Iraq how-to Manual Directed Arab Military Operatives in Afghanistan

[Gunslinger]

Of course many of you will dismiss this outright because of the source, so be it.  You'll never see this in the New York Times because it doesn't make Bush look bad and it's not a closly guarded national secret so newsworthy as it may be it will not garner national attention nore scrutiny.  

Iraq How-to Manual Directed Arab Military Operatives In Afghanistan

Thursday , July 06, 2006

Ray Robison

 
Translation | Analysis

An Arab regime, possibly Iraq, supplied how-to manuals for Arab operatives working throughout Afghanistan before 9/11, and provided military assistance to the Taliban and Al Qaeda.

That's the most likely conclusion drawn from an apparent training manual unearthed in captured Iraqi government computer files translated and analyzed exclusively for Fox News, and made public for the first time.

The document, apparently written before the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, could bolster the Bush administration's contention that Saddam Hussein was providing support for Islamic extremists who were plotting against America.

The training manual warns, in stark how-to terms, of the dangers of "information leaks," and instructs Arab operatives inside Afghanistan to dress like Afghan tribesmen, to avoid being followed ("Routine is the enemy of security"), to always be armed, and "to behave as if enemies would strike at any moment."

The manual also cautions Arabs to "beware of rapid and spontaneous friendships with Afghans who speak Arabic," and "always make sure about the identity of your neighbors and classify them as regular people, opponents or allies."

That revelation is provided exclusively to Fox News by Ray Robison, a former member of the CIA-directed Iraq Survey Group. ISG supervised a group of linguists to analyze, archive and exploit the hundreds of captured documents and materials of Saddam's regime.

Click here for more on Ray Robison and the Saddam Dossier

Fox News and Robison last week revealed the contents of a 1999 notebook kept by an Iraqi Intelligence Service (IIS) operative. That notebook detailed how Saddam's agents aggressively pursued and entered into a diplomatic, intelligence, and security arrangement with the Taliban and Islamist extremists operating in Afghanistan — years before the 9/11 attacks.

While the training manual revealed today by Fox News does not mention the IIS agent's notebook, the manual does suggest an Arab regime, most likely Saddam, may have provided the military help requested by the Taliban and Al Qaeda.

The manual, declassified and recently released by the Foreign Military Studies Office, advises its Arab readers never to show your "military ID." That strongly suggests that Iraq was sending professional military assistance to Afghanistan before the 9/11 attacks

Translation:

Editor's notes:

The translation is provided by Robison's associate, known here as "Sammi," who puts translation clarifications in parenthesis. Robison uses (RR) for clarification and bold-face type for emphasis.

Translator's notes:

This seven-page document contains instructions for a group of Arab men, military ID holders, and their families. These men appear to be joining other military men already in Afghanistan who are running "hosting places." These facilities appear to be safe houses or training facilities for other Arabs. The work involves receiving Arab men who may or may not choose to stay at the facility.

Even though pre-9/11 Afghanistan was teeming with Arab Mujihadeen who were proud to represent their native countries, the instructions advise the "brothers" to keep a low profile and behave as if enemies would strike at any moment.

Begin Translation for 2RAD-2004-600760-ELC.PDF

In the Name of God the Merciful

Personnel Security:

Respected brother,

Know that one of the main causes of information leaks is from personnel (translator's note: personnel talking), this is why we try to cooperate with you so that neither you or one of your brothers becomes the cause of a catastrophe that might hit one of the brothers or all of them.

Please follow these instructions:

1- Know as much as you need. (translator's note: don't ask too many questions)

2- Don't talk too much; it is said that "silence is wisdom."

3- It is recommended that all personnel wear Afghan clothing so they do not stand out from other people.

4- All the brothers should go to the market by themselves, alone.

5- It is not advised to move alone at night. (At night, walk the streets on foot)

6- As much as possible do not disclose your identity as an Arab.

7- Avoid excitement whether by glorifying or bashing.

8- Avoid being observed (translator's note: being followed and observed) and always notice who is walking behind you or following you from a distance; review the observation manual.

9- All brothers should be always armed even if with a small knife in their pockets.

10- Check your pockets and never leave important papers in them when moving around.

11- Always be careful in personal relations with Afghans or Pakistanis.

12- Avoid giving any information about the locations of your brothers.

13- It is forbidden to discuss work issues with the women.

14- It is forbidden to take children to parks and offices.

15- It is forbidden to talk about your work or the nature of your mission with anybody who is not related to it.

16- Beware of habit in your daily routine because the rule says, "Routine is the enemy of security."

17- If you are moving and have a large amount of money, beware of showing it in the market so you do not attract robbers.

18- Always beware when you are talking about the work because somebody not related to your work, the women or the children, might hear you.

19- Beware of rapid and spontaneous friendships with Afghans who speak Arabic.

20- In public places beware of talking about work issues because some Afghans know Arabic but you cannot notice this.

21- Always be forgiving when you are buying from, selling to or dealing with Afghans and avoid trouble.

22- Children are not allowed to go out by themselves whether to buy stuff or play.

23- Always make sure about the identity of your neighbors and classify them as regular people, opponents or allies.

Security of compounds:

The security of the house or the living quarters is one of the most important aspects of security because the house contains the personnel, the equipment and the important documents. Make the house secure, securing from all those aspects, and it is advisable that these measures be taken seriously. There are important precautions, to the security of the house, that have to be taken before renting but it is not practical to list them here.

(Translator's notes: several instructions for securing the houses are listed, including location, neighborhood, weapons inside, rules for children, night-time policy, and patrolling the surroundings)

Security of the hosting places:

A hosting place is the place where most infiltration takes place. What we mean by hosting place is a public place where people, who most of the time are not related to the work, are received. But in case we are receiving special guests or others, it is not considered a hosting place but it is affiliated to the security of the special offices. (Translator's notes: there are 23 instructions for the security of the hosting places; here are 10)

At the hosting place a room for the security unit is necessary for observation:

1. The hosting place should be away from the living space of the brothers and their meeting areas.

2. Brothers should not go often to the hosting place except for a purpose.

3. It is forbidden to practice any private or secret matter in the hosting place.

4. The hosting place where our brothers are grouped, like Kandahar

a. Anybody who enters it should be known

b. Nobody lives in it unless a known party recommends him

c. Persons living in the hosting place should be organized and authorized by the brother in charge of the hosting place. It should be known where the brother is going and when he is coming back.

5. Brothers living in Kandahar and who repetitively visit the hosting place should abide by the Holy Hadith (a sacred text of Islam), "The virtue of one's Islam is to leave what does not belong to him," and not to start a relation with the brothers living in the hosting place.

6. The brother in charge of the hosting place should assign a private place for each brother living in the hosting place and not leave the decision to the visitor.

7. There should be a schedule for night guard in the hosting place.

8. The communication room should be isolated in the hosting place and not close to the visitor's rooms.

9.The hosting place should have a reception room where the visiting brother is dealt with, before entering the hosting place, and decide if he is going to stay in it.

10. Public meetings are strictly forbidden in the hosting place.

http://www.foxnews.com/printer_friendly_story/0,3566,202277,00.html

Predictably responses:  Where's the WMD?  This doesn't justify an invasion, this doesn't link iraq qith 9/11 blah blah blah blah

It is also of equal intrest to me why there isn't much talk or speculation about the multitude of Iraqi documents captured such as this one that are still being translated and filtered?  The silence is deafening at times.

[Stringer]

The silence is certainly deafening from the Admin on this and why isn't the Admin talking more about this?

Why isn't Tony Snow leading every press conference with this?  

Of course the headline and the article don't really match do they?

Iraq how-to manual vs."possibly" and "could be" from Iraq?  Yeah...starts off real credible right there.

And how does "possibly" and "could be" and "most likely conclusion" jive with this from the CIA:

Tenet, to his credit, had us go back 10 years in the agency's records and look and see what we knew about Iraq and Al Qaeda. I was available at the time, and I led the effort. We went back 10 years. We examined about 20,000 documents, probably something along the line of 75,000 pages of information, and there was no connection between [Al Qaeda] and Saddam.

need to point out that during the period from when we started to chase Osama bin Laden, from 1996 until 9/11, there was not a lack of people looking for a connection between Saddam and Al Qaeda. We looked for it consistently, and we would do [a] periodic review of all of the information we had, and we could never prove a connection. ...

There were indications that Al Qaeda people had transited Iraq, probably with the Iraqis turning a blind eye to it. There were some hints that there was a contact between the head of the intelligence service of the Iraqis with bin Laden when he was in the Sudan, but nothing you could put together and say, "Here is a relationship that is similar to the relationship between Iran and Lebanese Hezbollah," which was what Doug Feith's organization was claiming. There was simply nothing to support that.

I don't know about you, but I bought into the WMD, immediate  threat when it was first laid out.  I supported it then.

But now, I'm not buying into it again until there is proof, not just "likely" and "could be" from a news outfit that jumped all over pre-'91, old shell cannisters as WMD just a couple of weeks ago.

Now ask yourself why every other news agency isn't all over those translations.....maybe the answer is not a conspiracy of the left, but of a lack of credibilty or the lack of anything substantial in the "supposed" mountain of yet to be translated documents.

We've had feet on the ground for 3 years.  You can bet this Admin's top priority was to find the smoking gun.

[Maverick]

Even if it is true, and I'm not saying it is as I don't know, it would be too little too late. No one is going to change their position based on this information as they have already been polorized  and set in their position. Hell osama could come forward with saddumbs personal bank card and receipts for several nights in saddumbs palaces and folks would still say there never was any connection 'tween the two of them.

[Furious]

you are part of the cover up Stringer.  if you weren't such a communist you would see the TRUTH and GENIUS and RIGHTEOUSNESS of this report.  

terrorist loving, america hating, leftist filth.

[lasersailor184]

For some odd reason, I think the administration is purposefully not taking the "IN YOUR FACE *******" route, so they themselves don't seem like *******es.

[FUNKED1]

$300 Billion for that pamphlet.  WTG!!!  MISSION ACCOMPLISHED!!!

[midnight Target]

Polarized my ass!

 If there is a smoking gun and we find out Saddam was spooning with Bin Laden before 9-11 then woopdee doo I'm a Republican.

 Instead, all the evidence points to a jigged up reason for war foisted on the American people. It is about time Bush and his pals implement the exit strategy or apologize for the debacle and resign. This is bordering on criminal.

[ChickenHawk]

With words like "possibly", "apparently" and "most likely" you can pretty much make a story sound like anything you want'

I was going to say something sarcastic about Vikings possibly being a party to this axis of evil but I think this "news" story pretty much speaks for itself.

[Gunslinger]

Originally posted by ChickenHawk
With words like "possibly", "apparently" and "most likely" you can pretty much make a story sound like anything you want'
 

Yet I see those words every day in news articles reguarding this conflict and this administration.  

Stringer I keep seeing those same points be grought up again and again but this isn't CIA records we are talking about here, this is litterally metric tons of papers that are still to this day being sorted, filtered and translated.  I'm not trying to change anyones political party here nore their stance on the invasion.

Chances are if you against the invasion before there's no amount of evidence that is going to change your mind now.  But alas no one seems to care about this.

It amazes me that people would pay more attention to a 9/11 conspiracy that involved Bush/Cheny than they would an Iraqi Air Force officer that *claimed* to have seen chemical containers being flown to Syria prior to the invasion.

[ChickenHawk]

Originally posted by Gunslinger
Yet I see those words every day in news articles reguarding this conflict and this administration.  

And when the other side uses similar words and tries to pass it off as fact, we should treat those reports with the same amount of scorn.  I just don't see any reason to get all worked up about nothing.

[Gunslinger]

Originally posted by ChickenHawk
And when the other side uses similar words and tries to pass it off as fact, we should treat those reports with the same amount of scorn.  I just don't see any reason to get all worked up about nothing.

I'm not worked up, I just don't think these types of reports should be taken as lightly as some do.....considering the price that has been paid.

[uvwpvW]

Originally posted by Gunslinger
I'm not worked up, I just don't think these types of reports should be taken as lightly as some do.....considering the price that has been paid.

If these “reports” are what we have paid so dearly for, then we have been swindled.

[Bruno]

If these “reports” are what we have paid so dearly for, then we have been swindled.

No shyte, gimme my money back....

[Stringer]

Gun,
I did support Bush at the beginning of this.  I'm not some guy you can write-off or label as a "liberal".  I have voted mostly Republican since I voted in my first election for Reagan.  I don't like being lied to, period.  Yes, I know both sides lie, but this is Bush and Company's lie.

As far as evidence changing anyone's mind.....you actually need to have the evidence first.....

And the reverse can be true....if you want to believe we invaded for valid reasons, you will grasp at any straw...and I was wondering when you were going to trot out the old retired Iraq general straw.

Look, Bush is a politician, and you and I both know that if he had the goods to proove he was right, we would be buried with the information.

You've grabbed enough straws to almost fill a hayloft...

[FUNKED1]

Originally posted by Bruno
No shyte, gimme my money back....

And my 20,000 casualties.