Bush ('02):"you can't distinguish between al Qaeda and Saddam when you talk about the war on terror"

[sabra]

http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2002/09/20020925-1.html

September 25, 2002

President Bush, Colombia President Uribe Discuss Terrorism

<snip>


PRESIDENT BUSH: That's a -- that is an interesting question. I'm trying to think of something humorous to say. (Laughter.) But I can't when I think about al Qaeda and Saddam Hussein. They're both risks, they're both dangerous. The difference, of course, is that al Qaeda likes to hijack governments. Saddam Hussein is a dictator of a government. Al Qaeda hides, Saddam doesn't, but the danger is, is that they work in concert. The danger is, is that al Qaeda becomes an extension of Saddam's madness and his hatred and his capacity to extend weapons of mass destruction around the world.

Both of them need to be dealt with. The war on terror, you can't distinguish between al Qaeda and Saddam when you talk about the war on terror. And so it's a comparison that is -- I can't make because I can't distinguish between the two, because they're both equally as bad, and equally as evil, and equally as destructive.

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/iraq/complete/la-na-feith10feb10,0,4114134.story?track=mostviewed-homepage

CIA doubts didn't deter Feith's team
Intelligence agencies disagreed with many of its prewar findings.


<snip>

WASHINGTON — As the Bush administration began assembling its case for war, analysts across the U.S. intelligence community were disturbed by the report of a secretive Pentagon team that concluded Iraq had significant ties to Al Qaeda.

Analysts from the CIA and other agencies "disagreed with more than 50%" of 26 findings the Pentagon team laid out in a controversial paper, according to testimony Friday from Thomas F. Gimble, acting inspector general of the Pentagon.

...

The CIA and many other intelligence agencies were wrong in their assessments of Iraq's weapons programs. But the agency was always deeply skeptical about the ties between Iraq and Al Qaeda.

...

Feith's work was of critical importance to Vice President Dick Cheney, who once referred to the Pentagon team's conclusions as the "best source" for understanding the relationship between Iraq and Al Qaeda.

[baldguy]

1. B-but - but ...!

June 18, 2004 - "Cheney blames media for blurring Saddam, 9/11" - http://www.msnbc.msn.com/ID/5233810/

B-but - but....

May 11, 2004 - "The Saddam-9/11 Link Confirmed" - (I know it's icky, but-) http://www.rushonline.com/visitors/linkconfirmed.htm

B-but - but....

September 18, 2003 - "Bush rejects Saddam 9/11 link" - http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/3118262.stm

[sabra]

2. BushCo forgot that the Internets would record their lies.... or maybe

they just don't care...

[Solly Mack]

3. Amazing isn't it?

20 years from now, from children yet to be born, will come the "truth" taught to them by their parents - 911/Saddam

Sadly, some lies just never die..

[IWantAChange]

4. For me the ?? is - does the average American care if his President lies?

I saw an inkling of hope in the Nov '06 results - but with only mild interest in the revelations from the Libby trial and the ramping up of the Iran rhetoric I'm not so sure that Joe-6-pack just isn't numb from American Idol and 24 hour coverage of Anna Nicole Smith.


:bounce:

[NewJeffCT]

5. I heard a real whopper the other day on Thom Hartmann

A caller called in to say that when the NY Times reamed Team Bush about putting the nuclear plans on the internets tubes (when did that happen? last year?) , the plans that were out there were from all of Saddam's WMD programs, and they also detailed how Saddam smuggled all his WMD out of the country to Syria.

This was a week or two back on Hartmann...

I think we need a "grasping at straws" smiley here on DU.