Clift Suggests Sons Killed to Silence Them on Lack of WMD

MediaResearchCenter ^ | Monday July 28, 2003 | BrentBaker

[fight_truth_decay]

Uday and Qusay killed to keep them silent on lack of WMD? Newsweek’s Eleanor Clift suggested on the McLaughlin Group over the weekend that the in killing Uday and Qusay Hussein, “two intelligence assets who could potentially lead us to the weapons of mass destruction,” the Bush administration “surrendered a major opportunity to uncover” those weapons “unless,” she added nefariously, “they don’t believe those weapons are there.”

Later, she equated President Bush’s State of the Union line about Iraq “seeking” uranium in Africa with the tape erasure in the Nixon White House: “The 16 words are taking on the aura of the 18-minute gap under a former President.”

On the deaths of Saddam Hussein’s sons, Clift argued: “The way they went sent another message. You don’t send in a TOW missile if you want to capture them alive. And these are two intelligence assets who could potentially lead us to the weapons of mass destruction. And the fact that the administration really made very little attempt to take them alive -- they wanted to spare themselves the headache of a trial -- but they also surrendered a major opportunity to uncover the real reason we went to war -- unless they don’t believe those weapons are there.”

In her weekly MSNBC.com column on Friday, Clift offered a less accusatory version of the same theme, arguing that finding the weapons of mass destruction “would be such a huge win for the administration that you would think they would have gone to greater lengths to take Uday and Qusay alive.”

An excerpt from Clift’s July 25 column on MSNBC.com:

....The war in Iraq was fought to disarm Saddam, but the way the commanders on the ground went in after Uday and Qusay shows the administration is not serious about finding weapons of mass destruction. These were the two best intelligence assets, short of Saddam, that the administration could capture. U.S. troops offered them a chance to surrender, and then called in a barrage from helicopter gunships. By killing the brothers, the administration saved itself the headache of a trial but lost the opportunity to prove a link with Al Qaeda or solve the mystery of the missing WMD.

I don’t necessarily quarrel with the decision. Bringing peace and a new order to Iraq would be harder with Saddam’s sons alive. But if the Bush administration really were looking for WMD, these two men were key. It increasingly looks as though the WMD have disappeared. They may be scattered and already in the hands of terrorists. Saddam could have destroyed them before the war, or years earlier, and simply was bluffing to menace his neighbors. Or they could be buried somewhere. Finding them would be such a huge win for the administration that you would think they would have gone to greater lengths to take Uday and Qusay alive....

END of Excerpt

For Clift’s piece in full: www.msnbc.com

[KellyAdmirer]

Is Eleanor Clift still alive? Haven't seen her on tv for years.

[cmak9]

Basically, what she is admitting to is that if it were a Democratic administration in charge, they would play politics with the military men's lives, and try to capture the brothers alive. Fully knowing that it would have cost American lives.

[anoldafvet]

Isn't this bi*ch married to Al Hunt?

[AlexW]

"If memory serves, clift is a shill for the clintonistas. So this must be the new clinton party line."

She is more then that.
I will never forget when Clinton was first elected. Clift gave a speach at a local University in Memphis. It was, of course, broadcast on the local Pubic Broadcast Station.
She was going on and on about how great the Clintons were, and how "WE", as in her and Hitlary were redecorating the Whitehouse.

Clift is a bitter old hag because she never got her personal
set of kneepads.

[TexasRepublic]

As if the Hussain "kids" would tell us where the WMD are! (well, perhaps if we let the Iraqi's interrogate them...)

[Texagirl4W]

Hal Hunt is married to Judy Woodruff of CNN (Clinton News Network).

[Texagirl4W]

Hal Hunt = Al Hunt, sorry.

[anoldafvet]

Right you are. My mistake. All these LIEberals look the same to me.

[RJL]

The commander on the ground made the call to use the methods they used. The commander nor the rest knew who were inside, either. Clift is an idiot.

Also, three US troops were wounded early on when they entered the house and invited the then unknowns Iraqi’s to come out and identify themselves.

Will Eleanor volunteer to go into the next Hussein stronghold and invite them to come out?

[fight_truth_decay]

The missiles had to keep pounding the bunker they were in to break thru, so used 10 pounders. As read one news "taking head" wondered why forces had to use missiles on these two 'monsters'.

[Nucluside]

Don't we have a category in FR for statements like Clift's, such as "Shear Idiocy" Forum? Or maybe just wishful thinking as the 'Rat plane crashes?

[2 Kool 2 Be 4-Gotten]

very nice story - these people make me want to hurl. Thanks!

[fight_truth_decay]

Haven't seen her on tv for years.

She is on Fox frequently.

[HenryLeeII]

Not only did they shoot first, but I seem to remember the commander on the scene saying his troops didn't know who was in the house when the operation began, but rather it was just a high-priority target. I know there was an Iraqi informant, but that doesn't mean the guys on the ground had that information yet. It could have still been in the vetting stage...

[RJL]

I don't suppose that being a reporter thingy might cause Clift to write a piece using those fact thingies which a reporter discovers and collects during her interview thingy with those witness and participant thingy's?

I am sure that, as always, Eleanor got her story from the DNC talking points faxed to her that morning.

[freekitty]

Elinor, Elinor, Elinor.....you are such an useful idiot.

[b-cubed]

"As read one news "taking head" wondered...."

That's an interesting description of a media clown. Did you delete the "L" on purpose?

[isthisnickcool]

Menopause really jacks up some women. Makes them mean and nasty. IE: Hillary, Pelosi, Clift, Boxer, Waters....

[Athelas]

"Not only did they shoot first, but I seem to remember the commander on the scene saying his troops didn't know who was in the house when the operation began, but rather it was just a high-priority target."

Yeah no kidding. This has to be one of the stupidest dust-ups created by Dems and their media buddies ever. Imagine if the election were a little closer, the voters were paying a little more attention, and it became widely understood that the Dems and their Lib buddies were saying it was wrong to kill these guys.

Bet the silent majority would love that one.