The impact of Bush linking 9/11 and Iraq (is Bush lying about an Iraq/911 connection?)

The Christian Science Monitor ^ | 3/13/03 | Linda Feldmann

[ravingnutter]

However, I've yet to see any evidence that Iraq is linked to terrorism,

Then apparently you are not looking very hard...see post my #23 to dead with two links to extensive info on the connections. And why did the FBI seize two packages of AP documents related to Ramzi Yousef, one package which was addressed to the United Nations AP office?

[Vol2727]

Ya know, I've always wondered about Saddam's inner circle. It is very possible that someone inside that circle is currently providing information to the US and that's why the US cannot release the intel b/c then Saddam would know it was someone inside that circle. Maybe it's information that only Saddam and his inner circle knows. So, leaking this intel would indeed jeopardize the source's life. So, who knows, there could really be some damning info or hard evidence that connects Saddam to 9/11 but it can't be released just yet. We all should find out soon enough after the liberation of Iraq. Hopefully.

And this could be why the US is so sure they will capture Saddam this time. They really may have someone on the inside but they wouldn't dare leak it. Maybe I watch too many spy movies, I don't know, heh.

[DannyTN]

William Bennett this morning has some great insights on one of the morning TV shows.

In 9/11 America had a moment of "moral clarity", where we could easily distinquish evil from good. Shortly thereafter, President Bush announced that "From this day forward, any nation that continues to harbor or support terrorism will be regarded by the United States as a hostile regime."

Whether or not Saddam can be linked to 9/11, there is no doubt that he supports international terrorism. Thus Bush is just doing what he said he would do all along. He is going after states that sponsor terrorism and it doesn't have to be 9/11.

Never again, should we wait until our homeland is attacked. If a political leader supports the targeting and killing of innocent women and children, those leaders should be removed from power. It is the right thing to do.

http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=31500

[ex-snook]

So who is giving the head fake to Dubya?
=========

Senator Seeks FBI Probe of Iraq Documents

By KEN GUGGENHEIM
Associated Press Writer

March 14, 2003, 3:12 PM EST

WASHINGTON -- The top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee asked the FBI on Friday to investigate forged documents the Bush administration used as evidence against Saddam Hussein and his military ambitions in Iraq.

Sen. Jay Rockefeller of West Virginia said he was uneasy about a possible campaign to deceive the public about the status of Iraq's nuclear program.

An investigation should "at a minimum help to allay any concerns" that the government was involved in the creation of the documents to build support for administration policies, Rockefeller wrote in a letter to FBI Director Robert Mueller.

Secretary of State Colin Powell has denied the U.S. government had any hand in creating the false documents.

"It came from other sources," Powell told a House committee Thursday. "We were aware of this piece of evidence, and it was provided in good faith to the inspectors."

Rockefeller asked the FBI to determine the source of the documents, the sophistication of the forgeries, the motivation of those responsible, why intelligence agencies didn't recognize them as forgeries and whether they are part of a larger disinformation campaign.

The FBI did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The documents indicated that Iraq tried to by uranium from Niger, the West African nation that is the third-largest producer of mined uranium, Niger's largest export. The documents had been provided to U.S. officials by a third country, which has not been identified.

A U.S. government official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said it was unclear who first created the documents. The official said American suspicions remain about an Iraq-Niger uranium connection because of other, still-credible evidence that the official refused to specify.

In December, the State Department used the information to support its case that Iraq was lying about its weapons programs. But on March 7, Mohammed ElBaradei, head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, told the U.N. Security Council that the documents were forgeries.

Rockefeller said U.S. worries about Iraqi nuclear weapons were not based primarily on the documents, but "there is a possibility that the fabrication of these documents may be part of a larger deception campaign aimed at manipulating public opinion and foreign policy regarding Iraq."

At a House Appropriations subcommittee hearing Thursday, Powell said the State Department had not participated "any way in any falsification."

Rep. David Obey of Wisconsin, the committee's top Democrat, noted a Washington Post report that said a foreign government might have been conducting a deception campaign to win support for military action against Iraq. When Obey asked Powell if he could say which country that was, Powell replied, "I can't with confidence."

The Niger documents marked the second time that ElBaradei has challenged evidence presented by the United States meant to illustrate Iraq's nuclear weapons program. He also rejected the U.S. position that aluminum tubes imported by Iraq were intended to make nuclear bombs.

ElBaradei has said his inspectors have found no evidence that Saddam has revived its nuclear weapons program.

* __

Associated Press writer John J. Lumpkin contributed to this story.

[the_doc]

Sources knowledgeable about US intelligence say there is no evidence that Hussein played a role in the Sept. 11 attacks, nor that he has been or is currently aiding Al Qaeda.

This is a good example of the filthy deceits which journalists quite ordinarily use when they want to file a zinger of a report, filled with nifty controversy, irony, etc.

Feldmann did not say knowledgeable sources WITHIN U.S. intelligence. She said sources knowledgeable ABOUT U.S. intelligence. Heck, in our zany world, it is fairly easy to find some liberal doofus who is knowledgeable ABOUT U.S. intelligence but who doesn't have the sense to face the implications of what he is looking at.

We need to pay very careful attention to the words which are used in journalistic pieces like the subject report. Journalists are not haphazard with their syntax. When we pay really close attention, we discover that her "source" is not necessarily reliable at all but that she carefully neglects to point this out--because, if she were to say that some people are merely opinionated against Bush, her report would lose most of its "punch," its "authority."

(To illustrate the farce of citing "knowledgeable sources" in this sort of situation, consider this: the first O.J. Simpson jury was "knowledgeable about" the facts of the case before them, and yet they quickly acquitted Simpson. This shows us that being generally knowledgeable about such-and-such doesn't make a person reliable where judgments are required pursuant to that knowledge.)

In short, Feldmann is guilty of falsely alleging that no reasonable, informed person would see a reasonably clear connection between Iraq and Al Qaeda based on the evidence which already exists. And the reason why she is deliberately misleading her readers is because she wants to accuse Bush of deliberately misleading the American people.

I fear that Feldmann is just indulging in what we call "projection." She is projecting her own dishonesty onto Bush. Alas, the whole mess of journalistic dishonesty is probably intensified by the fact that if she cannot outline in her report some kind of serious conflict, if she cannot suggest a nasty intrigue, then her "report" is a relatively lifeless piece which is not especially worth filing for publication.

Objectivity is largely a myth in the competitive world of journalism. Feldmann's piece was apparently supposed to be a news article, but she has indulged in flagrant editorializing and crass dishonesty. (Heck, I am "knowledgeable about U.S. intelligence," and I say it's obvious that Saddam is tied to Al Qaeda. [Ah, but I also think O.J. murdered Nicole. Call me judgmentally stupid, I guess.])

***

If you want a further example of my cynicism concerning our media, see http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/864321/posts?page=7#7)

[dead]

Thanks for the link. The truth has to come out sooner or later.

[ggekko]

The "reliable sources" are elements within the CIA who do not agree with Bush's regime change policy in Iraq. The CIA is deperate to cover up the full extent of their failure in the botched coup attempt in 1993 against Saddam.

The evidence if Saddam's involvement is growing especially with the recent Salman Pak revelations. It is obvious from reading Bob Woodward's "Bush at War" that the Bush team knew that Saddam was involved with the attack. Saddam became target number one immediately after 9/11.

I would be more upset with CSM piece but for the fact that nobody reads the CSM.

[MEGoody]

"Sources knowledgeable about US intelligence say there is no evidence that Hussein played a role in the Sept. 11 attacks, nor that he has been or is currently aiding Al Qaeda."

Hmmm. . .seems to me I had heard on Fox News that there were some 'recipe books' for chemical and biological weapons found in Al Queda 'safe houses' in Afghanistan, and it was pretty certain they had been provided by Saddam.

Ah, well, he's evil personified just based on the way he treats his own people. He needs to go.

[Alberta's Child]

When the "Iraqi problem" is wrapped up, I believe (hope) we'll get the full story.

You sound overly optimistic about that -- I have no such faith in ever getting "the full story" on anything of this sort.

[Kay Soze]

He not Lying according to Charles Delfer UNSCOM who saw the 707 Boeing fueslage in Salaman Park, Iraq.

Yes UN UN UN Knew about the link and saw the traing area!!!
http://www.observer.co.uk/focus/story/0,6903,591439,00.html

"Duelfer said he visited Salman Pak several times, landing by helicopter. He saw the 707, in exactly the place described by the defectors. The Iraqis, he said, told Unscom it was used by police for counter-terrorist training. 'Of course we automatically took out the word "counter",' he said. 'I'm surprised that people seem to be shocked that there should be terror camps in Iraq. Like, derrrrrr!

I mean, what, actually, do you expect? Iraq presents a long-term strategic threat. Unfortunately, the US is not very good at recognising long-term strategic threats.' "

and
From: Aviation Week & Space Technology
Headline: Satellite Photos Believed To Show Airliner
for Training Hijackers
Byline: Michael A. Dornheim
Dateline: Los Angeles, January 7, 2002
http://www.rushlimbaugh.com/home/daily/site_031203/content/eibexcerpt.guest.html

"Sabah Khodada, and said he worked at the secret Salman Pak complex for about six months as an administrator. The facility is run by the Iraqi secret service, and is used to teach assassination, kidnapping, hijacking of airplanes, buses and trains and other terrorist operations, Khodada said. ''This camp is specialized in exporting terrorism to the whole world.''

Foreigners were trained separately from Iraqis, both Khodada and the other defector said.The aircraft is sitting by itself far from an airport. ''In this camp, I saw [people] getting trained [in] situations where security will not allow you to get weapons into the plane - then what you need to do is to use...very advanced terrorizing methods,'' Khodada said on the television show.''They are even trained how to use utensils for food, like forks and knives provided in the plane...." "The camp was visited by United Nations inspectors on a holiday in January 1995. The inspectors ''went all the way inside the camp,'' Khodada said. ''They saw the plane, they saw the train, and they didn't care anything about it, because [the commanders] told the United Nations, 'This is a camp to train police, antiriot police.'''"

[Alberta's Child]

I would wholeheartedly agree that it would be in the best interests of the United States for any connection between al-Qaeda and Iraq to be kept secret for the purpose of protecting confidential sources.

My problem is that I do not believe this to be the case -- I am convinced that the connection between al-Qaeda and Iraq is being kept secret to cover the @sses of a lot of people in the upper reaches of various agencies of the U.S. government.

And not just the Clinton administration, either -- I'm going all the way back to 1991 here.

[MattAMiller]

Hussein, a secularist, and bin Laden, a Muslim fundamentalist, are known to despise each other.

Not so much so that the state controlled Iraqi press doesn't praise Bin Laden. And not so much so that an Al Queada splinter group in Iraq balks at killing the Kurdish opposition. This is not to say that Hussein has no link to terrorists.

What is it to say then? Because having links to terrorist groups makes Saddam a threat.

[Kay Soze]

Boeing Fuselage in Slaman Park Iraq- used to train Hijakers in 5 man teams!

[Kay Soze]

I agree with you

'Saddam controlled the camp'
http://www.observer.co.uk/focus/story/0,6903,591439,00.html
The Iraqi connection

The doves argue that an al-Qaeda-Iraq link is improbable, given the sharp ideological differences between Saddam's secular Baathism and Islamic fundamentalism. They also say that claims of Iraqi involvement are being driven by the agenda of the hawks - a group which has for years been seeking to finish the job left undone at the end of the Gulf war in 1991.

Nevertheless, Saddam does not lack a plausible motive: revenge for his expulsion from Kuwait in 1991, and for the continued sanctions and Western bombing of his country ever since. In this febrile atmosphere, hard information about who ordered the 11 September attacks remains astonishingly scarce.

[Kay Soze]

Atta the 9-11 leader of the Hijackers twice met with al-Ani
A very senior Iraqi agent

The Iraqi's profile has been supplied by defectors from Saddam's intelligence service, the Mukhabarat, who are now being guarded by the London-based opposition group, the Iraqi National Congress (INC). CIA sources have confirmed its crucial details. 'There's really no doubt that al-Ani is a very senior Iraqi agent,' one source said.

[Uncle Miltie]

Al-Quaeda with planes in New York = 9/11.

Saddam with nukes in New York = Armeggedon.

Times up.

[Alberta's Child]

Hussein, a secularist, and bin Laden, a Muslim fundamentalist, are known to despise each other.

This is what really convinced me that there actually IS a connection between them. Khalid Sheikh Mohammed was supposedly Osams bin Laden's right-hand man, and yet he has been described as a secular Muslim without any religious basis for his hatred of the U.S.

[wayoverontheright]

Iraq does not need to be proven complicit in 9-11 for there to be a number of compelling reasons to not only attack, not only to depose its current regime, but to do so wit h dispatch, in a punitive manner.

There's an awful lot of talk about Iraq never having attacked us before, Saddam should be someone else's problem, and his missiles can't reach us.

This is about 3000 dead civilians who were attacked by someone who had never attacked us before, who had been treated as if he were someone else's problem by George Bush's predecessor, and who had NO MISSILES AT ALL.

This is about anger and fear, neither of which we should feel the need to apologize for.

This is about providing severe enough consequences for our adversaries in the Middle East that terror will cease by popular demand. Iraq needs to be pummelled to send the message to those who didn't respect us that we are changed now, and they'd best reassess the value of striking us again.

Make them angry? They didn't attack us because of an abundance of anger, they attacked us because of a deficiency of respect.

I can think of no better way to get the message across than to drag the biggest, baddest one of them into the "Arab Street" in order to allow them all to witness this profound change in attitude.

[Ragtime Cowgirl]

U(O)sama Bin Laden included our 'war on Iraq' as a reason for his fatwa in the original jihad statement to the international militant Muslim terrorist cells. If Osama says so, who ware we to argue? Oh, if our not-so-patriotic press had the will, they could dissect and de-bunk this dopey 'jihad' statement, exposing Bin Laden's lies and faulty reasoning, shaming Osama on the world stage...plunder their riches, indeed.

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FAS Note: The following statement from Usama bin Laden and his associates purports to be a religious ruling (fatwa) requiring the killing of Americans, both civilian and military. This document is part of the evidence that links the bin Laden network to the September 11 terrorist attacks on New York and Washington. The original Arabic text of this statement may be found here.

---

Jihad Against Jews and Crusaders

World Islamic Front Statement

23 February 1998

Shaykh Usamah Bin-Muhammad Bin-Ladin
Ayman al-Zawahiri, amir of the Jihad Group in Egypt
Abu-Yasir Rifa'i Ahmad Taha, Egyptian Islamic Group
Shaykh Mir Hamzah, secretary of the Jamiat-ul-Ulema-e-Pakistan
Fazlur Rahman, amir of the Jihad Movement in Bangladesh

Praise be to Allah, who revealed the Book, controls the clouds, defeats factionalism, and says in His Book: "But when the forbidden months are past, then fight and slay the pagans wherever ye find them, seize them, beleaguer them, and lie in wait for them in every stratagem (of war)"; and peace be upon our Prophet, Muhammad Bin-'Abdallah, who said: I have been sent with the sword between my hands to ensure that no one but Allah is worshipped, Allah who put my livelihood under the shadow of my spear and who inflicts humiliation and scorn on those who disobey my orders.

The Arabian Peninsula has never -- since Allah made it flat, created its desert, and encircled it with seas -- been stormed by any forces like the crusader armies spreading in it like locusts, eating its riches and wiping out its plantations. All this is happening at a time in which nations are attacking Muslims like people fighting over a plate of food. In the light of the grave situation and the lack of support, we and you are obliged to discuss current events, and we should all agree on how to settle the matter.

No one argues today about three facts that are known to everyone; we will list them, in order to remind everyone:

First, for over seven years the United States has been occupying the lands of Islam in the holiest of places, the Arabian Peninsula, plundering its riches, dictating to its rulers, humiliating its people, terrorizing its neighbors, and turning its bases in the Peninsula into a spearhead through which to fight the neighboring Muslim peoples.

If some people have in the past argued about the fact of the occupation, all the people of the Peninsula have now acknowledged it. The best proof of this is the Americans' continuing aggression against the Iraqi people using the Peninsula as a staging post, even though all its rulers are against their territories being used to that end, but they are helpless.

Second, despite the great devastation inflicted on the Iraqi people by the crusader-Zionist alliance, and despite the huge number of those killed, which has exceeded 1 million... despite all this, the Americans are once against trying to repeat the horrific massacres, as though they are not content with the protracted blockade imposed after the ferocious war or the fragmentation and devastation.

So here they come to annihilate what is left of this people and to humiliate their Muslim neighbors.

Third, if the Americans' aims behind these wars are religious and economic, the aim is also to serve the Jews' petty state and divert attention from its occupation of Jerusalem and murder of Muslims there. The best proof of this is their eagerness to destroy Iraq, the strongest neighboring Arab state, and their endeavor to fragment all the states of the region such as Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and Sudan into paper statelets and through their disunion and weakness to guarantee Israel's survival and the continuation of the brutal crusade occupation of the Peninsula.

All these crimes and sins committed by the Americans are a clear declaration of war on Allah, his messenger, and Muslims. And ulema have throughout Islamic history unanimously agreed that the jihad is an individual duty if the enemy destroys the Muslim countries. This was revealed by Imam Bin-Qadamah in "Al- Mughni," Imam al-Kisa'i in "Al-Bada'i," al-Qurtubi in his interpretation, and the shaykh of al-Islam in his books, where he said: "As for the fighting to repulse [an enemy], it is aimed at defending sanctity and religion, and it is a duty as agreed [by the ulema]. Nothing is more sacred than belief except repulsing an enemy who is attacking religion and life."

On that basis, and in compliance with Allah's order, we issue the following fatwa to all Muslims:

The ruling to kill the Americans and their allies -- civilians and military -- is an individual duty for every Muslim who can do it in any country in which it is possible to do it, in order to liberate the al-Aqsa Mosque and the holy mosque [Mecca] from their grip, and in order for their armies to move out of all the lands of Islam, defeated and unable to threaten any Muslim. This is in accordance with the words of Almighty Allah, "and fight the pagans all together as they fight you all together," and "fight them until there is no more tumult or oppression, and there prevail justice and faith in Allah."

This is in addition to the words of Almighty Allah: "And why should ye not fight in the cause of Allah and of those who, being weak, are ill-treated (and oppressed)? -- women and children, whose cry is: 'Our Lord, rescue us from this town, whose people are oppressors; and raise for us from thee one who will help!'"

We -- with Allah's help -- call on every Muslim who believes in Allah and wishes to be rewarded to comply with Allah's order to kill the Americans and plunder their money wherever and whenever they find it. We also call on Muslim ulema, leaders, youths, and soldiers to launch the raid on Satan's U.S. troops and the devil's supporters allying with them, and to displace those who are behind them so that they may learn a lesson.

Almighty Allah said: "O ye who believe, give your response to Allah and His Apostle, when He calleth you to that which will give you life. And know that Allah cometh between a man and his heart, and that it is He to whom ye shall all be gathered."

Almighty Allah also says: "O ye who believe, what is the matter with you, that when ye are asked to go forth in the cause of Allah, ye cling so heavily to the earth! Do ye prefer the life of this world to the hereafter? But little is the comfort of this life, as compared with the hereafter. Unless ye go forth, He will punish you with a grievous penalty, and put others in your place; but Him ye would not harm in the least. For Allah hath power over all things."

Almighty Allah also says: "So lose no heart, nor fall into despair. For ye must gain mastery if ye are true in faith."

We -- with Allah's help -- call on every Muslim who believes in Allah and wishes to be rewarded to comply with Allah's order to kill the Americans and plunder their money wherever and whenever they find it. We also call on Muslim ulema, leaders, youths, and soldiers to launch the raid on Satan's U.S. troops and the devil's supporters allying with them, and to displace those who are behind them so that they may learn a lesson.

FAS Note: The following statement from Usama bin Laden and his associates purports to be a religious ruling (fatwa) requiring the killing of Americans, both civilian and military. This document is part of the evidence that links the bin Laden network to the September 11 terrorist attacks on New York and Washington. The original Arabic text of this statement may be found here