Posted on 06/16/2004 8:58:27 AM PDT by NormsRevenge
WASHINGTON (AP) - Bluntly contradicting the Bush administration, the commission investigating the Sept. 11 attacks reported Wednesday there was "no credible evidence" that Saddam Hussein helped al-Qaida target the United States.
In a chilling report that sketched the history of Osama bin Laden's network, the commission said his far-flung training camps were "apparently quite good." Terrorists-to-be were encouraged to "think creatively about ways to commit mass murder," it added.
Bin Laden made overtures to Saddam for assistance, the commission said in the staff report, as he did with leaders in Sudan, Iran, Afghanistan and elsewhere as he sought to build an Islamic army.
While Saddam dispatched a senior Iraqi intelligence official to Sudan to meet with bin Laden in 1994, the commission said it had not turned up evidence of a "collaborative relationship."
The Bush administration has long claimed links between Saddam Hussein and al-Qaida, and cited them as one reason for last year's invasion of Iraq.
On Monday, Vice President Dick Cheney said in a speech that the Iraqi dictator "had long established ties with al-Qaida."
The bipartisan commission issued its findings as it embarked on two days of public hearings into the worst terrorist attacks in American history.
The panel intends to issue a final report in July on the hijackings on Sept. 11, 2001 that killed nearly 3,000, destroyed the World Trade Centers in New York and damaged the Pentagon outside Washington. A fourth plane commandeered by terrorists crashed in the countryside in Pennsylvania.
The staff report pieced together information on the development of bin Laden's network, from the far-flung training camps in Afghanistan and elsewhere, to funding from "well-placed financial facilitators and diversions of funds from Islamic charities."
Reports that bin Laden had a huge personal fortune to finance acts of terror are overstated, the report said.
The description of the training camp operations contained elements of faint, grudging praise.
"A worldwide jihad needed terrorists who could bomb embassies or hijack airliners, but it also needed foot soldiers for the Taliban in its war against the Northern Alliance, and guerrillas who could shoot down Russian helicopters in Chechnya or ambush Indian units in Kashmir," it said.
According to one unnamed senior al-Qaida associate, various ideas were floated by mujahadeen in Afghanistan, the commission said. The options included taking over a launcher and forcing Russian scientists to fire a nuclear missile at the United States, mounting mustard gas or cyanide attacks against Jewish areas in Iraq or releasing poison gas into the air conditioning system of a targeted building.
"Last but not least, hijacking an aircraft and crashing it into an airport or nearby city," it said.
The Iraq connection long suggested by administration officials gained no currency in the report.
"Bin Laden is said to have requested space to establish training camps, as well as assistance in procuring weapons, but Iraq apparently never responded," the report said. "There have been reports that contacts between Iraq and al-Qaida also occurred" after bin Laden moved his operations to Afghanistan in 1996, "but they do not appear to have resulted in a collaborative relationship," it said.
"Two senior bin Laden associates have adamantly denied that any ties existed between al-Qaida and Iraq," the report said.
In a separate report, the commission staff said that senior al-Qaida planner Khalid Shaihk Mohammed initially proposed a Sept. 11 attack involving 10 planes. An expanded target list included the CIA and FBI headquarters, unidentified nuclear plants and tall buildings in California and Washington state.
That ambitious plan was rejected by bin Laden, who ultimately approved a scaled-back mission involving four planes, the report said. Mohammed wanted more hijackers for those planes - 25 or 26, instead of 19.
The commission has identified at least 10 al-Qaida operatives who were to participate but could not take part for reasons including visa problems and suspicion by officials at airports in the United States and overseas.
From a seamless operation, the report portrays a plot riven by internal dissent, including disagreement over whether to target the White House or the Capitol that was apparently never resolved prior to the attacks. Bin Laden also had to overcome opposition to attacking the United States from Mullah Omar, leader of the former Taliban regime, who was under pressure from Pakistan to keep al-Qaida confined.
The United States toppled the regime in the wake of the Sept. 11 attacks, but Omar has eluded capture, as has al-Qaida.
PING
If this is the same commission that refused to bring Madame Gorelick to the stand to testify despite her clear involvement in the creation of 'the wall' that impeded our protection, then any finding they bring forth is worthless. They've blatantly and deliberately played CYA for her at our expense and at the expense of the truth. Which is not condusive to preventing a repeat of 9/11.
That tells me they are just show ponies. They're not after the truth. So you can deduce that nothing they bring forward in their findings is truthful. Just a bunch of BS. Another waste of time and money ........Trully, where their real talent lies.
Salman Pak (Aviation Weekly)
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/865435/posts
Another freeper resource - list of links between OBL and Saddam:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/838309/posts
Saddam/911 Link (FrontPage Magazine, Laurie Mylroie, May 2004):
http://freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1133317/posts
Bush says Zarqawi killed Berg, cites Saddam ties (Reuters, May 2004)
http://freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1136076/posts
The Connections (May 2004, The Weekly Standard)
New Information:http://freerepublic.com/focus/news/1144123/posts?page=11
Saddam's role in 9/11. (Freeper book, May 2004)
http://freerepublic.com/focus/news/1144699/posts?page=5
Entire link and Post #5 - Clinton mentioned how AQ was developing a relationship with Iraq.
http://freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1145787/posts
The House of Representatives read into the congressional record the ties that Saddam had to Osama bin Laden (read down and open links in the record): June 2004
http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/B?r108:@FIELD(FLD003+h)+@FIELD(DDATE+20040601)
Exploring the links between 9/11 and Iraq (Richard Miniter, June 2004)
http://freerepublic.com/focus/news/1146319/posts?page=1
The Terrorist behind 9/11 was trained by Saddam (The Telegraph, 12/03)
http://freerepublic.com/focus/news/1146356/posts?page=1
New Iraqi Chief Links 9/11 to Saddam (June 2004, NewsMax)
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/1146579/posts?page=1
Increasing evidence of Saddam's ties to 9/11 and AQ (National Review, June 2004)
http://freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1146984/posts
Pre Bush Timeline of Saddam/OBL Ties (Freeper research):
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/1152923/posts?page=1
Cheney claims Iraq/AQ connections (June 2004)
http://freerepublic.com/focus/news/1153781/posts?page=20
Hey if they don't have the same union card and aren't getting a paystub directly from OBL then they can't be working together. Oh yeah, and oral sex isn't sex, OJ was innocent and Terezzzzza Tootsie Kerry is sexy.
Al Qaeda is Saddam's 527 - nope they don't work together.
Al Qaeda is Saddam's 527 - nope they don't work together.
Maybe they were referring to some of the Commission members themselves? /sarcasm
Oh - well then - there you have it. Our 9/11 Commission actually quoting terrorists to validate their conclusion. What the hell is going on here?
I'm not at all surprised. There's little that makes me want to kick the ever-livin' snot out of something or somebody like this farce of a 9-11 Circus does.
I have learned to pay The Circus no mind. It doesn't deserve one iota of attention or consideration of it's findings. And the public knows it.
What astounds me is what in the world these fools think they will be able to do after this farce is over? Who will hire them, who will trust them, who will believe them? Maybe the DNC, I suppose.
Prairie
What a bunch of losers especially that RHINO John "stab them in the back" Warner.
From here on out, they should be designated the "9/11 Warren Commission"
The entire "9/11" Commission report will sit gathering dust on the shelf right next to another "truthful, factual, and unbiased" report called the Warren Commission Report on the Assassination of John F. Kennedy".
Ah well, . . . and so it goes!
LOL!
Once all the truth is out .. these people will be outed for the fools they are
You can bet there will be a number of folks who will have a thing to say about this report
Chairman of the National Commission on Terrorists Attacks Upon the United States (9-11 Commission) Gov. Thomas Kean looks on at the beginning of their final two-day hearing at the National Transportation Security Board conference center in Washington, June 16, 2004. Al Qaeda has changed drastically since the Sept. 11 attacks but it will keep trying to strike in the United States to inflict mass casualties, the panel investigating the 2001 hijackings said on Wednesday. (Larry Downing/Reuters)
hmmmmm?
as in, there is some evidence but ... we choose not to accept or acknowledge it.. or ??
Don't be confused with the green band. This is not an international marking for a chemical munition. The warhead is a standard high explosive fitted to a Soviet air-to surface missile. The initial reading was conducted with basic meter equipment which gave a low initial false reading. This was fully admitted later by the US military and the warhead was found to be conventional high explosive.
The 9-11 panel is one big joke and all the so called members of the committee are an even BIGGER joke especially Jamie Gorelick. They should fold their tent and go home.
They have shown their true colors not to mention their character or lack thereof AND... they have proven themselves ignorant and shallow little weasels trying to get their 15 minutes of fame.
Whatever they have to say about 9-11 now is irrelevant. Totally irrelevant.
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