Our position is:Congress should hold hearings on evidence of previous Iraqi connections to terror.
Astatement by former CIA Director James Woolsey has given new credibility to suspicions of Iraqi involvement in the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing and the World Trade Center bombing of 1993 -- enough to merit congressional hearings.
In a Sept. 5 article on the Wall Street Journal editorial page, Woolsey was quoted saying that "when the full stories of these two incidents are finally told, those who permitted the investigations to stop short will owe big explanations" to two women. He was referring specifically to former Oklahoma City TV reporter Jayna Davis and Middle East expert Laurie Mylroie, who have independently unearthed evidence of a Baghdad connection to domestic terrorism prior to Sept. 11, 2001.
Woolsey served as CIA director under President Bill Clinton from 1993 to 1995. He is the highest-profile person to date to suggest that an Iraqi link to prior bombings is something more than a wild conspiracy theory.
In the Oklahoma City case, Davis painstakingly reviewed telephone records that indicate Terry Nichols contacted Iraqi intelligence in the Philippines to acquire bomb-making expertise. Nichols was the accomplice to executed bomber Timothy McVeigh.
Mylroi, who has just written a book on the first World Trade Center attack, found that Baghdad has been harboring Abdul Yasin, the man charged with helping mix chemicals used in the 1993 explosion.
The Journal has raised questions about "the Iraq connection" just as two congressional committees are reviewing evidence as well.
Marc Chretien, senior counsel of the House Government Reform Committee chaired by Rep. Dan Burton, R-Ind., has been to Oklahoma City twice in the last five months to investigate.
The committee's interest was piqued by Davis' collection of 26 witness affidavits putting McVeigh in the company of Arab-looking men during the weeks before and on the day of the bombing.
And at least one member of the Senate Intelligence Committee is known to be looking at the Davis research. Eight weeks ago, Sen. Arlen Specter, R-Penn., requested that Davis send files to Thomas Swanton, a top investigator in the committee's probe of possible intelligence failures prior to Sept. 11.
Unfortunately, Congress has not had an opportunity to review Davis' extensive dossier. And her witnesses have never testified before Congress or in court. That must change. This information deserves to be aired.
While it's not unusual for intelligence committees to be tight-lipped about their work, the public is entitled to know what theories are under review.
President Bush is seeking to make a case for military action against Iraq because of the threat it poses to world security. It would be a grievous mistake to ignore evidence that the threat may have already been exercised.
