Posted on 06/17/2004 8:26:45 AM PDT by dead
Americans were confronted yesterday with the unabridged horror of Osama bin Laden's original plans for September 11, and witnessed a devastating assault on the credibility of the White House campaign to justify war in Iraq by linking Saddam Hussein to al-Qaeda and the attacks in New York, Washington and Pennsylvania.
Americans will be chilled by an independent commission's reconstruction of what might have been - a Doomsday attack by 10 hijacked aircraft across the US, with the synchronised mid-air explosion of more aircraft over the Pacific.
The additional hijacked aircraft would have been crashed into nuclear power plants and symbolic buildings on both coasts. On one commercial jet all of the male passengers were to have been murdered before the plane was landed as a grotesque show-and-tell for the media at a big US airport.
The reconstruction, the damnation of the Bush effort to hold Saddam responsible, and the commission's detailed portrait of life and business in al-Qaeda were based on more than 1000 interviews, including records of the interrogation of prisoners held at Guantanamo Bay since their capture by US forces in Afghanistan in the war that followed the September 11 attacks.
The National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States is not scheduled to make its final report public until July 26, only three months before the US presidential vote.
But a report by its investigative staff concludes with conviction: "We have no credible evidence that Iraq and al-Qaeda co-operated on attacks against the United States."
The report kicked the legs from under another long-held White House justification for war when it declared that there was no evidence to support the theory that the lead hijacker, Mohammed Atta, had met an Iraqi intelligence agent in Prague before the attacks.
Going even further, it left the White House exposed by reporting that bin Laden had "explored possible co-operation with Iraq" while he was based in Sudan in the early 1990s.
He had requested space in Iraq for training camps and sought assistance in procuring weapons, but these efforts "do not appear to have resulted in a collaborative relationship".
The inquiry's investigators say that bin Laden apparently scaled back to a four-aircraft attack on September 11 because he worried that the original plan was too complex to pull off.
Estimating that the final plan cost no more than $US550,000 ($800,000), they portray in graphic detail how ragged its execution was.
"The 9/11 conspirators confronted operational difficulties, internal disagreements and even dissenting opinions within the leadership of al-Qaeda," the investigators say, detailing clashes over targets, timing and scope of the long-planned attacks.
Meanwhile, FBI and CIA officials giving evidence on the last hearing days of the inquiry, appointed by President George Bush, warned that al-Qaeda operatives were preparing fresh attacks inside the US.
While conceding that they knew little about al-Qaeda's capacity in the US, the officials insisted that functioning terrorist cells were still operating in the country.
Authorities had probably prevented a few aviation attacks since 2001, but "there are operatives involved in those plots that we still cannot account for", one of the officials told the 10-man commission.
An FBI special agent, Mary Deborah Doran, who has specialised in the al-Qaeda investigation, said the terrorist network could still look for help from sympathisers in the US.
But Ms Doran emphasised that any large-scale terrorist attack would require new operatives who had been infiltrated into the US. "The threat comes from outside," she said.
The Bush Administration is already under pressure over the failure of another of its justifications for the Iraq war - the supposed existence of weapons of mass destruction in the country that might have been channelled to terrorist groups.
In recent weeks it has also been criticised over the abuse and torture of prisoners in Iraq and elsewhere.
Responding to the new disclosures, Senator John Kerry, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, said that the Bush Administration had "misled America ... it had reached too far".
Are all foreign journalists so effing dumb?
Exactly.
The only thing the Bush admin. has done is say that this is a war on terror and that Iraq supported terrorists including AQ.
We know Saddam worked with the PLO and other terrorists, he funded them. He at LEAST knew that 9/11 was coming.
Less than two months before 9/11/01, the state-controlled Iraqi newspaper “Al-Nasiriya” carried a column headlined, “American, an Obsession called Osama Bin Ladin.” (July 21, 2001)
In the piece, Baath Party writer Naeem Abd Muhalhal predicted that bin Laden would attack the US “with the seriousness of the Bedouin of the desert about the way he will try to bomb the Pentagon after he destroys the White House.”
The same state-approved column also insisted that bin Laden “will strike America on the arm that is already hurting,” and that the US “will curse the memory of Frank Sinatra every time he hears his songs” – an apparent reference to the Sinatra classic, “New York, New York”.
(Link below)
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/1106657/posts?page=1
List of newspaper article in the 90's which mention the world's concern regarding the growing relationship between OBL and Saddam: http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/946809/posts?page=1
Son of Saddam coordinates OBL activities:http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/951911/posts
The AQ connection (excellent):http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/944617/posts?page=2
Western Nightmare: http://www.guardian.co.uk/alqaida/story/0,12469,798270,00.html
Saddam's link to OBL: http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/866105/posts
NYT: Iraq and AQ agree to cooperate: http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/985906/posts
Document linking them: http://tennessean.com/nation-world/archives/03/06/34908297.shtml?Element_ID=34908297
Iraq and terrorism - no doubt about it: http://www.nationalreview.com/robbins/robbins091903.asp
A federal judge rules there are links:http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/986293/posts
Wall Street Journal on Iraq and AQ:http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/987129/posts
Iraq and Iran contact OBL: http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/981055/posts
More evidence: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=%2Fnews%2F2003%2F04%2F27%2Fwalq27.xml
Saddam's AQ connection: http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/969032/posts
Further connections: http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1007969/posts
What a court of law said about the connections:
http://usinfo.state.gov/topical/pol/terror/98110402.htm
Some miscellaneous stuff on connections:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/989201/posts
Saddam's Ambassador to Al Qaeda: (February 2004, Weekly Standard)
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1083778/posts
Yes - it's NewsMax but loaded with interesting bullet points.
http://freerepublic.com/focus/news/1097521/posts?page=1
Saddam's Fingerprints on NY Bombing (Wall Street Journal, June 1993)
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1115387/posts
Colin Powell: Iraq and AQ Partners for Years (CNN, February 2003)
http://www.cnn.com/2003/US/02/05/sprj.irq.alqaeda.links/
The Iraq-Al Qaeda Connections (September 2003, Richard Miniter)
http://www.techcentralstation.com/092503F.html
Oil for Food Scandal Ties Iraq and Al Qaeda (June 2003)
http://freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1125899/posts
Saddam and OBL Make a Pact (The New Yorker, February 2003):
http://www.newyorker.com/fact/content/?030210fa_fact
Al Qaeda's Poison Gas (Wall Street Journal, April 2004):
http://www.opinionjournal.com/editorial/feature.html?id=110005016
Wolfowitz Says Saddam behind 9/11 Attacks:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/921398/posts
Saddam behind first WTC attack - PBS, Laurie Mylroie:
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/gunning/interviews/mylroie.html
Growing Evidence of Saddam and Al Qaeda Link, The Weekly Standard, July 2003:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/946997/posts
Qusay Hussein Coordinated Iraq special operations with Bin Laden Terrorist Activities, Yossef Bodansky, National Press Club
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/951911/posts
The Western Nightmare: Saddam and Bin Laden vs. the Rest of the World, The Guardian Unlimited:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/alqaida/story/0,12469,798270,00.html
Saddam Link to Bin Laden, Julian Borger, The Guardian, February 1999
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/866105/posts
The Al Qaeda Connection, The Weekly Standard, July 2003
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/944617/posts?page=2
Cheney lectures Russert on Iraq/911 Link, September 2003:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/982713/posts
No Question About It, National Review, September 2003
http://www.nationalreview.com/robbins/robbins091903.asp
Iraq: A Federal Judges Point of View
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/986293/posts
Mohammed's Account links Iraq to 9/11 and OKC:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/987075/posts
Free Republic Thread that mentions so me books Freepers might be interested in on this topic:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/977221/posts?page=8
The Proof that Saddam Worked with AQ, The Telegraph, April 2003:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=%2Fnews%2F2003%2F04%2F27%2Fwalq27.xml
Saddam's AQ Connection, The Weekly Standard, September 2003
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/969032/posts
September 11 Victims Sue Iraq:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/2237332.stm
Osama's Best Friend: The Further Connections Between Al Qaeda and Saddam, The Weekly Standard, November 2003
Terrorist Behind 9/11 Attacks Trained by Saddam, The Telegraph, December 2003
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1007969/posts
James Woolsey Links Iraq and AQ, CNN Interview, March 2004, Also see Posts #34 and #35
http://freerepublic.com/focus/news/1104121/posts
A Geocities Interesting Web Site with maps and connections:
http://www.geocities.com/republican_strategist/Iraq-Bin-Laden.html
Bin Laden indicted in federal court, read down to find information that Bin Laden agreed to not attack Iraq and to work cooperatively with Iraq:
http://usinfo.state.gov/topical/pol/terror/98110402.htm
Case Closed, The Weekly Standard, November 03
http://www.weeklystandard.com/Content/Public/Articles/000/000/003/378fmxyz.asp
CBS - Lawsuit: Iraq involved in 9/11:
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2002/09/05/september11/main520874.shtml
Exploring Iraq's Involvement in pre-9/11 Acts, The Indianapolis Star:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/746225/posts
The Iraq/AQ Connection: Richard Minister again
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/989201/posts
Militia Defector says Baghdad trained Al Qaeda fighters in chemical weapons, July 2002
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/743892/posts
The Clinton View of Iraq/AQ Ties, The Weekly Standard, December 2003
http://www.weeklystandard.com/Content/Public/Articles/000/000/003/527uwabl.asp
Saddam Controlled the Camps (Iraq/AQ Ties): The London Observer, November 01
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/741676/posts
Saddam's Terror Ties that Critics Ignore, National Review, October 2003:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1005579/posts
Tape Shows General Wesley Clark linking Iraq and AQ:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1056113/posts
Freeper list of links between AQ and Iraq:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/850346/posts
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
They're not dumb. They are deliberately misleading. Look at all the times you've heard that the lack of WMDs in Iraq falsifies the claim by Bush that the threat from Saddam was imminent - despite the fact that Bush never made that claim.
The left will lie, and lie repeatedly, and come up with new lies every week, leaving it for us to hunt down each individual use of that lie and refute it. It's an extremely tiresome process, and the left hopes that all us part-time amateur truth-seekers will tire of the hunt and leave the field to them.
Dumb, and completely agenda-ridden. Sheesh. This one's among the worst.
I wish one journalist would actually try to prove that the Bush has linked Saddam to 9-11 instead of just assuming that is the case. I would just like to see ONE quote of Bush saying Saddam is responsible for 9-11. Certainly there must be ONE quote somewhere....
W just on TV -'The reason I keep saying there was a connection between AQ and Iraq is because there WAS a connection between AQ and Iraq.' Rummy will have a press conf about this at 2(?). 'I am never disappointed in my Sec Def'
The Jim Lehrer program on PBS last night started out with this item and emphasized how the report contradicted the claims made by Bush Administration officials...so expect the report to be crafted to do maximum damage to Bush and for the media to make the most of it to bludgeon Bush. Meanwhile the White House will sit back and expect the citizenry to see through the media spin without help.
Did this really happen? I missed it!
Fox had him live after his cabinet meeting - about 30 min ago.
And what about pre-emption?
If Sadaam was involved with 9/11, then invading Iraq would have been retaliatory, not pre-emptive, and the liberals' unending critique of pre-emptive action would have been moot.
Exactly right, but 90% of the sheeple have drunk the KoolAid and believe that the WH made a direct link between 9/11 and Saddam. The WH has to do something to reverse this perception. W needs to go past the press, directly to the voters, just like Reagan used to do.
Well, good. At least he's not backing down.
It's not only foreign journalists.
The Teachers's unions dumbing down of America has struck gold in the schools of journalism.
Actually the average liberal today is saying Bush, Saddam and OBL worked together. We can thank Michael Moore for this traitorous contention. Too bad he never bothers to show the Carter Administration's complicity in creating the Bin Laden monster. Pictures of Zbigniew Brzezinski and OBL side by side don't fit his neat construct, so they are conveniently left out.
This is just Liberal Propaganda trying to influence readers to their bias. The funny part about Liberal Propagandist Media is they don't realize that this is going to backfire. Numerous administrations have used the media, knowing they will pump out the propaganda, then the administration produces the "trump card" showing the people the liberal media's lies and bias. It's called "Media Baiting". The media propagandist here had better watch out for they've probably already been baited.
!!!!
Just as in WW II, we are pretty on our own in this war with Great Britain. Every other country has either capitulated, joined the Axis or are just too weak to meet the challenge. We have to suck it up and accept that, then deal with the problem, regardless of PR niceties.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.