Text 13817, 246 rader
Skriven 2005-06-29 16:29:34 av John Hull (1:379/1.99)
Ärende: Reminding the liberals, once again
==========================================
Seems that every time one of the liberal screed writers and prohets of doom
gets a wild hair up his ass, its becomes necessary to remind them about WHY we
are in Iraq, with specific details.  My turn this time, with kudos to Rush for
posting this on his website this afternoon.




Iraq-Al Qaeda Links

The partisan media is on a mission, attempting to hypnotize voters everywhere:
"Repeat after me, 'There are no links between Iraq and al Qaeda.'" After the
9/11 Commissioners reported they were unable to confirm specific evidence of an
Iraq connection to the 9/11 attacks, the lib media went bonkers, irrationally
concluding that there never were any links, ever, and anyone who noticed the
numerous connections was an idiot. "Al Qaeda-Hussein Link Is Dismissed,"
sniffed The Washington Post. "Panel Finds No Qaeda-Iraq Tie," declared The New
York Times. "No Signs of Iraq-Al Qaeda Ties Found," shrugged The Los Angeles
Times. According to a typically malicious New York Times editorial:

It's hard to imagine how the Commission investigating the 2001 terrorist
attacks could have put it more clearly...: (here was never any evidence of a
link between Iraq and al Qaeda ... Now President Bush should apologize to (he
American people ...he is responsible for..., incxcusably, selling the false
Iraq-Qaeda claim to Americans ... [E]ither Mr. Bush knew he was not telling the
truth, or he has a capacity for politically motivated self-deception...

The anti-link frenzy reached a new level of absurdity when an American
anchorman actually scolded the new Prime Minister of Iraq, lyad Allawi, for his
stubborn refusal to bow to the "no-link" dogma:

Allawi: We know that [American soldiers being attacked in Iraq] is an extension
to what happened in New York. And the war [has] been taken now to Iraq by the
same terrorists. Saddam was a potential friend and partner and natural ally of
terrorism.

'Tom Brokaw: Prime Minister, I'm surprised that you would make the connection
between 9/11 and the war in Iraq. The 9/11 Commission in America says there is
no evidence of a collaborative relationship between Saddam Hussein and those
terrorists of al Qaeda.

Allawi: No, I believe very strongly that Saddam had relations with al Qaeda.
And these relations started in Sudan, We know Saddam had relationships with a
lot of terrorists and international terrorism. Now, whether he is directly
connected to the September atrocities or not, I can't vouch for this. But
definitely I know that he has connections with extremism and terrorists.'

Mr. Brokaw's "surprise" notwithstanding, here is just a sampling of the
voluminous evidence of those connections on the public record that the no-link
crowd is studiously ignoring:

Ignoring the Commission

"With al Qaeda as its foundation, bin Laden sought to build a broader Islamic
army that also included terrorist groups from Egypt, Libya, Algeria, Saudi
Arabia and Oman, Tunisia, Jordan, Iraq, Lebanon, Morocco, Somalia and Eritrea
... With a multi-national council intended to promote common goals, coordinate
targeting, and authorize asset sharing for terrorist operations, this Islamic
force represented a new level of collaboration among diverse terrorist groups,"
- 9/11 COMMISSION STAFF STATEMENT #15, OVERVIEW OF THE ENEMY, PAGE 3

"Bin Laden also explored possible cooperation with Iraq during his time in
Sudan, despite his opposition to Hussein's secular regime ... The Sudanese
[government]... arranged for contacts between Iraq and al Qaeda. A senior Iraqi
intelligence officer reportedly made three visits to Sudan, finally meeting bin
Laden in 1994. Bin Laden is said to have requested space to establish training
camps, as well as assistance in procuring weapons..." - 9/11 COMMISSION STAFF
STATEMENT #15, PAGE 5

"[T]here were contacts between al Qaeda and Iraq, going bad clear to the early
1990s, when Osama bin Laden was in Sudan then when he was in Afghanistan. I
don't think there's any dispute about that." - EX-REP Lee. HAMIITON (D, IN),
9/1 COMMISSION VICE-CHAIR, ON ABC'S "THIS WEEK"

Ignoring past reporting

"A Federal grand jury in Manhattan returned a 238-count indictment yesterday
charging the Saudi exile Osama bin Laden in the bombings of two United States
Embassies in Africa ii August and with conspiring to commit other acts of
terrorism against Americans abroad ... Prosecutors also unsealed an earlier
indictment, issued in June ... against Mr. bin Laden ... Th new indictment...
accuses Mr. bin Laden of leading a vast terrorist conspiracy from 1989 to the
present, in which he is said to have been working in concert with governments,
including those of Sudan, Iraq and Iran, and terrorist groups to build weapons
and arrack American military installations ... Both indictments offer new
information about Mr. bin Laden's operations, including one deal he is said to
have struck with Iraq to cooperate in the development of weapons in return for
Mr. bin Laden's agreeing not to work against that country." - THE New YORK
TIMES, Nov. 5, 1998

"Saddam Hussein's regime has opened talks with Osama bin Laden, bringing closer
the threat of a terrorist attack using chemical, biological or nuclear weapons,
according to U.S. intelligence sources and Iraqi opposition officials. The key
meeting took place in the Afghan mountains near Kandahar in late December
[1998]. The Iraqi delegation was led by Farouk Hijazi, Baghdad ambassador in
Turkey and one of Saddam's most powerful secret policemen, who is thought to
have offered bin Laden asylum ii Iraq ... News of the negotiations emerged [as]
the U.S. attorney general, Janet Reno, warned the Senate that a terrorist
attack involving weapons of mass destruction was a growing concern. 'There's a
threat, and it's real,' Ms Reno said..." - THE GUARDIAN, FEB. 6, 1999

"The world's most wanted man, Osama bin Laden, has been offered sanctuary in
Iraq if his worldwide terrorist network succeeds in carrying out a campaign of
high-profile arrack on the West ... Now we are also facing the prospect of an
unholy alliance between bin Laden and Saddam. The implications are terrifying."
- THE [GLASGOW, SCOTLAND HERAI.D, DEC. 28. 1999

"The Iraqis, who for several years paid smaller groups to do their dirty work,
were quick to discover the advantages of al Qaeda ... Israeli sources claim
that for the past two years Iraqi intelligence officers were shuttling between
Baghdad and Afghanistan, meeting with Ayman al Zawahiri. According to the
sources, one of the Iraqi intelligence officers, Salah Suleiman, was captured
last October [2000] by the Pakistani near the border with Afghanistan." -
JANE'S INTELLIGENCE "FOREIGN REPORT, "SEPT. 19, 2001

"Iraqi intelligence documents discovered in Baghdad by The Telegraph ... found
[4/26/03] in the bombed headquarters of the Mukhabarat, Iraq's intelligence
service, reveal that an al Qaeda envoy was invited clandestinely to Baghdad in
March 1998. The documents show that the purpose of- the meeting was to
establish a relationship between Baghdad and al Qaeda based on their mutual
hatred of
America and Saudi Arabia. The meeting apparently went so well that it was
extended by a week and ended with arrangements being discussed for bin Laden to
visit Baghdad." - THE [LONDON] TEI.EGRAPH, APRIL 27, 2003 

 "One of the more interesting pieces of postwar evidence was uncovered in
Baghdad by reporters for The Toronto Star and London's Sunday Telegraph. The
February 19, 1998 memo from Iraqi intelligence, in which bin Laden's name was
covered over with Liquid Paper, reported planned meetings with an al Qaeda
representative visiting Baghdad. Days later al Qaeda issued a fatwa alleging
U.S. crimes against Iraq. At about the same time, a U.S. government source
tells Stephen Hayes of The Weekly Standard, Iraq paid bin Laden deputy Ayman al
Zawahiri $300.000." - THE WALL STREET JOURNAL, Sept. 22, 2003
Ignoring Colin Powell

"Iraq today harbors a deadly terrorist network headed by Abu Musab Zarqawi, an
associate and collaborator of Osama bin Laden..." - Colin POWELL, U.S.
SECRETARY or STATE, SPEECH TO UNITED NATIONS SECURITY COUNCIL, FEB. 6, 2003

"[T]he Zarqawi network helped establish [a] poison and explosive training
center camp ... in northeastern Iraq." - COL.IN POWELL, AT UN

"Zarqawi ... traveled to Baghdad in May 2002 for medical treatment, staying in
the capital of Iraq for two months ... During this stay, nearly two dozen
extremists converged on Baghdad and established a base of operations there.
These al Qaeda affiliates ... coordinate the movement of people, money, and
supplies into and throughout Iraq for his network ... [In 2002] an al Qaeda
associate bragged that the situation in Iraq was, quote, 'good.'" - COLIN
POWELL, AT UN

"Early al Qaeda ties were forged by...secret Iraqi intelligence high-level
contacts with al Qaeda. We know members of both organizations met repeatedly
and have met at least eight times at very senior levels since the early 1990s."
- COI.IN Powell., AT UN

"ln 1996, a foreign security service tells us ... bin Laden met with a senior
Iraqi intelligence official in Khartoum, and later met the director of the
Iraqi intelligence service." - COLIN POWELL, AT UN

"Iraq offer[ed] chemical or biological weapons training for two al Qaeda
associates beginning in December 2000."•- COLIN POWELL, AT UN

"[A detained senior al Qaeda terrorist] says that a militant known as Abu
Abdulla al-Iraqi had been sent to Iraq several times between 1997 and 2000 for
help in acquiring poisons and gases. Abdulla al-Iraqi characterized the
relationship he forged with Iraqi officials as successful." - COI.IN POWELL. AT
UN

Ignoring George Tenet

"We have solid reporting of senior level contacts between Iraq and al Qaeda
going back a decade. Credible information indicates that Iraq and al Qaeda have
discussed safe haven and reciprocal nonaggression. Since Operation Enduring
Freedom, we have solid evidence of the presence in Iraq of al Qaeda members,
including some that have been in Baghdad. We have credible reporting that al
Qaeda leaders sought contacts in Iraq who could help them acquire WMD
capabilities. The reporting also seated that Iraq has
provided training to al Qaeda members in the areas of poisons and gases and
making conventional bombs." - GEORCE TENET, LETTER TO SENATE lNTELLIGENCE
COMMITTEE, Oct. 7, 2002

"Iraq has in the past provided training in document forgery and bomb making ro
al Qaeda. It also provided training in poisons and gases to two al Qaeda
associates; one of these associates characterized the relationship as
successful. Mr. Chairman, this information is based on a solid foundation of
intelligence. It comes to us from credible and reliable sources. Much of it is
corroborated by multiple sources." - GEORGE TENET, SENATE ARMS SERVICES
COMMITTEE TESTIMONY, FEB. 12, 2003
Ignoring current reporting

 "Contacts between Iraqi intelligence agents and Osama bin Laden when he was in
Sudan in the mid-1990s were part of a broad effort by Baghdad to work with
organizations opposing the Saudi ruling family, according to a newly disclosed
document obtained by the Americans in Iraq." - THE NE\V YORK TIMES, JUNE 25,
2004

 "[A newly disclosed Iraqi] document, which asserts that Mr. bin Laden 'was
approached by our [Iraqi] side,' states that Mr. bin Laden previously 'had some
reservations about being labeled an Iraqi operative,' but was now willing to
meet in Sudan, and that 'presidential approval' was granted to the Iraqi
security service to proceed." - THE. NEW YORK TIMES, JUNE 25, 2004

" The Iraqis were cued to make their approach to Mr. bin laden in 1994 after a
Sudanese official visited Uday Hussein ... as well as th( director of Iraqi
intelligence, and indicated chat Mr. bin Laden was willing to meet in Sudan." -
THI: NEW YOKK TIMES, JUNE 25.2004

"A former director of operations for Iraqi intelligence Directorate 4 met with
Mr. bin Laden on Feb. 19, 1995, the document states." - THE NEW YORK TIMES,
JUNE 25, 2004

"At the meeting [with Iraqi intelligence], Mr. bin Laden 'requested joint
operations against foreign forces' based in Saudi Arabia, where the American
presence has been a rallying cry for Islamic militants who oppose American
troops in the land of... Mecca and Medina." - THE NEW YORK TIMES, JUNE 25, 2004

"[W]ith Mr. bin Laden's departure from Sudan ... Iraqi intelligence officers
began 'seeking other channels through which to handle the relationship, in
light of his current location,' the document states." - THE NEW YORK TIMES,
JUNE 25, 2004

"The Iraqi document itself states that 'cooperation between the two
organizations [al Qaeda and Iraqi intelligence] should be allowed to develop
freely through discussion and agreement." - THE NEW YORK TIMES. IUNE. 25. 2004 

=========================

And, lest you all plead stupidity and claim you don't remember any of this
stuff, it is also necessary to remind you that the liberals were just as eager
to let slip the dogs of war as the conservatives were in the days immediately
following 9-11.  The whole Congress voted damn near unanimously to give GW the
authority to go to war, and in fact loudly demanded that we do so.  Now you sit
crouched in the corner cowering, trying to ward off responsibility for your
participation as if you were trying to deter a vampire's bloodlust by making a
cross with your fingers.




John 

America:  First, Last, and Always!
LIBERALS AND DOGS KEEP OFF THE GRASS!

--- Msged/386 TE 05
 * Origin: We are the Watchmen of our own Liberty! (1:379/1.99)