President Asked Aide to Explore Iraq Link to 9/11

NY Times ^ | March 29, 2004 | ERIC LICHTBLAU

[meenie]

It was only logical that Bush would ask if Iraq did it after fifteen Saudis were involved. After Pearl Harbor and seeing the rising sun on the planes involved, FDR asked: "Did the Germans do it"?

[FairOpinion]

I don't think they knew the hijackers were from Saudi.

Remember, this was the day after the attack!!!

[Risor]

According to Clarke, Clinton did nothing because he was afraid to be blamed for diverting attention from Monica. I blame Monica for 9/11.

[Risor]

According to Clarke's logic, this post card proves that Bush warrants everything Clarke says about him subsequently. It's no wonder that Clarke carried little weight while at his job, a fact which we can all understand by his performance before us.

[bayourod]

"Thomas H. Kean, the former New Jersey governor who is co-chairman of the panel, said on "Fox News Sunday" that "we are still going to press and still believe unanimously as a commission that we should hear from her in public,"

His publisher (Simon & Shultzer) has told him that the publicity that would be generated by the TV coverage of Condi...'s testimony would be worth an additional $1,000,000 in sales of the book he is writing.

[Fledermaus]

I know...ridiculous. It's all a part of the DEM strategy to say "Iraq was a distraction in the war on terror" which is a complete lie.

Besides, it was CLINTON that signed the order to make REGIME CHANGE IN IRAQ government policy in 1998! So Bush was just following his lead!

Face it. Democrats are nothing but worthless, lying pieces of human feces rotting under the bed of whores. And that is their good trait.

[Sacajaweau]

That seems to be what stands out...Clarke wanted a personal forum instead of a procedural forum...and he acts like HE was the only one working on terrorism. As far as I can tell, he was submitting bits and quips and nothing comprehensive.

[Risor]

On Meet The Press, Clarke claimed terrorists were being turned out in "conveyor belt" fashion by the "thousands" prior to 9/11, apparently only in Afganistan. He also claimed that the Muslims were really p.o.'d by our invasion of Iraq, thus increasing terrorist production, which he seems to think is now occurring outside of Afganistan as a result, leading to the "creating terrorists" charge.

Clarke appears to be arguing that the Muslims would not have been p.o.'d if we had stuck only to Afganistan, thus not increasing or causing terrorist production outside of Afganistan. This assumption seems to me arbitrary at best, delusional otherwise. [Or is there some other factor here I'm missing?]

[Sacajaweau]

I'm listening to Clarke....again What I am hearing is :This is what I would have done if I were President. (Sounds amazingly similar to what Kerry is spewing).

[Risor]

Along that line, Clarke characterized what he alleged was toning or slanting to praise the Bush Adm. [when he gave his "background" briefing] not in terms of "morality" [lying] but rather as "politics", for which he received some applause from the peanut gallery.

Apparently he has no idea that there is something called reality, and that this is what he was supposed to be dealing with in his job as chief counterterrorist. He seems to be a true liberal, concerned only with himself.

[Risor]

I'm glad that they can now decide this after the fact. Very impressive. Maybe Lewis and Clark would have never had to have gone if this Clarke had been alive at that point.

[IrishRainy]

And wasn't there a connection between VX nerve gas, which was supposedly being produced in a Sudanese factory in 1998, and Saddam Hussein? In fact, it was Clarke who insisted it was so, which led to the bombing of an aspirin factory. The US later had to pay restitution, hundreds of thousands of dollars IIRC, to the owner of the factory.

In my opinion, we the people should get the proceeds from lil Dicky's book -- he owes it to us!

[LanaTurnerOverdrive]

The conversation — which the White House suggested last week had never taken place

Can anyone confirm who in the Whitehouse claimed that this conversation never occurred?

[AngieGOP]

Clarke dropped the ball and wants to place the blame on everyone else except himself and the Clinton Administration.

[mewzilla]

And for more on why on the president would want to explore an Iraq connection, read Appendix A from Richard Miniter's Losing Bin Laden. And see what James Woolsey has to say on the subject.

[AngieGOP]

If Iraq had a hand in the first WTC attack wouldn't it be logical that it had a hand in the second WTC attack? Just asking.

[ironman]

The one thing that really caught my attention on 60 Minutes last night was Ed Bradley stating as a matter of fact that there was no connection between Iraq and al-Qaeda. Condi should have blown her top when he said that. Here is Ed Bradley, national correspondent for 60 minutes, who hasn't done his homework.

Case Closed OSAMA BIN LADEN and Saddam Hussein had an operational relationship from the early 1990s to 2003 that involved training in explosives and weapons of mass destruction, logistical support for terrorist attacks, al Qaeda training camps and safe haven in Iraq, and Iraqi financial support for al Qaeda--perhaps even for Mohamed Atta--according to a top secret U.S. government memorandum obtained by THE WEEKLY STANDARD.

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1022083/posts

[Sacajaweau]

Lo and behold, two weeks after 9-11, Anthrax shows up at media centers with a "9-11-01" date at the top of the notes.

Now, who does one think of when one thinks "hmmm, who uses WMD?". I believe Kelly said that they were surprised to find during their search that Iraq had progressed in their Anthrax program and was specific to the milling.