9/11/Iraq Connection denied by Cheney

iVillage Member
Registered: 12-07-2003
9/11/Iraq Connection denied by Cheney
15
Fri, 10-08-2004 - 12:01pm
Debate:

Edwards- And these connections -- I want the American people to hear this very clearly. Listen carefully to what the vice president is saying. Because there is no connection between Saddam Hussein and the attacks of September 11th -- period.

The 9/11 Commission has said that's true. Colin Powell has said it's true. But the vice president keeps suggesting that there is. There is not. And, in fact, any connection with Al Qaida is tenuous at best.

Cheney-- The senator has got his facts wrong. I have not suggested there's a connection between Iraq and 9/11, but there's clearly an established Iraqi track record with terror.

http://www.debates.org/pages/trans2004b.html

Interview:

MR. RUSSERT: The Washington Post asked the American people about Saddam Hussein, and this is what they said: 69 percent said he was involved in the September 11 attacks. Are you surprised by that?

VICE PRES. CHENEY: No. I think it’s not surprising that people make that connection.

MR. RUSSERT: But is there a connection?

VICE PRES. CHENEY: We don’t know. You and I talked about this two years ago. I can remember you asking me this question just a few days after the original attack. At the time I said no, we didn’t have any evidence of that. Subsequent to that, we’ve learned a couple of things. We learned more and more that there was a relationship between Iraq and al-Qaeda that stretched back through most of the decade of the ’90s, that it involved training, for example, on BW and CW, that al-Qaeda sent personnel to Baghdad to get trained on the systems that are involved. The Iraqis providing bomb-making expertise and advice to the al-Qaeda organization.

We know, for example, in connection with the original World Trade Center bombing in ’93 that one of the bombers was Iraqi, returned to Iraq after the attack of ’93. And we’ve learned subsequent to that, since we went into Baghdad and got into the intelligence files, that this individual probably also received financing from the Iraqi government as well as safe haven.

Now, is there a connection between the Iraqi government and the original World Trade Center bombing in ’93? We know, as I say, that one of the perpetrators of that act did, in fact, receive support from the Iraqi government after the fact. ********With respect to 9/11, of course, we’ve had the story that’s been public out there. The Czechs alleged that Mohamed Atta, the lead attacker, met in Prague with a senior Iraqi intelligence official five months before the attack, but we’ve never been able to develop anymore of that yet either in terms of confirming it or discrediting it.********* We just don’t know.

(*emphasis mine)

http://msnbc.msn.com/id/3080244/

(Also see, CNBC interview with Gloria Borger from June 17.)

He is clearly suggesting a connection between 9/11 and Iraq. To steal the words of Jon Stewart-- "Mr. Vice President, you're pants are on fire."

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iVillage Member
Registered: 04-22-2003
Fri, 10-08-2004 - 12:06pm
BUSH and Cheney are in denial. It has been clearly said that no WMD. No capability because of the sanctions and no established link between AQ and SH. SH was not radical fundamentalist muslim.
iVillage Member
Registered: 08-31-2003
Sat, 10-09-2004 - 10:15am
I am just not seeing it the way you are. It seems to me that it is you that is putting these words, that there was a 9/11-Iraq connection in Cheneys mouth. It is fact that a connection can be made with Iraq and Al Queda. But, this tactic of, if you say it long enough and loud enough, it'll become true works. My local paper has letters to the editor every week reapeating the misrepresentations, from both sides, but I have to be honest, most of them comes from the left and there are a lot more of them. The ones from the right seem to have been more focused on Kerry's military record, and that has steadily died down over the last few weeks. I have to wonder if politics has always been more about winnning than the truth.
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iVillage Member
Registered: 12-07-2003
Sat, 10-09-2004 - 11:00am
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So you don't think that talking about how long before the attacks Iraqis and Al Qaeda members were meeting suggests a connection between Iraq and 9/11? Clearly, he was suggesting a connection.

iVillage Member
Registered: 08-31-2003
Sat, 10-09-2004 - 11:24am
I'm sorry, I honestly don't see where he is saying that there was a connection. He did however provide information that they do (did) know, and then followed up with a "we really don't know" statement. If you or others want to read more into it, thats up to you. I for one have never thought or believed that there has been any Iraq Al Queada connection, nor have I believed that that was the reason for our involvement in this war. Maybe some people erroneously came to that conclusion by trying to 'figure out' what Bush or Cheney were *really* saying. I have found that in all aspects of my life, I'm better off not trying to out smart someone and claim to be able to read their minds, it has only gotten me into trouble. You know, that old 'when you assume' thing.
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iVillage Member
Registered: 03-24-2003
Sat, 10-09-2004 - 11:41am
Oops. You know Bush & Cheney are great heroes, and never ever make mistakes or get their facts wrong. If their words contradict, it is a problem with the media putting words in their mouths or editing them out.
iVillage Member
Registered: 12-07-2003
Sat, 10-09-2004 - 11:42am
Obviuosly, we are going to disagree on this one. Cheney and Rumsfeld have been caught in so many other lies though, I guess I shouldn't worry about people disputing this one.
iVillage Member
Registered: 08-31-2003
Sat, 10-09-2004 - 11:47am
Yup,:) I guess it's all a matter of perspective, thank God we can have more than one.
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Avatar for momeebear
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-25-2003
Sat, 10-09-2004 - 12:53pm
I thought the Mohamed Atta in Prague story already HAD been completely discredited, that it was proven he was in the U.S. at that time? I was just reading that the other day, but can't remember where......Any info on that?
iVillage Member
Registered: 12-07-2003
Sat, 10-09-2004 - 1:04pm
Yes, he was. Actually, in one interview Cheney claimed the meeting had been pretty well confirmed, and later when confronted about it after the evidence came out that Atta was in Virginia (I think that's where he was), an interview called Cheney on that comment. His response was "I never said that." A boldface lie. Watch it for yourself.

http://video.lisarein.com/dailyshow/june2004/06-21-04-shrub-lies.mov

Avatar for momeebear
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-25-2003
Sat, 10-09-2004 - 1:13pm
Thanks! Yes I thought I had heard that Atta had been in Virginia at that time, but wasn't sure....

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