Bush: 'Numerous Contacts' Between Iraq, Al-Qaida

VOA News ^ | 06/18/2004 | AP

[playball0]

Bush: 'Numerous Contacts' Between Iraq, Al-Qaida VOA News 18 Jun 2004, 14:14 UTC

President Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney insist that Saddam Hussein had links with Osama bin Laden's al-Qaida terrorist network, despite a conclusion by a U.S. government commission that there was no "collaborative relationship" between the two.

On Thursday, President Bush repeated his position, saying "there was a relationship between Iraq and Saddam and al-Qaida." But he also said his administration does not believe that Saddam and Osama bin Laden "orchestrated" the 2001 attacks on New York City and Washington.

Vice President Dick Cheney said the findings by the commission investigating the attacks addressed the question of whether Iraq was part of the September 11 plot, but did not address the question of whether there was any relationship between al-Qaida and Iraq. He said some recent news reports had confused the distinction.

[playball0]

Finally, Bush and Cheney engage the forces of media evil.

[cripplecreek]

You do realize theres a new conspiracy theory floating among the lefties? The best one I've heard is that the 9/11 commission was threatened to change their story to make the media look bad.

[johnfrink]

Sadly, the damage has been done, as the myth that the 9/11 commission found "no links between Iraq and Al Qaeda" has already made it into the MSM. Driving to work today, while listening to NPR, I heard exactly that: "Given that the 9/11 commission found no links between Iraq and Al Qaeda..." Argh.

[Always Right]

You do realize theres a new conspiracy theory floating among the lefties? The best one I've heard is that the 9/11 commission was threatened to change their story to make the media look bad.

Well, Cheney did set up the media by making statements the days before the release of the report about an Iraq-Al Qaeda relationship. I think the White House knew that the media would distort the report and say things that weren't true. The White House almost dared the media to do it, and the media did it. Now the White House is having fun watching the media wipe the egg off their face.

[gov_bean_ counter]

The trap was set, either by coincidence or design, the the Dems and media have stepped into it. Though the Pubbies have much to work with now. I hope the WH plays this smartly.

[Savage Beast]

They may not have exactly orchestrated the 9/11 attack, but anybody who thinks Saddam Hussein and Osama bin Laden were not in cahoots is nuts--or actively engaged in spreading propaganda--or, quite likely, both!

OF COURSE SADDAM HUSSEIN AND OSAMA BIN LADEN WERE WORKING TOGETHER!!! IS ANYBODY REALLY STUPID ENOUGH TO BELIEVE OTHERWISE???

Sheesh! How deep in denial is it possible to get?

"Never underestimate the power of denial."
~Alan Ball~
American Beauty

...or a commitment to propaganda.
~Savage Beast~

[Always Right]

Ummm, don't listen to NPR. They are shameless left-wing mouthpieces. This is not gonna hurt Bush. Bush has exposed them as liars here, and is on top of it.

[The G Man]

John:

Normally, I'd probably agree with you on that, but Team Bush is pushing back real hard on this, and getting alot of media time while doing it. I think the NY Times overplayed their hand terribly and will regret very soon their coverage of the 9/11 report the other day. I suspect we will be seeing yet more apologies from the Paper of (broken) Record.

[ironman]

Yes we need to write letters to the editor and to the paper ombudsmen to have them correct their lies.

[rwfromkansas]

The media is really pissing me off on this.

BOTH chairs of the committee said yesterday they saw NO CONTRADICTION between their report and the WH's position of links between Al Queda and Iraq.

No contradiction!

But, as far as I know, only CBS gave this even a glancing mention.

Just appalling laziness and BIAS! Appalling!

The more I see this crap, the more I want to switch careers to journalism to try to help restore some dignity to the job (I no longer call this a profession when only a few actually have a respect for the core principles of journalism anymore).

This is just infuriating.

[TeleStraightShooter]

--- NEWS FLASH from the Past ---

Nazi Germany had nothing to do with the attack on Pearl Harbor by the Imperial Japanese Navy.....
The gall of FDR to invade Vinchy France's territory in North Africa!

[SunkenCiv]

Reprising this from Rush Says 9/11 Commission Member DID Find Iraq/AQ Connections:

That [characterization deleted] who gave us the Kosovo War, Richard Holbrooke, has been lying again, true to his partisan affiliation:

The Fog Of Invented Facts
by Edward Jay Epstein

The invented fact here is that Atta was on the CIA's watch list. Nor was he on any other government watch list prior to September 11th. Its repetition lays down a fog about the responsibility for the attack. For example, Ambassador Richard Holbrooke, when lecturing at the JFK Library on Oct 4th, 2001, described the "law enforcement failure" of September 11th as follows:

"To understand how bad it was, you need look no further than the specific movements of Mohammed Atta, who was probably the mastermind of these attacks, all of which has now been in the newspapers. The CIA put him on the watch list of most wanted terrorists in the world sometime in the early summer or late spring of this year... It is clear, therefore, that the FBI. and the FAA. don't talk to each other, that the FBI. never gave the watch list names to leading American airlines"

Soooo, how is it that Holbrooke opposes the GWB moves (which were passed by both houses of Congress by huge majorities)? Because he's a lying liar, unlike the victims of Al Franken's latest POS.

Epstein is described as a liberal by William Safire, who cites his website. Epstein's writing is more commonly found on Slate (hardly a conservative publication), the NY Times, and other bastions of the partisans. The following piece appeared in the local paper here sometime after it was first published.

Missing Links Found
by William Safire
November 24, 2003

Remember how anti-liberation politicians and journalists pooh-poohed Colin Powell's February 2003 speech to the U.N. about the presence in Iraq of a Qaeda associate, identified in this space as Abu Musab al-Zarqawi? Powell's assertion had this "sensitive reporting" basis: "As of Oct. 2002 al Zarqawi was setting up sleeper cells in Baghdad to be activated in case of a U.S. occupation of the city." ...Feith's intelligence summary available to senators: "The Czech counterintelligence service reported that the Sept. 11 hijacker [Mohamed] Atta met with the former Iraqi intelligence chief in Prague, al Ani, on several occasions. During one of those meetings, al Ani ordered the IIS [Iraq Intelligence Service] finance officer to issue Atta funds from IIS financial holdings in the Prague office." ...Though the C.I.A. can confirm two Atta trips to Prague, in 1994 and 2000, it cannot confirm the two other visits the Czechs reported, including one on April 9, 2001, with Saddam's top European agent, al-Ani, then vice consul in Prague. C.I.A. chief George Tenet testified that the meeting reported by the Czech service was "possible," but the F.B.I. floated hints that car rental records showed Atta to be traveling between Virginia and Florida that week. Enter the writer Edward Jay Epstein in the liberal online journal Slate: "All these reports attributed to the FBI were, as it turns out, erroneous. There were no car rental records in Virginia, Florida, or anywhere else in April 2001 for Mohamed Atta, since he had not yet obtained his Florida license." You cannot rent a car without a driver's license.

George W. Bush will be reelected by a margin of at least ten per cent

[Peach]

As Rush is saying right now, we have found out that Al Qaeda was in Spain, Iran, Pakistan, France, England, and on and on the list goes.

Then Rush said "Al Qaeda was EVEN IN FLORIDA. BUT AL QAEDA WAS CERTAINLY NOT IN IRAQ".

LOLOLOL

[r9etb]

Finally, Bush and Cheney engage the forces of media evil.

They needed to be patient. If you start it too soon, the release of the report drowns it out. Now, however, they can begin to debate the Commission itself, and that's a far better way to make the case.

THis will work out fine.

[Rightwing Conspiratr1]

Atta met with the former Iraqi intelligence chief in Prague, al Ani, on several occasions

Speaking of which, do we have this Iraqi official Al Ani?

[Swiss]

The same people who say there isn't a link is the ones who claim that former President Bush flew in a top secret SR-71 Spy Plane to Iran to arrange for the release of the hostages in 1980.

[take]

Pakistan helped Osama, Iraq didn't: 9/11 panel



http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/742828.cms

[NormsRevenge]

President Bush (news - web sites) blows a kiss to a small crowd and members of the media as he prepares to leave King County International Airport Thursday evening, June 17, 2004, in Seattle. Bush arrived in Seattle on Air Force One and transferred to Marine One for a 25-minute flight to Fort Lewis, near Tacoma, Wash., where he is scheduled to address Army troops Friday morning. He appeared earlier in the day at a fund-raiser for Republican Senate candidate George Nethercutt in Spokane, Wash. (AP Photo/Elaine Thompson)

[Milligan]

I remember Bush saying there is no connection between AQ, Saddam and 911 that was a few months back. I was puzzled by this? I thought there was a connection. I looked at all of Bush's speeches. He talked about terrorist not AQ specifically. Also gave his objectives about going into Iraq to get Saddam. He didn't want to wait around until Saddam became a grave and imminent threat to world peace by passing wmd to terrorist.

If he said terrorist, how many different terrorist organization are there around the world? If it includes the ones the Israeli are fighting against it explains why the Democrats are trying discredit Bush.

[RottiBiz]

Do you know if the Mohammad Atta/Abu Nidal/Salman Pak connection has ever been officially debunked?

I've been wondering why the President and the Vice-President do not refer to this particular connection, especially since Prime Minister Allawi previously confirmed the genuineness of the document.

Although Iraqi officials refused to disclose how and where they had obtained the document, Dr Ayad Allawi, a member of Iraq's ruling seven-man Presidential Committee, said the document was genuine.

"We are uncovering evidence all the time of Saddam's involvement with al-Qaeda," he said. "But this is the most compelling piece of evidence that we have found so far. It shows that not only did Saddam have contacts with al-Qaeda, he had contact with those responsible for the September 11 attacks."

Terrorist Behind September 11 Strike was Trained by Saddam