Move along nothing to see.
Posted on 06/20/2004 1:13:02 PM PDT by Tennessean4Bush
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The commission investigating the Sept. 11 attacks has been told "a very prominent member" of al Qaeda served as an officer in Saddam Hussein (news - web sites)'s militia, a panel member said on Sunday.
Republican commissioner John Lehman told NBC's "Meet the Press" program that the new intelligence, if proven true, buttresses claims by the Bush administration of ties between Iraq (news - web sites) and the militant network believed responsible for the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on America.
"We are now in the process of getting this latest intelligence," Lehman said.
Commission Chairman Thomas Kean urged the administration to make any such information available to the panel quickly.
"Obviously, if there is any information (that) has to do with the subject of the report, we need it, and we need it pretty fast," Kean said on ABC's "This Week" program. "We'll ask for it and see."
He said the final report would be modified to take any new intelligence into account.
Lehman said the information, contained in "captured documents," was obtained after the commission report was written that stated there was no evidence of a "collaborative relationship" between Iraq and al Qaeda.
"Some of these documents indicate that (there was) at least one officer of Saddam's Fedayeen, a lieutenant colonel, who was a very prominent member of al Qaeda," Lehman said.
"That still has to be confirmed, but the vice president (Dick Cheney (news - web sites)) was right when he said that he may have things that we don't yet have," said Lehman, a former Navy secretary.
Cheney and President Bush (news - web sites) continued to insist that Iraq had ties to al Qaeda after the commission report issued last week found no evidence that Iraq collaborated with al Qaeda.
Lehman did not say whether the additional information was given to the commission in response to demands from Kean and commission vice chairman, Lee Hamilton.
On CBS's "Face the Nation," Sen. John McCain (news, bio, voting record) said the White House should comply. "I see no reason why not," the Arizona Republican said.
Democratic commission member Richard Ben-Veniste told NBC he hoped Cheney would provide information "on a current basis ... with respect to the individual that John Lehman has talked about."
The Bush administration has been accused by critics of using faulty intelligence about alleged weapons of mass destruction and Iraqi links to al Qaeda to push the nation to war.
Lehman said there was no evidence Saddam was involved in the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on America. But he said the recent information about the Fedayeen officer "demonstrates the difficulty that we've had in this commission."
"We're under tremendous political pressures -- everything we come out with, one side or the other seizes on in this election year," Lehman said.
The conclusion of the commission staff report, released last Wednesday, contradicted Bush administration contentions before and after the U.S.-led war on Iraq. The president argued a connection with al Qaeda constituted an unacceptable threat to the United States.
Some officials, including Cheney, suggested an Iraqi role in the Sept. 11 attacks. Bush later ruled out that possibility, but many Americans still believe it and critics have accused the administration of misleading the public.
Bush's Democratic challenger, Sen. John Kerry (news - web sites) of Massachusetts, said the president owed the American public "a fundamental explanation about why he rushed to war for a purpose it now turns out is not supported by the facts."
heh, heh... I thought it was North Korea, working with the Chinese.
"The Third Terrorist" is definitely on my reading list. I'm working on "The Connection" now.
I am going to order that book; glad you reminded me.
You won't be sorry you spent time reading The Third Terrorist; it's unputdownable (after the first chapter which is rather slow but for a purpose).
No. He'll eat more, poor blanched and fattened soul. He will be Deeply Fattened.
BUY "Connections" by Stephen Hayes, it's excellent. Don't bother to look for it at Borders.
Move along nothing to see.
You don't suppose the stupid frat boy Bush has just outsmarted them once again, do you? You don't think he was playing a little Texas Holdem with the RATS, do you?
The Dims just don't know how to play Texas Hold 'em against President Bush.
good stuff bump
ping.
Keep up your data collection so the tipping point ends up in our favor.
Lehman is a good man. I wonder if he saw all of these lies and spins about to break out and discussed this in private with GW, Rummy or Powell.
So as usual GW let the libs play the dope on the rope trick and let them shoot their wads in these lies released last week.
Now the realities of the links between al Qaeda, and the $oddomites appear to have starting to flow out, and the 9/11 committee can contain them anymore.
Rush, Hannity, Fox News and even some of the liberal news medias are getting the word out like the Putin word.
The left wing mediots have lost control and can't contain, spike and hide the realities of the linkage between al Qaeda and the $oddomites any more.
Cap Huff, “GWB has been calm and self-confident in recent weeks, when a lot of people in this forum have been panicky”
--Boot Hill: "I concur, his demeanor reminds me of quarterback Joe Montana at the two minute warning. I'll stick with a proven winner."
Great analogy!
Yes. I was, fortunately, wrong.
I truly thought that Bush was NOT going to fight back. He took it a long time and I'm still not certain it was the correct strategy.
BUT, the people who said he was pulling a rope a dope were correct and I was, happily, wrong.
No sign yet of a transcript of Kerry's comments two years ago about the connections between Saddam/OBL. I'd like to write a letter to the editor but it will have more impact if I have an exact quote or two and dates. If you see it, could you try to remember to ping me? Thanks.
This is how GW works and does his thing.
He refuses to get into the gutter to wrestle with the vermin rats.
He refuses to walk on the stage the liberals have built with a noose in the center of the stage and stick his head in the noose.
Keep up your good work and watch GW unfold this latest counter to the lies/spin of the left.
That is a quality of leadership that is ultimately God given, but also nurtured, tested, and strengthened over time. Why a larger percentage of people don't see it is a mystery to me.
I can't subscribe to every decision GWB has taken in his tenure, but here is where character really counts. I trust that even in his "bad" decisions, there were good reasons for making them. I suspect that even he himself is critical of some decisions he has made.
This commission is just finding out about this when all of us here had this information weeks ago? Incompetence.
You are exactly right. Character means that people say, "if he says there was danger, there must have been danger". Trust in a leader is essential.
Yep, but what is news about this is the White House confirming it and sending the evidence to the 911 commission for consideration in their final report.
Yeah, they don't search for the truth very hard, do they?
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.