Posted on 04/06/2007 5:05:24 AM PDT by RDTF
Captured Iraqi documents and intelligence interrogations of Saddam Hussein and two former aides "all confirmed" that Hussein's regime was not directly cooperating with al-Qaeda before the U.S. invasion of Iraq, according to a declassified Defense Department report released yesterday.
The declassified version of the report, by acting Inspector General Thomas F. Gimble, also contains new details about the intelligence community's prewar consensus that the Iraqi government and al-Qaeda figures had only limited contacts, and about its judgments that reports of deeper links were based on dubious or unconfirmed information. The report had been released in summary form in February.
The report's release came on the same day that Vice President Cheney, appearing on Rush Limbaugh's radio program, repeated his allegation that al-Qaeda was operating inside Iraq "before we ever launched" the war, under the direction of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the terrorist killed last June.
"This is al-Qaeda operating in Iraq," Cheney told Limbaugh's listeners about Zarqawi, who he said had "led the charge for Iraq." Cheney cited the alleged history to illustrate his argument that withdrawing U.S. forces from Iraq would "play right into the hands of al-Qaeda."
Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Carl M. Levin (D-Mich.), who requested the report's declassification, said in a written statement that the complete text demonstrates more fully why the inspector general concluded that a key Pentagon office -- run by then-Undersecretary of Defense Douglas J. Feith -- had inappropriately written intelligence assessments before the March 2003 invasion alleging connections between al-Qaeda and Iraq that the U.S. intelligence consensus disputed.
-snip-
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
ping
Let’s see if I’ve got this right:
Pre-war intelligence now shows that Iraq had little formal ties to Al Qaeda. And we should believe this, because Carl Levin says so.
Pre-war intelligence told us that Iraq had WMD’s, and we believed it then, but didn’t find the WMDs when we invaded, so we shouldn’t believe that, because the Democrats say so.
Our intelligence agencies, State Department, and Defense Departments all tell us that Syria is a state sponsor of terrorism (Hamas, Hezbollah, the Shia insurgents in Iraq), but we shouldn’t believe that because Nancy Pelosi tells us that the road to Damascus is the Road to Peace.
It’s tough to keep these Demo talking point threads organized.
Saddam Regime Document: Iraqi Intelligence met with Bin Laden in 1995 http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1600579/posts
Document: Zarqawi in Iraq Long Before the War Started http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1598259/posts
2003 Document: Hundreds of Palestinian Terrorists to Join Saddam And Fight US Troops http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1726660/posts
Iraqi Documents Contradict Senate Report that Saddam Regime was “Intensely Secular” http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1705635/posts
March 2001 Document: Saddam Regime Recruits Suicide Terrorists to Hit US Interests http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1610012/posts
2003 Document: Saddam Ordered To Treat The Arab Feedayeen Terrorists The Same As Iraqi Soldiers http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1618519/posts
Document: Iraqi Intelligence To Train Arab Feedayeen Terrorists In the Year 2000 http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1617431/posts
Document: Saddam Regime Training and Using Foreign Arab Terrorists As Suicide Bombers. http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1600367/posts
Document: Afghani Taliban Consul Spoke of a Relationship Between Iraq and Bin Laden http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1597459/posts
Document: Zarqawi in Iraq Long Before the War Started http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1598259/posts
March 2002 Document: Saddam Ordered 25,000 Dollars for Each Suicide Terrorist Against Israel http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1602317/posts
2003 Document: Iraqi Intelligence Asks Hamas To Conduct Terrorist Attacks Against The US. http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1607915/posts
September 2001 Document: Military Orders To Prepare For US Attacks Against Iraq After 9/11 http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1652528/posts
“it lacked evidence of a long-term relationship like the ones Iraq had forged with other terrorist groups.”
so Iraq has dwwp and ongoing relationships with terrorist groups but was still in the developement stages with Iraq...hey, no problem,,,we can ignotre this!!...facile spliting of hairs by the dems...The Left is WORSE than useless.
Good analysis in Post 3.
My answer to the premise of this article is so what? The reason for invading Iraq was to hold it to the surrender agreement after the Gulf War and the numerous UN Resolutions requiring Iraq show proof it had destroyed all its WMD.
We went after al Qaeda first - in Afghanistan.
P.S. I still believe the Czech intelligence report that claimed Mohammed Atta was meeting with Iraqi officials in Prague.
with AQ...got to turn some lights on here...can’t see the keys
Oh for heavens' sake, so he didn't have an al-Qaeda membership card in his pocket at the time.
....Vice President Cheney, appearing on Rush Limbaugh's radio program, repeated his allegation that al-Qaeda was operating inside Iraq "before we ever launched" the war, under the direction of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the terrorist killed last June.
Note to the Washington Compost: These are not mutually exclusive positions.
I don’t believe ANYTHING Carl Levin says, I don’t care how far
down his nose he pusher those little glasses!
Amazing what a $20 bill dragged through a Michigan trailer park can buy these days. Saddam could have saved several million if he'd known.
if i had a dollar for every time president bush pushed the treasonous democrats and their lib media propagandists to the wall, i’d be not one cent richer
IMHO, I think we, including the Dumbocrats, know exactly where Saddam's WMD's went......
Bookmark for later.
I think this explains a lot and is not just a recent method of operating...
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1812810/posts?page=2#2
You don't need an "intelligence study" for this. Saddam openly and repeatedly boasted of his rewards to families of suicide bus-bombers. A number of leaders of various countries supported or encouraged terrorism. But Saddam was the only one who openly bragged about it. In the the post 9-11 world, that's the very first leader that must be taken down. We made the right choice.
Didn't take long after his demise, did it?
Leni
The man was a stinking dictator. You didn’t fart in Iraq without Saddam knowing about it. Anyone who thinks the training at Salmon Pak did not have Saddam’s complete blessing is nuts.
Not only does the government ignore it, the enemedia does as well. Sadly, so do FReepers.
Sad, sad state of affairs my FRiend.
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