegraph. February 2, 2003. Retrieved February 17, 2014.
- "Symposium: The Saddam-Osama Connection: Part IV". FrontPage Magazine. February 11, 2005. Retrieved July 30, 2013.
- ^ David Plotz, "Osama, Saddam, and the Bombs," Slate Magazine (28 September 2001).
- 9/11 Commission Report, Notes: "KSM notes that Yousef was not a member of al Qaeda and that Yousef never met Bin Ladin." (p. 489); "We have found no credible evidence to support theories of Iraqi government involvement in the 1993 WTC bombing." (p. 559)
- ^ Still Willfully Blind After All These Years
- Woolsey, R. James (September 24, 2001). "Blood Ba'ath". The New Republic. Retrieved February 17, 2014.
- Miller, Judith. "The War Against America: Saddam Hussein and the World Trade Center Attacks: A Study of Revenge". Amazon.com. Retrieved July 30, 2013.
- Meyer, Herbert E. (April 8, 2004). "Connecting the Dots". NationalReview.com. Retrieved July 30, 2013.
- "Unequal Struggle". FindArticles.com. Retrieved July 30, 2013.
- Shattan, Joseph. "The Man who Elected Barack Obama: Why Didn't Rove Speak out Sooner?". The American Spectator. Retrieved February 17, 2013.
- Adams, Lorraine (October 21, 2001). "Expert's Picks". The Washington Post. Retrieved February 19, 2014.
- Mandeles, Mark. "Book Review: Study of Revenge, Saddam Hussein's Unfinished War Against America". Middle East Intelligence Bulletin. Retrieved February 19, 2014.
- ^ Bergen, Peter (2003). ""Armchair Provocateur"". Washingtonmonthly.com. Retrieved July 30, 2013.
- Daniel Benjamin and Steven Simon, The Next Attack New York: Times Books, 2005, p. 145. ISBN 0-8050-7941-6
- "Symposium: The Saddam-Osama Connection: Part II". FrontPage Magazine. February 11, 2005. Retrieved July 30, 2013.
- Laurie Mylroie, Willful Blindness: Prosecuting the War on Terror, New York Sun, April 23, 2008.
- Daniel Pipes (2008). "Laurie Mylroie's Shoddy, Loopy, Zany Theories – Exposed". Danielpipes.org. Retrieved July 30, 2013.
- "McCarthy on Mylroie". WeeklyStandard.com. April 30, 2008. Retrieved July 30, 2013.
- Writing Blind
- Laurie Mylroie vs. Andrew McCarthy, Setting the Record Straight, New York Sun, May 8, 2008.
- Ken Silverstein, Laurie Mylroie’s Song of Saddam, Harper's, August 28, 2007, quoting Laurie Mylroie, "The Baghdad Alternative," Orbis, Vol. 32, No. 3, Summer 1988.
- ^ Michael Isikoff and David Corn, Hubris: The Inside Story of Spin, Scandal, and the Selling of the Iraq War (New York: Crown, 2006) p. 69.
- Michael Isikoff and David Corn, Hubris: The Inside Story of Spin, Scandal, and the Selling of the Iraq War (New York: Crown, 2006) p. 70.
External links
- Mylroie, Laurie, "LaurieMylroie.com", Laurie Mylroie's homepage
- Entry about "Laurie Mylroie" on Sourcewatch
- Mylroie, Laurie, Mylroie's statement for the 9/11 Commission (July 2003).