Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Senate: Saddam believed Al-Qaida was a threat, not ally
Associated Press ^ | Sep 9, 10:06 AM (ET) | Jim Abrams

Posted on 09/09/2006 8:07:18 AM PDT by rubeng

WASHINGTON (AP) - Saddam Hussein rejected overtures from al-Qaida and believed Islamic extremists were a threat to his regime, a reverse portrait of an Iraq allied with Osama bin Laden painted by the Bush White House, a Senate panel has found.

The administration's version was based in part on intelligence that White House officials knew was flawed, according to Democrats on the Senate Intelligence Committee, citing newly declassified documents released by the panel.

The report, released Friday, discloses for the first time an October 2005 CIA assessment that prior to the war Saddam's government "did not have a relationship, harbor or turn a blind eye toward" al-Qaida operative Abu Musab al-Zarqawi or his associates.

As recently as an Aug. 21 news conference, President Bush said people should "imagine a world in which you had Saddam Hussein" with the capacity to make weapons of mass destruction and "who had relations with Zarqawi." ...

(Excerpt) Read more at apnews.myway.com ...


TOPICS: News/Current Events; War on Terror
KEYWORDS: 109th; alqaedaandiraq; alqaida; dickcheney; donaldrumsfeld; georgewbush; iraq; list; prequel; saddam; saddamhussein; wot
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-6061-80 ... 101-103 next last
To: liberallarry

The British stand by their intelligence reports on Niger. Unlike our own CIA that that had a rogue group trying to undermine this POTUS at a time of war with forged documents. Forged documents that had the names and dates wrong, according to the proven LIAR Joe Wilson, yet how could he have known this because the alleged forged documents were not in our possession at the time? Heh Liberal Larry, they are missing you at the institute of higher learing for donks, Kos land, where the facts don't matter, we will make our own up as we go along.


41 posted on 09/09/2006 8:44:15 AM PDT by jrooney ( Hold your cards close.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 36 | View Replies]

To: pissant
I know you're right but some days it's hard to keep the faith. I hate the way the DBM has been crowing all morning about this ridiculous report even if it's just a childish "tit-for-tat" kind of sentiment. They're so g-d smug about this garbage!

Thanks, though, for the encouraging reminder of the advances made through the new media! I think it will be a good week-end, after all...

42 posted on 09/09/2006 8:45:47 AM PDT by liberty_lvr (Those who stand for nothing fall for anything.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 28 | View Replies]

To: pissant

And they're just getting around to announcing it now.


43 posted on 09/09/2006 8:46:01 AM PDT by steveegg (Let's make the deeply-saddened Head KOmmie deeply soddened in Nov. - deny the 'RATs the election)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 10 | View Replies]

To: rubeng

"The RATS are all over this one. Not sure who was on the Senate panel but I'm sure it was heavily leaning left."

You gotta love Clinton. First get it out that 9/11 and Iraq are not related. Then get the movie edited or canned.

Now all you have is BLAME BUSH!


44 posted on 09/09/2006 8:46:03 AM PDT by EQAndyBuzz (Mediacrat - A leftwing editorialist who pretends to be an objective journalist.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]

To: Diogenesis

Thank you.


45 posted on 09/09/2006 8:46:16 AM PDT by jrooney ( Hold your cards close.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 39 | View Replies]

To: ikez78

You're 100% correct. I read the pertinent sections of the report yesterday and was absolutely shocked at how few people were relied on to gather this information.

There was no thinking outside the box and little if any reliance on foreign sources.


46 posted on 09/09/2006 8:48:01 AM PDT by Peach (The Clintons pardoned more terrorists than they captured or killed.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 40 | View Replies]

To: rubeng
"Saddam himself is quoted in an FBI summary as acknowledging that the Iraqi government had met with bin Laden but denying that he had colluded with the al-Qaida leader. Claiming that Iraq opposed only U.S. policies, Saddam said that "if he wanted to cooperate with the enemies of the U.S., he would have allied with North Korea or China," the report quotes the FBI document."

What did they talk about, the Betty Crocker Cook-off?
47 posted on 09/09/2006 8:49:05 AM PDT by tobyhill (The War on Terrorism is not for the weak.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: ikez78

And I should have mentioned - Dick Cheney has a chance tomorrow to set a few things straight on Meet the Press tomorrow. We'll see if he steps up to the plate or gives it a pass.

So far, I've been disappointed with the administration's willingness to let the reports from Congress stand as the final arbiter of truth.


48 posted on 09/09/2006 8:49:54 AM PDT by Peach (The Clintons pardoned more terrorists than they captured or killed.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 40 | View Replies]

To: Diogenesis

Good job!


49 posted on 09/09/2006 8:50:57 AM PDT by Peach (The Clintons pardoned more terrorists than they captured or killed.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 37 | View Replies]

To: Diogenesis

ummmm....why did you send me the list?


50 posted on 09/09/2006 8:51:29 AM PDT by outloud
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 37 | View Replies]

To: rubeng
LOL, are you RATS at Kos and DU sending money to Saddam's defense team?

To bad he will hang, but you will still have Castro, Chavez, Ahmadinejad, and the Hezzbola.
51 posted on 09/09/2006 8:51:35 AM PDT by roses of sharon
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]

To: rubeng
Earth to ignorant and pusillanimous Democrat senators: Salman Pak.
52 posted on 09/09/2006 8:53:11 AM PDT by Mad_Tom_Rackham (Democrats. French, but more cowardly.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Peach
I hope Cheney says that the Senate ignored the obvious and that the administration stands by their original assessment.
53 posted on 09/09/2006 8:54:05 AM PDT by tobyhill (The War on Terrorism is not for the weak.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 48 | View Replies]

To: tobyhill

How does the CIA square that fewer than two months before 9/11/01, the state-controlled Iraqi newspaper “Al-Nasiriya” carried a column headlined, “American, an Obsession called Osama Bin Ladin.” (July 21, 2001)

In the piece, Baath Party writer Naeem Abd Muhalhal predicted that bin Laden would attack the US “with the seriousness of the Bedouin of the desert about the way he will try to bomb the Pentagon after he destroys the White House.”

The same state-approved column also insisted that bin Laden “will strike America on the arm that is already hurting,” and that the US “will curse the memory of Frank Sinatra every time he hears his songs” – an apparent reference to the Sinatra classic, “New York, New York”.

Are we supposed to just believe that Osama and Saddam were gossiping over the backyard fence?


54 posted on 09/09/2006 8:54:07 AM PDT by Peach (The Clintons pardoned more terrorists than they captured or killed.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 47 | View Replies]

To: rubeng

Senate Dems don't understand "The enemy of my enemy is my friend" doctrine of the Middle East.


55 posted on 09/09/2006 8:55:21 AM PDT by SoldierDad ( Proud Father of an American Soldier)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: stephenjohnbanker

Senate Intelligence = oxymoron


56 posted on 09/09/2006 8:56:48 AM PDT by Mad_Tom_Rackham (Democrats. French, but more cowardly.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 4 | View Replies]

Comment #57 Removed by Moderator

To: Suzy Quzy
If these Democrat Senators spent HALF this time trying to help us WIN moved to Antartica we would be a LOT safer.
58 posted on 09/09/2006 8:58:49 AM PDT by Mad_Tom_Rackham (Democrats. French, but more cowardly.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 6 | View Replies]

To: Peach
Also, we can not forget the translation of an Iraqi document that said Saddam requested volunteers for suicide attackers from his Air Force 6 months before 9/11. Coincidence? Only if someone is ignorant.
59 posted on 09/09/2006 8:59:04 AM PDT by jrooney ( Hold your cards close.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 54 | View Replies]

To: jrooney
The British stand by their reports. So what?

A summary of the forged documents came into our possession shortly after they were created and were immediately revealed as such.

Get your facts straight before you criticize and confine your mindless insults to your bathroom.

60 posted on 09/09/2006 9:00:42 AM PDT by liberallarry
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 41 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-6061-80 ... 101-103 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson