Al Qaeda in Iraq BEFORE the War: A Reminder

So a friend sent me the phony baloney Ollie North/UBL story again here. I wrote her back saying, "No it was Abu Nidal, for goodness' sake" and then mentioned that he'd been given safe haven in Iraq while on the lam from the US for the Leon Klinghoffer/Achille Lauro hijacking/murder. Anyway, it was in my efforts to verify that indeed Nidal went back to Iraq that I came across this story which has been sourced in the work of Stephen Hayes and Thomas Joscelyn. A year before we invaded Iraq, Saddam had Abu Nidal killed because the old terrorist refused to train Saddam's friends, Al Qaeda terrorists---in Baghdad. It was such an odd thing to have the constant drum beat of 'there was no al qaeda in iraq before the war' lies by the mainstream media and then see this old story in the MSM.
When they tell you Bush is lying. THEY are lying. When Move over dot kooks tell you Bush is lying THEY are not just lying; they are engaging in wholesale disinformation.
Here's the nut info from the lefty UK Daily Guardian in August of 2002:

Last week, American intelligence officials revealed that several high-ranking al-Qa'eda members had moved to northern Iraq where they had linked up with Iraqi intelligence officials.
It now transpires that Saddam was hoping to take advantage of Abu Nidal's presence in Baghdad to persuade him to use his considerable expertise in terrorist techniques to train al-Qa'eda fighters.
Abu Nidal, the Palestinian terrorist, was murdered on the orders of Saddam Hussein after refusing to train al-Qa'eda fighters based in Iraq, The Telegraph can reveal.
Despite claims by Iraqi officials that Abu Nidal committed suicide after being implicated in a plot to overthrow Saddam, Western diplomats now believe that he was killed for refusing to reactivate his international terrorist network.
According to reports received from Iraqi opposition groups, Abu Nidal had been in Baghdad for months as Saddam's personal guest, and was being treated for a mild form of skin cancer.
While in Baghdad, Abu Nidal, whose real name was Sabri al-Banna, came under pressure from Saddam to help train groups of al-Qa'eda fighters who moved to northern Iraq after fleeing Afghanistan. Saddam also wanted Abu Nidal to carry out attacks against the US and its allies.
When Abu Nidal refused, Saddam ordered his intelligence chiefs to assassinate him. He was shot dead last weekend when Iraqi security forces burst into his apartment in central Baghdad. The body was taken to the hospital where he had had cancer treatment.
Abu Nidal worked closely with Saddam during the late 1970s and early 1980s to carry out a number of terrorist outrages in the Middle East and Europe, including the attempted assassination of the Israeli ambassador to London in 1982.
With the prospect increasing of the US launching a military campaign to overthrow Saddam, however, the Iraqi dictator was keen to combine Abu Nidal's expertise with the enthusiasm of al-Qa'eda's fanatical fighters to launch a fresh wave of terror attacks. In this way, Saddam hoped to disrupt Washington's plans to overthrow him.
The presence of al-Qa'eda fighters in Iraq has become a source of great concern in Washington.