I'd like the AP to back up this b.s. and produce one statement by President Bush or his national security team linking Saddam to 9/11...because it never happened. What a bunch of lying aholes.
And as the former head of the CIA, you have to wonder what Panetta knows that he inadvertently revealed in saying we were in Iraq because of 9/11.
Panetta also told troops in Baghdad that the death of Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden marked "one of the proudest moments of my life."
This to me is the faux pas of all his comments, pretending Panetta did all this himself, not the troops, not the CIA professional HIRED UNDER BUSH who was profiled last week in an AP piece who made it his job to track OBL, not the Bush administration whose interrogation techniques gave us the intel. breaks that lead to OBL, etc. No, the media won't focus on this bit of undo self congratulations, and in front of the military, that Panetta engaged in. No, that's not the faux pas. But pointing out we're in Iraq because post 9-11 we took on the forces of chaos and death in the region in the wake of 9-11 that contributed to the kind of culture that lead to Al Qaeda's creation and deadly legacy, no, that's the faux pas. Beam me up.
Actually the Dulfer, Butler and 9/11 Commission Reports did.
I'm no fan of Panetta, but he knows more about why we're fighting than his immediate superior.
I would suspect that much information about Saddam’s future plans came from classified sources, during an administration that used to keep secrets
For example, I remember a report that by Oct 2001, Putin warned Bush that Saddam was planning to sponsor a follow-on to 9-11. Among other things the Russians helpfully told Bush, who saw Putin’s soul when he gazed into his eyes (barf). If Putin played Bush, he did so expertly in terms of timing and effect
What analyst in that time would have ever estimated after 9-11 that Saddam Hussein and his intelligence service would take a back seat to Osama Bin Laden as the leader of jihad against the west, by any means possible (hint: none)
Bush motives aside- removing Sadddam Hussein the murderous destablizing psychopath was a noble thing, and the jury is still out on the long term effect on our attempt at reformed muslim nation-building in Iraq, and the lng term effect on our national security intersts (unfortunately all being sabotaged by democrat malevolence and incompetence)
saddam is CONNECTED to 9/11 via the airplane training center where the scumbags trained, among other things.
Well, we actually are in Iraq because of 9/11, but not in the way the idiot press has presented it. After we were attacked, we decided to no longer play around with that part of the world. We picked that battlefield to get rid of Saddam, to draw the terrorists into a fight, and to put pressure on Iran by having a U.S. force on both sides of them. We accomplished 2 out of those 3. It wasn’t sold that way, but without 9/11, we probably wouldn’t be in Iraq.
A “gaffe” is when a politician accidentally utters the truth, so yeah, this would qualify as a gaffe.