[lugsoul]

You can assert it all you want, but that doesn't make it true. Do you contend that we encountered ANY Iraqi troops to the NE of a line running roughly from Kirkuk to Arbil to Mosul? If you do, you're gonna have to put up some proof. As I'm sure you know, that part of the country is where the Ansar enclave existed. And, contrary to your assertions, that part of the country was not occupied and controlled by Baghdad.

[AFPhys]

Why did it take us over three weeks to secure the northeast?

200-300 AlQ? That segment tried to melt away to Iran.

It was SHs forces who were fighting us there against the Kurds.

Sorry, but you are wrong here.

Ask someone who was there.


...

Sorry... I gotta run for the day...

[MizSterious]

How about this?

Oil Center Falls: Kirkuk Falls to Coalition Control; U.S. Says Battle Not Over Yet
ABCNEWS ^ | Thursday, April 10, 2003

Posted on 04/10/2003 10:18:55 AM CDT by JohnHuang2

B A G H D A D, Iraq, April 10 — The oil-rich northern Iraqi city of Kirkuk has fallen to U.S. and Kurdish forces, delivering a key victory just one day after Saddam Hussein's regime lost control of Baghdad.

Reporting from Kirkuk, where he is traveling with U.S. special operations forces, ABCNEWS' Jim Sciutto said a last Iraqi defense on a ridgeline near Kirkuk collapsed "very quickly" after days of intense fighting.

The strategic northern city — which is the center of Iraq's oil industry — is now free, said Sciutto. "U.S. forces were greeted by thousands of very happy Kurds celebrating in the streets, hugging, kissing some of these special forces troops," he said.

But Kirkuk was not entirely secure and gunshots could be heard across the city amid reports that some Iraqi troops were holed up in the southern part of the city, said Sciutto.

Source

Sounds like Iraq troops up there to me. Other headlines at that time read, "Bloodshed as Kirkuk Falls," "Mosul Long a Center of Saddam Support," "Northern Iraqi City of Mosul Falls," "Iraqi 5th Corps surrenders at Mosul." Iraqi military were there when we went in. Do you need more "proof?"

[AFPhys]

You can assert it all you want, but that doesn't make it true.

I submit for the following my take on the AlQ<>Hussein connection, from my limited but extensive study of the public evidence:

If I were on a jury in a murder case and had similar evidence presented to me, I would:
• Vote GUILTY
• Vote NO death penalty

There is clearly enough public evidence of AlQ<>Hussein to make that guilty call. There is clearly sufficient other evidence of serious wrong doing by SH to have taken him out completely.