More Baloney ...???
Or..just
'Darn good Intel...?'
Cheney Claims al-Qaida Linked to Saddam
Tue Jun 15,
By MIKE SCHNEIDER, Associated Press Writer
ORLANDO, Fla. - Vice President Dick Cheney (news - web sites) said Saddam Hussein (news - web sites) had "long-established ties" with al Qaida, an assertion that has been repeatedly challenged by some policy experts and lawmakers.
The vice president on Monday ..OFFERED No Details.. backing up his claim of a link between Saddam and al Qaida.
"He was a patron of terrorism," Cheney said of Hussein during a speech before The James Madison Institute, a conservative think-tank based in Florida. "He had long established ties with al Qaida."
In making the case for war in Iraq (news - web sites), Bush administration officials frequently cited what they said were Saddam's decade-long contacts with al-Qaida operatives. They stopped short of claiming that Iraq was directly involved in the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the United States, but critics say Bush officials left that impression with the American public.
Cheney listed what he described as the accomplishments of the Bush administration in the war on terror, including fledgling democracies in Afghanistan (news - web sites) and Iraq; and the decision by Libya's leader, Moammar Gadhafi, to abandon his nuclear ambitions.
Sen. Bob Graham, D-Fla., countered that the Bush administration had "a sorry record in the war on terror." Graham, former chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, spoke Sunday in a conference call arranged by John Kerry (news - web sites)'s presidential campaign in anticipation of Cheney's speech.
The State Department said last week it was wrong in stating that terrorism declined worldwide last year in a report that the Bush administration initially cited as evidence it was succeeding against terrorism, Graham noted. Both the number of incidents and the toll in victims increased sharply, the department acknowledged.
Additionally....some
Pot..Kettle..Black Stuff about
Our Dear VP
DOING BUSINESS WITH SPONSORS OF TERRORISM: In an extensive report, CBS's 60 Minutes found that
while VP Cheney was CEO, Halliburton
deliberately located a mail box in the Cayman Islands in order to avoid U.S. sanctions (and U.S. taxes) and do business with Iran. According to New York City Comptroller William Thompson, the company "appears to have violated the spirit of the law" as the offshore subsidiary was not a separate company (as would be required), but a wholly owned arm of Halliburton set up specifically to evade U.S. sanctions. It was VP Cheney who oversaw the establishment of Halliburton's business dealings with Iran, and today the company still "sells about $40 million a year worth of oil services" to a government the U.S. says sponsors terrorism. As Thompson says, "The Iranian Government is receiving dollars from" Halliburton because of VP Cheney's business decisions, "and then turning around and exporting terrorism around the world. It benefits terrorism." When Thompson filed a shareholder resolution on behalf of New York City's pension fund, "Halliburton attempted to block the shareholder resolution" but was denied by the SEC.
DOING BUSINESS WITH IRAQ: Part of VP Cheney's offshore schemes not only involved Iran, but also Iraq. As the WP reports, Halliburton also "held stakes in two firms that signed contracts to sell more than $73 million in oil production equipment and spare parts to Iraq while VP Cheney was chairman and chief executive officer." VP Cheney's willingness to put profit ahead of laws designed to protect America's national security was epitomized when he said, "The good Lord didn't see fit to put oil and gas only where there are democratic regimes friendly to the United States." And his efforts didn't stop when he left Halliburton - in 2001 the new Vice President quickly explored ways to lift sanctions against Iran, Libya and Iraq - all countries the Administration said sponsors international terror.
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