Rob you really should read this stuff before you debate.
This proves that GWB had no intelligence on Iraq and lied about all
of it. We can see by this that Iraq was no threat to the US. It
proves he was just doing it to get revenge for his daddy...
/sarcasm off
You really should read the 9/11 report. it was quite interesting.
I think it was Gen. Tommy Franks who said that it was almost
treasonous how the MSM was distorting this report.
If you want a link to the whole report let me know. It's all online.
66 THE 9/11 COMMISSION REPORT
There is also evidence that around this time Bin Ladin sent out a
number
of feelers to the Iraqi regime, offering some cooperation. None are
reported
to have received a significant response. According to one report,
Saddam Hus-sein's
efforts at this time to rebuild relations with the Saudis and other
Middle
Eastern regimes led him to stay clear of Bin Ladin.74
In mid-1998, the situation reversed; it was Iraq that reportedly took
the ini-tiative.
In March 1998, after Bin Ladin's public fatwa against the United
States,
two al Qaeda members reportedly went to Iraq to meet with Iraqi
intelli-gence.
In July, an Iraqi delegation traveled to Afghanistan to meet first
with
the Taliban and then with Bin Ladin. Sources reported that one, or
perhaps
both, of these meetings was apparently arranged through Bin Ladin's
Egypt-ian
deputy, Zawahiri, who had ties of his own to the Iraqis. In 1998,
Iraq was
under intensifying U.S. pressure, which culminated in a series of
large air
attacks in December.75
Similar meetings between Iraqi officials and Bin Ladin or his aides
may have
occurred in 1999 during a period of some reported strains with the
Taliban.
According to the reporting, Iraqi officials offered Bin Ladin a safe
haven in Iraq.
Bin Ladin declined, apparently judging that his circumstances in
Afghanistan
remained more favorable than the Iraqi alternative. The reports
describe
friendly contacts and indicate some common themes in both sides'
hatred of
the United States. But to date we have seen no evidence that these or
the ear-lier
contacts ever developed into a collaborative operational
relationship. Nor
have we seen evidence indicating that Iraq cooperated with al Qaeda
in devel-oping
or carrying out any attacks against the United States.76.........
Since there is no evidence we must assume they were just trading Goat
Head Cheese recipes...
The Administration has said, however, that it was worried about a
number of contacts between Iraq and al-Qaeda, including contacts
between senior Iraqi intelligence officers and senior members of al-
Qaeda.
"I don't think there's any doubt but that there were some contacts
between Saddam Hussein's government and al-Qaeda, Osama Bin Laden's
people." (9-11 Commission Vice Chairman Lee Hamilton, News Hour with
Jim Lehrer, June 16, 2004)'
"We have solid reporting of senior level contacts between Iraq and al-
Qa'ida going back a decade. Credible information indicates that Iraq
and al-Qa'ida discussed safe haven and reciprocal non-aggression.
Since Operation Enduring Freedom, we have solid evidence of the
presence in Iraq of al-Qa'ida members, including some that have been
in Baghdad. (CIA Director George Tenet, Letter to Senate Intelligence
Committee Chairman Graham, October 7, 2002)
The Commission's investigation does not dispute that contacts between
Iraq and al-Qaeda occurred. Chairman Kean and Vice Chairman Hamilton
have said that there "definitely" were a number of contacts. Chairman
Kean called these contacts "shadowy" -- and the Administration agrees
with him. These were contacts between a deadly terrorist organization
that was seeking support and a country that the Administration knew
had supported other terrorist organizations.
"[Y]es, there were contacts between Iraqi and al-Qaeda, a number of
them, some of them a little shadowy. They were definitely there." (9-
11 Commission Chairman Thomas Kean, News Hour with Jim Lehrer, June
16, 2004)
"Bin Ladin also explored possible cooperation with Iraq during his
time in Sudan, despite his opposition to Hussein's secular regime...
A senior Iraqi intelligence officer reportedly made three visits to
Sudan, finally meeting Bin Ladin in 1994." (9-11 Commission Staff
Statement 15, June 16, 2004)
"Bin Ladin is said to have requested space to establish training
camps, as well as assistance in procuring weapons, but Iraq
apparently never responded. There have been reports that contacts
between Iraq and al-Qaeda also occurred after Bin Ladin had returned
to Afghanistan, but they do not appear to have resulted in a
collaborative relationship." (9-11 Commission Staff Statement 15,
June 16, 2004)
The Administration also knew that Iraq was harboring a terrorist
network headed by Zarqawi. Zarqawi, the senior al-Qaeda associate who
was known to be in Baghdad for medical treatment in May 2002,
continues to undertake indiscriminate acts of terrorism today.
"[P]art of this Zarqawi network in Baghdad are two dozen Egyptian
Islamic Jihad which is indistinguishable from al Qaeda -- operatives
who are aiding the Zarqawi network, and two senior planners who have
been in Baghdad since last May. Now, whether there is a base or
whether there is not a base, they are operating freely, supporting
the Zarqawi network that is supporting the poisons network in Europe
and around the world. So these people have been operating there. And,
as you know.... a foreign service went to the Iraqis twice to talk to
them about Zarqawi and were rebuffed. So there is a presence in
Baghdad that is beyond Zarqawi." (Director Tenet before the Senate
Select Committee on Intelligence - February 11, 2003)
The Administration knew Saddam had longstanding, direct, and
continuing ties to a number of terrorist groups, including groups
responsible for killing Americans.
"We know a great deal about [Saddam's] terrorist activity. We know
that he, as I said before, tried to assassinate President George H.W.
Bush. We know that he pays Hamas terrorists $25,000 for suicide
bombings that led to suicide bombings against American citizens with
five American deaths at Hebrew University. We know that he is
acquiring weapons of mass destruction, that he has extreme animus
against the United States." (Dr. Condoleezza Rice, CNN, September 8,
2002)
"Iraq's increasing support to extremist Palestinians, coupled with
growing indications of a relationship with al- Qa'ida, suggest that
Baghdad's links to terrorists will increase, even absent US military
action." (CIA Director George Tenet, Letter to Senate Intelligence
Committee Chairman Graham, October 7, 2002)
The Abu Nidal Organization, headquartered in Baghdad until 1983, has
been responsible for terrorist attacks in 20 countries that killed or
injured 900 people, including 12 Americans. Abu Nidal and his
organization returned to Baghdad in 1998, where they remained until
Nidal's death in August 2002.
"Iraq's Deputy Prime Minister, Tariq Aziz, has said Iraq will grant
$US25000 in cash to the families of each Palestinian killed in
clashes with Israeli troops in the West Bank and Gaza. 'President
Saddam Hussein has recently told the head of the Palestinian
political office, Farouq al-Kaddoumi, his decision to raise the sum
granted to each family of the martyrs of the Palestinian uprising to
$25,000 instead of $10,000,' Mr. Aziz told Arab politicians and
representatives of non-government organizations on Monday." ("Hussein
Vows Cash for Martrys," Reuters, March 13, 2002)
No terrorist activity here. Hmmmmmmm
The Senate Intelligence Report said that:
1. 78 reports from different sources that Hussein's regime was
actively training Iraqi intelligence soldiers for terrorist attacks
against America and our interests abroad.
2. Iraq provided Al Qaeda with training, bomb making, chemical,
biological, radiological and nuclear training.
3. Direct meetings between senior Iraqi military officers and top Al
Qaeda operatives took place between the early 90's and 2003.
4. The truth about yellowcake uranium was exactly the opposite of
what Joe WIlson said it was. At the request of the CIA, Wilson
traveled to Niger to see if Iraq was trin to purchase yellowcake
uranium and he returned and reported they were not. The Report
reveals that Wilson lied to Congress and the press and that Iraq was
indeed trying to purchase yellowcake uranium from Africa and that
Wilson's report upon return from Niger actually gave intelligence
analysts even more reason to believe it was true.