Comments by President Bush, Vice President Dick Cheney and National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice alleging links between al-Qaida and Iraq 2002 Rice, Sept. 25: "There clearly are contacts between al-Qaida and Iraq that can be documented; there clearly is testimony that some of the contacts have been important contacts and that there's a relationship here. ... And there are some al-Qaida personnel who found refuge in Baghdad." Bush, Oct. 7: "We know that Iraq and the al-Qaida terrorist network share a common enemy — the United States of America. We know that Iraq and al-Qaida have had high-level contacts that go back a decade" and "we've learned that Iraq has trained al-Qaida members in bomb-making and poisons and deadly gases." 2003: Bush, State of the Union address, Jan. 28: "And this Congress and the American people must recognize another threat. Evidence from intelligence sources, secret communications, and statements by people now in custody reveal that Saddam Hussein aids and protects terrorists, including members of al-Qaida." Bush, Feb. 6: "Senior members of Iraqi intelligence and al-Qaida have met at least eight times since the early 1990s. Iraq has sent bomb-making and document forgery experts to work with al-Qaida" and "Iraq has also provided al-Qaida with chemical and biological weapons training." 2004: Cheney, Jan. 21: "I continue to believe — I think there's overwhelming evidence that there was a connection between al-Qaida and the Iraqi government. I'm very confident that there was an established relationship there." Cheney, Monday: Saddam Hussein "had long-established ties with al-Qaida."
If you can't see that when they allege an Iraq-Al Qaeda link they are really trying to draw a link to 9/11, then you are willfully blind.
you say potato, I say potato... I can't believe that the war supporters are going to try and play this semantics game! "Well we weren't really talking about 911 being the link, just that there were other links." Disgusting...
None of those do, but this one does: Vice President Cheney: "If we're successful in Iraq, if we can stand up a good representative government in Iraq, that secures the region so that it never again becomes a threat to its neighbors or to the United States, so it's not pursuing weapons of mass destruction, so that it's not a safe haven for terrorists, now we will have struck a major blow right at the heart of the base, if you will, the geographic base of the terrorists who have had us under assault now for many years, but most especially on 9/11." Source: Meet the Press, NBC (9/14/2003). Last time I checked, that geographic base was Afghanistan, with an assist from Saudi Arabia... and this one: Vice President Cheney: "QUESTION: When I was in Iraq, some of the soldiers said they believed they were fighting because of the Sept. 11 attacks and because they thought Saddam Hussein had ties to al Qaida. You've repeatedly cited such links. . . . I wanted to ask you what you'd say to those soldiers, and were those soldiers misled at all? VICE PRESIDENT CHENEY: . . . . With respect to . . . the general relationship. . . . One place you ought to go look is an article that Stephen Hayes did in the Weekly Standard . . . That goes through and lays out in some detail, based on an assessment that was done by the Department of Defense and forwarded to the Senate Intelligence Committee some weeks ago. [this article and the Feith memo that I cited on page 1 of the thread talk about and push the 9-11-Saddam connection] That's your best source of information. I can give you a few quick for instances, one the first World Trade Center bombing in 1993. ." Source: Transcript of interview with Vice President Dick Cheney, Rocky Mountain News (1/9/2004). Also note that Cheney willfully omitted mentioning that the "assessment that was done by the Department of Defense" was rapidly disavowed by the Department of Defense as raw, unverified data, about a month prior. http://www.defenselink.mil/releases/2003/nr20031115-0642.html Of course, I noted all this stuff back on page one when somebody else tried to play this game but nobody addressed it.
Cheney meant that the Middle East was the geographical base. He did not mean that Iraq was Al Qaida's base. Nor does the second quote say anything about 9/11 being a joint Iraqi-AQ venture. Once, again you come up empty Ohsammy.
That was a dispicable thing to say. We're supposed to clean up our behavior a bit around here, according to Jeff. Using language like that is doing the opposite. Grow up.
It's important for Bush to link Iraq to 911 and al Qaeda (politically). It makes his constituency (Republican base) angry towards Iraq. Thus, fueling the need to go into Iraq in the first place. See? It all fits nice a tidy. Now say it with me folks... Iraq = Monsters! Iraq = Evil! Iraq = 911! There. Isn't that better? Makes war that much "easier" when you look at the world in black and white. Now, if there are no ties to Iraq and 911.... well, that would just spoil the whole purpose of going into Iraq in the first place. Then the American people would start asking more questions....and we can't have that. What? You think this a democracy or something!
1. Wrong, gwayniac. Let's examine where your already contorted theory of spin falls apart it for you: OK so if the Middle East is the geographic base, than what is the "Heart " of the base? Any plausible reading of that sentence would come up with Iraq, as that is the only country mentioned. Is Iraq the "heart of the base" of the terrorists who struck us on 9-11? Or is the Middle east the "heart of the base"? If so then what is the actual base itself? Planet Earth? The Solar System? The Milky Way? Please elaborate when you get a chance. 2. Righty, so Cheney never argued that they were connected, he just pointed to an article and memo that alleged they were and called it "the best source of information" (which is ironic, since the Department of Defense said it "was not an analysis of the substantive issue of the relationship between Iraq and al Qaeda, and it drew no conclusions" , and which is doubly ironic, because most of the information in that article and memo was later discredited in the post Chalabi fallout anyway.) Cheney didn't endorse the idea, he just endorsed somebody who did and called it the best source of information on the issue. I'll leave you with a quote.
OK so Cheney figured that since a lot of terrorism comes from the Middle East then attacking anywhere in the Middle East is striking against terrorism. That's like saying we need to cut down on gang violence in Houston by clamping down on West University.
bamma I'd be interested in your thoughts on this. It's a quote from Cheney this morning concerning the media and how they work (in regards to the dispute between the 911 commission and the administration. Are reporters lazy and not confirm their sources?
I am not going to play this stupid game. Now tell me where Cheney said it or stop frothing and go back to Democratic Underground.
"If we're successful in Iraq, if we can stand up a good representative government in Iraq, that secures the region so that it never again becomes a threat to its neighbors or to the United States, so it's not pursuing weapons of mass destruction, so that it's not a safe haven for terrorists, now we will have struck a major blow right at the heart of the base, if you will, the geographic base of the terrorists who have had us under assault now for many years, but most especially on 9/11." Source: Meet the Press, NBC (9/14/2003). Keep trying gweenie.
