No al Qaeda, Iraq cooperation

Avatar for car_al
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-25-2003
No al Qaeda, Iraq cooperation
72
Thu, 06-17-2004 - 4:34am
"The panel (9/11) said it found "no credible evidence that Iraq and al Qaeda cooperated on attacks against the United States."

The report contradicts statements from the Bush administration that Saddam Hussein had ties to al Qaeda.

In response, a senior administration official traveling with President Bush in Tampa, Florida, said, "We stand by what Powell and Tenet have said," referring to previous statements by Secretary of State Colin Powell and CIA Director George Tenet that described such links.

In February 2003, Secretary of State Colin Powell told the United Nations that Iraq was harboring Zarqawi, a "collaborator of Osama bin Laden and his al Qaeda lieutenants," and he said Iraq's denials of ties to al Qaeda "are simply not credible."

In September, Cheney said Iraq had been "the geographic base of the terrorists who have had us under assault now for many years, but most especially on 9/11."

Bush, responding to criticism of Cheney's comment, said there was no evidence Saddam's government was linked to the September 11 attacks.

Just this week Bush and Cheney have made comments alleging ties between al Qaeda and Iraq. ( Full story )

Democratic presidential hopeful Sen. John Kerry said, "the administration misled America."

"The administration reached too far," he told Detroit radio station WDET. "They did not tell the truth to Americans about what was happening or their own intentions."

The commission's report says bin Laden "explored possible cooperation with Iraq during his time in Sudan, despite his opposition to Hussein's secular regime. Bin Laden had in fact at one time sponsored anti-Saddam Islamists in Iraqi Kurdistan.

"The Sudanese, to protect their own ties with Iraq, reportedly persuaded bin Laden to cease this support and 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, but Iraq apparently never responded.

"There have been reports that contacts between Iraq and al Qaeda also occurred after bin Laden had returned to Afghanistan, but they do not appear to have resulted in a collaborative relationship," the report said.

"Two senior bin Laden associates have adamantly denied" any relationship, the report said.

The panel also dismissed reports that Atta met with an Iraqi intelligence officer in the Czech Republic on April 9, 2000. "We do not believe that such a meeting occurred."

The report said that Atta was in Virginia on April 4 -- evidenced by video that shows him withdrawing $8,000 from an ATM -- and he was in Florida by April 11 if not before.

The report also found that there was no "convincing evidence that any government financially supported al Qaeda before 9/11" other than the limited support provided by the Taliban when bin Laden arrived in Afghanistan.

The toppling of the Taliban regime "fundamentally changed" al Qaeda, leaving it decentralized and altering bin Laden's role.

Prior to the attacks, bin Laden approved all al Qaeda operations and often chose targets and the operatives himself, the report said.

"After al Qaeda lost Afghanistan after 9/11, it fundamentally changed. The organization is far more decentralized. Bin Laden's seclusion forced operational commanders and cell leaders to assume greater authority; they are now making the command decisions previously made by him," the report said.


http://www.cnn.com/2004/ALLPOLITICS/06/16/911.commission/index.html

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Avatar for car_al
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-25-2003
Thu, 07-08-2004 - 4:35am
<< In May 2003, Judge Harold Baer of the Southern District Court of New York ruled that plaintiffs had presented enough evidence to be awarded $104 million in a lawsuit against the State of Iraq, among others. Over 2,000 lawsuits have been filed against the governments of Iraq, Iran, Saudi Arabia and Sudan.>>

This case relied on a 1996 law that permitted lawsuits against countries identified by the State Dept. as sponsors of terrorists.

U.S. District Judge Harold Baer, ruled against them (bin Laden, Al-Qaeda, the Taliban, Saddam and the former Iraqi government) by DEFAULT after they failed to respond to the lawsuits.

In his ruling, Baer concluded that the lawyers for the victims “have shown, albeit barely… that Iraq provided material support to bin Laden and Al Qaeda”. Baer further said that lawyers relied heavily on classically hearsay evidence, including reports that a 9/11 hijacker met an Iraqi consul to Prague, Sec. of State Colin Powell’s remarks to the United Nations about connections between Iraq and terrorism, and defectors descriptions of an Iraq camp to train terrorists.

(From the Associated Press)

Further court proceedings would be required before any monies could be paid, and since the 9/11 commission has found none of the above “hearsay evidence” to be credible in tying Iraq to Al Qaeda and 9/11, I doubt that this award will ever be collected.

As far as the O’Neill case, what you didn’t include was that In August 2001, FBI Deputy Director John O'Neill resigned from his post over George W. Bush's policy on terrorism and Osama bin Laden. Deputy Director O'Neill's department was told to "back off" their bin Laden and Al Qaeda investigations while the Bush administration negotiated with the Taliban.

C


Edited 7/8/2004 4:39 am ET ET by car_al

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-18-2000
Thu, 07-08-2004 - 9:13am

Hi Kristine!


Haven't seen for an age. Hope everything is well with you.


Glad I spotted you.

 


Photobucket&nbs

iVillage Member
Registered: 07-07-2004
Tue, 07-13-2004 - 4:22pm
So? Thanks for all the filler, but it doesn't really matter. I don't care if anyone resigned or what the law is about suing foreign "leaders".

Doesn't change the obvious, whether hearsay or not, that rational people, would believe that the Arab nations probably have each other on speed dial.

There's better O'Neill info at the end of the book "Hating America, the New World Sport". I didn't have time to get into it all; I found it interesting, but it isn't my life's passion.

Take care. =o)

iVillage Member
Registered: 07-07-2004
Tue, 07-13-2004 - 4:24pm
Howdy! Looks like you're doing a good job! Lots of posts and stuff. I can't get the hang of this format, I still like the old look better. Too easy to get lost in here.

I haven't really been in the mood to post for the most part..although I still read all the news, every day!

Anyway, keep up the good work, and I'll see you around when something catches my eye. =o)

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-18-2000
Tue, 07-13-2004 - 8:40pm

Try the "outline view" that is similair to the old format.


Hope all is well with you.

 


Photobucket&nbs

iVillage Member
Registered: 08-12-2003
Tue, 07-13-2004 - 9:51pm
/We as Americans must stand behind our President and trust that he will make the right decisions for all of us. What in the world are people thinking when we start to believe that IRAQ is telling the truth. I believe all those countries are in cahoots with each other. I do not trust one thing they say.It will take years to know the real truth. These alQaeda are nothing but cowards fighting for a worthless cause. Their ruthless, cowardly, and disgusting antics are soon to be over and they know it. Once the people there get a taste of freedom (real freedom) they will never turn back.

Many of us have never experienced death on a large scale. These people live with it every day. Whether you agree or disagree with the war in Iraq time will tell of its impact. When that time comes and the people can speak openly and freely without the fear of being shot I think we are all in for a big surprise. They will thank us for their freedom.

I will say this: I love my country and the beautiful freedoms I experience on a daily basis. I will never turn against it nor condone those that do. We live in the best country in the world!!

Charor
Avatar for car_al
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-25-2003
Wed, 07-14-2004 - 4:20am
<>

ITA! But the freedom to disagree with the decisions that the present administration has made and to speak out when we believe that these decisions were wrong is exactly what the founding fathers expected us to do - exercise our freedom, it’s our duty as US citizens to do so.

C


Edited 7/14/2004 4:21 am ET ET by car_al

iVillage Member
Registered: 06-02-2004
Wed, 07-14-2004 - 7:53am
>>>> love my country and the beautiful freedoms I experience on a daily basis<<<

Yes, the freedom to think, the freedom to dissent, the freedom to express our opinions, the freedom to hold our government accountable are what this country was founded on and what we value. I will never condone those who crush our beautiful freedoms because it doesn't suit *their* politics, I will never condone those who tell us it is wrong to exercise our freedoms that many fought and died for, I will never condone those who tell us it is wrong to express our opinion even if we don't always like what we hear, I will never condone those who scream that those who express the very freedoms we value are unpatriotic.

alfreda

iVillage Member
Registered: 06-02-2004
Wed, 07-14-2004 - 10:35am
>>>We as Americans must stand behind our President and trust that he will make the right decisions for all of us.<<

The problem is he didn't make the right decision in regards to iraq and there are republicans and democrats, republican military leaders, and commissions headed by republicans and democrats that have proven his case for war wrong.


>>>These alQaeda are nothing but cowards fighting for a worthless cause. Their ruthless, cowardly, and disgusting antics are soon to be over and they know it.<<

Yes, they are evil and our invading iraq has made no difference to the war on terror except fuel it. we still haven't caught bin laden have we?


>>>I believe all those countries are in cahoots with each other. I do not trust one thing they say<<

really, so how come you are okay with our administration trusting the saudis, and letting the bin laden family leave the united states two days after bin laden and his saudi killers masacred americans?

>>>Once the people there get a taste of freedom (real freedom) they will never turn back.When that time comes and the people can speak openly and freely without the fear of being shot I think we are all in for a big surprise<<

Yes, if they had had this they could have questioned their president, challenged him and voted him out if they didn't think he was making the right decisions for them. That Maybe they would be called unpatriotic for doing so, but that is what freedom is about, right!



iVillage Member
Registered: 03-26-2003
Wed, 07-14-2004 - 11:06am
No. Error. Mistake.

You're confusing a democracy with fascism, despotism or tyranny. In a democracy, citizens have a voice and a right, indeed--a responsibility, to speak up if they believe that there is reason to. And if you do not and have this belief in the innate rectitude of whomever is elected to public office, you are a fool. Get fools in enough numbers and enough significant positions and we all lose our freedoms.

You don't find it just the least little bit ironic/paradoxical that we invaded Iraq and tried to impose our system of government in an unprovoked war, quartered our troops there in occupation and it's called FREEDOM?! You know, we staged a revolution about 228 years ago when a parent country tried to impose its political systems and forms on a group of people who were pretty sure they could find the answer to their governance on their own!

And you also seem a bit confused about the link between Al Qaeda and Iraq. It's no more significant, and is actually probably less, than the link between Al Qaeda and Sudan, or Malaysia, or a handful of other countries that have either countenanced or winked at Al Qaeda's activities. Please do more reading about this in a variety of media because the case that the Bush administration has tried to make linking Al Qaeda to Iraq is without merit.

I think you have confused patriotism with blind, unswerving, and unquestioning loyalty. It's easy and tempting to do but it's also an abdication of your civic duty.

Gettingahandle

Ignorance is Nature's most abundant fuel for decision making.

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