Iraq documents could boost Bush's case for war

SHNS ^ | 15-DEC-05 | By DEROY MURDOCK

[april15Bendovr]

Iraq documents could boost Bush's case for war

By DEROY MURDOCK Scripps Howard News Service 15-DEC-05

If hostile prowlers somehow penetrated the White House, Team Bush would disable their own canisters of pepper spray, hide every accessible baseball bat, dash beneath their desks, and pray that the aggressors vanish.

Beyond some recent tough speeches, President Bush and his advisers fail to deploy readily available ammunition to combat political prowlers, namely those who demand America's retreat from Iraq.

On two key fronts _ Saddam Hussein's weapons of mass death and his generous support for Islamic terrorists _ the Bush administration maddeningly conceals evidence that justifies its decision to topple Hussein. Perhaps those at the mislabeled White House Communications Office believe that not communicating will defeat the corrosive arguments of Democratic chief Howard Dean and other Bushophobes who relentlessly carpet-bomb American efforts in Iraq.

In a recent magazine article revealing the latest squandered opportunities, Stephen Hayes _ author of "The Connection" (on Hussein's pro-terrorist activities) _ reports on today's Pentagon papers. These mainly unclassified Iraqi Intelligence Service (IIS) materials implicate Hussein's government in multifarious mischief. Much of it violated U.N. Security Council Resolution 687 that prohibited Baghdad from associating with terrorists. The Pentagon's HARMONY database identifies these records via highly tantalizing names:

_ "Possible al Qaeda Terror Members in Iraq."

_ "Chemical Agent Purchase Orders (Dec. 2001)."

_ "Correspondence between various Iraq organizations giving instructions to hide chemicals and equipment."

_ "Category: Al Qaeda.''

Title: Letters, logbook, training manual from Al Qaeda Chemical Plant regarding Chem Warfare

Short Description: Contains papers concerning Iraqi officials, prices of equipment, training plans, and actions by high level officers all concerning chemical warfare

Agency: DIA (Defense Intelligence Agency)

Document Date: Feb-02

Document #: ICSQ-2003-00025586"

_ "Title: IIS Correspondence for the Iraq Embassy in the Philippines and Iraqi MFA (Ministry of Foreign Affairs).

Short Description: Various correspondence, as well as visa forms, trade delegations, full reports on the connections between Abu Sayaf and the Qadafi Charity Establishment. Report on a certain individual traveling to Pakistan and involvements with bin Laden.

Agency: DIA

Document Date: Mar-01

Document #: ISGP-2003-00014100"

"Who traveled to Pakistan?" Hayes wonders. "What was his involvement with bin Laden? Did he have anything to do with the Iraqi government?"

The following text might offer answers:

_ "Title: Secret Meeting with Taliban Group member and Iraqi Government

Short Description: Mtg. between al Qaeda and Iraqi government and decision to operate.

Agency: DIA

Document Date: Nov-00

Document #: ISGP-2003-00014127"

So, a record dated 10 months before 9/11 indicates that Saddam Hussein's employees clandestinely met Taliban and al Qaeda agents regarding a "decision to operate." Meditate on that.

According to documents Hayes cites, the former director of Iraq's Intelligence Directorate 4 met bin Laden on Feb. 19, 1995. Baghdad considered bin Laden an "Iraqi intelligence asset" since 1992, one communique reads. After bin Laden left Sudan for Afghanistan in May 1996, Hussein wanted "other channels through which to handle the relationship, in light of his (bin Laden's) current location." The IIS memo continued: "Cooperation between the two organizations should be allowed to develop freely through discussion and agreement."

Naturally, the White House and Pentagon are busy defending Bush's policies by translating and authenticating these and similar records and promoting them among Congressional and journalistic supporters and detractors.

Wrong!

The Bush administration inexplicably suppresses such papers. They reject file requests from Hayes, America's most broadly published expert on Hussein's terrorist credentials. Hayes, who generally supports the president on Iraq, is flummoxed: "The Bush administration seems remarkably uninterested in discovering, now that we have reams of material from Saddam's regime, what the actual terror-related and WMD-related activities of that regime were."

Incredibly, the Pentagon's Doc-Ex, or document exploitation project, may close Dec. 31. Its roughly 700 translators in Doha, Qatar, have analyzed 50,000 items among some 2 million captured in Iraq. This public-diplomacy treasure trove could remain invisible. Far worse, intelligence data on potential mass-murder conspiracies may stay unread until after a Baathist-inspired attack kills Americans or our allies.

Maybe the Bushies are masochists who enjoy being bludgeoned. If so, they need to get over it and showcase these papers. Even now, proof that Hussein possessed WMDs and sponsored terrorists, including Osama bin Laden, will demonstrate the necessity of Operation Iraqi Freedom. The alternative is to stash this evidence and hope that Howard Dean and his fellow prowlers quietly disappear.

(Deroy Murdock is a columnist with Scripps Howard News Service and a senior fellow with the Atlas Economic Research Foundation in Fairfax, Va. E-mail him at deroy.murdock(at)gmail.com.)

[april15Bendovr]

This is an old article and I am surprised it didnt show up when I ran a FReeper search. Its to important to miss

"The Bush administration inexplicably suppresses such papers. They reject file requests from Hayes, America's most broadly published expert on Hussein's terrorist credentials. Hayes, who generally supports the president on Iraq, is flummoxed: "The Bush administration seems remarkably uninterested in discovering, now that we have reams of material from Saddam's regime, what the actual terror-related and WMD-related activities of that regime were."

I agree with Stephen Hayes. The Presidents Administration has been absent on both Salman Pak and Operation Able Danger.

We should be shoving this documentation down the throat of the Mainstream Media.

[Peach]

Ditto and bump.

[april15Bendovr]

Stephen Hayes has reported in his Weekly Standard article that the Docex program program is in danger of being shut down.

http://www.weeklystandard.com/Content/Public/Articles/000/000/006/475yhurv.asp?pg=2

http://www.azcentral.com/php-bin/clicktrack/print.php?referer=http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/opinions/articles/1223fri2-23.html

[gondramB]

Able danger is a big deal and is not getting neough attention.

But on the basics question of how the administration should position themselves on the Iraq war I believe they are doing the right thing by not emphasizing why we went to war.

it's a tough situation - in retrospect there does not appear to be enough threat from Iraq toward the united States to justify an invasion. The U.N. resolution arguments don't hold up because the U.N. specifically refused us permission to act on their behalf.

There are only two things that justify our continuing in the war: The humanitarian good we are doing and the fact that disaster will likely follow if we pull out and run away. Not coincidently those are also the two reasons the public buys into.

So i think the administration is correct to emphasize the good - the free elections, the freedom, the opportunities and enormous cost of quitting too soon while de-emphasizing the WDMs and terrorist angle.

[Nathan Zachary]

MSM prints what it wants, not what Bush's press handler's hand out.

[TBP]

You can't publish things like this. It disturbs the Dimmycraps' strategy in an election year. Surely that must be a violation of McVain-Stinkhole.

[Nathan Zachary]

"The U.N. resolution arguments don't hold up because the U.N. specifically refused us permission to act on their behalf." That's not true. ANY member can act once the resolutions against the rouge state are violated. The UN isn't the boss of the USA or any other nation.

[shield]

BTTT

[gondramB]

"That's not true. ANY member can act once the resolutions against the rouge state are violated. The UN isn't the boss of the USA or any other nation."

Really? So you would support Syria's right to enforce U.N. resolutions on Israel even if the U.N. members reject Syria's request to invade based on U.N. resolutions that Israel has failed to follow?

That's too big a stretch to say that any nation has the right to overthrow governments who violated U.S. resolutions.

[Christian4Bush]

bttt

[scannell]

We should be shoving this documentation down the throat of the Mainstream

They are probably waiting until the next election cycle or even Presidential election cycle. At least I hope so..........

[Go Gordon]

Its pretty simple to see. The WMD's were shuttle out of Iraq, and into Syria while Chiraq and Schroeder delayed the start of the war. If the Administration were to announce that we got there too late, and Asad now has them, it would be free advertising for any would-be terrorist to contact Asad to make a major purchse. In essence, what Asad has right now is a bargaining chip (the WMD's) to stave off any would-be US action against Syria.

[Peach]

This is getting discouraging.

[sportutegrl]

Maybe Bush puts the country's security ahead of his own political gain. Maybe he thought it was more important to remain secret.

[Crimson Elephant]

There are reasons for everything, there may very well be something in the documents that we shouldn't see for now.

Yet another difference between Clinton and Bush.

[april15Bendovr]

If the name Deroy Murdock rings a bell he is the author of an article on Salman Pak in the National Review.

http://www.nationalreview.com/murdock/murdock040303.asp

[april15Bendovr]

Sorry my last post was to all.