Woolsey: Iraq-al Qaeda Link a 'Slam Dunk'

NewsMax.com ^ | 11/18/03 | Carl Limbacher and NewsMax.com Staff

[kattracks]

Former CIA director James Woolsey said over the weekend that there's no question Iraq and al Qaeda worked together to plan attacks against U.S. interests during the decade leading up to 9/11, saying the evidence of an operational relationship was "a slam dunk."

Commenting on a memo issued by the Defense Department to the Senate Intelligence Committee and revealed by the Weekly Standard late Friday, Woolsey told CNN's "Late Edition," "Anybody who says there is no working relationship between al Qaeda and Iraqi intelligence going back to the early '90s, they can only say that if they're illiterate."

"This is a slam dunk," the Clinton era CIA chief contended, noting that his successor, George Tenet, had said the same thing in briefings last year.

"George Tenet . . . said there'd been a relationship going back a decade. Training in -- by Iraqi intelligence of al Qaeda in, quote, 'poisons, gases and explosives," the ex-CIA chief recalled, adding, "This memo expands on that."

What about the memo's most explosive claim - reports from Czech intelligence that Saddam helped bankroll lead 9/11 hijacker Mohamed Atta?

"It's a different question whether Iraqi intelligence had something to do with 9/11," said Woolsey. But he added, "That is certainly arguable."

The day before Woolsey offered his assessment of the Iraq-al Qaeda memo, the Defense Department issued a statement that described the memo as "inaccurate." The statement did not, however, say which of the 50 contacts between Iraq and al Qaeda as detailed by the memo were false.

[ladtx]

More proof that the Democrats are politicizing the war and are playing with the security of this country, particularly the apparently treasonous members of the Senate Intelligency committee (Rockefeller, Levin, Feinstein, Wyden, Durbin, Bayh, Edwards and Mikulski.)

[ladtx]

Intelligency=Intelligence

[ladtx]

bttt

[Coop]

Commenting on a memo issued by the Defense Department to the Senate Intelligence Committee and revealed by the Weekly Standard late Friday, Woolsey told CNN's "Late Edition

So is there a complementary article quoting Woolsey on CNN? Hmmmm.

[Coop]

Well, my search on CNN turned up zilch.

[Coop]

Well, my search on CNN turned up zilch.

[XJarhead]

The day before Woolsey offered his assessment of the Iraq-al Qaeda memo, the Defense Department issued a statement that described the memo as "inaccurate."

I hate to be the party pooper, but this type of thing had to be approved by Rumsfeld. And if Rummy isn't standing behind it, then maybe we should hold off on proclaiming it the smoking gun, if/until some of its observations are confirmed publicly by the administration.

[JohnGalt]

Woosley is a member of PNAC and Benador Associates; he has been making speaking fees of scaring people about Iraq for years. Did CNN mention his conflict of interest?

[MamaLucci]

Hmmmmm, going back a DECADE. That would be the 90's.....the Clinton years.
I long for the day when someone in our government loudly and unequivocally lays the blame for 911 squarely where it belongs.
To his credit, I think that is the inference Woolsey wants us to draw, but he's too....what, polite? scared? to come right out and say it.

[Tacis]

Can't be!!! The neocommunists in the ultra-left wing media assured us that there was no connection. They laughed at Bush for suggesting it and, as I recall, demanded his resignation or someone in defense/intellegence who suggested a connection. And, as further proof that this can't be, this alleged memo has NEVER been mentioned on ABCCBSBBCNPRCNN or in the NYT.

[Tacis]

Seriosly, does anyone have a list of the media gurus who claimed this connection didn't/couldn't exist? It certainly sounds like a subject Mark Steyn (remember the brutal Afghan winter issue?) will cover. I remember asking (here) at the time, "How could these guys KNOW that?" but I don't remember which guys I was talking about.

[Misterioso]

Scaring people about Iraq? Another Saddam acolyte.

[Coop]

The day before Woolsey offered his assessment of the Iraq-al Qaeda memo, the Defense Department issued a statement that described the memo as "inaccurate."

I hate to be the party pooper, but this type of thing had to be approved by Rumsfeld. And if Rummy isn't standing behind it, then maybe we should hold off on proclaiming it the smoking gun, if/until some of its observations are confirmed publicly by the administration.

That's not what the memo said. Link here.

Excerpt: News reports that the Defense Department recently confirmed new information with respect to contacts between al-Qaida and Iraq in a letter to the Senate Intelligence Committee are inaccurate.

[Coop]

Did CNN mention his conflict of interest?

Didn't see the show, and can't find any CNN article on the speech.

[JohnGalt]

Myself and other Americans are not easily scared by cave dwellers; we are made of heartier stock.

Are you from France, BTW?

[Malsua]

The day before Woolsey offered his assessment of the Iraq-al Qaeda memo, the Defense Department issued a statement that described the memo as "inaccurate."

I hate to be the party pooper, but this type of thing had to be approved by Rumsfeld. And if Rummy isn't standing behind it, then maybe we should hold off on proclaiming it the smoking gun, if/until some of its observations are confirmed publicly by the administration.

Actually, I find Newsmax to be inaccurate.

Read what the report from the DoD Statement says.

News reports that the Defense Department recently confirmed new information ...snip... are inaccurate.

Further, it goes on to say that it was raw intelligence, not an analysis. We can draw two things from this statement.

• The DOD is not claiming the information is new.
• The DOD is not claiming it is false information, simply that it has made no such analysis on that information

[Tribune7]

ping

[JohnGalt]

Lets wait and see what Rummy and the President say, okay?

Whose side are you on, BTW?

I am not a sheep, but a patriot so I question whatever those in power tell us that suits their own agenda. I think most people who get their news from establishment media should think about taking a month off of tv.