Exhaustive review finds no link between Saddam, al Qaida (hint to MSM, Ansar al-Islam)

Yahoo ^ | 3/10/2008 | Warren P. Strobel, McClatchy Newspapers

[tobyhill]

WASHINGTON — An exhaustive review of more than 600,000 Iraqi documents that were captured after the 2003 U.S. invasion has found no evidence that Saddam Hussein's regime had any operational links with Osama bin Laden's al Qaida terrorist network.

The Pentagon-sponsored study, scheduled for release later this week, did confirm that Saddam's regime provided some support to other terrorist groups, particularly in the Middle East , U.S. officials told McClatchy . However, his security services were directed primarily against Iraqi exiles, Shiite Muslims, Kurds and others he considered enemies of his regime.

The new study of the Iraqi regime's archives found no documents indicating a "direct operational link" between Hussein's Iraq and al Qaida before the invasion, according to a U.S. official familiar with the report.

He and others spoke to McClatchy on condition of anonymity because the study isn't due to be shared with Congress and released before Wednesday.

President Bush and his aides used Saddam's alleged relationship with al Qaida, along with Iraq's supposed weapons of mass destruction, as arguments for invading Iraq after the September 11, 2001 , terrorist attacks.

Then-Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld claimed in September 2002 that the United States had "bulletproof" evidence of cooperation between the radical Islamist terror group and Saddam's secular dictatorship.

Then-Secretary of State Colin Powell cited multiple linkages between Saddam and al Qaida in a watershed February 2003 speech to the United Nations Security Council to build international support for the invasion. Almost every one of the examples Powell cited turned out to be based on bogus or misinterpreted intelligence.

[pissant]

What a total crock of shit

[prisoner6]

direct operational link

Key word is "operational".

Should be "strategical" or "financial" or maybe just plain ol' "supportive" link.

prisoner6

[tobyhill]

http://www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/ps/2003/17823.htm

Feb 20, 2003. One month before the start of the war.

[Parley Baer]

It's amazing how the msm keeps moving the goal posts to fit their agenda.

[george76]

“There’s no question that Saddam Hussein is a threat... Yes, he has chemical and biological weapons. He’s had those for a long time. — Wesley Clark on September 26, 2002

“Hussein has chosen to spend his money on building weapons of mass destruction and palaces for his cronies.” - Madeline Albright, Clinton Secretary of State, Nov. 10, 1999

“If Saddam rejects peace and we have to use force, our purpose is clear. We want to seriously diminish the threat posed by Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction program.” - Bill Clinton, Feb. 17, 1998

“Saddam’s goal ... is to achieve the lifting of U.N. sanctions while retaining and enhancing Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction programs. We cannot, we must not and we will not let him succeed.” — Madeline Albright, 1998

“He will use those weapons of mass destruction again, as he has ten time since 1983.” - Sandy Berger, Clinton National Security Adviser, Feb 18, 1998

[Yossarian]

Yeah, right. Saddam’s awarding of $25K checks to the families of suicide bombers who blew themselves up on Israeli busses never happened.

Bull.

[tobyhill]

Exactly. Saddam may not had spoken to Ole Binny himself but Al-Qaeda was there and others in Saddam's circle was working with them.

[Williams]

We know Sadaam and many Al Queda presently share an “operational link” in hell, which is eaxactly where they belong.

[Intolerant in NJ]

It was produced by a federally-funded think tank, the Institute for Defense Analyses , under contract to the Norfolk, Va .-based U.S. Joint Forces Command...whoever they are, they must have missed Steven Hayes' book "The Contact" which detailed Saddam's protection of AlQaeda fugitives, sharing of information on chemical and biological weapons with AlQaeda, and hosting AlQaeda training camps - enough linkage for me......

[tobyhill]

***It was produced by a federally-funded think tank, the Institute for Defense Analyses***

IDA’s staff profile says a lot.

http://www.ida.org/aboutus/organization/staffprofiles.php

[onyx eyes]

A possible link between Saddam and Eliot Spitzer?

[Krusty]

I thought there were over 2 million documents.

http://hoekstra.house.gov/News/DocumentSingle.aspx?DocumentID=42502

[Tex Pete]

Who ever said there was an operational link between the two?!

No one has ever suggested or implied such a thing. Guess they tore that straw man to pieces!

Of course, they haven’t disproven the fact that al Qaeda did have at least one training camp in Iraq, that Zarqawi lived in Iraq, or that Saddam was paying suicide bombers.

[Williams]

I do not believe the administration ever claimed a specific Saddam/ Al Queda operation. They spoke of the danger of regimes like Saddam’s someday transferring the world’s most dangerous weapons to the world’s worst terror groups. This was based on a common hostility toward the United States.

[Spunky]

"WASHINGTON — An exhaustive review of more than 600,000 Iraqi documents that were captured after the 2003 U.S. invasion has found no evidence that Saddam Hussein's regime had any operational links with Osama bin Laden's al Qaida terrorist network."

Thought you might be interested in how they still deny any connection. Their keyword here might be "operational" though.

[tobyhill]

Al-Qaeda means the base and not all “Al-Qaeda” groups were named Al-Qaeda. Ansar al-Islam was an Al-Qaeda funded group that was a merger of a couple other Al-Qaeda funded groups long before the war. I believe there had to have been some operational links between Saddam and Ansar al-Islam which would be links to Al-Qaeda.

[tobyhill]

You’re right and the State Dept doc one month before the invasion is the extent of connection anyone claimed.

http://www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/ps/2003/17823.htm

[Tut]

An exhaustive review of more than 600,000 Iraqi documents that were captured after the 2003 U.S. invasion has found no evidence that Saddam Hussein's regime had any operational links with Osama bin Laden's al Qaida terrorist network.

I can only wonder what kind of documents they were expecting to see on their search. Some 8x10 glossies of old Saddam and Bin Laden smooching?

That would defeat the whole idea of proxy alliances between a state government and a terrorist organization. It's not that would be a new concept in that part of the world.

Maybe the "think tanks" was looking for contracts in triplicates.... signatures included.

[Crim]

Damn straight...saddam was targeting us since the end of desert storm....up to his ass in WTC1(bombmaker openly lived in bagdad)....the players in WTC1 clearly tied to Al Q...

gee...even I figured out in about 30 seconds...