No link between Iraq and al-Qaeda

[FriendlyFire]

This would be the finally prewar congressional investigations finally moving forward?. Declassified Pentagon prewar intell it shows Saddam wasnt in bed with Osama nor any operational ties. Like all reports it shows caviartes on these conclusions.

terrogations of Saddam Hussein and seized documents confirmed the former Iraqi regime had no links with al-Qaeda, a Pentagon report said today, contradicting the US case for the 2003 invasion.

A two-page resume of the report was published in February, but today the Pentagon declassified the whole 120-page document.

According to the inspector general of the US Defence Department, information obtained after Saddam's fall confirmed the pre-war position of the Central Intelligence Agency and Pentagon intelligence that the Iraqi government had had no substantial contacts with al-Qaeda.

This position was shored up by interrogations of Saddam, the former Iraqi president, and other top officials captured by the US-led coalition forces in Iraq, the report said.

It contradicts a strong argument for the invasion made by the administration of President George Bush that Baghdad had a working relationship with al-Qaeda.

The network, based in Afghanisation and led by Osama bin Laden, was behind the September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States in which almost 3000 people were killed.

The report noted that the office of then-undersecretary of defence Douglas Feith, one of the foremost advocates for invading Iraq after the 2001 attacks, had ignored the CIA's position.

He characterized the supposed al-Qaeda-Iraq relationship as "mature" and "symbiotic" in a September 2002 briefing to the chief of staff of Vice President Dick Cheney.

The Feith briefing alleged that the two cooperated in 10 areas, including training, financing and logistics.

But the new report says the US intelligence community had concluded at the time there were "no conclusive signs" of links between Iraq and al-Qaeda, and that "direct cooperation ... has not been established" between the two.

Prior to the war there was little public dispute inside the United States over the Bush administration's assertions linking Iraq and bin Laden's group.

But since the invasion, a number of intelligence officials have alleged the White House and its backers ignored their intelligence and "cherry picked" information to support their arguments for a war.

In a radio interview on Wednesday, Cheney insisted on a pre-war link between Iraq and al-Qaeda, saying the group was working in Iraq "before we even arrived on the scene".

"As I say, they were present before we invaded Iraq," Cheney told conservative radio talk-show host Rush Limbaugh.

http://www.smh.com.au/news/world/no-link-between-iraq-and-alqaeda/2007/04/07/1175366514637.html

 

[Tee Kay]

Say, isn't this news a bit old?

 

[kulade]

Well, surprise, surprise.
(Minor Sarcasm)

 

[kulade]

Say, isn't this news a bit old?

Its not old to those who have been denying it over and over.

 

[Neomega]

we knew where they were, they were, in their last throes, if you will... you ain't gonna fool me again.

 

[Lotus49]

Umm, of course there IS a link between al-Qaeda and Iraq, who are you kidding? Oh wait, you meant prior to the invasion... nevermind. Yeah - common sense, there.

 

[thenooblet22]

This would be the finally prewar congressional investigations finally moving forward?. Declassified Pentagon prewar intell it shows Saddam wasnt in bed with Osama nor any operational ties. Like all reports it shows caviartes on these conclusions.

Doesn't mean they weren't having some good phone sex

 

[RedWolf]

I think it's amusing that Cheney can't even tell the truth when his own military/intelligence service is telling him he's wrong.

 

[Hotpoint]

The thing that amused me was the number of people that ever thought that the notably secular Saddam regime might have particularly close ties with extreme religious fundamentalists such as the various groups associated with Al-Queda.

The Deputy Prime Minister of Iraq under Saddam was a Christian for pities sake. How many other majority Muslim countries could you say that for?

 

[greekguy]

whatever...I knew this back in '03. It's just taking some "slower" people this long to figure it out (read: Neocons, rednecks, and people who only watch Fox News)

 

[The Last Conformist]

Hotpoint is a girl?


As for the thread subject, yes, and Charlemagne was Frankish. Tell me something I didn't know. :bored:

 

[Leonel]

The thing that amused me was the number of people that ever thought that the notably secular Saddam regime might have particularly close ties with extreme religious fundamentalists such as the various groups associated with Al-Queda.

The Deputy Prime Minister of Iraq under Saddam was a Christian for pities sake. How many other majority Muslim countries could you say that for?

It's extremely possible. Same way that notably democratic nations like the US and Europe would support brutal and tyrannical dictatorships around the world. "The enemy of my enemy is my friend" does work in the real world. The Nazi's worked with the early Muslim extremists due to their common and vicioushatred of the Jews. It even happens here on a smaller scale in the forums when some character like Jack Thompson comes into question.

As long as a hatred for a common enemy is stronger than the hatred between the adversaries, they will work together for a common goal. And considering that the US were pre-war Iraq's and Al Queda most hated and powerful enemy, it isn't unreasonable to assume they could work together to undermine the major hegemony in the region despite that there wasn't a relationship.

 

[Hotpoint]

Hotpoint is a girl?

*checks equipment*

No I'm definitely not

It's extremely possible. Same way that notably democratic nations like the US and Europe would support brutal and tyrannical dictatorships around the world. "The enemy of my enemy is my friend" does work in the real world. The Nazi's worked with the early Muslim extremists due to their common and vicioushatred of the Jews. It even happens here on a smaller scale in the forums when some character like Jack Thompson comes into question.

As long as a hatred for a common enemy is stronger than the hatred between the adversaries, they will work together for a common goal. And considering that the US were pre-war Iraq's and Al Queda most hated and powerful enemy, it isn't unreasonable to assume they could work together to undermine the major hegemony in the region despite that there wasn't a relationship.

There's a "fundamental" ( ) difference in that while Saddam was more of a realist himself many of the Islamic groups are ideologically pure and wouldn't be too willing to associate themselves with a regime they would consider apostate at best.

One of the major problems with religious fundamentalists is that they don't behave in a way the secular democracies (or even the largely secular tyrannies like the USSR or Nazi Germany) would. They're quite willing to cut off their nose to spite their face as it were.

Look at Saddam's Iraq from their perspective... I mean, they were sending women to college and not even making them wear a headscarf... how could any decent follower of Islam think to deal with such vile heretics?

 

[bathsheba666]

America went to war on the basis of a lie.

It's well known, except in parts of America.

I'm sure the usual frothing extremists will roll up to assert that it doesn't matter.

Put Bush and Blair on trial for war crimes.
You know it makes sense.

 

[CCA]

Wait, I thought this was common sense?

Who didn't know these facts?

 

[The Last Conformist]

*checks equipment*

No I'm definitely not

Why, then, does your custom title read "I'm a female citizen of Europe"?

 

[GenMarshall]

Finaly, I knew there was no link!

And I suspect that MobBoss would ruin the fun and try to refute this article .

 

[Hotpoint]

Why, then, does your custom title read "I'm a female citizen of Europe"?

Really bad Latin perhaps .

I thought it was feminine in the sense of Europe being so rather than me? I've seen it used the same way elsewhere

 

[Leonel]

There's a "fundamental" ( ) difference in that while Saddam was more of a realist himself many of the Islamic groups are ideologically pure and wouldn't be too willing to associate themselves with a regime they would consider apostate at best. One of the major problems with religious fundamentalists is that they don't behave in a way the secular democracies (or even the largely secular tyrannies like the USSR or Nazi Germany) would. They're quite willing to cut off their nose to spite their face as it were. Look at Saddam's Iraq from their perspective... I mean, they were sending women to college and not even making them wear a headscarf... how could any decent follower of Islam think to deal with such vile heretics?

Good points! But it could be that Al Quada didn't see Saddam as a fellow Muslim but instead as a fellow Arab and could possibly see a relationship along nationalistic lines of a glorious Arab empire.

And as for Saddam's Iraq they probably could have tolerated what was going on there instead of what was going on in America.

 

[bathsheba666]

Finaly, I knew there was no link!

And I suspect that MobBoss would ruin the fun and try to refute this article .

You never know; that might simply add to the fun.