BUSH REJECTED PLANS TO GO AFTER ZARQAWI

iVillage Member
Registered: 11-11-1999
BUSH REJECTED PLANS TO GO AFTER ZARQAWI
15
Tue, 09-21-2004 - 10:38pm
In his effort to claim he is the strongest candidate on national security, President Bush has lately been speaking a lot about how he is doing everything possible to track down terrorist Abu Musab al-Zarqawi - the man thought to be responsible for escalating attacks on U.S. soldiers in Iraq. But according to NBC News, it was Bush who in 2002 and 2003 rejected three plans to strike and neutralize Zarqawi because he believed a successful strike would undermine the public case for targeting Saddam Hussein.

As NBC News reported, "Long before the war, the Bush administration had several chances to wipe out his terrorist operation and perhaps kill Zarqawi himself - but never pulled the trigger." In June 2002, the Pentagon drafted plans to attack a camp Zarqawi was at with cruise missiles and airstrikes. The plan was killed by the White House. Four months later, as Zarqawi planned to use ricin in terrorist attacks in Europe, the Pentagon drew up a second strike plan, yet "the White House again killed it." In January 2003, the Pentagon drew up still another attack plan, and for the third time, the White House killed it.

According to NBC, "Military officials insist their case for attacking Zarqawi's operation was airtight, but the administration feared destroying the terrorist camp in Iraq could undercut its case for war against Saddam."

Zarqawi is thought to be at least indirectly responsible for hundreds of U.S. casualties. Just yesterday, Zarqawi's terrorist group beheaded an American civilian in Baghdad.

Sources:

1. "President's Remarks to the General Conference of the National Guard Association of the United States," The White House, 9/14/04, http://daily.misleader.org/ctt.asp?u=2254501&l=56809.

2. "Going after Iraq's most wanted man," The Christian Science Monitor, 9/21/04, http://daily.misleader.org/ctt.asp?u=2254501&l=56810.

3. "Avoiding attacking suspected terrorist mastermind," NBC News, 3/02/04, http://daily.misleader.org/ctt.asp?u=2254501&l=56811.

4. Ibid, http://daily.misleader.org/ctt.asp?u=2254501&l=56811.

5. "Zarqawi Group Beheads U.S. Hostage Armstrong," Reuters, 9/20/04, http://daily.misleader.org/ctt.asp?u=2254501&l=56812.

dablacksox


Cynic: a blackguard whose faulty vision sees things as they are, not as they ought to be.---Ambrose Bierce, The Devil's Dictionary.

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iVillage Member
Registered: 11-11-1999
Wed, 09-22-2004 - 1:32pm
"Liberals will turn to anything that seems to be anti-Bush, even if it tears their arguments apart."

I'm really curious-are you incapable of reading, or just incapable of understanding?

From the Christian Science Monitor....

"While he was operating inside Iraq prior to the invasion, US officials say most of his activities were in the autonomous Kurdish region in the north, where he mingled with members of Ansar al-Islam, a radical Kurdish group who operated in an area beyond Baghdad's control and was largely scattered by US airpower at the start of the war."

The Kurdish regions of Iraq were de facto independent following the 1991 Gulf war under both the senior Bush and later Clinton, Iraqi troops were banned from the area and it was also a no-fly zone for Iraq. If there was a terrorist training camp in that area it could have been taken out any time by American (or British) air power. Unless of course it was needed as a handy justification for an invasion for Bush Leaguers incapale of either reading or understanding.

"LOL...I love it."


I do too. A camp in an area under control of the PKK and "protected" by American air power is justification for an invasion and war that's responsible for 1039 American deaths and thousands of Iraqi deaths. A camp that could have been taken out in an afternoon with a well planned bombing campaign.

Only in rightwing lala land......

dablacksox


Cynic: a blackguard whose faulty vision sees things as they are, not as they ought to be.---Ambrose Bierce, The Devil's Dictionary.

iVillage Member
Registered: 06-17-2004
Wed, 09-22-2004 - 9:08pm

<<Just like the 9/11 terrorist had a training camp in US.>>


There was an Al Queda training camp in the US???

Renee ~~~

Renee ~~~

iVillage Member
Registered: 06-17-2004
Wed, 09-22-2004 - 9:17pm

If you're only interested in playing a 'Gotcha' game with Bush, then of course, it doesn't matter what

Renee ~~~

iVillage Member
Registered: 04-22-2003
Thu, 09-23-2004 - 11:05am
Where did the terrosit learn to fly, only in US...Didn't they??? I thought that is called training in US. Now they maynot have learned to fire guns in US like the training camps in Afganistan, but then they didn't use guns to kill us now did they???

iVillage Member
Registered: 04-22-2003
Thu, 09-23-2004 - 11:08am
I think you guys are trying toi establish link between saddams Iraq and alqaeda when it has been thoroughly proved that Saddam did not want to have anything to do with OBL. I am not playing any games. I am just trying to tell you how ridiculous it is to say there was link between alqaeda and Iraq.

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