Wednesday, November 7, 2001

Iraqi agents likely targeted RFE Prague officials say station was eyed by extremists By Christopher P. Winner Czech intelligence officials say Iraqi agents based in Prague were paying close attention to U.S.-funded Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, whose downtown headquarters has long been considered a possible terrorist target. "I can confirm that Radio Free Europe was at the center of interest of the Iraqi intelligence services," Jiri Ruzek, who heads the BIS, the Czech Republic's secret service, told a press conference. Ruzek's comments came days after Interior Minister Stanislav Gross confirmed that an Iraqi diplomat, Ahmed Khalil Ibrahim al-Ani, had met with the prime suspect in the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. According to Gross, Mohammed Atta traveled to Prague from Hamburg, Germany, on two occasions and met with al-Ani at least once, in March or April of this year. It is not clear what the two men discussed, but the contact reinforced growing official belief that Iraqi agents operating under diplomatic cover used the capital to meet with Islamic extremists, perhaps providing them with documents and cash. Al-Ani was expelled from the Czech Republic on April 22, 2001, for "activities exceeding his diplomatic duties" -- a common euphemism for espionage. The reason for al-Ani's expulsion was never made public, but a senior U.S. official told The Prague Post last month that American officials were concerned about illicit Iraqi activities in Europe. Their concern heightened after Radio Free Iraq, a branch of Radio Free Europe, began broadcasting into Iraq from Prague in 1998. The move apparently enraged Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein, whose country has been under strict UN embargo since the end of the Gulf War in 1991. According to Ruzek, al-Ani was seen photographing the Radio Free Europe headquarters near Wenceslas Square. The glass-and-steel structure has been under military guard and barred from local traffic since late September. So far, there is no evidence to suggest that al-Ani or other Iraqi agents were aware of Atta's plan to attack U.S. targets -- or even whether such a plan even existed at that time. Atta, an Egyptian national, is believed to have been at the controls of the first of two hijacked commercial airliners that slammed into New York City's World Trade Center. A third jet crashed into the Pentagon. More than 5,000 people died in the suicide attacks. In an Oct. 31 statement sent by fax to The Prague Post, the Iraqi Embassy vigorously denied any connection between Atta and al-Ani. "[We] would like to assure you, sincerely and truly, in accordance with the truth and history, that [this] information [is] absolutely untrue and fabricated," read part of the statement. Such news, it continued, "serves the political purposes of certain countries hostile to Iraq ... led by the USA, Great Britain and world Zionism." Al-Ani, who held the rank of second consul, was believed to be a member of the north Europe directorate of the Mukhabarat, the Iraqi secret service. Many of its agents are employed as diplomats, directed to encourage and assist Muslims sympathetic to Iraq. In December 1998, another Iraqi second consul, Jabir Salim, defected to England with at least $100,000 (3.8 million Kc). After his defection, Salim reportedly told British intelligence that he was in charge of funding a project to attack the Radio Free Europe building. This information was never independently verified. German media reports have suggested that al-Ani gave anthrax spores to Atta, who then traveled to the United States, but official sources discount such a transfer. The United States has been bombing targets in Afghanistan since early last month, hoping to root out Saudi militant Osama bin Laden, the man U.S. officials blame for the terrorist attacks. He is a guest of Afghanistan's fundamentalist Taliban regime. Saddam, who is thought to have a sophisticated arsenal of biological and chemical weapons, has maintained active ties with the Taliban. Since the fall of communism in 1989, Prague and other Eastern European capitals have been regularly used as transit countries for refugees -- many of them Muslims -- seeking asylum in the West. Germany, where Atta studied and lived during the mid-1990s, was considered a prime destination for refugees and students. Three of the suspected suicide hijackers -- Atta, Ziad Jarrah and Marwan al-Shehi -- studied in Hamburg. Human-rights and political officials have long criticized lax policing along many Eastern European borders, saying cash-starved frontier officials are easily bribed and susceptible to so-called "human trafficking." Police officials here also have noted a blurring of the line between potential terrorists and underworld figures, suggesting that drug money -- Afghanistan is the world's leading supplier of opium -- is a source for terrorist recruitment and payments. -- With wire reports. Christopher P. Winner's e-mail address is cpwinner@praguepost.cz