Posted on 06/18/2004 5:11:19 PM PDT by My Favorite Headache
As Vice President Cheney continues to insist Iraq had ties to al-Qaida, he's added a new dimension to the debate. Cheney is criticizing some media coverage of the 9/11 commission's take on a possible connection. He even reportedly called coverage by one paper "outrageous."
Bush, Cheney Talk of Iraq and al-Qaida Link
By David E. Sanger and Robin Toner
(June 18) - President Bush and Vice President Cheney said yesterday that they remain convinced that Saddam Hussein's government had a long history of ties to Al Qaeda, a day after the commission investigating the Sept. 11 attacks reported that its review of classified intelligence found no evidence of a "collaborative relationship" that linked Iraq to the terrorist organization.
Mr. Bush, responding to a reporter's question about the report after a White House cabinet meeting yesterday morning, said: "The reason I keep insisting that there was a relationship between Iraq and Saddam and Al Qaeda" is "because there was a relationship between Iraq and Al Qaeda."
He said: "This administration never said that the 9/11 attacks were orchestrated between Saddam and Al Qaeda. We did say there were numerous contacts between Saddam Hussein and Al Qaeda. For example, Iraqi intelligence officers met with bin Laden, the head of Al Qaeda, in the Sudan. There's numerous contacts between the two."
He repeated that Mr. Hussein was "a threat" and "a sworn enemy to the United States of America."
Last night Mr. Cheney, who was the administration's most forceful advocate of the Qaeda-Hussein links, was more pointed, repeating in detail his case for those ties and saying that The New York Times's coverage yesterday of the commission's findings "was outrageous."
For the Record
AP
Vice President Cheney · Oct. 10, 2003: "[Saddam Hussein] had an established relationship with al-Qaida, providing training to al-Qaida members in the areas of poisons, gases, making conventional bombs." · June 17, 2004: "There clearly was a relationship. It's been testified to. The evidence is overwhelming." Watch Video: 'No Conflict' (Broadband)
AP
President Bush · Sept. 17, 2003: "We've had no evidence that Saddam Hussein was involved with Sept. 11... There's no question that [he] had al-Qaida ties." · June 17, 2004: "The reason I keep insisting that there was a relationship between Iraq and Saddam and al-Qaida [is] because there was a relationship between Iraq and al-Qaida." Watch Video: 'Numerous Contacts' (Broadband)
From the 9/11 Commission Report: Overview of the Enemy "Bin Laden also explored possible cooperation with Iraq during his time in Sudan, despite his opposition to Hussein's secular regime. Bin Laden had in fact at one time sponsored anti-Saddam Islamists in Iraqi Kurdistan. The Sudanese, to protect their own ties with Iraq, reportedly persuaded bin Laden to cease this support and arranged for contacts between Iraq and al-Qaida. A senior Iraqi intelligence officer reportedly made three visits to Sudan, finally meeting bin Laden in 1994. Bin Laden is said to have requested space to establish training camps, as well as assistance in procuring weapons, but Iraq apparently never responded. There have been reports that contacts between Iraq and al-Qaida also occurred after bin Laden had returned to Afghanistan, but they do not appear to have resulted in a collaborative relationship. Two senior bin Laden associates have adamantly denied that any ties existed between al-Qaida and Iraq. We have no credible evidence that Iraq and al-Qaida cooperated on attacks against the United States."
Sources: 9-11commission.gov, CNN, Cox News Service, The New York Times
"They do a lot of outrageous things," Mr. Cheney, appearing on "Capital Report" on CNBC, said of the Times, referring specifically to a four-column front page headline that read "Panel Finds No Qaeda-Iraq Tie." Mr. Cheney added: "The press wants to run out and say there's a fundamental split here now between what the president said and what the commission said."
He said that newspapers, including the Times, had confused the question of whether there was evidence of Iraqi participation in Sept. 11 with the issue of whether a relationship existed between Al Qaeda and Mr. Hussein's regime.
Speaking of the commission, he said, "They did not address the broader question of a relationship between Iraq and Al Qaeda in other areas, in other ways." He said "the evidence is overwhelming." He described the ties and cited numerous links back to the 1990's, including contacts between Osama bin Laden and Iraqi intelligence officials.
Senator John Kerry, the presumptive Democratic nominee for president, also jumped into the debate yesterday, saying: "It is clear that President Bush owes the American people a fundamental explanation about why he rushed to war for a purpose that it now turns out is not supported by the facts. That is the finding of this commission. The war against Al Qaeda is not the war in Iraq, when it began."
Cheney on 9/11
AP
What can we learn about Bush and Cheney's relationship from how they handled Sept. 11? Dick Cheney's Role
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Staff Report 15, released by the commission Wednesday, detailed how a senior Iraqi intelligence officer "reportedly made three visits to Sudan" and met with Mr. bin Laden in 1994. At that meeting, the report concluded, Mr. bin Laden sought permission to establish training camps in Iraq and help in obtaining weapons, "but Iraq apparently never responded."
"There have been reports that contacts between Iraq and Al Qaeda also occurred after bin Laden had returned to Afghanistan, but they do not appear to have resulted in a collaborative relationship," the report continued. "Two senior bin Laden associates have adamantly denied that any ties existed between Al Qaeda and Iraq. We have no credible evidence that Iraq and Al Qaeda cooperated on attacks against the United States."
Mr. Cheney expressed a slightly different view last night, saying, "We have never been able to prove that there was a connection there on 9/11." He went on to cite a Czech intelligence service report that Mohammad Atta, one of the lead hijackers, met a senior Iraqi intelligence official in April 2001. "That's never been proven," he said. "It's never been refuted."
The commission report released on Wednesday concluded: "We do not believe that such a meeting occurred," citing phone records and other evidence that Mr. Atta had been in Florida at that time, not Prague.
Mr. Cheney returned to the subject of the Times's coverage later in his appearance on CNBC when Ms. Borger began saying, "But the press is making a distinction between 9/11 and . . ."
"No, they're not," Mr. Cheney said. "The New York Times does not. `The Panel Finds No Qaeda-Iraq Ties,' " he said, quoting the headline. "That's what it says. That's the vaunted New York Times. Numerous — I've watched a lot of the coverage on it and the fact of the matter is they don't make a distinction. They fuzz it up. Sometimes it's through ignorance. Sometimes its malicious. But you'll take a statement that's geared specifically to say there's no connection in relations to the 9/11 attack and then say, `Well, obviously there's no case here.' And then jump over to challenge the president's credibility or my credibility."
Mr. Bush and Mr. Cheney were not alone in responding yesterday to the commission's findings. Speaker J. Dennis Hastert, an Illinois Republican, also charged that the media had distorted the findings of the commission about links between Mr. bin Laden and Mr. Hussein. He sad the report showed the two men were "developing a relationship."
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"That relationship could have led to dire consequences for the United States," Mr. Hastert said, adding that the two men "are cut from the same cloth."
Both Mr. Bush and Mr. Kerry had expected to focus on the economy yesterday, but the dispute over the 9/11 commission's report overshadowed that effort.
Speaking to reporters in Detroit, Mr. Kerry said that it was Mr. Bush and Mr. Cheney who were muddying distinctions. "The president and the vice president on a number of occasions have asserted very directly to the American people that the war against al Qaeda is the war in Iraq. And on any number of occasions, the president has made it clear that the front line of the war against al Qaeda is in Iraq."
He returned to the theme last night, talking to officials in the Michigan A.F.L.-C.I.O. "Now we learn in the latest reports of the commission that Al Qaeda had nothing to do with what was happening in Iraq, and we're spending $200 billion of your tax money over there. I'll tell you this, as commander in chief, based on my experience in fighting a war, and what I know about what's happened in these last years, I will always remember that the United States of America should never go to war because it wants to, we should only go to war because we have to."
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The line, one Mr. Kerry has been using with increasing frequency in campaign appearances, received loud applause. Steve Schmidt, spokesman for the Bush campaign, said that Mr. Kerry was contradicting himself.
"John Kerry explicitly stated that Saddam Hussein was connected to terrorism," Mr. Schmidt said. "He contradicted himself today. John Kerry voted for war in Iraq, but less than a year later declared himself an antiwar candidate." Mr. Schmidt said Mr. Kerry had a "track record" of "exploiting the war on terror for political gain."
June 18, 2004
Cheney's credibility? Shaky 54% Solid 46% How would you rate the media's credibility? Shaky 68% Solid 32% Total Votes: 4,844 Note on Poll Results
How do you rate Cheney as vice president? Poor 51% Excellent 33% Good 11% Fair 6% Total Votes: 2,416 Note on Poll Results
It's so interesting watching the leftists deny that which they once wrote about.
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
THE GREAT TERROR
by JEFFREY GOLDBERG
In northern Iraq, there is new evidence of Saddam Hussein's genocidal war on the Kurds—and of his possible ties to Al Qaeda. (2002)
http://www.newyorker.com/fact/content/?020325fa_FACT1
M. Peaches 9/11 bookmarks, what Clinton knew and when:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/685442/posts
http://www.truthusa.com/911.html
Stephen Hayes book, The Intel Links OBL and Saddam (The Weekly Standard, June 2004)
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,103176,00.html
Britain insists that AQ was in Iraq pre war (June 2004)
http://freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1155369/posts
Cheney says definite ties between Iraq/AQ and outraged at NYT headline (June 2004)
http://freerepublic.com/focus/news/1155520/posts?page=1
How the Networks Pretend to Ignore their own reporting from the 1990's (MRC, June 2004)
http://www.mediaresearch.org/cyberalerts/2004/cyb20040617.asp
The AQ/Iraq connection according to the NYT in 1998 (NYT, 1998 and again in 2004)
http://freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1155977/posts
gotta save this!
gotta save this!
I heard this on the radio, today, Cheney's right on the money. NYT is lame, very lame.
All I can say is Tank God! It's about time! Look how clever Cheney/Bush are. They know the NYT's prestige has been badly damaged in recent years, and they waited to counterattack until the Times really stuck it's chin out. And Kerry was right there hitching a suicide ride on the NYT's headline.
With their so-called "intelligentsia" and editors who have a dispoportionate number of gays among their ranks (according to Bill Sammons) it's time for the Grey Lady to lose her pre-eminent status forever.
And good riddance.
Is cheny too old for president in 2008?
Well...Hillary will be like 65 by 2008 believe it or not...so I would rule her out unless she believes she will have that much clout in another 4 yrs. I think she is going to fade away in popularity and be treated like a Carter then.
I believe that we have reached the stage in the War on Terror where a Declaration of War is now required. Although the Congress passes the declaration, for all practical purposes it will not happen unless it is presented to them by the President. Therefore, if you agree that a declaration is needed, please contact President Bush (202-456-1111) and urge him to submit a Declaration of War to Congress.
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