GOP rivals embrace unproven Iraq-9/11 tie (Boston Globe)

[Eugene]

Source: Boston Globe

GOP rivals embrace unproven Iraq-9/11 tie

By Peter S. Canellos, Globe Staff | May 27, 2007

WASHINGTON -- In defending the Iraq war, leading Republican
presidential contenders are increasingly echoing words and phrases
used by President Bush in the run-up to the war that reinforce the
misleading impression that Iraq was responsible for the Sept. 11,
2001, attacks.

In the May 15 Republican debate in South Carolina, Senator John
McCain of Arizona suggested that Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden
would "follow us home" from Iraq -- a comment some viewers may
have taken to mean that bin Laden was in Iraq, which he is not.

-snip-

Assertions of connections between bin Laden and terrorists in Iraq
have heated up over the last month, as Congress has debated the
war funding resolution. Romney, McCain, and Giuliani have endorsed
-- and expanded on -- Bush's much-debated contention that Al
Qaeda is the main cause of instability in Iraq.

-snip-

The belief that there is a clear connection between Iraq and the
9/11 attacks has been a key determinant of support for the war.
A Harris poll taken two weeks before the 2004 presidential election
found that a majority of Bush's supporters believed that Iraq was
behind the 9/11 attacks -- a claim that Bush has never made. Eighty-
four percent believed that Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein had "strong
links" with Al Qaeda, a claim that intelligence officials have long
disputed.

But critics have maintained that Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney
encouraged these ideas by using misleading terms to describe the
threat posed by Iraq before the war.

-snip-

Read more: http://www.boston.com/news/nation/washington/articles/2007/05/27/gop_rivals_embrace_unproven_iraq_911_tie

[rodeodance]

1. This will be the only way a Repug can win----instilling of fear.

[TwilightGardener]

2. Good. Let them follow that dead-end road. More to hit them with in '08.

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

3. and the next step

is to echo the rw spin that all Muslims are terrorists. And once we are rounded up, it will be all liberals are terrorists.

[CJCRANE]

4. The Iraq-9/11 tie is a sort of "public myth"

as per Philip Zelikow's theories:

"The idea of 'public presumption'...is akin to William McNeill's notion of 'public myth'...Such presumptions are beliefs (1) thought to be true (although not necessarily known to be true with certainty), and (2) shared in common within the relevant political community."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philip_Zelikow

[LynnTheDem]

5. But ONLY in America. ONLY AMERICANS were ever ignorant enough

to have thought Iraq did 911 or was in any way involved with the 911 attacks.

Even poodle Tony bLiar never tried to pull that bullshit stunt on the Brits.

The entire world, EXCEPT AMERICA, always knew from Day 1 the FACT that Iraq & Hussein had NOTHING WHATSOEVER to do with al Qaeda and 911.

USA; #1 in ignorance.