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Politics : Foreign Affairs Discussion Group -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Andrew N. Cothran who wrote (136850)	6/17/2004 9:08:30 AM
From: exdaytrader76	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 281500

It's about neutralizing radical Islam's fundamental challenge to Western civilization Terrorists do not represent Islam. They didn't challenge "our" civilization. They challenge our interventions in their civilization. Bin Laden wants the US out of the Middle East. He does not care anything about what western civilization does in its own hemisphere. fighting to win a war that was imposed on the West by evil men in the service of a depraved ideology. Terrorists are evil. I have no argument with that. But it is dangerous to think that they have a monopoly on evil.

To: Andrew N. Cothran who wrote (136850)	6/17/2004 10:42:58 AM
From: longnshort	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 281500

But Daniel Bartlett, White House communications director, responded on CNN that the administration has never accused Saddam of being involved in the Sept. 11 attacks. Instead, he pointed to the prewar presence in Baghdad of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, a Jordanian who has ties to al-Qaida and now is a leader of the anti-occupation insurgency, as well as Saddam's history of giving money to the families of Palestinian suicide bombers. "The fact that al-Zarqawi was in Baghdad before the invasion demonstrates that (Saddam) was giving safe haven to al-Qaida affiliates," Bartlett said. "Make no mistake about it, Saddam Hussein had ties to terror, both to al-Qaida affiliates and other ones." azcentral.com

To: Andrew N. Cothran who wrote (136850)	6/17/2004 11:51:41 AM
From: Dr. Id	Respond to of 281500

Published on Thursday, June 17, 2004 by the lndependent/UK Official Verdict: White House Misled World Over Saddam by Andrew Buncombe in Washington The liberation of Iraq removed... an ally of al-Qa'ida - President George Bush, 1 May 2003 There's overwhelming evidence... of a connection between al-Qa'ida and Iraq - Vice-President Cheney, 22 January 2004 Within a week, or a month, Saddam could give his WMD to al-Qa'ida - Donald Rumsfeld, 14 November 2002 Saddam was a danger in the region where the 9/11 threat emerged - Condoleezza Rice, 17 September 2003 The Bush administration's credibility was dealt a devastating blow yesterday when the commission investigating the attacks of 11 September said there was no credible evidence that Saddam Hussein's regime had assisted al-Qa'ida - something repeatedly suggested by the President and his senior officials and held up as a reason for the invasion of Iraq. A report by the independent commission said while there were contacts between Iraq and al-Qa'ida operatives in the 1990s, it appeared Osama bin Laden's requests for a partnership were rebuffed. "We have no credible evidence that Iraq and al-Qa'ida co-operated on attacks against the United States," the commission said. It also discounted widespread claims that Mohamed Atta, the hijackers' ringleader, met an Iraqi intelligence official in Prague. The report forced the Bush administration on to the defensive, as it appeared to undermine one of its key justifications for the invasion of Iraq. While Mr Bush has been forced to admit there was no specific evidence to link Saddam to 11 September, his deputy, Dick Cheney, claimed on Monday that the former Iraqi leader was "a patron of terrorism [with] long-established ties with al-Qa'ida''. Last autumn Mr Cheney referred to the disputed meeting between Atta and an Iraqi official in the Czech Republic. Critics of the White House say there was a deliberate policy to manipulate public opinion and create an association between Saddam and the attacks on New York and Washington. If true, such a plan has certainly been successful: a poll taken last September by the Washington Post newspaper found 69 per cent of Americans believed that Saddam was involved in the 11 September attacks. The Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry seized on the commission's report last night. "The administration misled America and the administration reached too far," he told Michigan National Public Radio. The commission's report - issued at the start of its final two days of public hearings into the circumstances surrounding the attacks - confirmed that in the early Nineties al-Qa'ida and Saddam's regime had made overtures to each other. In 1994, for instance, Saddam had dispatched a senior intelligence official to Sudan to meet Bin Laden, making three visits before he finally met the al-Qa'ida leader. Bin Laden requested help to procure weapons and establish training camps but Iraq did not respond, the report said. There were also reports of contact with Bin Laden once he moved to Afghanistan in 1996 but these "do not appear to have resulted in a collaborative relationship". It added: "Two senior Bin Laden associates have adamantly denied that any ties existed between al-Qa'ida and Iraq." The commission's report also revealed that the initial plan for the attack on the US - drawn up by Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, a senior al-Qa'ida operative who is now in US custody - envisioned a much broader assault, simultaneously targeting 10 different US cities on both the east and west coasts. That expanded target list included the FBI headquarters in the plot was to have been the 10th plane - on which he which personally have flown. Rather than attacking a building, Mohammed would have killed all of the male passengers on board, before contacting media and landing at an airport where he would have released women and children. He then was to make a speech denouncing the US. That ambitious plan was rejected by Bin Laden, who gave his approval to a scaled-back mission involving four planes and costing as little as between $4-500,000. Mohammed had wanted to use more hijackers for those planes - 25 or 26, instead of 19. It said at least 10 other al-Qa'ida operatives who were initially due to participate in the attacks had been identified. They did not take part in the mission for a variety of reasons including visa problems and suspicions by airport officials in the US. The report also revealed that the plot was riven by internal dissent, including over whether to target the White House or the Capitol building that were apparently not resolved prior to the attacks. Bin Laden also had to overcome opposition to attacking the US from Mullah Omar, leader of the former Taliban regime, who was under pressure from Pakistan to keep al-Qa'ida confined. The commission confirmed that al-Qa'ida, though drastically changed and decentralized since 9-11, retained regional networks that were seeking to attack the US. "Al-Qa'ida remains extremely interested in conducting chemical, biological, radiological or nuclear attacks," said the report. It said that its ability to conduct an anthrax attack is one of the most immediate threats. The network may also try to attack a chemical plant or shipment of hazardous materials, or to use industrial chemicals as a weapon. The report said the CIA estimated the network spent $30m a year before September 11 on training camps and terrorist operations. The money was also used to support the Taliban. © 2004 Independent Digital (UK) Ltd

To: Andrew N. Cothran who wrote (136850)	6/17/2004 11:53:51 AM
From: Sam	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 281500

Panel says Saddam didn't help al-Qaeda By Mimi Hall, USA TODAY WASHINGTON — There is "no credible evidence" that Saddam Hussein helped al-Qaeda plan and train for attacks against the United States, the commission investigating the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks said Wednesday. That finding disputes a rationale the Bush administration gave for invading Iraq. Douglas MacEachin, formerly of the CIA, and now a Commission staff member outlined al-Qaeda terrorist operations. By Tim Dillon, USA TODAY Osama bin Laden sought Iraq's help in obtaining weapons and setting up terrorist training camps in the early 1990s, and he reportedly met with a top Iraqi intelligence officer. But Iraq "apparently never responded" to al-Qaeda's requests for help, a preliminary report by the commission says. The meetings "do not appear to have resulted in a collaborative relationship."(Related site: Text of report) The White House has used al-Qaeda's purported ties to Iraq to justify the war since before it was launched in March 2003. As recently as Monday, Vice President Cheney said in a speech that Saddam "had long-established ties with al-Qaeda." (Related item: Sept. 11 attacks timeline) Some intelligence officials and Middle East experts have questioned the connection between Iraq and al-Qaeda for months. The commission's conclusions, though not definitive, reflect the work of an independent, bipartisan panel that has a staff of more than 80 investigators. They have interviewed 1,000 witnesses and reviewed more than 2 million documents. Secretary of State Colin Powell said the administration stands by its statements that Iraq and al-Qaeda are linked. "I think we have said, and it is clear, that there is a connection, and we have seen these connections between al-Qaeda and the regime of Saddam Hussein, and we stick with that," he said in an interview with the Arab TV news network Al-Jazeera. "We have not said it was related to 9/11. So, you know, this is the commission that was looking into 9/11."(Related story:Commments on link from top Bush officials But President Bush's political opponents accused administration officials of being so bent on toppling Saddam that they purposefully deceived the public. (Related story: Cheney reasserts al-Qaeda, Saddam link) "The administration misled America," Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry said. The Massachusetts senator voted to authorize the war but has criticized how Bush has conducted it. In an interview with a Detroit radio station, Kerry called the commission's information "a very, very serious finding." He said Bush "owed it to America to be completely candid when the lives of young men and women are at stake." On Tuesday, Bush defended Cheney's remarks. He said the presence of Islamist militant Abu Musab al-Zarqawi in Iraq is "the best evidence" of Iraq's ties to al-Qaeda. "We did the absolute right thing in removing him (Saddam) from power," Bush said. "The world is better off." On Wednesday, White House press secretary Scott McClellan defended the president's previous comments. "What we've always said is that Saddam Hussein's regime harbored and supported terrorists," he said. However, Bush and Cheney also have sought to tie Iraq specifically to the 9/11 attacks. In a letter to Congress on March 19, 2003 — the day the war in Iraq began — Bush said that the war was permitted under legislation authorizing force against those who "planned, authorized, committed, or aided the terrorist attacks that occurred on September 11, 2001." Cheney said on NBC's Meet the Press in September 2003 that "I think it's not surprising that people make that connection" between Saddam and Sept. 11. In its report, the commission says that although bin Laden opposed Saddam's "secular regime," he "explored possible cooperation with Iraq" after he moved to Sudan in 1991. Saddam sent an intelligence officer to meet with bin Laden in 1994. But the report says Iraq never responded to his requests. Further, it says that "two senior bin Laden associates have adamantly denied that any ties existed between al-Qaeda and Iraq." The commission also dismissed a report cited by Cheney last fall that Mohamed Atta, leader of the 9/11 hijackers, met a senior Iraqi intelligence officer in Prague, Czech Republic, a few months before the attacks on New York and the Pentagon. "We do not believe that such a meeting occurred," the report said. Contributing: Judy Keen in Tampa; Jill Lawrence in Detroit usatoday.com

To: Andrew N. Cothran who wrote (136850)	6/17/2004 12:05:06 PM
From: Sam	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 281500

So Cheney, Bush, the NY Post, Wash Times, et al still want to maintain a Saddam-Al Qaeda link. No real surprise there, though even Reagan eventually said "A few months ago I told the American people I did not trade arms for hostages. My heart and my best intentions still tell me that's true, but the facts and the evidence tell me it is not." The Post says, The report claims that those contacts "do not appear to have resulted in a collaborative relationship." But that's far from a flat-out "no ties exist." But the article I just posted says, Osama bin Laden sought Iraq's help in obtaining weapons and setting up terrorist training camps in the early 1990s, and he reportedly met with a top Iraqi intelligence officer. But Iraq "apparently never responded" to al-Qaeda's requests for help, a preliminary report by the commission says. The Post says, The staff report, re leased as part of yes terday's final public hearings, says there was no evident connection between Saddam Hussein and the 9/11 attacks. In fact, the Bush administration has never said there was. But in fact, they did: However, Bush and Cheney also have sought to tie Iraq specifically to the 9/11 attacks. In a letter to Congress on March 19, 2003 — the day the war in Iraq began — Bush said that the war was permitted under legislation authorizing force against those who "planned, authorized, committed, or aided the terrorist attacks that occurred on September 11, 2001." Cheney said on NBC's Meet the Press in September 2003 that "I think it's not surprising that people make that connection" between Saddam and Sept. 11. Selectively choosing facts, failing to recall statements made, making suggestive statements with false innuendos, taking statements out of context--this is the modus operandi of the Bush admin.