Al Jazeera Quotes Dean's Anti-Bush Rhetoric

QATAR (Talon News) -- Democrat presidential candidate Howard Dean has links on his campaign website to the various news stories that cover his campaign. He does not, however, have a link to a story that ran in the September 11th copy of Aljazeera.net where the candidate is quoted attacking President George W. Bush.

During debates and on the stump, Dean has been an outspoken and unapologetic critic of Bush and his policies and his unrelenting attacks have now caught the attention of the Arab world's leading newspaper: Al Jazeera.

In a story that ran in the paper's online English language edition on 9/11, reporter Shaheen Chughtai writes, "Howard Dean ... has blamed the president for transforming the 'tidal wave of support and goodwill that engulfed us after the tragedy of 9/11' into "distrust, scepticism, and hostility".

The article (web link), "Two years later: A more dangerous world," examines whether America's actions following the 9/11 attacks have made the world safer or given rise to more violence.

Dean's comments are the only ones coming from the field of nine Democrat presidential challengers.

Shaheen Chugtai writes, "After the United States overthrew the Taliban in Afghanistan and then ousted Saddam Hussein in Iraq, President George Bush assured his compatriots the world was a safer place. But two years and two foreign wars after 9/11 triggered Bush's War on Terror, Americans do not feel safer, according to a US survey. While US troops are busy fighting "terror" abroad, their compatriots are often terrified back home."

The article continues, "Worse still, Bush's so-called War on Terror is creating more hostility, thus raising the risk of attacks against the US - a catastrophic policy failure."

"And no link between 9/11 and Iraq" ~ LennyMoore

Looks like this NJ DemocRAT thinks there is. I found this quote on google last year. I think we should quote him early and often. Hahahaha

October 10, 2002
Rothman Statement On Iraq Resolution
http://www.house.gov/rothman/news_releases/rel_101002.htm

Washington, DC - Congressman Steve Rothman (D-NJ9) today released the following statement regarding the Iraq resolution.

“On September 11, 2001, America’s view of the world changed. On that day, many Americans learned for the first time that there were people in the world who hated America so much, that they would cross the oceans to come here to kill thousands of American men, women, and children, even if it meant they would die themselves.

“In considering the resolution before us , I have weighed all the pros and cons, all the risks of action and the risks of inaction, with September 11th very much in my mind. I believe that any close question on matters of national security, must now be resolved in favor of erring on the side of being proactive and not reactive in protecting our people and our homeland.

“I have spent a tremendous amount of time and study over the past several months on what to do about Saddam Hussein. I have engaged in dialogue with many of my constituents, spoken with experts on every side of this issue, and read literally thousands of pages of analysis. I can delineate as well as any opponent of this resolution, all of the possible and considerable risks of military action against Saddam Hussein.

“However, in the end, I conclude beyond any reasonable doubt, that America must join forces with our allies, hopefully under the express authorization of the United Nations, but that we must take action to prevent Saddam Hussein from using his weapons of mass destruction against us.

“Now, especially in the light and shadow of September 11th, there is a new immediacy and power to Saddam Hussein’s longstanding and oft-stated threats against America.

For years, Saddam Hussein has been a well-known patron and financier of some of the world’s most lethal anti-American terrorists and terrorist organizations. Now, al Qaeda has joined him.

“After being driven from Afghanistan, al Qaeda has now sought and received safe-haven from Saddam Hussein. Saddam is now training al Qaeda in bomb-making and the manufacture and delivery of poisonous and deadly gases.

“We know that for years, al Qaeda has been trying to get their hands on chemical, biological, or nuclear weapons to use against America and Americans. The thought of Saddam Hussein now infecting willing al Qaeda “martyrs” with his smallpox virus and sending them into America’s major cities, causing hundreds of thousands of Americans to die of smallpox, is truly terrifying. The thought of Saddam Hussein sending these same al Qaeda “martyrs” to America to spray chemical or biological poisons over America’s reservoirs or in our most populated cities, is a thought so horrifying, yet so real a possibility, that I cannot in good conscience, especially after the surprise attack of September 11th, permit this to happen.

“I therefore endorse this resolution. I do so, however, with a heavy heart. I do so yet without any reasonable doubt that preventing Saddam Hussein from using weapons of mass destruction against us is necessary now if we are to avoid another 9/11 or worse.

“I pray that military action is not necessary and that alone, passage of this resolution will result in Saddam Hussein’s compliance with all existing U.N. resolutions to disarm and to permit unconditional inspections, but in the end that is Saddam Hussein’s choice.

“As we pass this resolution, let us pray for the safety of all Americans, including the brave men and women in our military, law enforcement, and all branches of government who are today protecting us here at home and in countries around the world, and who will be called upon to do so tomorrow or in the days ahead. God bless them, and God bless America.”

This ties in with your reply #44:

Cheney Lectures Russert on Iraq-9/11 Link
NewsMax.com ^ | 9/15/03 | Carl Limbacher and NewsMax.com Staff

Posted on 09/15/2003 6:42 AM PDT by kattracks

After telling a national radio audience last week that there was no connection between the World Trade Center attacks and Saddam Hussein, "Meet the Press" host Tim Russert got an earful on Sunday from Vice President Dick Cheney, who outlined a mountain of evidence tying Iraq to the 9/11 catastrophe.

Recalling that he had told Russert two years ago that he knew of no Iraqi link to the attack, Cheney said Sunday, "Subsequent to that, we've learned a couple of things."

The Vice President contended that more recent evidence indicates "that there was a relationship between Iraq and al-Qaeda that stretched back through most of the decade of the '90s, that it involved training, for example."

Though he did not specifically mention the South Baghdad terrorist training camp Salman Pak, where radical Islamists rehearsed 9/11-style hijackings on a Soviet-era Tupelov 154 airliner, Cheney noted that "al-Qaeda sent personnel to Baghdad to get trained on the systems that are involved."

Cheney also cited reports of a meeting between lead 9/11 hijacker Mohamed Atta and an Iraqi in intelligence agent in Prague just months before the attacks, saying that U.S. intelligence has not yet been able confirm or discredit the information.

In perhaps his most startling remarks, the vice president became the first White House official to argue that there was a link between Saddam Hussein and al Qaeda's attempt to destroy the World Trade Center in 1993, telling Russert:

"We know, for example, in connection with the original World Trade Center bombing in '93 that one of the bombers was Iraqi, returned to Iraq after the attack of '93. And we've learned subsequent to that, since we went into Baghdad and got into the intelligence files, that this individual probably also received financing from the Iraqi government as well as safe haven."

The vice president might have also mentioned that Ramzi Yousef, who masterminded the 1993 attack and whose laptop computer contained plans to crash U.S. airliners into the World Trade Center and Pentagon, entered the U.S. with an Iraqi passport.

After his capture in 1995, the FBI flew Yousef over the World Trade Center and reminded him that his plan to destroy the Twin Towers had not succeeded. His reported response - "Not yet."

Last Wednesday Russert insisted to radio host Don Imus, "No one will say there was a direct involvement of Saddam Hussein in Sept. 11. ... There's no direct link that can be substantiated." The full exchange between Russert and Vice President Cheney on the evidence tying Iraq to 9/11 went like this:

RUSSERT: The Washington Post asked the American people about Saddam Hussein, and this is what they said: 69 percent said he was involved in the September 11 attacks. Are you surprised by that?

CHENEY: No. I think it's not surprising that people make that connection.

RUSSERT: But is there a connection?

CHENEY: We don't know. You and I talked about this two years ago. I can remember you asking me this question just a few days after the original attack. At the time I said no, we didn't have any evidence of that. Subsequent to that, we've learned a couple of things. We learned more and more that there was a relationship between Iraq and al-Qaeda that stretched back through most of the decade of the '90s, that it involved training, for example, on BW and CW, that al-Qaeda sent personnel to Baghdad to get trained on the systems that are involved. The Iraqis providing bomb-making expertise and advice to the al-Qaeda organization.

We know, for example, in connection with the original World Trade Center bombing in '93 that one of the bombers was Iraqi, returned to Iraq after the attack of '93. And we've learned subsequent to that, since we went into Baghdad and got into the intelligence files, that this individual probably also received financing from the Iraqi government as well as safe haven.

Now, is there a connection between the Iraqi government and the original World Trade Center bombing in '93? We know, as I say, that one of the perpetrators of that act did, in fact, receive support from the Iraqi government after the fact. With respect to 9/11, of course, we've had the story that's been public out there. The Czechs alleged that Mohamed Atta, the lead attacker, met in Prague with a senior Iraqi intelligence official five months before the attack, but we've never been able to develop anymore of that yet either in terms of confirming it or discrediting it. We just don't know. [End of Excerpt]

Read more on this subject in related Hot Topics:

Bush Administration
Saddam Hussein/Iraq
War on Terrorism

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