How Bush Blew His Chance to Learn More About Al Queda ...

How Bush Blew His Chance to Learn More About Al Queda and Saudi Financing Of Terror In a Failed Attempt to Kill Saddam Hussein

It was shortly after midnight on June 19 in Iraq. U.S. special forces caught sight of a convoy of dozens of cars racing toward the Syrian border. With hopes Saddam Hussein and his sons were in the convoy, the U.S. bombed the vehicles after they had crossed into Syria. Up to 80 people died. The U.S. detained a group of Syrians. No one in the Hussein was in the convoy.
The mission was a failure in more ways than one.

According to a report by Pulitzer Prize winning journalist Seymour Hersh, the attack has destroyed U.S.-Syrian relations. Although it is not widely known outside intelligence circles, Syria, since 9/11, has provided Washington with key information on the war on terror.

"The best relationship we probably had of any ally in terms of learning about Al Qaeda [was Syria] and they blew it. They blew it for short-term, ideological reasons, which is nothing new for this government," said Hersh about the Bush administration.

Hersh, speaking to Democracy Now! on the same day that the 9/11 Congressional report is to be released said Syria also could have provided the U.S. with detailed intelligence on how Saudi Arabia.

"Syria and Saudi Arabia were really close for 20 years. And there's a great deal of information the Syrians have that we don't know," Hersh said.

On another Iraq matter, Hersh says the U.S. media has failed to adequately cover the intelligence scandal surrounds the alleged Iraq-Niger uranium deal.

"[The press] didn't get it on Niger. They didn't get the implications of that story, which was that something was very seriously wrong. And I still think the question that has to be answered," Hersh said.

Hersh went on to say that the Bush administration has been consistently misleading the American public on Iraq since Sept. 11.

" I also venture to say probably the most honest document we've had made public about Iraq was the much maligned 12,000-page statement by none other than Saddam Hussein... It's probably more accurate than anything this government put out." Hersh said.


Seymour Hersh, Pulitzer Prize winning investigative reporter with The New Yorker. "The Syrian Bet" is his newest article. In March he wrote the first detailed article outlining the story behind the Bush administration?s use of forged documents that indicated Iraq tried to purchase uranium from the African nation of Niger.

 

We could move our nukulur "test" facilities to above ground locations in Syria and that would solve the problem.