Posted on 06/24/2004 6:34:25 PM PDT by Indy Pendance
WASHINGTON, June 24 (UPI) -- Former Vice President Al Gore Thursday called for an independent congressional investigation into Bush administration claims of an Iraq-al-Qaida link, saying officials should testify under oath under threat of perjury.
Gore, speaking at the Georgetown University Law Center, claimed "President Bush is now intentionally misleading the American people by continuing to aggressively and brazenly assert a linkage between al-Qaida and Saddam Hussein."
Gore said of the way the Bush administration has conducted the war on terrorism, "I think it is safe to say that our founders ... would feel that we are now facing a clear and present danger that has the potential to threaten the future of the American experiment."
The former vice president, who lost the 2000 election for president to Bush, said there is no credible evidence of a "collaborative relationship" between al-Qaida and Iraq. That supposed connection, he said, led to an attack on Iraq. As a result, said Gore, "We are left with an unprecedented, high-intensity conflict every single day between the ideological illusions upon which this administration's policies have been based and the reality of the world."
Bush, as recently as last week, said he claimed there is a link between the terrorist organization and Saddam Hussein "because there is link." Vice President Dick Cheney said this week there was overwhelming evidence of a connection between Iraq and al-Qaida.
Last week a report from the staff of the Sept. 11 Commission looking into possible intelligence failures prior to the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, which were carried out by al-Qaida, said the Iraq-al-Qaida link did not exist. Commission members tweaked that, however, limiting it to the planning for the Sept. 11 hijackings. The Bush administration agreed, saying that while Iraq and al-Qaida did have contacts, they did not work together on the Sept. 11 attacks.
Gore claimed the administration "deliberately ignored warnings before the (Iraq) war from international intelligence services, the CIA and their own Pentagon that the claim was false." He recalled the 2002 statement by Jean-Louis Bruguiere, the Council of Europe's terrorism expert, that "We have found no evidence of links between Iraq and al-Qaida. If there were such links we would have found them. But we have found no serious connections whatsoever."
Bush ordered the invasion of Afghanistan when the Taliban leaders there refused to hand over al-Qaida leaders -- including Osama bin Laden, who had orchestrated attacks against U.S. interests during the Clinton administration before masterminding Sept. 11.
U.S.-led forces were able to unseat the Taliban and soon the Bush administration was looking at Iraq, a target administration critics allege had been the main end in the first place.
Gore said that switching to a war in Iraq allowed many Taliban and al-Qaida leaders to escape in Afghanistan. In fact, he alleged, their numbers have "grown considerably" due to a war that is perceived in the Muslim world as a "gross injustice."
"The way in which we have conducted that war," he said, "further fueled a sense of rage against the United States in those lands and, according to several studies, has stimulated a new wave of recruits for the terrorist group that attacked us and still wishes us harm."
Terry Holt, spokesman for the Bush-Cheney '04 campaign, issued a statement saying, "Al Gore lives in his own world and is engaged in simple political attacks on the president.
"The (Sept. 11 Commission) members themselves last week took great pains to point out that they were aware of connections between al-Qaida and various elements in Iraq."
John Lehman, one of the Republicans on the commission, in the wake of the report last week, offered evidence that a member of Saddam's Fedayeen had attended an al-Qaida meeting in Malaysia in January 2001.
Gore said that "within hours, the commission's files yielded definitive evidence that it was another man with a similar name."
The former vice president suggested a fate for Bush similar to one that his former boss -- President Bill Clinton -- went through in the appointment of a special prosecutor.
"Congressional oversight and special prosecution are words that should hang in the air," Gore said.
"This is what we must now do, as Americans, in the name of our founders."
Let the .jpg wars begin! (as if they hadn't already been RAGING) - ping on #132 - EEEEEeeeeee hHHHHHhhhhh eeEEEEE!
For a second I thought that Gore was going to take a swing at Bush, although I know that Bush would kick his behind with one hand tied behind his back.
I'll bump that!!
Algore might be taller, but President Bush is one HELL of an athlete.
I shook Bush Sr's hand once. THAT'S a TALL man!
LOL, gotta go to #114 for mine, I'm not going to make him 'spew' again!! I think it's chads coming out of his mouth!
. . only from the mind of a FReeper...
haha ! Yep. I can't recall who I borrowed that from here on FR, though.
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