IRAQ CONNECTED TO RICIN DISCOVERED IN PARIS

I know this is a déjà vu for many, but a new discovery of ricin today in a train station was so pathetically reported by Reuters that I need to add some details behind the story as reported recently by terror expert Mansoor Ijaz.

Iraq continues to deny any involvement in training al Qaeda operatives, and Pakistani intelligence very effectively, and quickly, suppressed evidence of these clandestine meetings after September 11. But erasing the fingerprints cannot change the irrefutable fact that Ricin and other chemicals first found in al Qaeda's Afghan safe houses after years of covert collaborations with Iraq inside Pakistan and Afghanistan are now being repeatedly uncovered in al Qaeda affiliated terror cells throughout Europe.

Interestingly, the discoveries of Ricin in Europe come after Zarqawi visited at least one of the cells in early November last year. And not just any cell. He was allegedly transported by well-paid Albanian mercenaries [from Iraq] through southern Turkey via the Balkans into France — that's right, France — where he spent the month of Ramadan teaching Algerian radicals how to make the toxic poison for which there is no known antidote. French police interrogations have revealed that the same Algerians arrested in Paris traveled to Barcelona, where later another al Qaeda cell was rooted out.

Traces of Ricin apparently found in the Paris apartment of the Algerian cell demonstrate with great clarity how Zarqawi's presence in Europe enabled the export and distribution of formulas and ingredients through al-Qaeda's nebulous global network to endpoints for deployment while giving Saddam plausible deniability of any involvement.

The first Paris ricin discovery was kept quiet by the French government during the UN negotiations. At that time, Ijaz tried to tell everyone of the find, and the Iraqi connection, but as usual everyone ignored yet another link to Iraq's involvement with terrorists. Hopefully the French enjoy getting ricin with egg on their face.

UPDATE: More background here on Zarqawi, and Iraq's connection to European ricin recipes.

Zarqawi, a Jordanian with expertise in chemical and biological weapons design, is reportedly the No. 3 Al Qaeda official. He has lived at an Al Qaeda safe house in Afghanistan where traces of the poison ricin were found last year.

Zarqawi has been tied to a northern Iraqi terror group backed by Hussein to oppose Kurdish rebels. At minimum, Hussein's regime provided Zarqawi with safe harbor and free passage into and out of Iraq. In the worst case, Hussein provided chemical and biological agents directly to a senior Al Qaeda leader.

British intelligence reportedly believes that Zarqawi sent recipes for making ricin from raw materials to Al Qaeda cells in London and perhaps other European cities. Algerian terrorists said to be connected to Al Qaeda and the northern Iraqi group, several of whom worked for food preparation companies, were arrested in London three weeks ago.

UPDATE II: Agence France-Presse is putting out a follow-up to today's story, but it's still questionable reporting.

A SOURCE close to the investigation into a deadly poison find in Paris has said there does not appear to be a link to the launch of the the US-led war against Iraq...

It is the first such discovery on French soil.

First, a specific link to the launch of the war would not be evident within a few hours. That reminds me of Chirac's laughably short "inquiry" into Safire's allegations of French involvement in sending ballistic missile fuel to Saddam.

Second, official talk of not finding a link to this particular batch conveniently avoids the key question of who is already known to be involved with ricin in European capitals -- and those people are directly related to the very reason the war was launched. The French government doesn't want to talk about that, for the same reason they didn't publicize the last ricin find in a private residence.

Third, the "first such discovery on French soil" claim is dubious. It's the first public discovery. The denial is only valid if there's some Clintonian formulation where a Paris apartment is not considered on French soil, but above it.

This is the reason you can't wait for terrorists to leave smoking guns that you can show a judge, or a legalistic UN Security Council. If a nuke goes off in Paris, dusting for fingerprints won't be possible. You have to attack the well-known sources of terror proactively when you have quality intelligence links and strong circumstantial evidence. Chirac doesn't have the guts to do that. He's still stuck in the 90's when Saddam could contract out terror hits and have a few losers take the fall in criminal court.

UPDATE III: Blogged a fresh post with more details here.