U.S. Senator Tells al-Qaeda/Iraq Link

NewsMax ^ | April 12, 2004 | Wes Vernon - Newsmax

[tomball]

A U.S. senator this week told NewsMax.com's Washington correspondent Wes Vernon of previously overlooked evidence linking al-Qaeda and Iraq.

Testimony going back to months before the war in Iraq shows that the Bush administration had reliable intelligence of the link between Saddam Hussein and Osama bin Laden's terrorist network.

That would tend to throw cold water on some of the news reports on the stormy hearings of the 9/11 commission that suggest there was no link between the bloody dictator and the terrorists who later plotted the 9/11 attacks.

Undersecretary of Defense Douglas Feith told senators in October 2002 that the administration had "solid reporting of senior-level contacts between Iraq and al-Qaeda going back a decade."

Under questioning by Sens. Evan Bayh, D-Ind. and Carl Levin, D-Mich., Feith added that credible information indicated that Iraq and al-Qaeda had discussed havens and reciprocal non-aggression.

It was also brought out at the Senate hearing that since the War on Terror began following 9/11, solid evidence had emerged of the presence in Iraq of al-Qaeda members, including some who have been in Baghdad.

It was learned too that al-Qaeda leaders sought contacts in Iraq who could help them acquire capabilities for weapons of mass destruction.

The reporting also stated that Iraq had provided training to al-Qaeda members in poisons, gases and the making conventional bombs.

The testimony takes on added significance now in light of election-year carping against the wartime president, especially with the implications or outright claims that there was no link between Saddam and al-Qaeda.


 

[Howlin]

So who is the senator?

[expatpat]

Teddy? Are you there?

[gov_bean_ counter]

If you will notice, over the last year or so, the Rats have taylored their comments saying there was no connection between Saddam and 911. Few actually discount the relationship between al-Qaeda and Saddam. Our brilliant Republican spokespeople rarely bring this up.

[wagglebee]

Yeah there needs to be a name, a big name or this goes nowhere.

[BILL_C]

Let's see, when you add in Oklahoma City to the list of terror targets against the US, it's getting pretty obvious, isn't it?

Bill Clinton would NOT admit under any circumstances there were terrorists in the USA, much less involved with the bombing in Oklahoma City. It might have complicated re-election too much.

Add in the incredible behavior about TWA 800 (whether terrorists were involved or not, the Feds were sure goofy on that one) and it all begins to make sense.

Bill Clinton fought the terrorists by lying and ignoring them.

They went away, didn't they?

When Ann writes her next book, treason will be too mild to describe Clinton's tenure.

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

Here are a related couple of items:

Report Details Saddam's Support for Terrorists Who Killed Americans

The above link is the FreeRepublic discussion thread.

The actual article is :

"Saddam Hussein’s Philanthropy of Terror"

It is a pdf document with substantial footnotes and put together by Dewey Murdock of the Hudson Institute.

[Howlin]

What good does it do NOT to publish the name?

And this article is written like a 7th grade report.

[InterceptPoint]

You are witnessing a dead horse being beaten.

Once Peter and Dan and Tom declare that "the reports of connections between Iraq and al Qaeda have been thoroughly discounted" then that's the truth. This is based on the principle established by Bill Clinton which states as follows: A lie told a sufficient number of times becomes the truth. It doesn't just substitute for the truth it is the truth.

[SelmaLee]

I heard my own (democrat) congressman repeat that line just today. He was on a morning news/interview radio program and stated that Al Qaeda wasn't in Iraq before this war.

I want to ask him if he'd rather Al Qaeda be over here blowing up office buildings - or in Iraq getting blown up by US Marines.

[Dr Snide]

For further refrence just check Stephen Hayes work for The Weekly Standard last year. Lays it out very well, of course the media would not allow that stroy get out. I guess when you hate your country why would you pass up an opportunity to trash it.

[wagglebee]

The sad thing is if it would get the botox boy elected he would probably rather have OBL blowing up his own house.

[driftless]

Christopher Hitchens recently commented that the stupidest thing he's heard lately from the libs is that we should be fighting Al-Qaeda in Afghanistan and not Iraq. To be sure logic never was the lib's strongest point.