My Question for Today

Personally, I have always considered it highly unlikely that Saddam would have let any armed force not firmly under his control into Iraq. I also have never thought Bin Laden or any other al-Qaeda leader was either naïve or dumb enough to trust their continued existence to someone a paranoid as Saddam Hussein.

To a large extent I think Cheney's continued insistence that a connection existed reflects the same type of thinking that makes him assert that Americans who disagree with him are friends of our enemies.

The thing I find funny is all the training bases, samples in some of thoise bases of bio and chemical components, a aircraft bodies used for teaching the layout of a aircraft, for there noit to have been something going on. No he was more interested in money and power.

Saddam Hussein had the largest armed forces in the Middle East and he used Bio-chem weapons back in the Iraq-Iran (in the 80's or 90's) war and also on the Kurds in Iraq. That is one of the reason they hanged him.

It is logical that there would have been training bases in Iraq and that bio-chem components would have been found on at least some of them.

Saddam was not hanged for the for his crimes against the Kurds--the US gov't were complicit in those(since Reagan and Bush I gave him the weapons). Shrub didn't want any of THAT mess to come out!

Saddam hated terrorists that had a religious bent--he was about power and money. Was he a nice man? No, but he wasn't friends with Bin Laden either who, by the way is still raising money and terrorists in Pakistan(our so-called ally) and Afghanistan.

I believe the Pentagon reports over Darth Cheney.

Said Hugh, gather's pet lepper.

Kim,

Whether he was tried for that particular offense or not, I bet it was in the mind of everyone of the judges.

Also, I never said he was friends with Bin Laden if anything I think I implied it was very unlikely they would trust each other. I also as much as stated I did not agree with Cheney.

Cheney's part and parcel, in my opinion, of the "nyah-nyah-nyah, I can't hear you coallition" in the WH, completely out of touch with the American people and, incidently, the truth. I don't think either of these things (people/truth) hold the slightest interest for this administration. The administration has all the appearance, in my opinion, of people who have their own agenda and no compunction about using the taxpayer's money and lives to suit their own ends.

It is not the only explanation, but it fits for me. Why didn't they help New Orleans with the dedication they have lavished on Iraq? With the world's presumably second largest oil reserves up for grabs to US oil interests if we can just strongarm the Iraqi government into it, it does not seem a logical stretch to figure out what that agenda is.

The CIA knew that Saddam had no links to Al Qaida before we invaded which means that Bush/Cheney were privy to that info as well. Cheney is trying to throw a little subterfuge saying that we knew that Al Qaida was in Iraq before the invasion.

Well guess what? Al Qaida was also in Canada, Great Britain, France, Germany, Pakistan, Indonesia, etc. Where does Al Qaida not have a presence?

Good thing we have all of our troops in Iraq. There's absolutely no way we are in Iraq for oil. Nope, not at all.

The following is the beginning of an article from Friday's Washington Post. It concurs with what I've known all along: Cheney and Bush are lying, manipulative evil men.

Hussein's Prewar Ties To Al-Qaeda Discounted
Pentagon Report Says Contacts Were Limited

By R. Jeffrey Smith
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, April 6, 2007; Page A01

Captured Iraqi documents and intelligence interrogations of Saddam Hussein and two former aides "all confirmed" that Hussein's regime was not directly cooperating with al-Qaeda before the U.S. invasion of Iraq, according to a declassified Defense Department report released yesterday.

The declassified version of the report, by acting Inspector General Thomas F. Gimble, also contains new details about the intelligence community's prewar consensus that the Iraqi government and al-Qaeda figures had only limited contacts, and about its judgments that reports of deeper links were based on dubious or unconfirmed information. The report had been released in summary form in February.


A report criticizes an intelligence assessment by the office of Douglas Feith, then a Pentagon official, before the 2003 invasion of Iraq.
A report criticizes an intelligence assessment by the office of Douglas Feith, then a Pentagon official, before the 2003 invasion of Iraq. (By Elizabeth Dalziel -- Associated Press)


The report's release came on the same day that Vice President Cheney, appearing on Rush Limbaugh's radio program, repeated his allegation that al-Qaeda was operating inside Iraq "before we ever launched" the war, under the direction of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the terrorist killed last June.

Bobbie, LOL That is old data, and does not cover the fact that when Bush decided to go in, he had intelligence reports from both Russia and the UK saying that they had found Iraq was talking to Al-qa'ida about the sales of bio-weapons to them. THere was just no information on how those deals turned out, that was just too much of a posible threat, and with two forces that could not be taken lightly.
Yes I agree it is good they did not turn out as an actual deal but one that failed, but that does not remove the threat Bush and his staff had to look at, at that time.
Or would you have prefered a Clinton responce.. "Ohh golly gee Suddam, don't sell this stuff, to that group. You might actually kill me!"

Dan R- Talk about old info. This article is says that the intelligence community KNEW that Iraq did NOT have ties to al Qaida, so your retort is meaningless and irrespective of the facts at hand.

The rest of us did not learn that Saddam had no ties to Al Qaida until the National Intelligence Estimate before last. The "new" report showing that we KNEW Saddam had no ties to Al Qaida was a recently declassified report from the Pentagon. How do you square the Bush Administration telling us that he DID have ties to Al Qaida now knowing that this report was available to them before the invasion?

They are liars Dan, and they are still lying.

saddam was too paranoid to allow that group to have power in Iraq. Cheney is taking up rewriting history

Carol,

We agree agan.