Iraq and terrorists

Revisionists are upset that President Bush linked Saddam Hussein's Iraq to the War on Terror. Here is a little reminder for those who don't remember.

Palestinian terrorist Abu Abbas died in American custody in Iraq last week, apparently of natural causes. According to a news release from the Coalition Joint Task Force in the Iraqi capitol, "U.S. forces have held Abbas since he was captured in Baghdad on April 14, 2003." His path into American hands illustrates why Operation Iraqi Freedom was and is an indispensable part of the War on Terror.

Abu Abbas masterminded the 1985 hijacking of the Achille Lauro, an Italian cruise ship, off the Egyptian and Israeli coasts. Four Palestinian terrorists boarded the luxury liner that October 7 and held some 400 passengers hostage for 44 hours. They segregated Jews on board, then selected one for special treatment. Leon Klinghoffer, a 69-year-old retiree and stroke victim from New York City, was shot to death, then thrown into the Mediterranean with his wheelchair.

But Ted Kennedy will tell you Iraq didn't become a haven for terrorists until we went there.

More important than whether Iraq had any involvement in 11 September 2001 was ensuring they could not contribute to a future attack on a much greater scale than 9/11. The facts are that Saddam long supported terrorist activity and wanted revenge on the U.S. for leading the coalition that tossed him out of Kuwait. Additionally, the people opposed to ensuring our safety conveniently forget that Hussein never fully complied with the terms for ending the first Gulf War.