Jordan's close call shows potential al-Qaida-Iraq link

Like a howling desert sandstorm, the Abu Ghraib prisoner abuse scandal has almost totally obscured our view of the surrounding terrain. There is no doubt that we need to get to the bottom of things -- quickly and publicly. But let's step back from the storm to look at another key development that has been largely overlooked.

On April 17, Jordan's King Abdullah announced that his security services had foiled a terrorist plot to carry out large-scale suicide bomb attacks in Amman. Since at least early April, they had been tracking an al-Qaida cell, and fortunately intercepted the cell's members before they could carry out their plan. The plot's targets included the prime minister's office, the Jordanian intelligence headquarters and, of course, the American embassy.

Several aspects of the thwarted plot make it so significant. The terrorists' ruthless plan was well-orchestrated and showed the kind of brutal sophistication that has been the hallmark of al-Qaida operations. Their intent was to carry out closely-coordinated detonations of car and truck bombs. Two or more explosive-laden vehicles were to be used on each target, and makeshift battering rams were welded on the lead trucks so they could crash through protective walls and barriers.

Most chilling, this was to be al-Qaida's first chemical attack, according to the Jordanian investigators. Containers of unidentified chemical agents were allegedly found loaded in some of the vehicles, which were apparently meant to be scattered by the explosions in a mile-wide toxic cloud over downtown Amman. Almost 20 tons of explosives and chemicals were found, and Jordanian officials stated that had the attack succeeded, it could have decapitated the government, taken 20,000 lives and caused devastation worse than 9/11.

Two other important details make the Amman chem-bomb plot particularly salient. First, in a televised confession, the captured leader of the cell said he was acting on the orders of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi the bloodthirsty murderer behind so many recent bombings in Iraq, the Madrid subway attack and now the horrific execution of civilian contractor Nicholas Berg. Second, King Abdullah stated publicly that some of the trucks and al-Qaida operatives involved in the plot, along with a quantity of "poison gas," entered Jordan from Syria.

As you may recall, there have been numerous unconfirmed reports that Iraqi WMD stocks were sent across the border into Syria before and during the U.S. invasion last year. The veracity of such reports is in question, especially the claims of Israeli officials who have a built-in motivation to point the finger at an old adversary. Nevertheless, there are other, more credible sources alleging that Saddam stashed WMD in Syria. Those include the head of U.S. satellite imagery intelligence, a Syrian intelligence officer leaking inside information, and weapons inspector David Kay.

Let's see what we have here. Zarqawi is the man Colin Powell presented to the United Nations as a living link between Saddam's regime and the al-Qaida network. Zarqawi also has a record of working with deadly toxins -- and possibly chemical or biological agents -- for use as terrorist weapons. We also have independent sources claiming that Iraqi WMD stocks were hidden in Syria. Now we discover an al-Qaida plot in Jordan, directed by Zarqawi, to conduct a mass-terror attack using deadly chemicals, which reportedly came from Syria.

The revelation of an attempted chemical attack by an al-Qaida ally/operative flies in the face of the now-familiar refrains of "Iraq didn't have WMD," and "there is no evidence of an Iraq-al-Qaida link," and the oh-so-popular, "Saddam posed no threat."

I'm not saying this constitutes definitive proof, but it does change the tenor of the argument about reasons for the war. President Bush led us into Iraq in order to minimize the chance that fanatical terrorists might try to obtain terrible weapons of mass destruction so they could kill on a massive scale. Zarqawi's chem-bomb plot shows that was no idle worry or contrived justification.

T.T.

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