- Just days after the bipartisan 9/11 Commission acknowledged
that there was "no credible evidence"[1] to support the White
House's pre-war assertions of an Iraq-al Qaeda connection,[2] the Bush
administration is now putting out "new evidence" that supposedly
proves the claim. But as reported by newspapers around the country, senior
U.S. intelligence officials say this "evidence" is false.
-
- Days after Vice President Dick Cheney claimed he "probably"[3]
had more evidence than the 9/11 Commission to prove an Iraq-al Qaeda connection,
Republican commissioner John Lehman said he was given "new intelligence"[4]
showing that "at least one officer of Saddam's Fedayeen, a lieutenant
colonel, was a very prominent member of al Qaeda."[5] But according
to U.S. officials, intelligence experts are "highly skeptical that
the Iraqi officer had any connection to al-Qaida."[6] Newsday noted
that the CIA concluded "a long time ago" that the individual
in question "was not an officer in Saddam Hussein's army."[7]
-
- President Bush and Vice President Cheney have both continued
to insist on an Iraq-al Qaeda connection, despite "senior U.S. officials
now saying there never was any evidence that Saddam's secular police state
and Osama bin Laden's Islamic terrorism network were in league."[8]
Members of the 9/11 Commission are formally calling on Cheney to provide
any shred of proof[9] to support his assertion last week that "the
evidence is overwhelming"[10] that the Iraqi government had a relationship
with al Qaeda.
-
- Sources:
-
- 1. "9-11 panel finds 'no credible evidence' of link
- between al-Qaida and Iraq", The Seattle Times,
- 6/17/2004
- http://daily.misleader.org/ctt.asp?u=1347613&l=41725
- 2. Presidential Remarks, WhiteHouse.gov, 9/17/2003
- http://daily.misleader.org/ctt.asp?u=1347613&l=41726
- 3. "Al Qaeda Link To Iraq May Be Confusion Over
- Names", Washington Post, 6/22/2004
- http://daily.misleader.org/ctt.asp?u=1347613&l=41727
- 4. "Al-Qaida, Fedayeen militia tie disputed",
- AZCentral.com, 6/22/2004
- http://daily.misleader.org/ctt.asp?u=1347613&l=41728
- 5. "Iraqi officer tied to al Qaeda", Reuters
UK,
- 6/20/2004
- http://daily.misleader.org/ctt.asp?u=1347613&l=41729
- =532610§ion=news
- 6. "Intelligence experts cast doubt on ties between
- Iraq, al-Qaida", Knight Ridder, 6/21/2004
- http://daily.misleader.org/ctt.asp?u=1347613&l=41730
- 7. "CIA: No Iraqi officer link in al-Qaida meeting",
- Newsday, 6/22/2004
- http://daily.misleader.org/ctt.asp?u=1347613&l=41731
- 318.story?coll=ny-nationalnews-headlines
- 8. "Doubts Cast on Efforts to Link Saddam, al-Qaida",
- Common Dreams News Center, 3/03/2004
- http://daily.misleader.org/ctt.asp?u=1347613&l=41732
- 9. "Sept. 11 Panel Asks Cheney for Saddam-Al Qaeda
- Evidence", NPR: All Things Considered, 6/20/2004
- http://daily.misleader.org/ctt.asp?u=1347613&l=41733
- 10. "Al-Qaida, Fedayeen militia tie disputed",
- AZCentral.com, 6/22/2004
- http://daily.misleader.org/ctt.asp?u=1347613&l=41728
-
- http://www.misleader.org/daily_mislead/Read.asp?fn=df06222004.html
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