9/11 panel: New evidence on Iraq-Al-Qaida

UPI ^ | June 20, 2004 | Shaun Waterman

[El Gato]

He was Secretary of the Navy.

He was also a Naval Officer some years earlier. He joined the Navy in 1968, as an ensign (Note height of the Vietnam War), prior to that he served in the Air Force Reserve. He left active duty as a Commander (0-5, equivalent to Lt. Col)

Here's an interesting address he gave at the Naval Institute's Naval History Symposium (2004) , "Our Enemy Is Not Terrorism"

"We are currently in a war, but it is not a war on terrorism. In fact, that has been a great confusion, and the sooner we drop that term, the better. This would be like President Franklin Roosevelt saying in World War II, "We are engaged in a war against kamikazes and blitzkrieg." Like them, terrorism is a method, a tool, a weapon that has been used against us. And part of the reason we suffered such a horrific attack is that we were not prepared.
...
Our enemy is not terrorism. Our enemy is violent, Islamic fundamentalism"

[Maria S]

"Ahmed Hikmat Shakir, Khalid al Midhar and Nawaf al Hamzi"


I sure wish these folks had names like Smith, Jones, and Johnson.

[Zhangliqun]

"We are currently in a war, but it is not a war on terrorism. In fact, that has been a great confusion, and the sooner we drop that term, the better. This would be like President Franklin Roosevelt saying in World War II, "We are engaged in a war against kamikazes and blitzkrieg." Like them, terrorism is a method, a tool, a weapon that has been used against us. And part of the reason we suffered such a horrific attack is that we were not prepared.
...
Our enemy is not terrorism. Our enemy is violent, Islamic fundamentalism"

***

This is true. The proof is that if Al Qaeda & friends had parity with or superiority to us with conventional military arms/training/tactics, they would use it without hesitation and terror attacks on civilians would be just a side show. No matter how you slice it, it's democratic capitalism with Judeo-Christian philosophy vs. Islamo-fascism.

[Robert DeLong]

Interesting.

[cookcounty]

"I think it is quite telling that Stephen Hayes can acquire this information, write a book on it, publish that book, and do several interviews in the media BEFORE the 9/11 commission has any hint of it. Who is running this thing, Hans Blix?"

It isn't for nothing that people are calling it the "Keane Klown Kommission."

[Dr. Frank fan]

And what kind of a statement is that "there is MORE evidence that AQ had links to Pakistan and Iran, that doesn't meant, that there isn't still plenty of evidence linking Iraq and AQ.

Good catch. That's a very salient question indeed, one which prompted me to go examine the article. Here's what it says:

"He added that there much more evidence of links between al-Qaida and Iran or Pakistan than Iraq"

He "added"? That is quite odd. Why on earth would he "add" such a thing? Doesn't that strike anyone besides you and me as odd? Think about it. He's answering a question that nobody asked him.

Nobody asked him "was AQ linked MORE to Iraq than other countries?" That was NEVER the issue, and he certainly knows it. The issue was, Was AQ linked to Iraq? And the reason this became an issue is, for the past several days we've been inundated with countless "no links between Iraq and AQ!" headlines.

So now he's called on it and his "excuse" is that some other countries have "more" links?

If a kid says "I didn't take any cookies", and his mother finds three cookies in his pockets, then the kid points at his brother and says "but he took five!", I think we all recognize that for what it is.

For Kean to think it's just fine and dandy to let the (incorrect) meme "No Links Between Iraq and AQ" settle amongst the American public, because of his evaluation that the Links were stronger with these other countries, is inexcusable. Is he interested in the truth, or in propaganda? Is he saying that this is an excusable white lie?

There were either some amount of links between AQ and Iraq, or there were not. As things stand the Commission has let the impression emanate to the susceptible public that there were not. This is simply incorrect, and even if it's true that Pakistan/Iran had "more" links, that doesn't change the fact that it's incorrect.

[timydnuc]

Yet another reason to flush the "Commission". Cowards, and Monday morning quarterbacks at best, traitors at the worst. Somewhere there is a gray area where they actually rest. It doesn't represent the good for our country, it represents the bad in politics.

Toilet paper is needed, put the prose of the commission into a good cause. They lost all credibility long ago.

[Billthedrill]

...The best proof of this is the Americans' continuing aggression against the Iraqi people using the Peninsula as a staging post, even though all its rulers are against their territories being used to that end, still they are helpless. Second, despite the great devastation inflicted on the Iraqi people by the crusader-Zionist alliance, and despite the huge number of those killed, in excess of 1 million... their eagerness to destroy Iraq, the strongest neighboring Arab state, and their endeavor to fragment all the states of the region such as Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and Sudan into paper statelets and through their disunion and weakness to guarantee Israel's survival and the continuation of the brutal crusade occupation of the Peninsula.

All these crimes and sins committed by the Americans are a clear declaration of war on God, his messenger, and Muslims...

On that basis, and in compliance with God's order, we issue the following fatwa to all Muslims The ruling to kill the Americans and their allies--civilians and military--is an individual duty for every Muslim who can do it in any country in which it is possible to do it...

The writer was Osama bin Laden. 23 September, 1998. Find the complete text HERE. It was his fatwah, his reason for embarking on the war that culminated on 11 September 2001.

[satchmodog9]

Before the war I alwys heard liberals talking about how Saddam was the worlds largest money launderer. Now they stop saying it because it makes a financial link if you use your head.