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

To: one_less who wrote (167912)	8/1/2005 4:55:19 PM
From: Sun Tzu	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 281500

Here is a small section from the House investigation into the matter. Do pay attention, then look in the mirror and say with a straight face, "Cheney did not lie, he just didn't know"...then recall that long before 9/11, Cheney and PNAC wanted to invade Iraq regardless of circumstances and were just waiting for a "Pearl Harbour-like" event to let them do so...then go back to the mirror, take a good look, and say, "Cheney did not lie, he just didn't know". I look forward to hearing what you thought of the image in the mirror who told you Cheney did not lie...JUST HOW COULD HE HAVE BEEN ABSOLUTELY CERTAIN? B. Vice President Cheney Vice President Cheney made 51 misleading statements about the threat posed by Iraq in 25 separate public statements or appearances. Of the 51 misleading statements by Vice President Cheney, 1 claimed that Iraq posed an urgent threat; 22 exaggerated Iraq’s efforts to develop nuclear weapons; 7 overstated Iraq’s chemical or biological weapons capacity; and 21 misrepresented Iraq’s links to al Qaeda. Some of the misleading statements made by Vice President Cheney included the following: • “[W]e do know, with absolute certainty, that he is using his procurement system to acquire the equipment he needs in order to enrich uranium to build a nuclear weapon.”114 • Saddam Hussein “had an established relationship with al Qaeda.”115 • “[W]e believe he has, in fact, reconstituted nuclear weapons.”116 Vice President Cheney’s statements on this topic repeatedly cited reports of a specific alleged Iraq–al Qaeda contact: a meeting between Mohammed Atta, one of the September 11 hijackers, and a senior Iraqi official in Prague a few months before September 11, 2001. For example, Vice President Cheney stated on September 14, 2003: With respect to 9/11, of course, we’ve had the story that’s been public out there. The Czechs alleged that Mohammed Atta, the lead attacker, met in Prague with a senior Iraqi intelligence official five months before the attack, but we’ve never been able to develop anymore of that yet either in terms of confirming it or discrediting it. We just don’t know.104 The Vice President’s assertions about this meeting omitted key information. He did not acknowledge that the CIA and FBI had concluded before the war in Iraq that “the meeting probably did not take place”;105 that Czech government officials had developed doubts regarding whether this meeting occurred;106 or that American records indicate that Mr. Atta was in Virginia Beach, Virginia, at the time of the purported meeting.107 Assessments following the war further highlighted the tenuous nature of the Administration’s assertions about an Iraq-al Qaeda alliance. According to the New York Times, “Since American forces toppled the Hussein government and the United States gained access to captured Iraqi officials and Iraqi files, the C.I.A. has not yet uncovered evidence that has altered its prewar assessment concerning the connections between Mr. Hussein and Osama bin Laden, the leader of al Qaeda, officials said.”108 Consistent with this view, during Dr. Kay’s testimony before the Senate Armed Services Committee on January 28, 2004, the following exchange occurred between Senator Warner and Dr. Kay: Senator Warner: Any evidence with regard to participation by either Saddam Hussein or his principal henchmen in the WMD-sharing with al Qaeda or any other terrorist organizations? Dr. Kay: Senator Levin — Senator Warner, there is no evidence that I can think of that I know of.109 __________________________ Feel free to educate yourself better at house.gov

To: one_less who wrote (167912)	8/1/2005 5:05:30 PM
From: bentway	Respond to of 281500

I don't think you've been paying close attention the Cheney's statements. As far as I'm aware, he's NEVER backed down from claiming Saddam had WMD's, despite all evidedence to the contrary. He's gone on TV claiming such, long after everyone else in the chimpistration had abandoned that particular line of justifying the war in Iraq. npr.org He was the one who made 14 personal visits to the CIA prior to the war for just this purpose. He didn't "pressure" any analysts though. He just walked around asking if they'd found the WMD evidence yet!