911 Commission reports "no credible evidence" that al Qaeda and Iraq cooperated in 9/11 attacks on United States. Details soon.
From yesterday.. Bush stands by al Qaeda, Saddam link WASHINGTON (CNN) -- President Bush repeated his administration's claim that Iraq was in league with al Qaeda under Saddam Hussein's rule, saying Tuesday that fugitive Islamic militant Abu Musab al-Zarqawi ties Saddam to the terrorist network. "Zarqawi's the best evidence of a connection to al Qaeda affiliates and al Qaeda," Bush told reporters at the White House. "He's the person who's still killing." U.S. intelligence officials have said al Qaeda had some links to Iraq dating back to the early 1990s, but the nature and extent of those contacts is a matter of dispute. Critics have accused the president and other administration officials of falsely inflating the links between Iraq and al Qaeda in the months before the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq. http://www.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/meast/06/15/bush.alqaeda/index.html
The report says Osama bin Laden "explored possible cooperation with Iraq during his time in Sudan, despite his opposition to (Saddam) Hussein's secular regime. Bin Laden had in fact at one time sponsored anti-Saddam Islamists in Iraqi Kurdistan. "The Sudanese, to protect their own ties with Iraq, reportedly persuaded bin Laden to cease this support and arranged for contacts between Iraq and al Qaeda." A senior Iraqi intelligence officer reportedly made three visits to Sudan, finally meeting bin Laden in 1994. Bin Laden is said to have requested space to establish training camps, as well as assistance in procuring weapons, but Iraq apparently never responded. "There have been reports that contacts between Iraq and al Qaeda also occurred after bin Laden had returned to Afghanistan, but they do not appear to have resulted in a collaborative relationship," the report said. "Two senior bin Laden associates associates have adamantly denied" any relationship, the report said. The report also found that there was no "convincing evidence that any government financially supported al Qaeda before 9/11" other than the limited support provided by the Taliban when bin Laden arrived in Afghanistan. It found that Saudi Arabia was a rich fund-raising ground for al Qaeda, but that it had found no evidence that the Saudi government as an institution or senior officials within the Saudi government funded al Qaeda. http://www.cnn.com/2004/ALLPOLITICS/06/16/911.commission/index.html
Far more crucial than what we know or do not know is what we do not want to know. One often obtains a clue to a person's nature by discovering the reasons for his or her imperviousness to certain impressions. - Eric Hoffer
Bush is gonna stress that Zarqawi's presence proves an al Qaeda/Saddam link. I get tired arguing the point. My friend recently said the same thing; but Zarqawi has room to operate in Iraq, plus a reason to operate, now that Saddam can't hinder him. Saddam was always wary of Osama. He probably didn't want to cede any sovereignty. Saddam would have been de facto ruler of Iraq, but Osama might have captured more than a few hearts and minds. So, we invade Iraq, in part based on disinformation fed us by Chalabi through the Iranians (Shiite majority). We get rid of Saddam (not a BAD thing, but at what cost, and we might have strengthened Iran in the process). Now al Qaeda steps in and rabble-rouses and starts popping off Americans and whomever else. People who don't read too much might just follow the same logic as Bush the Lesser.
just for the record, no one has claimed a saddam-9/11 link, but many have said there is alot of credible evidence of a saddam-al queda link. zarqawi was in bagdahd in october of 2002, and was treated at one of the regime's hospitals. seems unlikely he could have done so w/out saddam signing off on it.
ah, so saddam-al qaeda + 911-al qaeda ______________ saddam-911 ? If yes, then that's interesting math there.
What? The articles that you dutifully post and argue forcefully in defense of claim it rather openly: http://bbs.clutchcity.net/showthread.php?s=&threadid=78084 http://bbs.clutchcity.net/showthread.php?s=&threadid=78359 As does the Vice President, referring to Iraq, last September: "we will have struck a major blow right at the heart of the base, if you will, the geographic base of the terrorists who had us under assault now for many years, but most especially on 9/11." Which prompted Bush to have to do damage control: ""No, we've had no evidence that Saddam Hussein was involved with September the 11th" http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A25571-2003Sep17?language=printer And then there was the keystone kops style leakage of the Feith memo from a while back, http://slate.msn.com/id/2092180/ which was quickly disavowed by the Defense Department http://www.defenselink.mil/releases/2003/nr20031115-0642.html Sorry, basso but you and many others have been pushing this link for years now, you can't turn back now.
I believe many people were treated in Iraq's hospitals and I'd be willing to bet that Saddam didn't know about even a small fraction of those. You can assume he knew about it if you wish, but there is no proof that he did.
So the findings of the commission appointed by the President are meaningless? Do you have an air tube down there so you can breath with your head in the sand? If so, I trust you're sharing it with basso and Baqui99... there is a hint of oxygen deprivation.
Whoops! Sorry, Bagui! (thanks, RM95) My brain is not at fully functional yet... late night last night after getting back into Austin. OK, then the air tube only needs sharing between 2. The situation's not hopeless!
just for the record, no one has claimed a saddam-9/11 link, but many have said there is alot of credible evidence of a saddam-al queda link. zarqawi was in bagdahd in october of 2002, and was treated at one of the regime's hospitals. seems unlikely he could have done so w/out saddam signing off on it. The 9/11 commission's report actually doesn't deal with an AQ-9/11 link (though you'd think it would, since it was the 9/11 commission). It states that AQ and Iraq had no ties pre-9/11 whatsoever.
You beat a dead horse -NJRocket Actually, if anything, the Bush Administration beat a dead horse, as they brought up the alleged link yet again yesterday.
