1. NATO (not Bill, not US)
2.Invasion and occupation?
Not really. Of course as far as I know troops are still there, but only a few thousand US (as I recall there were about 5k US troops there in 2001, but that's the last time I remember looking, and I could be remembering wrong). I still say Bill did NOT invade and occupy a country- unless Bill is NATO, which he isn't. And the bombing isn't a thing like an occupation and invasion- and you seem to have linked me to the bombing campaign (which I didn't approve of, but certainly wouldn't call an invasion and occupation).
Ah the hoary chestnut of Zarqawi. Wasn't his "training camp" somewhere in the no-fly zone- an area that Saddam did not control (for obvious reasons). It even says he fought with the Kurds. Hello... So how is Saddam sheltering him when the guy is working with the enemies of Saddam in an area Saddam does not control? Is there a wiki on that?
From your own Wiki:
The 2006 Senate Report on Prewar Intelligence concluded that Zarqawi was not a link between Saddam and al-Qaeda: "Postwar information indicates that Saddam Hussein attempted, unsuccessfully, to locate and capture al-Zarqawi and that the regime did not have a relationship with, harbor, or turn a blind eye toward Zarqawi." The report also cited the debriefing of a "high-ranking Iraqi official" by the FBI. The official stated that a foreign government requested in October 2002 that the IIS locate five individuals suspected of involvement in the murder of Laurence Foley, which lead to the arrest of Abu Yasim Sayyem in early 2003.[81] The official told the FBI that evidence of Sayyem's ties to Zarqawi was compelling, and thus, he was "shocked" when Sayemm was ordered released by Saddam. The official stated it "was ludicrous to think that the IIS had any involvement with al-Qaeda or Zarqawi," and suggested Saddam let Sayyem go because he "would participate in striking U.S. forces when they entered Iraq." In 2005, according to the Senate report, the CIA amended its 2004 report to conclude that "the regime did not have a relationship, harbor, or turn a blind eye toward Zarqawi and his associates."page 91-92 An intelligence official familiar with the CIA assessment also told Michael Isikoff of Newsweek magazine that the current draft of the report says that while Zarqawi did likely receive medical treatment in Baghdad in 2002, the report concludes that "most evidence suggests Saddam Hussein did not provide Zarqawi safe haven before the war,...[but] it also recognizes that there are still unanswered questions and gaps in knowledge about the relationship."[82] |
