IRAQ
Just two days after the Bush administration resurrected the already-debunked claim that Al-Qaeda and Saddam were working together, the independent 9/11 Commission said it found "no credible evidence" to substantiate the charge. Two days ago, Vice President Cheney had the nerve to claim that Hussein "had long-established ties with al Qaeda". And yesterday, President Bush defended Cheney's assertion, using the example of terrorist Abu Musab Zarqawi as "the best evidence of connection." Don't believe the hype. Administration officials repeatedly have acknowledged there is no evidence al Qaeda was linked to Saddam. As Knight-Ridder reported in March, "senior U.S. officials now say there was there never was any evidence that Saddam's secular police state and Osama bin Laden's Islamic terrorism network were in league."
WEAPONS INSPECTOR SAYS NO PROOF: Former U.S. weapons inspector David Kay shot down the idea that al Qaeda and Saddam were linked. ''At various times Al Qaeda people came through Baghdad and in some cases resided there…But we simply did not find any evidence of extensive links with Al Qaeda, or for that matter any real links at all." Kay went on to say, ''Cheney's speech is evidence-free. It is an assertion, but doesn't say why we should believe this now."
HEAD OF THE CIA SAYS NO PROOF: In testimony before the Senate intelligence committee earlier this year, CIA Director George Tenet flatly stated that, even if Zarqawi operated in the shadows of Iraq, there was no coordination between him and Iraqis. "I did not suggest operational direction and control" of Zarqawi by Iraq, Tenet said. "He thinks of himself as independent and derives sustenance from them."
PRESIDENT BUSH SAYS NO PROOF: In a press conference on 1/31/03, asked if he believed there was a link between Saddam Hussein and 9/11, President Bush admitted, "I can't make that claim."
COLIN POWELL SAYS NO PROOF: In January, Secretary of State Colin Powell announced he had seen no "smoking gun
concrete evidence" of ties between Saddam and al Qaeda.
BUSH COUNTERTERRORISM EXPERT SAYS NO PROOF: According to former White House counterterrorism expert Roger Cressey, there was no direct link between Zarqawi and al Qaeda. On MSNBC on 5/12/04, he stated, "I think some of the administration's claims of direct links between Zarqawi and al Qaeda as we knew it, frankly, are not true."
CARNEGIE ENDOWMENT FOR PEACE SAYS NO PROOF: A January assessment of the war by the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace debunked the White House claims, saying, "The most intensive searching over the last two years has produced no solid evidence of a cooperative relationship between Saddam's government and Al Qaeda."
ZARQAWI VS. BIN LADEN: Not much is known about Abu Musab al Zarqawi, a shadowy terrorist figure born in Jordan. An independent contractor, he headed up a separate terrorist group called al-Tawhid, which militants have described as a group "especially for Jordanians who did not want to join al Qaeda." One source told the Chicago Tribune that Zarqawi had "links with all groups with the exception of al Qaeda. … He is against al Qaeda." (Read this American Progress backgrounder on Zarqawi for more information.)
THE ZARQAWI LETTER: Vice President Cheney cites a recent letter the U.S. captured, written by Zarqawi to senior leaders of Al Qaeda urging them to help him wage war in Iraq, as proof of his ties to the terrorist group. While the letter shows Zarqawi may have reached out to al Qaeda after the U.S. invasion of Iraq, "it does not speak to the debate about whether there was a Qaeda presence in Iraq during the Saddam Hussein era, nor is there any mention of a collaboration with Saddam loyalists." Moreover, al Qaeda turned him down.
NO WAY TO TREAT A TERRORIST: If the White House truly believes Zarqawi was the link between Saddam and al Qaeda, they sure don't know how to show it. The administration left him off the FBI's 22 Most Wanted Terrorists list. Also, as NBC News has reported, "the Bush administration had several chances to wipe out his terrorist operation and perhaps kill Zarqawi himself — but never pulled the trigger."
WHITE HOUSE SOURCE: The claim that Saddam and al Qaeda terrorists were linked was pushed by Iyad Allawi, the interim prime minister of Iraq. On CNN's American Morning on 12/31/04, he claimed Saddam always had links with terrorist organizations, including al Qaeda, before the war. Allawi has amassed a greatest hits list of false and discredited claims. He is responsible for the claim that Iraqi weapons of mass destruction could be deployed within forty-five minutes of an order, which was proven false. He pushed the theory that 9/11 hijacker Mohammed Atta had trained in Iraq, also debunked. He also "authenticated" the memo showing that Iraq had sought uranium from Niger, a document which later turned out to be forged.
HERITAGE FOUNDATION PUSHES DISCREDITED THEORY: The Heritage Foundation is sponsoring a conference called "The Connection: How al Qaeda's Collaboration with Saddam Hussein has Endangered America." One of their esteemed panelists is none other than Steven Hayes. Hayes, remember, is the author of the Weekly Standard article Vice President Cheney cites as "the best source" of information to justify an al Qaeda/Saddam tie. The problem: The Defense Department confirmed the information the article is based upon was "inaccurate," and "individuals who leak or purport to leak classified information are doing serious harm to national security; such activity is deplorable and may be illegal."
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