Posted on 06/24/2004 6:34:25 PM PDT by Indy Pendance
WASHINGTON, June 24 (UPI) -- Former Vice President Al Gore Thursday called for an independent congressional investigation into Bush administration claims of an Iraq-al-Qaida link, saying officials should testify under oath under threat of perjury.
Gore, speaking at the Georgetown University Law Center, claimed "President Bush is now intentionally misleading the American people by continuing to aggressively and brazenly assert a linkage between al-Qaida and Saddam Hussein."
Gore said of the way the Bush administration has conducted the war on terrorism, "I think it is safe to say that our founders ... would feel that we are now facing a clear and present danger that has the potential to threaten the future of the American experiment."
The former vice president, who lost the 2000 election for president to Bush, said there is no credible evidence of a "collaborative relationship" between al-Qaida and Iraq. That supposed connection, he said, led to an attack on Iraq. As a result, said Gore, "We are left with an unprecedented, high-intensity conflict every single day between the ideological illusions upon which this administration's policies have been based and the reality of the world."
Bush, as recently as last week, said he claimed there is a link between the terrorist organization and Saddam Hussein "because there is link." Vice President Dick Cheney said this week there was overwhelming evidence of a connection between Iraq and al-Qaida.
Last week a report from the staff of the Sept. 11 Commission looking into possible intelligence failures prior to the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, which were carried out by al-Qaida, said the Iraq-al-Qaida link did not exist. Commission members tweaked that, however, limiting it to the planning for the Sept. 11 hijackings. The Bush administration agreed, saying that while Iraq and al-Qaida did have contacts, they did not work together on the Sept. 11 attacks.
Gore claimed the administration "deliberately ignored warnings before the (Iraq) war from international intelligence services, the CIA and their own Pentagon that the claim was false." He recalled the 2002 statement by Jean-Louis Bruguiere, the Council of Europe's terrorism expert, that "We have found no evidence of links between Iraq and al-Qaida. If there were such links we would have found them. But we have found no serious connections whatsoever."
Bush ordered the invasion of Afghanistan when the Taliban leaders there refused to hand over al-Qaida leaders -- including Osama bin Laden, who had orchestrated attacks against U.S. interests during the Clinton administration before masterminding Sept. 11.
U.S.-led forces were able to unseat the Taliban and soon the Bush administration was looking at Iraq, a target administration critics allege had been the main end in the first place.
Gore said that switching to a war in Iraq allowed many Taliban and al-Qaida leaders to escape in Afghanistan. In fact, he alleged, their numbers have "grown considerably" due to a war that is perceived in the Muslim world as a "gross injustice."
"The way in which we have conducted that war," he said, "further fueled a sense of rage against the United States in those lands and, according to several studies, has stimulated a new wave of recruits for the terrorist group that attacked us and still wishes us harm."
Terry Holt, spokesman for the Bush-Cheney '04 campaign, issued a statement saying, "Al Gore lives in his own world and is engaged in simple political attacks on the president.
"The (Sept. 11 Commission) members themselves last week took great pains to point out that they were aware of connections between al-Qaida and various elements in Iraq."
John Lehman, one of the Republicans on the commission, in the wake of the report last week, offered evidence that a member of Saddam's Fedayeen had attended an al-Qaida meeting in Malaysia in January 2001.
Gore said that "within hours, the commission's files yielded definitive evidence that it was another man with a similar name."
The former vice president suggested a fate for Bush similar to one that his former boss -- President Bill Clinton -- went through in the appointment of a special prosecutor.
"Congressional oversight and special prosecution are words that should hang in the air," Gore said.
"This is what we must now do, as Americans, in the name of our founders."
no, now Gore is saying that there is no link between Iraq and AQ at all!!! NUTSY!!
The wounded and forgotten uncle al attempts to regain stature in his corrupt party by joining the cabal in trying to undermine the Iraq war.
With the help of the press...they daily batter our President's finest achievement. Very klintonian.
And kinda of funny in a weird way.
It is as if these silly girlish whiney metro-sexuals understand that NO ONE in the nation wants a bunch of 60's hippies who never grew up, in charge of our national security with terrorists attacking us. LOL.
They will never break our faith in our President. Experience is always the best teacher....and we all know what happened while klinton played his sax, delighting the hollywood idiots and waxed his sexual needs upon young interns and raped and molested others all the while devious terrorists took flying lessons here, on his watch, and killed so many on 9/11.
My goodness, Arafat wat touted and feted at our WH so much when billy was Prez, it is embarrassing. And the pardoning of the terrorist org in NY? Bill klinton-not unlike a bitch in heat while Rome was set to burn.
1. You, Mr. Gore, have no flippin' business demanding any testimony under threat of perjury.
2. I understand that the official in charge of investigations is Ms. Deeyenda Maddick. So, go talk to Deeyenda Maddick.
At least now we know from whom Al, Jr. gets his pot.
Errrrr ... the Founders would disapprove of about 90% of the crap the Federal Gov.'t meddles in (and that Mr. Gore believes in)... I'd almost be willing to sacrifice GWB to Al "Mr. Martini" Gore in exhange for a Federal Gov't. 1/10 its current size ...
This is the guy they were trying to pass off as a "genius" 4 years ago ... ?
Damn!
Hand that man a quart of iced tea.
They need to put this horse's ass out to pasture. His steaming dung is stinking up the campaign trail.
Could Gore be VP again? Constitutionally yes. Emotionally NO!
That scum Gore actually called President Bush a liar a number of times... Not just deceived, but LIED.
Gore spoke to the 9/11 commission but had to cut it short to go to the bathroom because he drank too much ice tea.
Mr.Gore,your new suit is ready.
Election year piffle.
What led to an attack on Iraq was its ongoing violation of the conditions of cease-fire in the first Gulf War, including its failure to account for the stockpiles of weapons of mass destruction that it possessed.
This point was made more acute by the documented participation by the Regime in international terrorism (including funding homocide bombings against Israel), including co-operation with al Qaeda at whatever level.
Gore is either trying to distort the process (in an election year?? You think??), or is really as insane as he appears. The willing thralls in the media, most particularly the distortion mirror of the New York Slimes, and those sloppy journalists that only get the 'gist' of an issue rather than the exact particulars involved, will be happy to continue alGore's deception and do their best to turn this deliberate misstatement of reality into the latest cause du jour.
Watch it, Al, or we'll be calling for an investigation of Armand Hammer and his ties to your Dad and You.
The rats are in total meltdown....
I disagree, the people I know, middle of the roaders, aren't buying it. We political junkies see the worst of the worst. The polls indicate people aren't buying it either, or they would be 90% for Kerry. Right now, he's barely keeping afloat.
Really! He sure is bitter.
Who in the blue hell is Al Gore?
He did? Where. I need it said for me. Point me to it, buddy.
Something that poisoned apples.
The sad, sorry excuse for a sack of meat must be still smarting from "The Look," that candidate Bush gave him during the 2nd debate.
Who else here remembers that classic?
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