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Posted on 07/30/2004 3:33:08 PM PDT by beebuster2000
The 9/11 Commission Report is extraordinarily well written, reads like a gripping novel and contains many startling and astounding revelations. Probably most of what you think you know about 9/11 and the 15 years of terror activity leading up to it is wrong.
But no documentation from the report is more astounding, or has been more mis-reported than the links between Osama Bin Laden and Saddam Hussein. After the media blitz, you are probably under the impression that “no ties existed”?
How wrong you are, according to the report. Here are a few quotes from the body of the report:
Page 66:
“In March 1998, after Bin Ladin’s public fatwa against the United States, two al Qaeda members reportedly went to Iraq to meet with Iraq intelligence. In July, an Iraqi delegation traveled to Afghanistan to meet first with the Taliban and then with Bin Ladin. Sources reported that one, or perhaps both of these meetings was apparently arranged through Bin Ladin’s Egyptian deputy, Zawahiri, who had ties of his own to the Iraqis.”
Page 66:
“According to the reporting, Iraqi officials offered Bin Ladin a safe haven in Iraq. Bin Ladin declined, apparently judging that his circumstances in Afghanistan remained more favorable than the Iraqi alternative. The reports describe friendly contacts and indicate some common themes in both sides’ hatred of the United States.”
Page 128:
On November 4, 1998, the US Attorney for the Southern District of New York unsealed its indictment of Bin Ladin, charging him with conspiracy to attack U.S. defense installations. The indictment also charged that al Qaeda had allied itself with Sudan, Iran, and Hezbollah. The original sealed indictment had added that al Qaeda had “reached an understanding with the government of Iraq that al Qaeda would not work against that government and that on particular projects, specifically weapons development, al Qaeda would work cooperatively with the Government of Iraq.” This passage led (Richard) Clarke, who for years had read intelligence reports on Iraqi-Sudanese cooperation on chemical weapons, to speculate to Berger that a large Iraqi presence at chemical facilities in Khartoum was “probably a direct result of the Iraq-Al Qaida agreement” Clarke added that VX precursor traces found near al Shifa were the “exact formula used by Iraq”.
The 9/11 report does say that “no evidence indicating that Iraq cooperated with al Qaeda in developing or carrying out attacks against the United States (page 66)” were documented.
But given the voluminous reports of repetitive contact between Iraq and al Qaeda, wouldn’t any responsible and forceful President of the Untied States correctly conclude that action against both al Qaeda and Iraq was prudent. And wouldn’t a bold and courageous leader take such action if International bodies failed to heed the warning and disarm Iraq according to their own numerous resolutions?
Oh, I guess a President did take such action.
(Excerpt) Read more at 9-11commission.gov ...
bump for future reference
btt
HMMMMmmmmm, could it be because they DIDN'T HAVE the documents that Sandy Berger might have absconded with?
ooohhhh, they make me so mad......
Nice job.
Saved!
Page 128 from 1998 refers to VX nerve agent. Now that's interesting since it came from Clarke.
yeah- whats amazing is the difference between whats in the report and his attitude during the public hearings,. he flipped and flopped for three years about going after bin ladin, while clinton was president. they never followed thru due to "blowback". translation: people might not like us !!!!!
And the dems still claim that there is no connection between the Iraqi oil voucher money and Bill Clinton.
bump
The media will not touch that one. That would make Bush look good.
no kidding. but arent the dems despicable for first wailing about having the commission, and now burying the report cause it vindicates everything bush has said and done? makes me ill. how kerry can say the things he did in his speech in the face of this report is astounding- and depressing.
And some here were saying that Bush made a mistake in starting the 9/11 Commission. As it turns out, the Commission has pretty much validated all of the steps he's taken, and thereby invalidated pretty much the entire DNC strategy.
Misunderestimated again....
Another option is that Al Quaeda, as with Saddam's nest of spies throughout the Middle East, were very cautious about how much was committed to paper. They also operated in "cells" ensuring the amount of information entrusted to any one individual was strictly limited.
I have read extensively on Saddam Hussein since the Gulf War, and taking into account his relentlessly ambitious nature and stubborn egomaniacal streak (We shall change the geography of the Middle East.") I have never entertained any doubts that there would be links between Saddam and Al Quaeda. How could they fail to make use of each other in pursuing their common aim?
Say it Ain't So, Joe!!! WHEW!!!
From Newsmax:
Friday, July 30, 2004 11:58 a.m. EDT
Archives Denies Report That Berger Is in the Clear
A senior spokeswoman for the National Archives denied a report Friday morning that Archives officials have cleared former Kerry-Edwards campaign adviser Sandy Berger on charges that he withheld documents from the 9/11 Commission.
"In spite of what the Wall Street Journal said, the National Archives really isn't commenting on this case because it's under investigation," Susan Cooper, chief spokeswoman for the Archives, told NewsMax.com.
The Journal reported in Friday editions:
"Officials looking into the removal of classified documents from the National Archives by former Clinton National Security Advisor Samuel Berger say no original materials are missing and nothing Mr. Berger reviewed was withheld from the commission investigating the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks. ... The conclusion by Archives officials and others would seem to lay to rest the issue of whether any information was permanently destroyed or withheld from the commission."
The Journal report was picked up by ABC Radio network news, which further misreported the story by saying that the Justice Department had cleared Sandy Berger of all charges.
But Ms. Cooper disputed the claim that she or any other Archives official had said any such thing.
"We really have had nothing to say and will continue to have nothing to say about the particulars of the [Berger] case," Cooper told NewsMax. "I gather that there's somebody else in the food chain that has been talking about the case but it's not at the Archives."
In keeping with her no-comment policy, the Archives chief spokeswoman declined to confirm an earlier Washington Post report that Berger had destroyed four of the six copies of the Millennium Plot After Action Review stored in Archives files.
Cooper also declined to say whether draft copies of the document with original notes in the margins were among the papers Berger's lawyer Lanny Breuer said his client had "discarded."
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